Manager John McLaren hones his ballclub for a run at October
Seattle Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi didn't do anything at the trade deadline, and that's a good thing. Meanwhile, the lineup is fine-tuned.
August dawned auspiciously for General Manager Bill Bavasi, who, as usual, seemed to be doing as little as possible. His Seattle Mariners had just taken consecutive series from division rivals Oakland and Los Angeles, the Seattle club suddenly primed for three sell-out home games with the American League-leading Boston Red Sox. Bavasi's off-field responsibilities had been resolved as neatly as a night's worth of Seinfeld reruns:
- Field boss Mike Hargrove, invoking that ol' alibi from his natal Texas (well, Paris, Texas), had cited simple ennui as reason to sing "Happy Trails" at midseason.
- Some had believed that Grover's retirement had something to do with giving the M's a better shot at a timely re-signing of Ichiro Suzuki, who was said to be less than enamored with Mild Mike. In any case, the Hargrove departure led to the nearly immediate re-contracting of the mega-star, now, heaven help him, something of a Seattle Mariner for life (and the way Ich takes care of himself that could literally be the case).
- The July 31 trading deadline was made so easy for Bavasi that it's doubtful even the hapless boss from the Dilbert strip could have screwed it up. Nothing was available that the Mariners needed or could afford. Standing pat was a no-brainer, thus perfect for the M's front office. In retrospect, M's execs seem to have had just one goal: dumping Julio Mateo from the organization and, with him, perhaps, would go fan memories of the otherwise solid pitcher's alleged domestic violence. One wonders whether Bavasi actually even negotiated for compensation for the Philadelphia-bound Mateo. (Seattle is thought to have received a shortstop who, if not quite American League-caliber, at least could play for many American Legion teams.)
All of the above happened without Bavasi needing to do much more than get out of the way and watch. He's still watching as the new field boss, John McLaren, figures out how to take the team into October.
Some of the McManager's figurin' became apparent on Wednesday, Aug. 1. That night, as the M's tried unsuccessfully for 12 innings to give away a game to the Angels, McLaren went with Ben Broussard at first base. McLaren and others later conceded that the move wasn't just due to Broussard's past success against the L.A. starter. It also was an acknowledgment that Richie Sexson probably wouldn't be the team's everyday first-sacker anymore. At best, Rightie Richie would platoon with Lefty Benny, as was the case, unwittingly, that very game. To a low chorus of seventh-inning boos, Sexson enterered the fray for Broussard. Presumably it was to pinch-hit, but, as Sexson had managed just a .165 average during July, it proved to be to pinch-whiff. Broussard (.288) had been one-for-three with an RBI and a nifty pick-up at first. Richie was zip for three and was "hitting" .198 to start the Friday, Aug. 3, Red Sox game.
Some (present company included) have been accused of kicking poor Richie when he's down. Those worried about Sexson's tender sensibilities are advised to read the three-thumbs-down critique he recently has been heaping upon his own '07 performance.
The latest key development for the M's presents another passive occasion for G.M. Bavasi. It has to do with the calling up from Tacoma of the organization's minor-league franchise player, Adam Jones. The outfielder (the Aug. 1 call-up was his 22nd-birthday gift from the M's) clearly has nothing left to prove at the triple-A level. The challenge will be to find a way to cram him into a lineup long on outfielders. McLaren could move Raul Ibanez to designated hitter and stick Jones in left. One problem: Ibanez wants to be a position player.
Yes, but it's McLaren's problem, not Bavasi's. Meanwhile, the 59-47 M's are three back of the Angels and near the top of the wild-card stack. They have glaring problems, with inconsistent starting pitching nearly of blinding intensity. Normally such a shortcoming would be critical for a club at this stage of a still-competitive season. On the other hand, the M's have had success so far by just sort of letting the various problems solve themselves. Maybe, then, Bill Bavasi ought to keep doing as little as possible. That way he might even wind up winning the award for American League executive of the year.
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Comments:
Posted Thu, Aug 2, 7:06 p.m. inappropriate
Doing nothing when doing nothing is the right nothing to do: A lot of general managing, and life in general, is knowing when to do nothing. As you point out, Bavasi's life has been made easier because doing nothing at the trade deadline was a no-brainer. But remember, his sticking with doing nothing last year and early this year was not easy. People wanted heads on platters. Scalps. So Bavasi's strong do-nothing stance, along with Grover's, back in harder times, needs to be applauded.
The starting pitching has been erratic, but in a lot of ways, surprisingly good. . Weaver's only 2-9, but if you write off the early 0-6 fiasco and his subsequent rehab, you have a guy who is 2-3 with a lot of bad luck, a couple of bad starts, and about 5 or 6 really excellent starts. Batista was awesome in the first game against the Angels. He's arrived. Washburn has been steady. It was Feuerbender (who lost games for the M's by scores of something like 16-1 and 14-1) and the early Weaver who make the overall starting pitching look mediocre. Ironcially, it seems pretty good at this juncture, though we still get the occasional bad start from the staff. Even when bad, it's been good enough to get to the 5th or 6th and to our great bullpen.
Felix has been erratic, but you still see the brilliance. He gives up way too many runs for someone who pitches mainly lights out. He no-hit the Angels through 3, then the weird collision with Broussard and later a home run in the 7th on a change-up that he left over the plate (or so it was reported to me). Maybe we shouldn't let Felix throw change-ups!
As for Sexson, I think the platooning strategy makes sense. The sub-.200 average is bad, but he is leading the team in HRs. Raul is a class act and the past few seasons has been arguably our best hitter. I think both of these guys were Grover favorites (based on a couple of comments I've heard) so were given more lattitude to overcome their slumps than McLaren will now give them. But that's okay. McLaren's not going to cut them off at the knees. It's mainly adjustments, such as platooning, or a day off, etc. that will allow McLaren to adjust the mix to get the most of his talent day-to-day. Spelling Raul occasionally with Adam Jones is worth a try, and using Adam Jones to bubble through the lineup ala Mark McLemore to let different outfielders rest or to allow them to DH is a reasonable strategy.
I guess the one thing that does really concern me is that we need to give J.J more rest. He nearly blew the save in the All-Star Game, blew his first official save recently, and then last night gave up the 3-run HR (although I thought McLaren should have walked Matthews--he was hitting .667 against JJ on 7 for 11 with 2 HRs.) So there needs to be more strategic spelling of JJ as we come down the stretch. Better to keep him great in fewer games than to over-use him in too many games and turn him into a mediocre closer.
If the Mariners can take 2 out of 3 from the Red Sox, after that they enter a part of the season where they play about 20 games against sub-500 teams. I expect them to move ahead of the Indians for the wild card and ahead of the Angels for the division lead by the end of the month. Ultimately, it's not out of the question to think they could finish with the best record in baseball. But that is definitely getting ahead of things. Another 7-game losing streak, or even a 4-game streak, and the season is over. There are too many teams, the Yankees included, bunched around them in the wild card fight to be confident of any particular future coming true. The M's can play quite a bit better than they're now playing; yet they're beating teams and winning close games. Gotta love 'em.