Daddy-O's (and SSI's) Playoff Dilemma

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Moving from Seattle to Texas can't be as bad as Omsk to Tomsk, but it can't be a lot better.  Recent super-poster Daddy-O had to do just that.  Sez he:

The M’s had deflated me too many years in a row with promises of achievement that turned into nightmares, even in those rare years when they contended. So I expected I would take the relocation as an opportunity to leave my abusive “spouse.”  (James said it was very easy to leave his childhood team, the Royals, when the Red Sox hired him, because of this reason. - Dr. D)

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DaddyO’s Choice (Not Sophie’s)

2018 saw me move unexpectedly from the Seattle area, where we have lived since 1995, to San Antonio, TX. Mid-August to mid-September it has rained nearly every day, often heavily. Apparently the rainfall in this 30-day period has equalled the normal annual amount. Go figure.

Now I have something else to go figure, something much more impactful.

Beaten. Battered. Bloodied. Bruised. Betrayed. Befuddled. (How the Mariners have made me feel since I was 47. I am now 63.)

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Checkin' In

Hi guys!

Sorry I've been scarce lately.  Mostly medical stuff, which I (reasonably) expect to be behind me now.  Starting tomorrow we should be back to our regular complement of articles here, plus one article a week at D-O-V.  As to what we'll talk about, probably not that much Mariners stuff ;- ) but there remains sabermetrics, playoffs, F-500, KK, and so forth.

Thanks so much for your patience.  See you gumbies soon, probly Monday.

Warmly,

Jeff

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M's Throw Cage Match

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Two things:

(1) Dr. D is utilizing the resignation rule.  LOL.  Sometimes you play a chess game very well, to the best of your ability ... and get smashed.  The feeling isn't pleasant.  But after you're done sulking, you have to stop the clock and shake hands.  If the guy across from you is halfway pleasant, unusual in tourney players, you're off to the skittles room to analyze the game and hope that the guy unfolds the secrets of the world to you.

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On Stars & Scrubs

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Cool Papa Bell, as you would expect him to, makes just about the best argument against Stars & Scrubs that I can imagine:

The last point seems to be conflating two separate issues: a team's overall payroll and how that payroll is distributed. If the M's increased their payroll by $20 million then they clearly could sign an additional player for $20 million without hindering the rest of the roster. Whether or not it is wise to spend $20 million dollars on one player rather than two or three is a totally different issue. I have shown that Dipoto's willingness to sign "stars" is perfectly inline with the rest of the league, and I have explained why we should not presume that signing a larger proportion of stars would be better (https://seattlesportsinsider.com/?q=blogs/is-min-maxing-optimal).

Then again, I may be completely misunderstanding what the argument is.

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Saber / F-500 Corner

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There's an old 2012 Hey Bill that goes to two local and critical sports questions.  One is the question of Earl Thomas.  Most people seem to think that at ages 30, 31, 32 a free safety is too old to play impact football; I read a study one time (as well as consulted my own common sense) that I thought convincingly debunked this.  The second question goes to Jerry Dipoto's aversion to signing $20M+ ballplayers, even when such players might put them over the top.

The question went:

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M's Over A's, 8-7

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GAMEFLOW

As in Game 1, the M's came out as though they were the ballclub with the $20M players and the four All-Stars.  In the first inning they didn't score, but Segura whistled a single up the middle and then Robby stood up there twitching the bat menacingly before flying out hard.  K-Pax was firing seeds, fanned two A's swinging and it looked like the overmatch it's supposed to be.

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M's Roll Pesky Rodent A's, 7-1

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... and that's part of the joy of sports, that it's as unscripted as life is - that sports IS life.  At the very moment we thought the M's would never give us another dopamine hit, BAM!, they roar back to life and put all the pressure back on the A's.

Sure, it's only one game.  But the M's back-channel characterized themselves as "excited" about the series, "excited" for the chance to put the pressure back on the A's, and slap me silly if that's not exactly what they done.

It's as if the M's shook the cobwebs out of their heads with a violent sideways shake, blinked their eyes several times, and woke up.  From the very first pitch we were suddenly watching that old version of the Mariners, the one that surged to a big lead in the Wild Card.  The A's never had a chance.

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