I want to see more fight in the club - this losing streak against division rivals seems to have demoralized them. But Smoak was dragging for a month before that. He's a man grimly holding a position and looking for reinforcements that aren't coming fast enough.
I might honestly switch him in the lineup with Ackley. Smoak is a calm-tempered but no-nonsense kinda guy. Ackley is The Man With No Name, as you intimated earlier.
Smoak's a cool and easy 2nd banana who will do just fine once he's not THE MAN in the lineup. But Ackley's not a first banana yet and Smoak feels like he should be helping the rookie and not the other way around (sophomores are like that).
I'd like him to be 3rd banana personally. A sort of Tino Martinez, either for the Mariners or the Yankees. Ackley's Derek Jeter. That means we need Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill.
So go get me Prince Fielder and Carlos Quentin already and let's go put the Rangers and Angels through a wall. ;)
If only it were that easy. That's Jack's problem: He needs offense now but can't get quite enough for the money he has to spend, so he'll need to work the trade market as well.
But Fielder/Quentin, Kubel/Upton, Rasmus/Sizemore style pairings are quite nice in theory. I dunno how Jack's gonna turn em into some kind of fact, but he's got a couple months to figure that out.
We just can't be running Kennedy in the 3 hole and Olivo in the 5 hole in 2012. We've gotta be past that point next year, or Jack's not doing his job right. That's the next fight, to somehow turn the arms we have into the bats we need before we run out of time on both.
When the front office adds a Fielder type, it sends a different message than adding a Cust. And it has a different result on the field too.
IMO, we're getting close to sending that message. If we're not close, then Jack's gonna lose his job to a man who can take whatever assets he's collected and turn them into a winning team.
The guy's name is Gillick. He was just on the field a couple nights ago, and he lives in town. Don't give him a chance to steal your job back, even if he's just called an "advisor."
Get this offense thing FIXED.
~G
=== 2011 Objectives in the 2H, #2 ===
Get a SPARK going.
Get Mike Carp, and/or Justin Smoak, and/or somebody, to provide Dustin Ackley some support. Get some life into the offense. Get a more vital, more vibrant picture out onto the field in 2011.
You'll hear MLB franchises talk about wanting "to get something going to carry over into next year." The idea isn't to lie down and die and then hope next March jells out of thin air. The idea is to build a team that is simply going to take a winter break and then continue play in 2012.
Professional poker players know about the concept of "one continuous life game of poker." They're not afraid to get up from a game they're down by 125 units, since the next time they sit down it will be, in essence, the same game.
The Mariners' offense lacks the spark of life. But they could -- in theory! -- install that spark of life during the second half of 2011. Then they can bring it to camp in 2012.
.
=== 2011 Objectives in the 2H, #3 ===
Evaluate personnel.
Yes, Mike Carp, we're talking about you. And Greg Halman, and Kyle Seager, and ...
Although super-high-BB Jack Cust types may well be the only type of player who can succeed in Safeco Field, the Mariners just don't have time for Jack Cust specifically. There are fewer 2011 AB's left than you think, and every game that the M's spend on a Franklin Gutierrez or Mike Carp or Jack Wilson is one less game for Mike Carp to find "IT" and jell as the next minor star in the AL.
***
Throttling back on Bedard's and Pineda's innings also becomes indicated. The M's will likely drag their feet on Bedard, appropriately so, and this will allow them to triangulate Blake Beavan...
.
bottom: 1em; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; vertical-align: baseline; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; ">=== 2011 Objectives in the 2H, #4 ===
Find the Lee/Smoak or Putz/Gutierrez deal.
Did we say three objectives or four? :- )
Zduriencik has a clear chess position now: he needs two more star-quality hitters. He doesn't need pitching, he doesn't need a second or first baseman, he doesn't need to win in August. And he knows that he has star-quality, ML-ready, ML-cheap starting pitching to trade.
In chess, 80% of the problem is correctly diagnosing the position. Once you understand that, the rest is not so tough.
Look, chess is not that hard a game. Whatever position you've got, it's been played before." - Bobby Fischer.
Meaning, once you know what you want to do, you've got a backlog of historical solutions to browse through. Just pick one. One that's tailored.
People have traded for Justin Upton before. They've signed Prince Fielder before. They know when they're paying 90c on the dollar, know when they're paying $1.10 on the dollar, they know which dominoes fall once you do execute that maneuver.
SSI sympathizes with the idea, "wait until you know what you need, and then hit the trade-FA market." Supposing that's your mantra? The Mariners have hit that point. They know what they need.
***
As a Mariner fan, you can yet have your thirst for battle slaked. In August and September of 2011, the Mariners seek to advise Texas that 2012 will be payback time. I'm hoping to see those advisories.
Git R Done,
Dr D