9-Man Lineup -- with SS -- Keeps On Wallbangin'
Brad Miller has yet to witness his MLB team score less than 3 runs

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June 28

Brad Miller parachutes into Seattle.  He doesn't hit in this game, but he looks like he gets a couple of hits.  Come to think of it, he did draw a walk, and steal a base, and drive in a run.  One of your all time great debut 0-fers, man.

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July 19

The Mariners drop 3 homers, 2 doubles, 11 hits, and 10 runs on the Astros.  In the 16 games since Miller arrived, they have:

  • Scored 3+ runs in every game
  • Homered in every game
  • Been held to 3 runs only the twice
  • Scored 95 runs, an average of 5.94 runs per game
  • This coming against CIN, TEX, LAA, BOS and CHC

I think they're on a streak of 23, 24 games in a row with a home run, so I'm guessing they haven't been shut out in at least that long.  Seems I read that the next-longest HR streak in baseball this year was 16 or 17 games.  In other words, for a team to homer in 23-24 games straight, that's pretty unusual even if you're NOT the team that scores 513 runs per season.

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July 31

Possibly the Mariners don't need to trade the farm for a straw that stirs.

Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley have needed approximately 1-2 election cycles to figure out baseball.  Even Kyle Seager bounced.  Michael Saunders is going to be over-the-hill before he has his prime, as Yogi would say.

But funny thing about Nick Franklin and Brad Miller and Mike Zunino.  They belonged on the field during their first games.  I mean, they stuck the landings like tournament darts in a quill board.  The way they took over the #1 and #2 hitting slots?  I'm still geekin' out about it.

................

Smoak and Ackley, it made sense to speak in terms of a Straw That Stirs.  But watching our DP combo, those guys, they don't give a Buffalo nickel who else is hitting in the lineup that day.  They are interested in the pitcher's release point and that's all.

You get seven or eight guys like that, hitting up and down the lineup, hitting from the SS-2B positions, a full rack o' ribs out there, and you start to see where some teams don't need a Straw.

This one may not.  Man.  How many games with a homer?  They going to get another couple on Saturday?

.................

Jemanji's Original Roto Law.  Draft for position scarcity.  Get you some bats at SS and 2B, and the entire game is as easy as a baby's smile.  Which is what Eric Wedge's looks like these days.  He's got the skin of a 5-year-old.  So lucky.

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July 20

Kyle Seager enters the game with 24 doubles, 16 homers, and a .492 slugging percentage.  (You remember that his swing percentage, and miss percentage, have gone way down and stayed down.  His improvement is anchored in his strike zone gains.)

He racked up 3.6 WAR last season ... this year he's got 3.8 WAR, so far.  I hadn't realized that he is #8 in WAR in the American League, had you?  The next two players below him:  Robison Cano and Dustin Pedroia, both of whom would score $150-200M contracts on the open market.

The kid is going to score MVP votes this season.

 

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Blog: 

Comments

1

In one month's time they've added to the middle of the diamond Zunino, Miller, Franklin and Ackley. That's what about 26 years of team control for 4 potentially excellent players. I just can't remember a team doing that before, any team. Adding just one of these type of players in a given year is something special but 4 in a month is truly remarkable and makes the M's future as potentially exciting as the Seahawks. The fact that they can follow up these moves with the likes of Taijan Walker, Danny Hultzen, et al is even cooler. Major props to Jackie Z and his staff. I love the M's are fun to watch again.

2

We have our young IF, same as those Dodgers of yore. Even if Smoak isn't real (I was very impressed with his homer last night, very. He guessed FB, got out ahead of the pitch he guessed up, and still kept the bat in the zone long enough to hammer it. It even looked like he got it some on the end of the bat. He got a pitch down, which helped immensely, but last year's Smoak would not have tatered there).
As I said yesterday. Extend Seager at the end of the season. He can not fail. Even if you extend him early, getting a bit of a discount, and his bat falls to 100 OPS, he's still a valuable 2B for someone, easily traded. But let's get him locked up.
Sometime in '15, you ink the DP kids to 6-7 years, too.
Doc, as you said, a whacking DP combo like Miller-Franklin makes the batting lineup pretty easy to figure out. You just don't have to hide bats. I'm not up to the saber-math, but somebody tell me how many runs Miller's bat has already been worth over your run-of-the-mill Ryan.
Basically, if Franlin-Miller-Zunino hit mostly like this, we're a 30+ homer bat from considerable offensive potency next year. Right now it is Raul. Is it Morse next year? Dunno, but finding that bat might not be too hard.
And Smoak is still the biggest surprise to me. I didn't see it at all. Mal has in right in the Shouts below. He's becoming a 1st pitch monster. I posted on that a while back. Check it out in B-R. If you don't let him get the 1st pitch in play and he's pedestrian. He's going to start seeing a diet of sliders, inside, on the initial pitch.
Find me a COF for next year. Who 'ya got? I wouldn't mind seeing Romero at some point, get a serious look. Bay and Chavez have served their purpose. That's enough of them....
Gimme Taijuan, ASAP, as well.
moe

3

It was well before my time, so I have no reference really.  Going forward, who is this team?  I mean, how many teams have a 3B / SS / 2B trio looking like 110 OPS+ players, or more - I mean how high could those three go? If Smoak is also now for real, our entire infield is full of offensive forces, except for catcher - oh, wait, isn't that what Zunino is supposed to grow into?
I mean, it looks like a Yankee lineup, except they'd get all those guys once they were on 200 million dollar contract.
The 2006 Yankees infield put up these OPS+ numbers: 134, 132, 126, 122, 72.  This version of the Ms so far with Miller and Franklin? 141, 141, 133, 124, 69.
And Zunino has some growth to get. *laughs* BTW, Ibanez at 146, Morse at 117 and Morales at 126 really makes us dangerous... for a couple more months.
Now, that ain't gonna stay, but seriously a basically free infield, all of whom are not just plus for their positions but plus amongst all players?  Yeesh.  I don't know who's ever had that - all club-controlled, young, plus bats.
Find an outfield and a third plus starter *cough*Taijuan*cough* and go win some pennants, I guess.  
~G
 

4

I do not know if it means anything, but I am surprised no one has mentioned it either...
Miller got his first 2 doubles in the same game... then later in the week gets his first two triples in the same game... and last night gets his first two homers in the same game.
That's just kinda cool to me.

5
tjm's picture

It's weird; this infield started playing together almost exactly 40 years after the Dodgers, who, by the way, waited longer than the M's. Lopes was 27 or 28. The others were all either 25 or about to be. Those Dodgers all had great careers once they got going, although it isn't obvious they had more skills. Cey is a very similar player to Seager, but Miller and Franklin both project as much better offensive players than their counterparts. Garvey was a converted 3B. He'd played one AAA game at first before his first start.

7

That's quite a stat.  Maybe one day we'll flip that same little type of factoid out there about Dustin Ackley and CF?
.........
That's very cool, hearing an old-timey Dodgers reporter* give the 2013 M's a pat on the back and a "go get 'em... you can do better."  Awesome post.
..........
When I was kidding about "pesky" hitters, I didn't take the time to mention that Garvey was the exception.... IIRC he started most of the All-Star games of the 1970's, right?
I'm curious.  You were probably aware of Garvey's clay feet long before the rest of us, no doubt?  That was a big thing for those of us who were kids in the 1970's.  As Pete Rose's were.

8
Jpax's picture

Looks like miller/franklin are what Z was trying to get at the top of the order with ichiro/figgins?

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