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Franklin as ROY? Why not.
Even Smoak seems to be coming around, that could be huge.
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In 2001m, an interviewer asked Desmond Tutu: "How do you remain optimistic in the light of all the problems in South Africa?" Tutu replied: "I am NOT an optimist. I have HOPE. I think that is far better."
You get it?
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In America, we noodle around trying to put the finishing touches on social justice. It's hip to manufacture outrage over social problems that -- in reality -- pale in comparison to what most human beings face. On Monday, July 8th, 2013, only 1 out of 25 babies in the world will be born in America. That American baby will grow up with the ability to choose her education, her spouse, the state she lives in, and her career. It's not that way in most places around the world.
As Dinesh D'Souza put it, even in the "free" country of India, if he'd remained there, he'd have grown up within a 5-mile radius of where he'd been born, would have married a woman with beliefs very similar to his mother's, have had a career very similar to his father's, and had his destiny chosen for him...
Desmond Tutu, however, faced real problems of racism and social justice. Despite living as a black man who was truly oppressed by whites, he chose to be happy. The key to that happiness was hope.
............
One of my life sensei's once told me that --- > everything a man does, he does because of hope.
He goes to work in hope of getting a paycheck - maybe one day a larger paycheck. He dials up a girl's phone number in hope of marrying her. He goes to a new restaurant in hope of finding a favorite place to spend his evenings. He goes to a baseball game in hope of seeing a perfect game thrown by the star pitcher.
He clicks on a website in hope of getting an info-taining read.
Everything meaningful that you do, you do because of hope.
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If you are watching Jeremy Bonderman, or Joe Saunders, or Aaron Harang, or Brendan Ryan, or Jason Bay, with the idea that "maybe these guys can win me a pennant," you are being a Pollyanna and are being a fool. You are electing to be cheerful and optimistic in a way that is out of contact with reality.
But if you are watching Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, Kyle Seager, Justin Smoak, and Mike Zunino with the idea that "maybe these guys can win me a pennant," you are exploiting the potent life force of HOPE, and it is making your life more enjoyable.
In Sunday's game, Eric Wedge batted the following players 1-5, and they also happen to be the five players who have played well the last 30 days:
| Player | AVG | OBP | SLG | OPS+ | WAR/155 |
| 1 Miller, ss | .200 | .314 | .400 | 102 |
3.4 |
| 2 Franklin, 2b | .290 | .324 | .470 | .123 |
3.6 |
| 3 Seager, 3b | .286 | .345 | .476 | 132 | 6.6 |
| 4 Ibanez, lf | .293 | .352 | .626 | 170 | 4.3 |
| 5 Smoak, 1b | .308 | .390 | .577 | 169 | 5.2 |
No other Mariner has more than 0.1 WAR the last month.
Around the horn in the infield, the Mariners have players who might win them their next pennant. With those four players, you've got every right to hope for something special in the second half; that's a very realistic possibility.
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The Western interviewer was befuddled as to why Tutu was not applying outrage and grievance to his station in life... hey, obviously, if somebody treats you unfairly, then you get mean. Until they correct it. Right?
In the Eastern hemisphere of this planet, the concept of "karma" predominates. Accept your lot in life, count your blessings, accept your problems. A certain ease and cheer is associated, but also there is a tendency toward a certain lack of ambition. (Tutu, of course, worked tirelessly and cheerfully to bring down apartheid.)
In the Western hemisphere, a culture of complaint and grievance predominates: lodge your complaints, demand improvement in your lot in life. A certain advancement in station is associated, but at often at the cost of a permanent sourness of disposition.
Which is the wiser orientation? It's a whale of a philosophical contest.
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I dunno whether it's hip to be enthused about Miller and Franklin. I do know that the function of baseball in my life is ---> escape fiction. (Outside baseball, I got real problemos...)
And it's rational to place hope in those particular kids. They got talent, man. We're talking about rooting for Nick Franklin, not Jeremy Bonderman.
SSI's goal isn't to paint the town pink. It's to find and emphasize the hope that is latent in the current baseball landscape. Thanks to Jack Zduriencik, it's not that hard to find.
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Comments
2
Given your wonderful teaser, I just gotta share a link to my song: "Hope"
http://www.reverbnation.com/sandyhemenway/song/14974235-hope
3
Hope is the soft underbelly of faith. It's how we get there. Leaps of faith are just that, leaps. But hope allows us to approach faith on our terms and with a bit of stealth. We sneak up on it a bit.
When I watch a Kurosawa or Spielberg movie for the first time, I no longer hope it will be interesting, I have well-placed faith that it will indeed.
On my favorite steelhead streams, I swing flies on runs that I have faith (through experience) will hold fish in certain water conditions.
Hope gets many of us to enter church or synagogue for the first time, seeking answers or peace that we hope can be found there. Faith in what we find there keeps us coming back.
My hope all year has been that the Mariners go with the kids, because those guys are the ones that well may bring us a pennant (right on, Doc). I hoped those kids panned out, once they got their chance.
I now have loads of faith in Franklin and Seager and Miller. I will hope, still, that this is the real Smoak. I'm not yet to faith on that. I've always said he will have his Kotchman season. I think/fear this is really that.
I have faith in Felix, Kuma, E-Ram and Walker. No hope needed there. I'm still in the hoping place about Hultzen, Paxton and Maurer. Each one, individually, is still a "hopeful" type of guy. But I have faith that one of them (or two) are real MLB starters-of-talent.
I've faith in Zunino as a MLB catcher. I'm hoping that Ackley comes back. Saunders scares me.
If a guy can get to faith that one of those guys is a real hitter next year, then we're one player short (CF or LF, assuming Morse plays RF) from a real competitive hunting the Wild Card type of team.
We've come a long way baby!
moe
4
I like your lines,
Hope is that small spark of sunshine in the dark; It knows somehow that joy will come again.
What was Gandhi's comment, that he was a man in the dark, seeking a light?
5
Teddy Ballgame, Bobby Knight, the most curmudgeonly guys around ... they NEVER got tired of the hope delivered by a steelhead stream ...
............
6
I like the comparison of this team with the '57 Pirates. The Pirates were horrendous all through the 50's (UGH!!), but they had two very good starters in Vern Law and Bob Friend. In '57 you see coming emergence of a couple of really good kids (2b - 20 year old Mazeroski, who actually hit 19 home runs the following year; RF - 22 year old Clemente), you have some interesting youngish talent: Bill Virdon at 26, Bob Skinner at 25, Dick Groat at 26. They had a veteran slugger named Frank Thomas they later packaged in a trade for some good pitching (Harvey Haddix) and a good hitting catcher (Smoky Burgess). The following year, they added a 25 year old slugger named Dick (Dr. Strangeglove) Stuart. In 1960, they shipped off a young Latin rookie player named Julian Javier (they already had Mazeroski) for Pitcher Vinegar Bend Mizell, giving them a strong 4 man rotation for the 1960 campaign.
In the years following the '57 sixty-two win season the kids and youngish vets kept improving. They won 84 in '58 and went 78-76 in '59 and by 1960, they captured the pennant and World Series (similar to Gordon's 2016 timeline for Mariner greatness). Meanwhile, a strong scouting system kept the Pirates in contention through the 60's and 70's as well with a continual flood of young talent, adding players like Willie Stargell, Gene Alley, Jerry May, Doc Ellis, Richie Hebner, Dave Cash, Bob Bailey, Manny Sanguillen. With some smart trades, and an continuation of our good scouting, we may be on our way there as well.
7
When I was a kid, the Pirates were sort of the "coolest" rivals to my Big Red Machine. To me, everything about the Pirates is cool -- the black colors, the nickname, the slashing players they've had. Shame they've been kind of forgotten.
1. What would bring the late 50's Pirates to your mind? You're younger than me, I think, and even Clemente was a bit before my time...
2. Any Clementes you see on the horizon here? :- )
8
I hope :-). Guess I'm on the Morbanwagon. Someone named Ivan (who said he was "older than dirt") brought up the 50's Pirates on a Lookout Landing thread. Talk about your suffering fans. Of course, the original Angels in the Outfield (1951) was about the Pirates. How exciting it must have been in Pittsburgh in 1960. I was three, but my mom, living in Milwaulkee, remembers shouting at the TV on Maz's homer in game 7.
Clemente's early numbers would not have excited anybody looking at them today. It really wasn't until 1960 that they started to look worthy of a future hall of famer. I'm hoping Morban can similarly surprise, although it looks like he strikes out too much.
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Clemente was a fulltime MLB player as a 20-year old. His Line? .255-.284-.382 w/77 OPS+. As a 22 year old he was .253-.288-.348 73 OPS+.
Nobody today would suggest that Clemente was better off in AA or AAA as a 20-year old. Those years helped build Clemente the Great.
Precocious talent (cough, cough, Taijuan, cough) needs to rise quickly....and get its shot. They will figure it out....or they aren't THAT good anyway.