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What happens when a 75win team cuts payroll while missing on every blockbuster they tried?
Expecting 80 wins sounds somewhat fair, but if one thing is enough to evaluate a GM's performance we could just as easily focus on the farm (solid A grade?) Plan A and a failure to look at plan b? Wasn't Hamilton or Upton in that plan A or plan A/B respectively? I see several upgrades made that seem to have been plan B at best andmost of them are positive assets now. Failure to hit on plan A hasn't stopped Z from improvements.
Montero is 23. Not enough info to instill a little patience? 23 year old working at catching in the show. We're talking about 101 AB...last years .260/.296/.386, while not being All-Star level, isn't floundering. I do understand asking about his coaching at this point but beyond that what should we really expect?
Ackley is old enough to be a bit more worried. 2 years older with an additional 469 MLB PA...he's still only had 2119 pro PA though, 1203 in the AL. Beyond that I just don't understand how he could not put it together. Anything can happen.
Smoak is the oldest at 26 and appears to have put something together as he cleared 1500 MLB PA early this season. It's not stellar either, but his MilB stats never seemed to profile All-Star in my opinion anyway. He's looking like a positive player now.
I like the idea of trying out Franklin and Zunino when they're ready. How unfortunate that the closest 2 position prospects happen to be at those positions...Zunino isn't ready now, so why is Franklin pounding AAA when we need more offense in our MIF? A bit of Franklin at SS and some at 2nd seems so obvious. Feed Andino to the woodchipper and bring up Franklin. I know I'm far from the first to say it, but what this team needs most seems like it might be working on promotion in AAA. A #5 that will keep the team in most of their games and a couple of "gamer" position players with bats at our worst present offensive positions. Harang, Andino and Shoppach can be the ones to go when those respective moves are made because Zunino can coexist with Montero and Franklin, Ackley and Ryan can split 2b/SS PA until further review. Franklin up on the off day would be nice to see.
That pitching spot is more guesswork in my view. Do you want Bonderman, Noesi, Carraway or Beaven while waiting for Hultzen, Ramirez and Paxton or maybe even Walker to be healthy and ready?
Our 3 biggest present problems (Back of Rotation, Middle Infield offense and Catcher defense) don't seem to be long term needs. They are the 3 spots we have the most likely close to show prospects. When to move on each is the question. Franklin and a SP ASAP, Zunino and the higher upside pitchers need to show something more right now so waiting is the only option that seems reasonable.
That the team had too many OF was considered intellectually unsound by most and yet seems to have been wise in hindsight. Morse and Guti both had injury histories that made them both going down simultaneously a foreseeable possibility. It was only that Saunders went down as well that an outside piece was needed. Was it all foresight? I mean, the 3 Mariners weakness' are all things that are covered with high minors prospects. The other holes appear to mainly be plugged. I've got nothing against what Z has done and couldn't grade him lower than B- overall. What this front office did with the minors in 4 years is almost an automatic B in my book, it's nearly unprecedented in MLB history. Acquisitions that can be fully graded (or going off of impressions at the time) are on the + side during his tenure even with a blunder or 2. Very few people had anything bad to say about the Figgins acquisition at the time and nobody thought his downfall was more than slightly possible.
Boohoo about Fister and Morse, (Vargas and Jaso? pretty happy with those deals, thanks) ...Gutierrez, Jaso, Vargas, Morse, Morales, Lee acquisition and dump, Iwakuma twice, Felix contracts and those are just the regulars. Half the current bullpen.
Zduriencik has only improved the MLB product by wins every year since the last 101 loss season. His 2nd year was a step back, otherwise wins have risen. If things continue like this, they will keep improving. This is not failing and floundering as we're used to in Seattle, that's going on in Toronto if you're confused by the difference. This is a team that has been hauled up to a couple pieces from competition and those pieces may be a mere few months away...Why are we even discussing dumping the architect? The building is coming along the way I see it.