At the very least I wasn't trying to be, and after reading it again, I realize that I overstepped the bounds of friendly discussion (accidentally). I apologize that it came out that way.
To the discussion; the rate stat used was K/9, which I think is inferior to % of Batters struck out (which, like I said, shows the Mariners much closer to the pack on Ks), and when you were making your point about how inferior the Mariners' approach of amping up the fastball use is, you referred to their grand total of strike outs being much lower than the rest of the pack and barely better than the Indians. I don't understand how your issue with the pitchers' repertoire isn't eventually about results.
Once again though, your larger point: that the increased use of fastballs that seems to be in the organizational zietgeist is eroding the meager ceiling of pitchers like Luke French, Doug Fister, and Ian Snell. I am disagreeing on that point. Honestly, I thought we were mostly of the opinion that French and Snell were beyond fixing by mere pitch selection. Doug Fister though, actually saw his results improve against left handed batting while remaining consistent against right handers despite (and who knows, perhaps because of) an increased fastball usage between '09 and '10.
With pitchers at this level of ability, what's the upside on the strike outs? What if the extra strike outs come hand in hand with more walks, or more meatball change ups and curveballs that drift out over the center of the zone?
And I believe you already mentioned this, but Doug Fister and Luke French are really about it for the guys throwing more fastballs than they (perhaps) should. Noodle arms Vargas, Sweeney, Rowland-Smith, and Pauley all came in below 60% on their fastball usage. I think the Mariners are mostly just looking for what works.
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