Why the Seattle Mariners will sign Japanese Sensation Shohei Ohtani

A few days ago, Ken Rosenthal and MLB Network revealed the list of questions that Japanese Pitcher/Hitter Shohei Ohtani has for any organization in Major League Baseball that has any interest in signing him. Here are the questions, and here are my answers from a fans perspective. This is going to be a long one, but might be worth the read if you are interested in following the Ohtani Sweepstakes like I am.
“Evaluate Ohtani’s talent as a pitcher and as a hitter.”
Jerry Dipoto on his new podcast “The Wheelhouse” with Aaron Goldsmith stated that they wouldn’t by shy with throwing Cruz into the outfield 2 or 3 days a week in order to get Ohtani some at bats; so there’s no need for any further acknowledgment on whether or not the Seattle Mariners would allow and encourage Ohtani to both pitch and hit. As for evaluating his talent as both, Dipoto and other representatives for the Seattle Mariners have been scouting him for around a years worth of time according to Jerry Dipoto via The Wheelhouse Sports Blog, and have had serious interest and scouting that has lead to this moment of Ohtani declaring he will be coming to MLB in 2018. Serious evaluation has been made and it is clear Dipoto and the Mariners are serious about going after Shohei Ohtani and have stated they are pushing as hard as they can to convince him that Seattle is the place for him to play in.
“Explain your player development.”
Three words come to mind when asked how to explain our player development: Control The Zone.
This stems through not only the major league club, but throughout all minor leagues levels and ball clubs and international clubs as well. “Control The Zone” is simply a motto taken into action in regards to coaches and players doing their best to “control the zone”, both from a hitters AND pitchers standpoint. Given Ohtani is talented as both a pitcher and hitter himself, he not only fits into the Control The Zone philosophy that we the Mariners have, but fully embodies the philosophy as a player as whole on the field, and especially from the mental aspect. But you may be thinking this sounds great and all, but ask “does it work?” The answer is a resounding yes. When Jerry Dipoto, the General Manager and President of Baseball Operations for the Seattle Mariners took over on September 28th, 2015, he knew immediately what he wanted to do and how to do it in regards of making the Mariners a better playing baseball team from top to bottom in multiple facets. Within one full season, the major league team and ALL minor league teams displayed improvement, and the proof is in the fact every minor league team except for one made the post season in their league and two of them won the championship. More proof is individual players stats improving and so far sustaining their success since Dipoto & Co. took over a little over 2 years ago. The greatest part about this is the fact Ohtani embodies all of this, all at the young age of 23 with years to improve; and improve he would under the Control The Zone approach the Seattle Mariners organization incorporates throughout its system.
“Medical training and player-performance philosophies.”
In regards to player-performance philosophies, the answer to the previous question goes in depth about that philosophy, “Control The Zone”. In regards to medical training, look no further than the Mariners hiring the first ever Director of High Performance and its leader Lorena Martin. Dr. Martin has Masters Degree in Sports Psychology and has previously worked as the Director of Sports Performance Analytics for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association. She was also a Sports Science Evaluator and Consultant for Ripken Baseball, a Sports Psychology Coach for Athletic Mental Performance, Inc., and the Lead Statistician for the Kaweah Delta Hospital District. Her educational background began with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology, and minors in Spanish and Leadership from the University of Miami. She then went on to get her Master of Science from Nova Southeastern University, returned to U of Miami for her PhD in Exercise Physiology, and completed her postdoctoral research fellowship in Preventive Medicine at the University of California San Diego, where she earned three post-doctorates in GIS spatial analysis, biostatistics, and epidemiology. She is committed to bringing all of the Mariners physical/nutritional health and more into one department and make modern day advancements on how to improve and sustain player health. The Mariners could definitely use this as multiple players went on the disabled list multiple times; though not at fault of the coaching or training staff, but a combination of bad luck and some lack of personal dependability to keep yourself healthy and ready for game day. Dr. Martin and her staff will ensure players are both mentally and physically prepared for the season and each individual game, and believe this would greatly benefit Ohtani as he will be a multi-talent player if he were to join the Seattle Mariners.
“Description of minor league and spring training facilities.”
Aside from referring to the Control The Zone philosophy/approach the Mariners have incorporated into their minor league system and throughout spring training and the rest of the season, we would also mention the fact that these teams are located around the country, as well as a Dominican Republic affiliate. Our spring training facility is located in Peoria, Arizona and is shared with the San Diego Padres. As soon as you arrive you will get the feel for the sport of baseball as well as the feel of a perfect hot midsummer day to play baseball. We work hard over the 6 weeks the team is down there preparing for the quickly approaching season, and make sure all of our players feel welcome and appreciated for their efforts and poise while at the same time taking things seriously as the Mariners hope for another chance at a post season and World Series appearance.
“Resources for Ohtani’s cultural assimilation into their city.”
Firstly, we’d like to list the plethora of Japanese players that have come to Seattle over the last 2 decades in the likes of: Ichiro Suzuki, Kazuhiro Sasaki, Norichka Aoki, Munenori Kawasaki, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and others. Most, if not all have received not only a warm welcome by the Seattle Mariners organization and its fanbase, but have enjoyed their time and stay in a Seattle Mariners uniform and living in and around the city of Seattle, which has a rich Japanese culture throughout it, especially within the Mariners Organization, including having been owned by Nintendo.
“Vision for how Ohtani could integrate into the organization.”
Many clubs, including the Seattle Mariners believe Ohtani is an immediate impact player in the fact he would slide into the rotation immediately and in some cases the DH slot, or possibly in the field of Ohtani is open to it. Jerry Dipoto has been open to the idea of slotting current DH Nelson Cruz into the outfield two or three days a week in order to give Ohtani at bats on his days off from pitching. He does not need to be assigned to AAA Tacoma, as stated before, he will fit into the 25-Man roster immediately and be given more than one role in the field. He will bolster a currently weak back end of the rotation and be paired with another top arm, then bolstering the entire rotation. He can give the lineup much flexibility as when he is DHing, Nelson Cruz could get a day in right field or even the day off and have Ben Gamel or Guillermo Heredia play in right for a day a week. We believe Ohtani would directly effect the Seattle Mariners roster and daily approaches and strategies in how we manage a baseball game.
“Tell Ohtani why their team is a desirable place to play.”
Not only is Seattle a beautiful city with the best ballpark in the world to play in, but bigger named stars have been more prone to sign with the Mariners than in some years ago when the may have been reluctant to. The likes of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, Jean Segura, Kyle Seager, and others have signed with or extended their contracts in order to play baseball in Seattle long term. One such star was Ichiro Suzuki, who signed in 2001 and signed two contract extensions during his time in Seattle before getting traded in 2012. He played and enjoyed his time in Seattle for over 11 years, along side other Japanese players like Kazuhiro Sasaki, Shigetoshi Hasegawa, and Munenori Kawasaki. So not only would current and former Mariner players speak kindly and in favor of playing in Seattle, but so would the Japanese players that have played here over the years. And not only that, but it’s just across the ocean from Japan and has a strong Japanese culture that Ohtani would fit right into.
So after listing all of these things off the top of my head (took me about a day to do so), it looks like we should have a fairly strong advantage in signing Shohei Ohtani. Most, if not all of these questions are right up the Mariners and city of Seattle alley and essentially scream to Ohtani that these are all key fits for him in Seattle. The more I think about it, the more I begin to think...
The Seattle Mariners are going to land Shohei Ohtani.

Ryon Healy: The Newest Seattle Mariner

I meant to post earlier this week but I had a job interview the day the trade was finalized.

Well... the Mariners General Manager Jerry DiPoto didn't wait long...he's doing his job. I really love this move of acquiring first baseman Ryon Healy. He is a younger version of Logan Morrison, who incidentally is a free agent and looking for @ $10-20 mil long term deal. Some experts thought that the Mariners might try to bring him back, as he was with the Mariners in 2014 & 2015. But with this young man from Oakland, they get a 25 year old with a $500,000 contract who had a good season last year (25 Home Runs, .270 batting average), his first full year in the majors. It looks like he is Danny Valencia (who Healy replaced in Oakland, ironically) at the very least, and Healy is a possible budding star for years to come. He also played 3rd base and 1st base, so it gives the Mariners some flexibility and a possible rest day for regular third baseman Kyle Seager against a tough Left handed pitcher. But the best part? For once in my lifetime the Mariners aren't paying millions for someone on the downswing portion of their career. The team upgrades without spending free agent dollars, and frees up payroll to spend in other areas (pitching and outfield help).

Having said that, I really liked Emilio Pagan as well, and I'm sure Seattle hated to give him up in the deal. He really did well last year and was arguably the Mariners best reliever the last two months of the season with a lot of upside left in the tank. But you are NOT going to get a player with the talent that Healy possesses for nothing, The only reason he was even available, was that the Oakland Athletics has a log-jam at 1B-3B-DH with their new top prospects needing to play there who they consider ready to go and future stars themselves.
There of course is risk in any move, and we all know Seattle's god awful track record (Please don't make me mention Jason Varitek again...), but I LOVE THIS MOVE and sure didn't see it coming.... NO ONE expected this. By the way, Oakland fans are quite angry, trading away arguably their best full-time player for a part-time pitcher.
THE 3 BASIC POSITIVES:
1) The Seattle Mariners got way younger at a position of need with a legitimately good young player, with MLB experience (unlike Daniel Vogelbach, who has been disappointing to put it mildly)
2) They didn't constrict themselves with another long term over-pay contract (examples: Robby Cano & Felix Hernandez)
3) The Mariners traded away from their one area of depth, if not strength, which albeit has some inconsistency. But, they still have Edwin Diaz, Nick Vincent, Dan Altavilla, Tony Zych, David Phelps and Shae Simmons (the last 3 here all battled injury last year, but when healthy have been fairly effective). They also have young talent in that area that is trending upward. A prime example would be Art Warren, who is pitching well in the Arizona Fall League at the time of this blog entry.
THE LONE NEGATIVE [for my stepdad]:

He went to College at the University of Oregon. That's it.

The San Diego Padres: A Dynasty in the Making

Padres GM A.J. Preller

If you haven't noticed, San Diego Padres General Manager A.J. Preller is building a dynasty from the ground up in San Diego. I have the utmost respect for this man, as he is a genius. He has been a busy man ever since he took over the Padres GM job in late 2014. For starters, in 2015, he got rid of the majority of his predecessor's [the rather ignorant Josh Byrnes] top minor league players [i.e. Trea Turner & Mallex Smith], which is usually a big no-no. Preller, most notably, acquired Matt Kemp [whose career has been in steep decline since he was traded from San Diego to Atlanta in 2016], Justin Upton [who eventually signed with the Detroit Tigers after the 2015 season concluded] & Wil Myers, who is still with the Padres & is one of the team's star players. But the most incredible part of this is, A.J. Preller kept the most talented young players he had inherited from Josh Byrnes's rather forgettable time in America's Finest City. Those players are catcher Austin Hedges, right fielder Hunter Renfroe & infielder/outfielder Cory Spangenberg. Also, in two separate trades just 7 months apart, A.J. Preller swindled the Boston Red Sox out of center fielder Manny Margot [who projects to be worth 1.7 more victories than what the Atlanta Braves got out of Kemp in 2017], infielder Carlos Asuaje [who looks like a very excellent utility player], shortstop Javier Guerra [who is an outstanding defensive player], starting pitcher Anderson Espinoza [who, according to a vast majority of baseball scouts, is the second coming of Hall-of-Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez] in exchange for closing pitcher Craig Kimbrel & starting pitcher Drew Pomeranz. Not only that, but Preller also tricked the Chicago White Sox into giving up Fernando Tatis Jr., the son of former MLB player Fernando Tatis, in exchange for declining, overpriced starting pitcher James Shields.

But, in my opinion, the Padres do not have enough pitching. Wait, scratch that, they do but those pitchers aren't ready to pitch in the Major Leagues...yet. But there is one pitcher who is possibly ready...Anderson Espinoza.

So, expect the San Diego Padres to reach, at best, 75-81 wins in 2018, but DON'T expect them to reach the playoffs, as they do not have enough reliable pitching... yet. But instead look ahead to 2019, where the Padres will be a legitimate playoff contender for the 1st time in years and, after 2019, they will be contenders for years afterwards. It will be worth the wait for San Diego fans, as their baseball franchise hasn't made the playoffs since the 2006 season.

Of course that's just my opinion, I could be wrong.

A Quick Thought on the Late, Great Roy Halladay

Rest in Peace Roy Halladay

4-7, 10.64 ERA
That as much as anything defined Roy Halladay to me. The worst ERA by a 10-start pitcher in 105 years. Should have ended his career. Instead, he didn't take his talent for granted and worked his way to a Cy Young Award a couple of years later.
I remember seeing highlights of his second major league start on YouTube recently: 9 innings, 1 hit, no walks, 8 Stirkeoutss against the Detroit Tigers. He looked like a Hall of Famer then. Pure talent. Untouchable. Who knew it would be the same pitcher who was getting slaughtered two years later?

As I said, he could have disappeared, another bust, another could-have-been. Instead he stopped throwing and learned how to pitch. Back in the Majors the next year, all-star the following, and then his first Cy Young after that.
It's hard to accept that he won't work his way back from the plane crash with the same vengeance.

The thing that stuck with me the most about Roy Halladay was his incredible work ethic: In 2011, an earthquake struck the city of Philadelphia. But this didn't stop him from doing his morning exercise routine around the ballpark, where he was scheduled to pitch that night.

Players of the Past: Rickey Henderson [Revised Edition]

For the people who follow this blog, I am sorry I may have kept you guys waiting longer than Jay Buhner's barber appointment, but a new blog entry is finally here! Well... sort of... it's a revised edition of my August 2016 entry about Rickey Henderson from my Players of the Past featurette that I do occasionally on this blog.

"Lou, this is Rickey calling on behalf of Rickey. Rickey wants to play baseball." -
Rickey Henderson, on a voicemail left for Mariners Manager Lou Piniella after Rickey signed with the Seattle Mariners in 2000

The 1st time I saw Rickey Henderson was when he played for the Seattle Mariners [in 2000]. At that point in his career [at age 41], he was already the All-Time Leader in Stolen Bases with over 1,000, he had 79 career Leadoff Homeruns [the 2nd closest is Brady Anderson, with 43 & he retired the year BEFORE Rickey did!]. Those credentials cannot be denied. Nobody in the history of Major League Baseball could drive a pitcher more crazy than Rickey Henderson could. For instance if Rickey reached 1st base via a base hit or getting hit by a pitch, he'd steal 2nd base on the next pitch & steal 3rd on the next one! I think he stole 3rd base more often than anybody in the history of Major League Baseball! He was just an incredible athlete.  He played not only with the Mariners, but for the A's, the Yankees, the Padres, Angels, the Blue Jays, the Dodgers, the Red Sox & the Mets. But ,of course, Rickey's best years came in the 1980's with Oakland Athletics & the New York Yankees. He was, in my opinion, the BEST all-around player to play baseball in the 1980's. He won outstanding fielding awards, he won Most Valuable Player awards, he stole at least 100 bases from 1982-1984, he was an All-Star. He also won the 1989 & 1993 World Series with the A's & Blue Jays respectively. But the reason why Rickey played for so many teams was because of his personality. For example, when he played for the A's, the owner was Charlie Finley, a man famous for not paying baseball players, traded Rickey to the Yankees even though Rickey had said he wanted to remain in Oakland long-term [because he was a local product from the Bay Area] in exchange for a little bit more cash to put into his savings account, his proposed contract was for "only" $3,000,000 per season for seven years which, per season was $2,438,000 more than what he made in his first 6 years in Oakland combined! The A's had plenty of money but they traded him to the Yankees anyway, who also had an idiotic owner in George Steinbrenner. But, in the middle of the 1989 season, Rickey was traded BACK TO OAKLAND because of guess what? A contract dispute with the Yankees ownership! But in 1993, the A's couldn't meet Rickey's contract request so traded him to Toronto where he won the World Series with the Blue Jays!

But one of my favorite stories of Rickey was when he signed with the Mariners in May of 2000, he had this conversation with John Olerud and I swear to you this is true:

Rickey: Rickey had this teammate in Toronto seven years ago, he always wore a helmet when he was on the field and...

Olerud: Uh, Rickey? That was me...

Let's Play a Game!

There is a party game called "The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon". If you don't know what that is, the game rests on the assumption that anyone involved in the Hollywood film industry can be linked through their film roles to legendary Hollywood film actor Kevin Bacon within six steps. The game requires a group of players to try to connect any such individual to Kevin Bacon as quickly as possible and in as few links as possible. I was wondering if there was a baseball equivalent to this and this being the internet, there is! But there are more than six steps in mine. Why is that? It's because I like being different!


Anyway, for the purposes of this entry, I will use former MLB pitcher Jamie Moyer in place of Kevin Bacon.


In Jamie Moyer’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he beat Steve Carlton.
In Steve Carlton’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he relieved Bob Gibson (well, Gibson started the game).
In Bob Gibson’s first game as a Major leaguer, Stan Musial got two hits.
In Stan Musial’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he got two hits off Jimmy Tobin.
In Jimmy Tobin’s first game as a Major Leaguer, Paul Waner got two hits.
In Paul Waner’s first game as a Major Leaguer, he walked against Flint Rhem.
In 1924 Flint Rhem — who had thrown a no-hitter in the Western League — was brought to the big leagues by Branch Rickey.
Branch Rickey’s first big signing was George Sisler.
In George Sisler’s first season, he was teammates with Bobby Wallace.
Bobby Wallace played his early years for the Cleveland Spiders. His most prominent teammate was Cy Young.

But, wait! There's more!

Here is another way to link Jamie Moyer with Cy Young...

Jamie Moyer was teammates with Ron Cey
Ron Cey was teammates with Hoyt Wilhelm
Hoyt Wilhelm was teammates with Bob Elliott
Bob Elliott was teammates with Paul Waner
Paul Waner was teammates with Joe Bush
Joe Bush was teammates with Tris Speaker
Tris Speaker was teammates with Cy Young


What do you think?

What a heartless team/franchise!

2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2015, 2016, and now this year, 2017. These are all years of which I was confident and hyped up before the season or by at least July 1st of said season. They show potential, play great baseball when they're on, but when they aren't on, every single time they are more than just off. They suck. Every god forsaken year this happens. Here is a timeline from 2004 to 2017.
Bill Bavasi/Mike Hargrove. They were spitting talent out left and right and had everything going for them. Then Ownership sided with this selfish prick named Ichiro instead of Hargrove, our last proven Major League Manager, and Hargrove flipped the bird to this franchise and left. I can't really blame him either, we traded all our talent away and sank. Typical Mariners.
Jack Zduriencik/Don Wakamatsu, Eric Wedge, & Lloyd McClendon. Wak was fine, but Jack Z was a massive Piece of shit. He wanted things his way and only his way, and his way was absolutely terrible all the way around. He fired Wakamatsu, ownership sided with him and his failures and fired Wedge, and then got away with a fluke season in 2014. 2015 brought us all back down to earth, both Lloyd and Jack were fired. 7 years wasted, not a single playoff game to show for it. Typical Mariners.
Jerry Dipoto/Scott Servais. Dipoto is amazing, I will give him that all day, everyday. But, the flip side of that coin, Servais is a Courtney Love-level mess one day, then respectable the next day, then downright craptastic the day after. I'm tired of it. Last year, down seasons for players like Nori Aoki, Adam Lind, Nathan Karns, Wade Miley, and other plagued us. This year, injuries and stupid baseball playing has plagued us. I don't care how great of a scout, director, or assistant GM Servais was in Texas and Anaheim, he is not fit for field managing, and our play is showing just that. Many players will refuse to nut up, as well as coaches and the manager.
We just got swept, at home, to the worst team in all of baseball, the Philadelphia Phillies. They SUCK on the road, yet they came here, kicked our ass, and made an embarrassment out of us. Another year where if we could just get out of our own heads and where if our manager wasn't so damn terrible, we'd most likely be a post season team.
But no, once again something has to be wrong when it doesn't have to be. So many things that have gone wrong this year have been avoidable, like being in our own heads and downright sucking. Slumps happen, but not like this. This team is great for 10 days and can beat anybody in the league, then for 11 days they can't beat the most simplest of teams to beat.
It's sad, it's disappointing. It's annoying, it's frustrating. For far too long I have put up with mediocre play year after year after year after year after year. Frankly, I am goddamn sick of it. Some days I absolutely hate being a baseball fan, today is one of those days.
But don't worry, we'll come out of July at .500 due to some nice winning streak, go through August playing "solid .500 ball", make a run through the end in September and come up just a little bit short. If you like that sort of thing then good for you. I quite frankly am sick of it, and I find it unacceptable that we are not a playoff team. I hope to be wrong and that we go on this miracle run and make the post season, but as of now that does not seem anywhere close to likely happen.
Seattle Mariners, you suck. You really, really suck.