The Seattle Mariners have hired Don Wakamatsu as their next manger. Wakamatsu was a coach for the Oakland Athletics last year and is very familar with the Western Division. He also spent four seasons as the bench coach for Buck Showalter down in Arlington.

Wakamatsu is the first Asian-American manager in Major League history, and he’s the first significant hire in the new era of general manager Jack Zduriencik. “I welcome the challenge here to bring a world championship to Seattle and the fans of the Seattle Mariners,” said Wakamatsu, after being introduced by a giddy Zduriencik and holding up his new jersey with the No. 16.

Wakamatsu said that communication and leadership will be key and he hopes that it carries over to the team.

Time will tell if this was a good hire for the Mariners, but what does everyone thing? Leave us a comment and let us know your opinion if you want.

Silva to DL after league-leading 14th loss

In the past few days in Mariner Land, we saw a major league record tying four wild-pitches in one inning by R.A. Dickey, the shaky debut of Ryan Feierabend, and three-game sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.  Raul Ibanez continues to give us something to cheer about, and really is strengthening his case for a extension.  And struggling, whining, over-paid Mariner Carlos Silva has been placed on the 15-day DL.

In the first game of the series against Minnesota, the M’s had the unfortunate task of facing a rejuvenated Francisco Lariano.  Lariano (3-3) pitched seven frames allowing only two hits while striking out five batters.  Silva’s performance was embarrassing to say the least, especially against his former team.  Silva was shelled (again) for nine runs on nine hits in 3.1 innings, and now owns the major league lead for losses with 14.  Jason Kubel went 3-for-4 with a home-run and 3 RBIs to pace the Twins to the 9-3 victory.

The M’s dropped Game 2 in a hard fought game 7-6 on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 9th by Brian Buscher scoring Joe Mauer.  Losing 5-0, Seattle put together a six-run sixth inning to actually take back the lead before losing it late.  Mauer also homered in the game.  Ryan Rowland-Smith was hit hard for his second straight start allowing five runs on ten hits, in five innings. Ichiro Suzuki and Jeff Clement picked up two RBIs on the day to lead the Mariner offense. 

In Game 3, it was the Jason Kubel show again as he went off with a 4-for-5 day with two doubles, totalling four runs and two RBIs.  The game was a slug-fest much like the recent series in Seattle and runs definitely weren’t at a premium, but Minnesota came out on top 11-8.  Ibanez continued to massacre Twins pitching as he went 5-for-5 with two doubles, one run and one RBI.  Adrian Beltre, Wladimir Balentien, and Kenji Johjima went yard for Seattle, but the Feierabend and Dickey before mentioned pitching performance ultimately let them down.

The Mariners begin a three-game set in the South Side of Chicago against Ken Griffey Jr. and the Chicago White Sox. Jarrod Washburn vs. Mark Buehrle will be the Game 1 match-up.

Earlier in the season, the Mariner offense was wasting a strong number of quality pitching outings especially from the relief staff, now it appears the offense has heated up with the Summer sun, and the pitching is awful.  I guess that is what makes you a last place team.

M’s Manager Jim Riggleman: “”If it’s not one thing, it’s another” 

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We learned that Seattle just plain isn’t good enough to hang with the big boys over their recent four-game set with the Rays over the weekend.  After taking Game 1, the Rays snatched back the next three and took their “mojo” back.  We all know by now as Mariner fans about the post-game rant by “The Chief” Carlos Silva.  The only good thing about his rant is that at least he showed that he cared.  Other than that it was completely ridiculous.  He is having an awful season and threw his teammates under the bus.  You didn’t see his teammates say that he sucked all year.  Silva’s ERA currently stands at 5.93.  The M’s lost Fridays game 5-3.  Wladimir Balentien hit his 5th home-run of the season in the ballgame.

On Saturday the Mariners got Ryan Rowland-Smith back into the rotation and optioned Jared Wells back to Tacoma.  Rowland-Smith wasn’t great, but wasn’t bad either pitching 5.2 innings allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out five.  A bad sixth inning and bullpen woes got him a no decision before good old Miguel Batista got the loss.  It was the result of an 11th inning Dioner Navarro sacrifice fly scoring Ben Zobrist to win it for Tampa 8-7.  Ichiro Suzuki had a great day at the plate going 4-for-6 with a home-run and 3 RBIs.  It appears in this ballgame that the M’s lost Willie Bloomquist to a potentially season ending hamstring injury to make matters worse.

Sunday’s contest was a 11-3 bashing by Tampa over the M’s.  For Tampa it was their franchise-record 71st win of the season.  Jose Lopez hit his 10th home-run of the season on the day.  Tampa got great days at the dish by Willy Aybar (2-for-5, 4 RBIs), Eric Hinske (3-for-5, 3 Runs), and Cliff Floyd (3-for-4, 2 runs, RBI).  Catcher Shawn Riggans hit a three run home-run as well.  R.A. Dickey got lit up for eight runs in five innings of work.  The M’s recalled Tug Hulett from Tacoma as they placed Bloomquist on the 15-day DL.

The last bit of Mariner news to report from over the weekend was the Saturday start by Brandon Morrow for Tacoma.  Morrow got hit hard throwing 51 pitches over 2.2 innings.  Brandon allowed three runs on five hits walking two and striking out two.  Lets not overreact to his rough outing, he pitched in a hitters haven and he is still adjusting to pitching as a starter.

Some Rumors not confirmed by Seattle, but confirmed by others….

Peter Gammons of ESPN reported that the Mariners placed Raul Ibanez on waivers over the weekend.  Nobody else is reporting this but I feel Gammons is more than a reliable source.  There is talk the Rays would pick up the claim, but that the Red Sox would block it much like they did as with Brian Giles.

There also was a report by the Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times that Jarrod Washburn has already cleared through waivers.  Problem is nobody else is reporting it.  Other sources are saying that he is still in the process and we should find out if any team made a claim sometime in the next 24-hours.  An interesting thing to think about is that if Washburn is traded to an American League squad, they have first crack at any player coming back through waivers to them in a trade because they own the worst record in the AL.

There is much going on in Mariner Land…too bad there is no focus left on the team in the field.

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Outfielder Wladimir Balentien brought up from Tacoma 

Wednesday August 6, 2008 - The youth movement of the Tacoma (ahemm) Seattle Mariners continued today as the team optioned DH Jose Vidro for assignment, and recalled outfielder Wladimir Balentien back to the big leagues.

Seattle Mariner fans will be sad to lose their biggest whipping boy in Vidro as he has had a poor 2008 season.   Jose batted .234 with seven homers and 45 RBIs in 85 games this season for Seattle.  The M’s have 10 days to release, trade, option, or assign Vidro outright to the Minors.

Wlad got the call up in Vidro’s place to begin his second stint with the Mariners this season.  Balentien hit .196 with four home-runs and 9 RBI’s in 32 games earlier in the season.  Many including myself thought they should have let him ride his struggles out, but the team returned him to Tacoma.  Balentien struggled a little when sent down, but has gotten hot batting .270 with 12 home-runs and 35 RBIs in 44 games.

The Mariners lineup is now loaded with Rainiers as Jeff Clement, Bryan LaHair, and Balentien are all up with the big team.  Not to mention half of their pitching staff was down there at some point.  Its good to see the Mariners getting these guys up earlier before the rosters expand so they can see them against better competition before September.

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Hard throwing righty to start tonight for Tacoma

Wednesday August 6, 2008 - After a whole season of uncertainty when it came to the prospect of Brandon Morrow throwing as a starter, yesterday it finally came to fruition as the Mariners optioned him to Tacoma to start tonight’s game.  Morrow is expected to throw somewhere in the range of 35 pitches to begin stretching his arm out.  The Mariners did the same Ryan Rowland-Smith recently and after a few weeks Rowland-Smith has been throwing in the six inning range.  The Mariners hope to use Morrow with the big club by the end of the season if all goes well.

To take the place of Morrow, the M’s called up Tacoma closer Jared Wells.  Wells has pitched well picking up nine saves for the Rainiers.  The move allows J.J. Putz to resume his duties as the full-time closer.

The intersting scenario for Seattle will be when Rowland-Smith and Morrow are ready to start, who will come out of the rotation? Not just for this season, but for 2009. 

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Saturday August 2, 2008 

With Thursday’s trade of reliever Arthur Rhodes to the Florida Marlins, the Mariners have played the last two games with only 24 players on their active 25 man roster. Today that changed when they recalled Jake Woods from Triple-A Tacoma. Woods, 26, has pitched 32 games this season for Tacoma going 6-1 with a 4.08 ERA. He will be used as a lefty reliever out of the bullpen. Woods is also capable of being used as a spot starter.

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Thursday July 31, 2008

The trade deadline came and went on Thursday and the Mariners made one small but expected move dealing left-handed relief man Arthur Rhodes to the Florida Marlins in exchange for minor league pitcher Gaby Hernandez. 

The bigger story on the day was the moves the Mariners “didn’t” make.  GM Lee Pelekoudis stated earlier in the week that his team was not in salary dump mode, and he would only make moves that made his team better.  So..one would believe that today the right deal was not there.  I would expect to see Jarrod Washburn be placed on waivers at some point and potentially moved in a waiver deal. 

The big decision on the day was Raul Ibanez.  The M’s ultimately decided by keeping Ibanez that they value the two draft picks they would receive as compensation better than any offer another club made.  The M’s would receive those two picks if Ibanez departs via free agency as a type-A free agent after the 2008 season.  I also think the Mariners chose to play it safe because they want the teams 2009 general manager to make the decisions on some of their personnel.  Good call in my opinion.

Back to Gaby Hernandez.  Hernandez 22, was a third-round pick by the New York Mets in 2004.  He was acquired by the Marlins before the 2006 season in the Paul LaDuca trade.  Gaby actually had a shot at the number 5 starter spot in spring training for Florida this season before getting sent down to Triple-A  Albuquerque late.  Hernandez struggled early in the season going 2-8 with a 7.24 ERA in 13 starts.  He then spent a month on the DL with an oblique injury before coming back at the Double-A level to get back on track.  Since then he has posted a 3-0 record.

Scouts say Hernandez throws a low to mid 90’s fastball, an average to above average breaking ball, and an above average change.  At the still young age of 22, some think Hernandez maybe be ready to pitch in the big leagues in some capacity as early as 2009.

Mariners Blog

Wednesday July 30, 2008

Mariners VP and GM Lee Pelekoudas announced today that the team has claimed RHP Luis Munoz off of waivers from the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Munoz was added to the 40-man roster and was optioned to Double-A West Tennessee. “One of our scouts saw him and liked him a little bit, so we thought it made sense to add him to our inventory,” Pelekoudas said. “It is a low-cost, low-risk addition to our group of minor league arms.”

 Munoz, 26, was designated for assignment by Pittsburgh on July 27. The righty put up a 4-7 record with a 6.03 ERA in 20 games,  starting 19 between triple-A Indianapolis and double-A Altoona. 

The righty has spent his entire eight year career in the Pirates organization going 41-32.  In 2007 he led all Pirate minor leaguers with 14 wins.  He has no major league pitching experience.

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Game 2 Saturday July 26, 2008

Jays 8, Mariners 3

On the strength of two home runs by Alex Rios off of R.A. Dickey and another strong day from Joe Inglett, the Jays handed Seattle their seventh straight loss Saturday in a 8-3 win.

Rios, hit solo shots in the 1st and 5th, and added a sacrifice fly in the 6thto finish the day with three RBI’s.  Inglettwas his normal pesky self going 3-for-4 with two RBI’s.  Two of Inglett’s hits were doubles as he added two runs scored and a walk. It was a rough outing for Dickey as he allowed all eights runs on ten hits and walked four in 5 1/3 innings.

Taking over in the rotation for injured Dustin McGowan, David Purcey (1-1)picked up his first big league win as he held the Mariners to three runs over six innings and struck out four batters.

Jose Lopez was responsible for all three Mariners runs as he doubled to score Adrian Beltre in the 2nd inning, and hit a two run shot scoring Beltre in the sixth.  It was the 7th homer of the season for Lopez. 

Lets see if the much rumored Jarrod Washburn deal happens before his afternoon start tomorrow.  Some media outlets are reporting that its practically a done deal.  We will keep and eye on it.

In other Mariner news, the team signed RHP Jorge Sosa to a minor league deal.  Sosa started the season with the New York Mets before being designated for assignment in May.  Is this possibly an extra arm for after the deadline?

Mariners Blog

Sunday July 20, 2008

In a surprise move by the organization, the Mariners optioned lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith to Tacoma to begin a minor league assignment to convert to a  full-time starting pitcher.  Rowland-Smith was obviously disappointed with the move but ultimately understood what the organization wants from him.  J.J. Putz was activated and will be available in the pen for this afternoon’s ballgame.

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