Designated What?
Finding a designated hitter is very easy. The skills required to be a successful DH aren’t rare, and there are an abundance of guys with offensive abilities and defensive problems that a team can generally count on getting quality production from the designated hitter spot. Unless, of course, that team is the Seattle Mariners, who simply can’t figure out how to find a guy who can hit and do nothing else. So far, in 2008, their DHs have combined to hit .208/.268/.308, a pathetic .575 OPS that translates into -0.71 WPA/LI. That’s brutal. For comparison, Arizona Diamondbacks pitchers are hitting .242/.292/.333 (thank you, Micah Owings).
The main culprit has been Jose Vidro, whose collapse was the easiest thing to see coming this side of a neon freight train. However, the Mariners haven’t gotten any improvement from switching to Jeff Clement a week ago, as he has struggled to adjust to major league pitching since coming up from the PCL. His problems ran so deep that the team used Willie Bloomquist to pinch hit for Clement in the 9th inning of last night’s game. Willie Bloomquist!
Greg Norton had 11 successful at-bats before he was discarded as a less useful part than Miguel Cairo, a decision so unfathomable that I don’t even know which wall to begin banging my head on.
The Mariners offense has been horrendous the last few weeks, and the lack of production from their DHs is one of the main reasons why. When you have a group of players whose entire value is derived from their offense and they’re getting outhit by another team’s starting pitchers, you’re in trouble. And the Mariners are certainly in trouble.
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Thanks for starting me up again, Dave.
The Norton move really pissed me off. Like you said, to think Norton has less value than WFB-Light is unfathomable. Leave it to Bavasi to make that move, though. I’m beginning to think the Rally Monkey would be a better judge of talent.
So, what do you think our move should be as far as our DH goes? Do we stick with Clement and hope he improves? Do we go back to… *gulp*… Jose Vidro? I mean, I’m still happy that we didn’t sign Frank Thomas, but there has to be an option out there.
I believe it shall henceforth be referred to in the proper, ‘The Norton Move’.
Where’s Bucky Jacobson when you need him?
Seriously though, the M’s really are like a week from having this thing start to get away from them. I can’t really believe they’d be thinking of trading for ‘He Who Shall Not Be Named’ or someone else to take over DH. If you need to get your s*** together within the next week or so bringing other guys in when you havn’t even given the last player (Clement) a week’s worth of PA’s yet seems silly. Jeff was crushing the ball and he’ll come around. You can’t say the same for guys like Vidro or Sexson- there’s no upward potential at this point.
Dave, if you want to feel even worse, look at what Norton has done in pinch hit appearances for the Braves. 3 RBI’s and two hits. The Mariners hold on to Cairo because how else can they use Willy? But dump Norton, he’s dead weight. BAVASI!!!!
…. BARRRYYYYY!!!
But… but…but Cairo is scrappy!
Bavasi would not have kept Norton instead of Cairo without MacLaren’s approval. It is Mac that determines the lineup and who will play when, so he is to blame for the Norton fiasco.
I’m not a fan of Mr Asterisk, and as an M’s fan I’m not sure what I’d think about the team if they hired him. On the one hand, it’s hard to cheer for a team that is losing so ugly; on the other, it would be hard to cheer for an ugly team, even if it’s winning. And there’s no guarantee that the addition of He Who Must Not be Named would turn things around.
But given the abysmal production up and down the lineup, and especially at the DH spot, it’s difficult to see how a team could pass over the best available hitter in baseball. And to the extent that they continue to do so, it’s difficult not to give at least some credence to the mutterings about the dead hand of collusion.