Mariners Did Little To Improve
Arriving after six productive weeks of spring training, the Mariners unloaded their stuff Sunday night at the Kingdome in preparation for Tuesday’s opening of the regular season against Cleveland.
Looking around, something seemed to be absent. For the longest time, it was hard to figure out. Then a glance at the roster revealed the source of the vague sense of something missing.
THEY FORGOT TO IMPROVE THE TEAM!
Hey, it’s understandable. So many things fill the baseball offseason anymore that it’s hard to keep track. There are ticket prices to raise, expansion money to be received, local broadcast revenues to be doubled and taxpayer fortunes to be spent on a new ballpark, not to mention the trading of the most feared pitcher in baseball.
The offseason was so busy they couldn’t even get around to the trade of Randy Johnson. So how can they be expected to remember the niggling details?
A year ago they were a hugely entertaining team that won 90 regular-season games despite Norm Charlton.
The M’s even won a postseason game.
This year they figure again to be a hugely entertaining team, even without Charlton.
As to whether the Mariners will win another postseason game, well, that’s another matter.
You may recall that after being Belt-imored in October, Piniella vowed to add speed, improve situational hitting and develop a more reliable bullpen. The point was not just to repeat as champions of the American League West, but to win when things matter by employing the techniques that the Orioles used so well in beating Seattle in 10 of 15 tries last season.
While spring training is hardly the definitive judge, there is little evidence the Mariners have done much to keep the seasonal curtain from falling again.
The two position openings were filled with heavy-footed batsmen whom no one is mistaking for Rickey Henderson.
At first base, the Mariners replaced Paul Sorrento with David Segui, a net gain because he’s a better contact hitter as well as a better glove man. But in left field, Glenallen Hill is a net loss because he won’t hit as well as the departed Roberto Kelly and will play his post no better than Mr. Magoo.
Whether there is improvement in situational hitting will be largely a matter of whether new hitting instructor Jesse Barfield is any more persuasive than the much-beloved Lee Elia in getting the Mariner hitters to check their home-run egos at the on-deck circle.
However, the guess is that given the preseason hype about all the hitting records destined to fall because of expansion-weakened pitching, the Mariners will be no less drunk on the four-bagger this year than last.
The hope for the Mariner fan, then, is that all the other teams in baseball have done what the Mariners did - forget to improve.
Given the sport’s historic litany of absent-mindedness, distraction and backward thinking, it is entirely possible.
M’s edge Rockies
Minor-leaguer Rickey Cradle hit a two-run homer off Colorado closer Jerry Dipoto in the ninth inning, lifting the Seattle Mariners over the Rockies 8-7 Sunday in an exhibition finale in Denver.