Monthly Archives: February 2013

This is the Mariners Depth Chart and This is What I’m Going to Write About- Looking at the Mariners Possible Strengths and Weaknesses

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Writing block happens. Everybody gets it. So when trying to come up with a timely piece about the Mariners I just stared at the depth chart. And this is what I got.

Possible Strengths-

  • Outfield- This might be more of a necessity due to the amount of depth the M’s have. When the team has the quality of players the M’s do, some group of the nearly 30 possible outfield groups the M’s have is going to work, offensively and defensively they should be fine.
  • Middle Infield- Brendan Ryan led the league in defensive WAR last year. While his offense can leave more to be desired, he still is the best defender at a defense-first position in the league. Dustin Ackley, on the other hand, saved 16 above average in the field per 1,200 innings last year. Pretty remarkable for a guy who is known for his bat and for someone who transitioned to the position for the first time in his life in 2010.
  • Middle of the Order- Continue reading →

Some Quick Hits on Reaffirming the Fact that Gonzaga is the Best Team in the State of Washington (Also Maybe the Country…)

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Washington’s big three of basketball schools, Gonzaga, the University of Washington and Washington State University, have all had a good deal of success in the past decade. Each has made it to the Sweet Sixteen while producing numerous pro players.

It should be noted that historically, and in general, UW and WSU are good programs. But this year has been a down year for them both.

  • GU has one more win (27) than UW (15) and WSU (11) combined.
  • Gonzaga’s RPI is 10th in the country, Washington is 74th and WSU chimes in with a resounding thud at 184th. Yikes.
  • The Zags BPI (or Basketball Power Index) per ESPN.com is fifth in the country. U of W comes in at 72nd, and Wazzu rounds out the group again at number 99.
  • Gonzaga has the same number of conference wins in the month of February than the Huskies do all season.
  • Gonzaga has more conference wins in the last ten days than WSU has all year. (It’s apples to oranges when you compare the WCC with the Pac 12, but the leagues are pretty even against each other by my count, with the WCC taking three scalps to the Pac 12’s four.) Continue reading →

Future Sonics Need to Go Get a Big Name or Two

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The Kings have won 17, 25, 24, 22 and 19 games the past five seasons. Obviously the second to last number was during a lockout-shortened season, but the winning percentage still equates to .333. Not very good. Not at all.

The Kings’ current group isn’t cutting it.

Last month I wrote a piece on the Kings’ to-do list. In it I said the team should start Thomas Robinson. That obviously isn’t going to happen. Robinson is gone, off to Houston, and the return is Cole Aldrich, Toney Douglas and Patrick Peterson. Not the biggest or best return, but fantastic if you consider that Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt’s collective contracts are gone.

The idea was inspired by an audio trinket on ESPN’s website. On it Bill Simmons and Ryan Russilo talk about trades they would make.

Simmons brought up a deal that would send Rondo to Sacramento Seattle for DeMarcus Cousins, Jimmer Fredette and one of the Kings’ Sonics’ bad contracts to Boston.

This is what Seattle needs, a big time player to build their team around Continue reading →

The Most Subtle Reason Former Sonics’ Greats Gary Payton and Spencer Haywood Will Make the Hall Of Fame-

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DUH!!!

Hey, the A’s Did it, How About Us?

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The Oakland Athletics had an extremely successful season last year. Maybe you didn’t notice. In a discussion where the A’s were probably relegated to the kiddy table, while big-boys Texas and Anaheim were supposed to contend for the division, the A’s won it. LA of Anaheim missed the playoffs all together, and Texas went out in a pretty unceremonious way against Baltimore in the new-fangled one-game playoff.

The team’s supposed strengths going into the season were pitching and, well, pitching. Albeit in an enormously large ball park where a game of cricket can be played down the right field and left field foul territories.

Oakland’s strength ended up being not only pitching, but also a tendency to hit home runs. And lots of them. The A’s were one of the better teams at the art of the long ball (7th in baseball last year.)

Last year as well, the A’s got the bulk of their power from their first base/ corner outfield/DH spots from a mix-matched group of role players and journeymen.

(Sensing a theme?) Continue reading →

In Case it Wasn’t Obvious, Three More Reasons to Have a Professional Basketball Team in Seattle

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  1. Duh.
  2. Exposure. This isn’t to say that NBA scouts are ignoring the Pacific Northwest. Kelly Olynyk and CJ Wilcox have drawn numerous professional scouts over the course of the season. There is just so much talent that might be overlooked due to the gaping black hole that is the non-presence of an NBA team in Seattle. Washington’s Big Three of UW, Washington State and Gonzaga have produced a good number of pros lately. Brandon Roy, Klay Thompson, Nate Robinson, Ronny Turiaf, Isaiah Thomas and recent Spurs’ signing Aron Baynes highlight a solid group. Again, NBA scouts aren’t necessarily overlooking the Northwest; it is just harder for it to get exposure for the second-tier guys without an NBA team. I say second-tier guys not because of their level of play or potential, it’s just usually the pro scouts go to see a big-time college player and might stumble upon another guy who they want to bring on to their team. Washington colleges as a whole haven’t had a lot of “it” guys like I referenced before, so it’s harder for other guys to get noticed who should be.
  3. Duh. And this isn’t just for repetition (though it partly is.) Seattle provides a much better “market” (I guess you could say) and landing spot in general than prospective cities Virginia Beach, Las Vegas and Anaheim. Plus Slick Watts’ headband has more NBA history than the three cities combined. Just saying.

Let me know your reasons in the comments section below.