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2018 Seattle Mariners Thread


MC Fresh Breath

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Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto says 45-year-old Japanese outfielder Ichiro Suzuki is expected to be part of the club's 28-man roster when Seattle opens the regular season in March in the Tokyo Dome against the Astros.

Of his 18 MLB seasons, Suzuki has spent 13 of them with Seattle, from 2001 through the 2012 season before he was traded to the Yankees. He is currently a free agent but is expected to be signed to a minor-league deal with an inviation to camp after the Mariners brought him back last season. Suzuki scored five runs on nine hits in 44 at-bats for Seattle in 2018.

Dipoto said the veteran outfielder will be promoted to the Major League roster before the team leaves for Japan.

"Ichi [Suzuki] will be on our team when we go to Tokyo," Dipoto said Thursday, per MLB.com. "He'll be an active player. We are still committed to the idea of developing this roster. Mitch Haniger is going to be our right fielder, Mallex Smith is going to play center field and Domingo Santana will be the primary left fielder. And we'll find at-bats for Jay Bruce, whether they be in left field, DH or occasionally at first base."

Dipoto did acknowledge that there is a chance Suzuki could take one of those spots depending on performance.

"That's the way we envision the 2019 season playing out," he continued. "But one thing I've learned with Ichiro, first of all his preparation and focus is the best I've ever seen on any player I've ever encountered. His single-mindedness in achieving a goal is so real that I won't put anything past him."

Despite committing to bring the 10-time All-Star to Japan, Dipoto doesn't want to predetermine anything else about the upcoming season.

"Frankly if he rolls out in Tokyo and gets seven hits in two games, there's a pretty good chance he'll play a third game," Dipoto said. "You have to adjust as you go. We're not going to predetermine anything. We'll give him the opportunity to come in and do what he does, and prepare the way he prepares."

Both the Mariners and the A's will be allowed to carry three extra players for the opening series before trimming their roster to 25 for the remainder of the regular season.

The two teams will meet in Tokyo on March 20 and 21.

Will be interesting to see how Bruce feels about not playing much. 

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Zero chance Shed Long isn't already Biff's favorite player. 

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Long, rated as the No. 7 prospect in the Reds organization by MLB Pipeline, is the next-biggest name changing teams as part of the deal. The 23-year-old was already on Cincinnati’s 40-man roster, and after posting a .261/.353/.412 slash line with 12 homers and 19 steals at Double-A Pensacola in 2018, it’s very possible that he could end up contributing to Seattle’s major-league club this season — especially since they traded their middle-infield duo of Robinson Cano and Jean Segura this offseason and replaced them with the substantially less reliable tandem of Dee Gordon and J.P. Crawford.

https://www.mlbdailydish.com/2019/1/21/18192037/reds-yankees-sonny-gray-trade

 

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Just now, miguelito said:

Great news about Edgar. 

My wife asked about going to Cooperstown. She missed Junior's induction, but I think she's more serious about 'gar. 

Go!  I did Griffey’s and well worth it!  

Fly into your favorite NYC area airport mid week, pick a cool scenic way north, definitely visit the HOF itself, parade on Sat., and ceremony on Sun.   Parade and ceremony are free.  

They keep building more hotels south of Cooperstown into Oneonta so it is now cheaper to stay closer in than it used to be.  Six craft breweries nearby if you are into that.   Also decent eats if you are willing to venture into the peripheral villages.

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1 hour ago, Sundodger said:

Go!  I did Griffey’s and well worth it!  

Fly into your favorite NYC area airport mid week, pick a cool scenic way north, definitely visit the HOF itself, parade on Sat., and ceremony on Sun.   Parade and ceremony are free.  

They keep building more hotels south of Cooperstown into Oneonta so it is now cheaper to stay closer in than it used to be.  Six craft breweries nearby if you are into that.   Also decent eats if you are willing to venture into the peripheral villages.

All of this.  I did a full write up on the experience on the old site.

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Yeah, I kind of remember, and I want to go back and read that, Biff. 

How insane are the crowds that weekend?  I mean, I can watch the speeches at home, then go visit later.  I'm kind of thinking of going in the fall.  Check out Cooperstown, head down to catch a football game at West Point (which I did a few years ago with my mom, awesome). 
We'll see.  I doubt we go for the ceremony, but my wife and I would both like to visit someday.

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38 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Yeah, I kind of remember, and I want to go back and read that, Biff. 

How insane are the crowds that weekend?  I mean, I can watch the speeches at home, then go visit later.  I'm kind of thinking of going in the fall.  Check out Cooperstown, head down to catch a football game at West Point (which I did a few years ago with my mom, awesome). 
We'll see.  I doubt we go for the ceremony, but my wife and I would both like to visit someday.

The crowd for Griffey was huge, along with a lot of Mets fans for Piazza since it's only a few hours drive from NYC.  I think it was like 50k people or so.  But if you get to the museum semi-early (8am) there are no lines at all.  We went the day before the induction and were in the museum just after 8am and out a little after 11am.  When we walked out, the line was around the building.  For the actual induction, go to the field (Clark Sports Center) the day before and set up your lawn chairs.  They claim you can't set up til morning of, but that is a huge lie.  Then you can walk from town the next day, I think a couple of miles, or take a bus if you want, but the lines to get back on the bus are nuts, so most people walk back anyway.

Those are the main points I remember.  I'm afraid to go back to the old site while I'm at work.  I do recommend going for the induction at some point in your life.  It's a different feeling being there on that weekend.  Plus the parade with all the old HOF'ers is really cool. 

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28 minutes ago, miguelito said:

Thanks.  I'm definitely intrigued.

I imagine there will be lots of damn Yankee fans there for Mariano.  Even so, that has to be a pretty sweet atmosphere that weekend.

Oh man, yeah, Rivera will be a huge draw.  Still, if you or your wife like Edgar that much, it's worth it.

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Seeing all the HOFers on stage and in the parade is awesome.   So is strolling down Main Street seeing all the former players and other celebrities signing autographs.   

My advice for the hall itself is to go right when they open and do the opposite of the crowd by starting on the first floor, then head to the top floor and work your way down.   

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  • 5 weeks later...

Man, Seager is 2/2 so far as well.  

Ichiro gets an RBI single with the bases loaded.  Who comes into pinch run for Ichiro?  None other than Dustin Ackley.

Yeah, 60 wins sounds good.

But don't bring me too far down yet--I'm all happy to have baseball back AND I'm going to Spring Training on Thursday.

Games we're going to:

Feb 28 -- Padres at Royals 

Mar 1 - Brewers at Mariners

Mar 2 - Mariners at Royals 

March 3 -Diamondbacks at Mariners

Pretty stoke to experience Spring Training for the first time.

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I agree.

 

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"I know as players that's something that MLB is trying to negotiate," the Washington Nationals ace said Saturday night. "I don't think there's negotiation here. As players, it just shouldn't be in the game. Having a pitch clock, if you have ball-strike implications, that's messing with the fabric of the game. There's no clock in baseball and there's no clock in baseball for a reason."

--Max Scherzer

 

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I had the best seats I have ever had for a game. A few rows up behind home plate. A young man named Jordan Cowan (3b) hit a foul ball that went over the netting and hit the gutter at the roof line and cane right down in front of me.

I got the ball and after the game got lucky enough for him to sign it for me. For me this was a great and fantastic baseball day.

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11 hours ago, MC Fresh Breath said:

I had the best seats I have ever had for a game. A few rows up behind home plate. A young man named Jordan Cowan (3b) hit a foul ball that went over the netting and hit the gutter at the roof line and cane right down in front of me.

I got the ball and after the game got lucky enough for him to sign it for me. For me this was a great and fantastic baseball day.

Badass.  I've only caught one foul ball ever.  It was last year at the Disch on a bank shot like that.

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