French Exit

 

Hey, remember last year when the Mariners almost made the playoffs? Heh, good times.

As baseball returns to its regular playoff schematic, the chances of the Mariners finally breaking their years-long playoff drought once again lessens. It's definitely not for a lack of trying, as you can see talent in a lot of this team. It's just not in enough of it to produce a formidable roster, especially compared to the top three teams in the AL West.

Like...this team hasn't exactly made strides in the past year. For the second year in a row, we're going into a year where Jake Fraley is being primed for a leading outfield position despite not hitting for shit. We've got a rotation spot planned for a pitcher who came up through the system, signed with a contender and was injured for parts of two seasons and came back, except this time his name isn't Taijuan Walker, it's James Paxton. Once again, Jarred Kelenic is waiting in the wings, but instead of the lack of minor league action holding him back, it's a conveniently timed injury. Kelenic spends January complaining about the former president's treatment of him, holding him back, then he immediately gets injured. Interesting.

And look, a few people are actually looking alright heading into the end of camp- probable DH Ty France and veteran 3rd baseman Kyle Seager are both hitting into the .300s, Yusei Kikuchi looks better than he's ever looked in the US, and Ljay Newsome seems really fixated on that last rotation spot. But the people the team should be relying on, like Evan White, Kyle Lewis, Mitch Haniger, heck Jake Fraley I guess...they're not hitting too well right now. People are worried that Lewis will turn out to be a fluke when he has to rely on aspects that are not related to power, and I worry that his sophomore season is gonna lead to his stock dropping. 

Looking at the Mariners broadly, they do have a marquee star [Kyle Lewis], a staff ace [Marco Gonzales], and two defending gold-glovers in J.P. Crawford and Evan White. But they don't have an identity. I don't see them finding it this season either. It's depressing that I have to keep writing off these Mariners teams, but unless they have a consistent idea of what they want out of these teams, they're gonna keep landing in 4th.

Coming Tomorrow- It looks as though Madison Bumgarner is working on a comeback this year, which must be a relief for this guy- he won't have to carry the whole rotation on his shoulders as much in 2021.