Ending the Drought

 

It's funny, last night in Green Bay, the Packers made history by drafting a wide receiver in the first round for the first time since 2002. A drought like that is a really big deal, and it's a turnaround for a team that's found other means of producing great receivers [as Davante Adams can tell you]. There's not a lot of comparable droughts in sports, at least to that level.

I will put into the same category the Mariners' feat of, from 2004 til 2022, failing to provide an above-average starting catching option. Because you can tell the story as simply as 'after Dan Wilson retired it took a while until Cal Raleigh' showed up, but it's way more complicated than that. On so many occasions, the Mariners thought they had a guy. In 2006 they sign Kenji Johjima, who has maybe one decent season and then trails off tremendously. In 2012, they trade for Jesus Montero, the Yankees' top catching prospect, and he never matches up to his 18-game call-up from 2011, consistently missing the mark and never reaching his full potential. In 2013, the Mariners call up Mike Zunino, and place an unnecessary amount of confidence in the guy, even trading away Welington Castillo in order to keep him as a starting option. Aside from one surprise smash of a 2017 season, he's subpar both offensively and defensively, and routinely hits below the Mendoza line. In 2019 they finally have a great catching option in Omar Narvaez, but immediately trade him away so they can start Austin Nola, who they also trade away. Only a portion of this is luck, and a lot of this is the Mariners thinking they know better and not knowing a damn thing.

Which is why it's been so satisfying seeing Cal Raleigh not only be the answer in Seattle at catcher, but become one of the team's best players. I saw the Mariners play the Yankees last year, and in the midst of what was ultimately a Yankee runaway, Cal Raleigh still absolutely murdered a ball deep to right and gave some insurance runs. And that's why Raleigh isn't always the biggest WAR guy, he's always the guy who goes deep when they're trailing by a lot. He's figuring out how to be the game winner, and thus his stats are trending upwards. So far he has a league-leading 9 home runs, 16 RBIs, a 1.1 WAR and some decent, if diminished, defensive play. He has been 'the guy' more often than not for this Mariners team, though Dylan Moore, J.P. Crawford and Randy Arozarena [who leads the AL in steals with 8] are coming through more and more lately. Crawford having a bounce-back offensive season would be appreciated by everyone I think. 

The issue for the Mariners at the moment is that the rotation, by and large, isn't quite as untouchable as it was last season. Many of the chief starters' ERAs, including Miller and Castillo, are in the 4 zone, and you're seeing more losses pile up on them. It does help that the team is hitting, and hitting well, but it remains a tragedy that they couldn't start doing that while the rotation was as unhittable as it was. They're still good, and Logan Gilbert is off to yet another great start, but there's limits. Emerson Hancock may not be the answer to that fifth spot as George Kirby deals with an injury. Maybe Jhonathan Diaz is? He's worth a shot. 

This is a better, more fearsome Mariners team, even if Julio hasn't completely landed yet and there are minor pitching issues. This team can stay in the race all year, and hopefully Raleigh can be the guy to lead them deeper.

Coming Tomorrow- Ironically a former Mariner, one who may be having a bit more luck away from that rotation.