New regime, new players, new era for M’s

Published 3:16 pm Saturday, April 9, 2016

SEATTLE — The largest crowd in Safeco Field regular-season history — 47,065 — came out to Friday night’s home opener to be introduced to the new brand of Seattle Mariners baseball.

New regime. New players. New style of play.

You know, the style predicated on power up and down the lineup and wall-to-wall home runs.

Wait a minute. Power and home runs? This team?

That’s not what we were led to believe the 2016 Mariners would be all about. Power may have been the be-all and end-all for deposed general manager Jack Zduriencik. But new GM Jerry Dipoto has different ideas. He spent the offseason overhauling Seattle’s roster into a team more suited to take advantage of the vast expanses of Safeco Field. He hired manager Scott Servais, who followed up by stressing the concept of, “C to Z,” i.e. controlling the strike zone. Everything from roster construction to player development seemed designed for scratching out runs in lieu of putting all the eggs in the long-ball basket.

So who were those guys battering ball after ball over the wall during the season-opening series in Texas?

Robinson Cano slugged four dingers in the opening series — just nine months after critics were preparing to close the coffin on Cano’s career as a difference-making bat. Five other Mariners found the seats, including a backup utility infielder named Luis Sardinas. Seattle’s 21 runs scored heading into Friday put the Mariners sixth in the majors in scoring, and three of the teams ahead of them played four games to Seattle’s three.

Seattle’s nine homers ranked second in the league. So did the Mariners’ .583 slugging percentage.

Your 2016 Seattle Mariners: smashing windshields in parking lots near you.

This is not the way Seattle’s 2016 is supposed to go. We’re supposed to see small ball, not long ball. Ball in play, not fly away.

“Being realistic, we’re not going to see that kind of power up and down our whole lineup all year,” Servais acknowledged prior to Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics. “But our core guys in the middle of our lineup can hit the ball out of any ballpark. We do have that kind of power.”

Indeed, home runs are actually nothing new for the Mariners. Seattle slugged 188 homers in 2013 to rank second in the major leagues, then added another 198 last season to rank fifth. However, those high home-run numbers didn’t mean the Mariners’ offense was any good, as Seattle finished 22nd with 624 runs scored in 2013 and 21st with 656 runs scored last season. Power alone does not an offense make.

What’s more encouraging from the opening series are the peripherals, and specifically with Servais’ C to Z.

Last season the Mariners were one of the worst teams in the majors in controlling the zone. Seattle’s 1,336 strikeouts were the fourth most in the league, while the Mariners’ 478 walks tied for 13th.

However, Seattle had a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 21/13 during the season’s first three games, making the Mariners one of just nine teams to record a ratio of less than 2/1 over their opening series. Of the other eight teams, four were playoff teams last season (Chicago Cubs, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Pittsburgh) and three were expected to be (Boston, San Francisco, Washington). That ratio helped the Mariners compile a team on-base percentage of .378, the fourth-best mark in the majors.

Sure, all this offense was compiled in Globe Life Park in Arlington, which is one of the best hitter’s parks in the majors. But it doesn’t change the fact the Mariners’ Rip Van Winkle offense is finally showing signs of stirring.

“I think you saw glimpses of it in Texas,” Servais said. “When the pieces around our core grind out at bats to get on base and make it tough for the pitchers, when those guys are on base when the middle of our lineup gets to the plate, we’re going to score some runs. It’s going to be fun to watch. That’s the design around how our team was built. Is it going to happen every single night? No, it’s not. There’s very good teams in this league, there’s very good pitching in this league. But when all the pieces are working I think we’re gong to be a very exciting and fun team to watch.”

It’s been a long time since the region had a Mariners team — and specifically a Mariners offense — worth getting excited about. The last time Seattle had an even league-average offense was 2007. Since then the rise of the Seahawks has seen the Mariners take a back seat among area sports fans, even when the Mariners are in season and the Seahawks aren’t. Could this be the team that finally pries the May and June headlines away from Seahawks OTAs?

“I think if you win you capture the fans’ imagination,” Servais said. “We’re off to a good start.”

Giving those fans more runs to cheer about will only make the task easier.

Check out Nick Patterson’s Seattle Sidelines blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/seattlesidelines, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.