Associated Press
Trying to define who the Seattle Mariners are heading into the second half of the Major League Baseball season is going to be a challenge — one that could leave the club in a difficult spot.
Are the Mariners in position to be wild-card contenders in the American League? Or would they be better served by punting on an injury-filled season and building for the future by trading some of their veterans prior to the July 31 non-waiver trade deadline?
In the view of general manager Jerry Dipoto, those questions are one and the same with the Mariners four games back in the wild card standings at the All-Star break.
“We are playing in a league of 15 teams, I believe 12 are within five-ish games of a playoff spot. We’re one of them and we have as much talent as anybody else on that board,” Dipoto said before the break. “We’ve seen what this team can do when (it’s) clicking on all cylinders, so as we move forward, whether it be for the second half of 2017 or 2018 and beyond, our goal is to continue to build onto the core of this team.”
Seattle could have made the situation far simpler for Dipoto if not for an awful two weeks prior to the break, when the Mariners failed to take advantage of a favorable home schedule. In the final 14 games before the break, the Mariners went 4-10 just as they were finally getting close to full health after patching together a lineup, rotation and bullpen since opening day.
Most puzzling was that the slump came after a promising period during which the Mariners appeared ready to contend.
“We have underperformed, truly,” Dipoto said. “Particularly over the course of the last couple of weeks. We just haven’t played well, and we are at probably … the longest stretch of positive health that we’ve had since opening day, and we’ve played perhaps as poorly as we’ve played all year long.”
Inconsistency has defined most of Seattle’s season. The Mariners have been sloppy at times, making careless mistakes. The offense has disappeared for stretches or the bullpen has failed to close out winnable games. During other stretches, the Mariners have shown the punch to be the playoff contender most believed them to be before the season began.
Sitting at 43-47 is probably where Seattle deserves to be. But are the Mariners markedly better or worse? That’s the unknown.
“We have most of the guys healthy. We just have to be consistent. That’s been the issue,” designated hitter Nelson Cruz said.
THE GOOD
Cruz leads the American League in RBI with 70 despite playing through leg injuries during big chunks of the first half. When healthy, shortstop Jean Segura has been the best hitter in the AL and Seattle may have figured out its outfield of the future between Mitch Haniger, Guillermo Heredia and Ben Gamel. The latter is hitting .323 at the break.
On the pitching side, Ariel Miranda wasn’t supposed to be in the rotation at the start of the season but injuries made him the ace for much of the first half. He went 7-4 with a 4.15 ERA. James Paxton, when healthy, showed signs of being at the top of Seattle’s rotation going forward.
THE BAD
Injuries. Paxton, Cruz, Segura, Haniger, Robinson Cano, Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma all missed time with injuries. While all but Iwakuma have returned, the impact of their absences may ultimately be too much to overcome. Third baseman Kyle Seager finished the first half hitting just .248. Catcher Mike Zunino had a huge June, with 10 home runs and 31 RBI, but was that an anomaly or a turnaround for a player who has struggled to hit .200 in his career? Seattle’s bullpen has been overused because of injuries and that led to inconsistency.
WHAT’S AHEAD
The Mariners’ schedule makes the first two weeks after the All-Star break critical in determining where they’re headed. After a six-game road trip, the Mariners return home for 10 games against both New York teams and Boston. If facing the top two teams in the AL East isn’t difficult enough, it’s just the precursor to a grueling August, when Seattle plays just seven games at home and has road trips of nine and 12 games.
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