2011 felt a lot like
2010. It was another terrible season for the Seattle Mariners. They lost 95
games, primarily because their offense was historically bad, yet again. Nobody on
the team, with at least 20 AB, had a batting average over .280. Let that sink
in. Nobody with any significant playing time hit over .280. Mike Carp had the highest batting average of those players at .276. Because
no one was getting on base the team scored only 556 runs, the second straight
year under 600 runs. Not only could the team not get on base they also couldn't
hit for power. The team leader for HR was Miguel Olivo with only 19.
Probably the
statistic that best shows how bad the M's were in 2011 was ratio of strikeouts
to walks. The team struck out 2.94 times for each walk they drew. To pull off
such an embarrassing result the team led the American League in strikeouts and
was last place for base on balls. The team had more strikeouts than hits. No
other team in the American League managed to do this.
Additionally the
Mariners had the fourth oldest team in the American League with an average age
of 29.4 years old. So, it wasn't like this was a bunch of young pups just
breaking into the big leagues. They were a team of has-beens on their last
legs. There were very few hopes for the future, only 8 of 26 position players to appear in a game were 25 or younger. It was a truly pitiful team of hitters.
Mariners star
outfielder Ichiro Suzuki had a remarkable season, but for bad reasons. It was
his age 34 season and he looked it. It was the first time he ever got less than
200 hits in a major league season and he wasn't injured. He played 161 games.
The former star batted only .272 and had a low .310 OBP. With his mediocre
stats it was the first time in his career he missed the All-Star game.
After a bad first
season with the Mariners Chone Figgins started off his second year strong. He hit a homerun in the very first game. Sadly that was the end of the good times for
Figgins. He didn't hit another homer all year and only hit an abysmal .188 in
81 games. Figgins was so terrible that they put him on the DL in early August
and left him there for the rest of the season.
Surprisingly 2011
did have some notable moments for position players that could be construed as
positive. Two players of significance made their rookie debuts for the
Mariners, former 2nd overall pick Dustin Ackley and future All-star third
baseman Kyle Seager. Ackley led the team in batting average for qualified
players with a .273 average. He also led the team in OBP with a .348.
Unfortunately both were career high for the former second overall pick.
Although much less touted than Ackley at the time, Big Booty Seags managed to
hit .258 in 53 games. Of the two players Seager would go on to have a much
better career (yep I am calling it now even though neither is technically
retired). The two infielders were about the only bright spot the whole year.
On the pitching side
of things 2011 was another successful year, as long as you don't look at wins
and losses.
Rookie phenom
Michael Pineda started 28 games and was stellar. He looked like he was going to
be a major part of the Mariners future (note: he wasn't. Read the 2012 post to
learn about his fate). Pineda ERA was 3.74 and he struck out 9.1 batters per
nine innings pitched, a very good rate. The young gun was fun to watch pitch
and a definite reason to tune into the games.
Another pitcher that
did well for the Mariners was Doug Fister. Many fans never believed in Doug. He
didn't ever flash dominate stuff and he didn't have the look of an ace. Old
school fans saw his 3-12 record and pointed to it as proof he wasn't anything
special. But Fister's ERA didn't lie. In 21 starts he recorded a 3.33 ERA with an even lower FIP at
3.27. Fister just knew how to get batters out.
Mid season, in an
attempt to find hitters for the future, the Mariners decided to traded Fister
to the Tigers. At the time I thought it was a bad trade and looking back it
proved to be one. However one of the players the Mariners got in return, and
the one that made the biggest impact with the team, was Charlie Furbush. So in
case you had forgotten, in 2011 the Mariners traded Fister for Furbush. It is an awesome sounding
trade to be sure.
The final thing
worth mentioning about 2011 is King Felix's season. Coming off a Cy Young
winning performance the Mariners decided to celebrate their star by creating the King's Court. The promotional event
became an immediate fan favorite and lives on to this day. It has even gained
national acclaim.
Felix's season
didn't disappoint his loyal subjects in the court. He pitched 233.66 innings
and struck out 222 batters. His K to BB ratio was especially impressive at 3.31.
Finally his early sat at a very respectable 3.47. His best single game came on
May 22nd against the San Diego Padres. Hernandez struck out 13 batters and
walked none in 8 innings and only conceded 1 earned run. All this
earned King Felix his second trip to the All-Star game. Overall a very good
season.
Much like the season
directly before it 2011 was one filled with terrible offense and good pitching.
The Mariner's two year stretch of hitting over 2010-2011 may go down as one of the worst in
MLB history. They scored under 600 runs in both seasons. 2011 was even more
difficult to watch because former star outfielder Ichiro Suzuki was finally
caught by age and struggled for the first time in his career. The season was
basically a waste because most of the team was old and of the few young players
that got opportunities only Kyle Seager ever amounted to anything. The pitching
was good, with a team ERA of 3.90, but it wasn't good enough to overcome such a
terrible offense.
Sources: Baseball Reference
No comments:
Post a Comment