Does Safeco Field Make the Mariners Worse?

The Mariners have been an offensively inept team for years. This has been readily apparent over the last two years when the Mariners broke several modern day records for offensive futility. These years of failure have driven many fans to look outside of the obvious for explanations. One of the theories often proposed is that Safeco Field is just too hard to hit in. The argument is that the field’s dimensions prevent the Mariners from scoring runs and winning games. The field somehow turns good players into bad ones. This theory is popular and it intrigues me. So, I did some research to try and answer the question, does Safeco hurt the Mariners ability to win games?

Come On Man, Get with the Program!

Carlos Silvia was right; Ichiro needs to go. He just embarrasses the rest of the team with his offensive success.  I mean what nerve this guy has thinking it is ok to show up and hit near .300 on this team!

Doesn’t he know that the team can’t win if everyone is not pulling in the same direction? The University of Washington crew team didn’t become a national powerhouse because all of the individual accomplishment and accolades of the members. They did it by synchronizing themselves and working to a common goal. No one player stood out above the rest.

Hasn’t he heard anything Eric Wedge has said about being a team player? The rest of these guys come to the park and do their parts. They know what it means to be a Seattle Mariners. They get it. That Ichiro guy, he is still stuck in some delusional world where success is measured by the number of hits you get and runs you score. Who thinks that way?

The fans of this fine city have made their voices heard. If Ichiro cares so much about his personal numbers, he should just go somewhere else. Somewhere like Boston or New York where individual accomplishments are valued over team unity.

A Few Tidbits from Around the Web

Time for another blog post. Here are a bunch of links to interesting things that have happened in the sports world recently. The links are pretty baseball heavy, but I like baseball a lot. So, get over it.

• Sure it didn't ruin a perfect game, but this play in a Rockies-Dodgers game might go down as the most wrong call ever.
• Tacoma News Tribune columnist John McGrath muses about Jesus Montero's less than blazing speed.
• This goal against the Sounders won Goal of the Week.
• Orioles DH Chris Davis picked up his first major league win recently.
• Josh Hamilton just hit four homeruns in one game and will soon be a free agent. Jeff Passan takes a look at what might lie in the future for Hamilton.
  

Someone Needs to Tell Steve Kelley He Doesn’t Know Shit about Football

In his column titled “Someone needs to tell Seahawks they play in a pass-and-catch league” Steve Kelley imparts his vast sum of NFL knowledge on the fan base by arguing that the Seahawks should have drafted better receivers. He starts by implicitly criticizing the Seahawks attempts at building an elite defense:

I wish the Seahawks had more seriously addressed their passing game in this draft, wish they had picked at least one wide receiver. 

Last season, NFL scoreboards spun like dials on a slot machine.

The Green Bay Packers had the worst defense in the league. They lost once. The New England Patriots were the second-worst defense. They went to the Super Bowl.

Of course, Kelley surely realizes that those teams also have elite QBs in Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, etc. It bugs me to no end when pundits act as if teams like the 49ers and Seahawks are doing something bizarre and unconventional by emphasizing defense in similar model to the post-2000 Ravens. As far as I know, no NFL coach or general manager is denying the proven formula of NFL success through elite offenses.  But elite offenses generally require elite QBs who are very hard to find. When you don’t have a franchise quarterback identified you logically invest resources on the defensive side of the ball where it is the least dependent on any one single player. The Hawks allocated so much draft capital towards the defense because that’s naturally where the highest return on investment is for now.

He specifically errors when he says: 

To that end, the Seahawks should have drafted at least one wide receiver. There were plenty of good ones available. Thirty-three were taken in the draft, including Mohamed Sanu, Nick Toon, Chris Givens, Ryan Broyles, DeVier Posey and Juron Criner, all of whom, I believe, could help.

The Hawks did well last spring, signing undrafted free agents Doug Baldwin and Ricardo Lockette and drafting Kris Durham. But their passing game still is loaded with ifs.

If new quarterback Matt Flynn is the second coming of Matt Hasselbeck; if tight end Zach Miller is allowed to be more receiver and less blocker; if Sidney Rice can stay healthy; if Mike Williams is repaired; if Durham is healthy and plays to the promise of the scouting reports; if Lockette really is as good as he looked late last season, and if Baldwin plays again like the next incarnation of Bobby Engram, then maybe that will be enough.

But that's a load of ifs.

We have everyone reason to believe Sidney Rice can be a greater receiver with a decent quarterback throwing to him. Mike Williams showed he can be of pro bowl caliber when he has a skilled QB who can fit passes into small windows in a west coast offense style (this is not Tavaris Jackson). But let's set aside Sidney Rice and Mike Williams for now. The rest of these receiver "ifs" are a result of their inevitable development process. Starting caliber receivers commonly require 2-3 years (sometimes as long as a quarterback even) to develop to their full potential. Tate, Baldwin, Lockette, and Durham haven't even had two full seasons in the NFL.If a 2nd round pick like Tate doesn't come around then Schneider should get criticized for making a bad pick but not for failing to add even more rookie receivers we won't be able to evaluate for a few seasons to come without having a franchise QB identified anyways. Is this really your solution, Steve? I'm no Martha Stewart but would you start baking another cake if the one you had didn't look good after sitting in the oven for 5 minutes? No. See, even Martha Stewart knows more about football than Steve Kelley.

The best way to upgrade our passing game isn’t by drafting even more receivers whose success would be largely dependent on the incumbent QB. It’s by upgrading the QB position first and foremost. The Hawks have been aggressive doing just that by signing Matt Flynn and drafting Russell Wilson. By all means, I'll be the first wringing my hands for the Seahawks to spend early draft picks on a receiver if Matt Flynn plays this season like his only two prior NFL games or if Russell Wilson defies the Mel Kipers of this world by becoming the first franchise QB under 6 feet. I’m all for maintaining healthy criticism and pressure on our front office (especially for any Seattle sports team!) but I have nothing but contempt for nonsensical knee-jerk reactions coming from the Seattle Times. Sit down, Steve.

P.S. 

 Stay tuned for an upcoming post reviewing the Seahawks 2012 draft.

Miguel Olivo Shittiness Tracker Hiatus

I know were all thrilled by the idea of the USTN blog crew diligently tracking all of Miguel Olivo's fails on a game to game basis. Fortunately for the Mariners and unfortunately for the tracker, right after we debuted Olivo went on an 8 game hitting streak. This utter destruction of major league pitching brought Olivo's triple slash to .210/.229/.346. I assume this vast improvement is directly related to the embarrassment he felt after the one entry in the MOST.

Then last night in the extras inning game, Miguel Olivo hurt his groin, in what must be an attempt to take himself out of the lineup long enough for me to forget about this silly blog idea. The injury has landed Olivo on the 15 day DL and has put the Shittiness Tracker of at least a 15 day hiatus. The silver lining from this injury is obviously that now Mariner's fans can put all our energy into booing Chone Figgins.

Miguel Olivo Shittiness Tracker Entry #1

Mariner's catchers have a long proud/disgraceful tradition of complete and total ineptitude on offense. This tradition includes such offensively lifeless Mariners as Rob Johnson, Ben Davis and Dave Valle. Current starting catcher Miguel Olivo is continuing the tradition. He currently has  wRC+ of -15. You read that right he has a negative fifteen wRC+. I didn't even know wRC+ went into the negatives. That means he is 115% worse than the league average offensive player. Additionally, Olivo has also continued the tradition started by Rob Johnson of not being able to catch any pitched not thrown directly into his glove.

As you can imagine this complete terribleness exhibited by Miguel Olivo has drawn the ire of large part of the Mariner's internet fan base, myself included (USS Mariner and Lookout Landing). To celebrate/criticize Olivo complete and total failure at offense I have decided to start the Miguel Olivo Shittiness Tracker (MOST). On this tracker I will keep track of the most annoyingly bad things Olivo does to help the Mariners loose. I plan on keep the MOST up to date until Olivo is cut, traded or the season ends. This will give us a place to rant and rage about his failures and maybe find some catharsis. So, for the first entry...

... On 4/19/12 (I wrote this up on friday but forgot to click post, oops) in the 2nd inning against the Indians the Mariners started to threaten with runner on 1st and 3rd Miguel Olivo came to the plate. In a great opportunity for the Mariners to score some runs Olivo grounded into a double play and killed the Mariners rally before it could even get going. The Mariners ended up losing the game 2-1 and could have really used a run in that situation. Total suckiness by Miguel Olivo.

A Note on Peyton Manning, the Cardinals, and the Rams

I honestly didn't want Peyton Manning in the division even if he were to be a Seahawk - Superbowl or not. Although the 49ers have deservedly garnered more national attention, I don't want the spotlight on the division just because a future hall of fame QB got casted-off his team and wandered this way. Suffice to say, it couldn't have worked out better for him to end up with the Broncos. Anyways, it was disappointing to see that the rest of the NFC West didn't appear to even remotely share the same feeling. Mike Sando's facebook wall nearly imploded with the weepings of 49ers and Cardinals fans at the news. In the heat of the moment I wrote a post on his wall which ended up getting a lot of likes and makes me think there are others who agreed. I thought I'd share:

Mike, you lamented:

"I was looking forward to the possibility of having him in the division, however, whether with Arizona or San Francisco."

I think that’s an unfortunate sentiment. I, for one, am happy Peyton steered clear of this division. The NFC West overall is finally becoming legitimately good on our own accord by building through the draft and signing undervalued players in the market. Adding Peyton to mix would have just created a caricature that the NFC West can only be of championship caliber by landing elite players from other teams. Even if Peyton did land at AZ or SF and that team went on to win the Super Bowl next season, do you think the rest of the league would be quick to credit the top quality defense and the various talented players that have come out of the draft? No. It would be because a Hall of Famer on his way towards the exit decided to make a stop here and grace the team with his presence, or as Steve Young says:

"He can really make a big huge difference for this team. It’s not just the one incremental step to the Super Bowl. If he can take this team to the Super Bowl, it really says ‘I did it.’"

Something special is happening in this division and we don’t need Peyton Manning to rob us of that.

Admittedly, I was being disingenuous. By saying the "NFC West overall is finally becoming legitimately good" I was really just referring to the 49ers and the Seahawks.

Yes, the Cardinals finished with a better record at 8-8 but quite a few of their games we're won in a most unimpressive Tim Tebow-esque fashion of 4th quarter comebacks. Kevin Kolb is fatally flawed and I don't expect a full off-season to result in significant improvement. Their defense didn't finish in the top 10 last season like the 49ers and Seahawks. The stars on their defense such as Darnell Dockett and Adrian Wilson are becoming old and will be difficult to replace. Even Larry Fitzgerald will be 29 once the season starts and he's being wasted in his peak with Kolb under center. Although they've got great young talent in guys like Patrick Peterson and Daryl Washington, the age of their overall roster suggests they're in a "win big or go home" mode.

The Rams are, well, they're the Rams. I know they entered re-build mode with Jeff Fischer as head coach and Les Snead as GM, but the burden of proof will still be on them to show that they can finally start drafting well overall. You know things are bad when your top priority is to keep your QB drafted 1st overall from further regressing. If the Rams can't pull it together with the ridiculous King's ransom (three 1st rounds and a 2nd) they got for the 2nd overall pick (you moron, Dan Snyder) under new leadership then I might they might not be in St. Louis for much longer.