Mariners Analysis

Thursday, June 30, 2005

No offense story for rest of year

I certainly remember back when the A's "owned" the M's down in Oakland. Losing 2 of 3 would be expected, and you'd be happy to get the one win. Watching the M's today brings back those memories. You see the A's getting better as the season goes on, while the M's are going to be in last place for the rest of the year due primarily to lack of hitting.

The M's had a nice winning streak when their pitching but together an amazing string of quality starts. Whenever the pitching reverts to normal levels, this team will lose. We shouldn't complicate things too much- this team simply doesn't have the talent on offense to compete with other teams.

We all know the problems with our bench. The fact that Pat Borders is our "regular" catcher tells us everything we need to know about that position. Ichiro is clearly in the biggest slump of his MLB career. Beltre has been along with Carlos Beltran the biggest bust in free agency so far. Boone is finished as a major source of defense, power and average. Our outfield is on pace to hit less than 25 HR's all year.

I could go on, but we all get it. This teams offense is the reason we will finish in last place, and there is little Bavasi can do at this point to fix it.