Seattle Mariners 2018 Season Review
Aug 27, 2018 14:37:59 GMT -5
White Sox GM (Michael), Matt (Cardinals GM), and 2 more like this
Post by Mariners GM (David) on Aug 27, 2018 14:37:59 GMT -5
Seattle Mariners 2018 Season Review: Disappointment
Juuuuuuuuuuuuust a few games short.
Disappointment sums up my entire 2018 season. Having had my sights set on a division title, then moving to a wild card spot only to miss out on both in epic disappointment.
Going into the season I had a few question marks that I thought I could overcome throughout the season. My biggest weakness being 2B, with a healthy Devon Travis going into 2018 I thought I’d be able to lock him in as my season starter with average to above-average stat potential for a 2B. While he was mostly healthy in 2018, he had a bad year and spent some time in the minors trying to correct his swing. I added a few 2B replacements to no avail, Utley who was put out to pasture by LAD and later adding Willians Astudillio who was immediately sent down to the minors after I acquired him. With no other full time 2B options on my roster, I had to suffer down the stretch with Travis.
My other weakness was my bullpen, having younger arms I thought I’d be able to have them step into setup roles earlier in the season and earn holds easily. This along with punting saves ended up costing me holds and saves categories for the first half of the season. Adding Andrew Chafin towards the end of June helped and adding Jonny Venters via free agency helped get my bullpen earning holds more consistently. It wasn’t until the trade deadline when I added Yoshihisa Hirano that my bullpen became dominant in holds. Trevor May came back from injury and has performed well along with Juan Minaya who’s minor league stint helped him rebound from a poor start. My bullpen (holds) for 2019 looks great, with a potential for a few closer who could figure to be in the mix (IRL).
With a few SP injuries in the beginning of the season and inconsistent performances I felt I needed to add another healthy SP to my rotation. After some searching I was able to add Reynaldo Lopez for Kyle Seager. Getting a young SP with upside while moving Seager’s $67.5M contract. While I still like the trade a lot, it left a massive hole at 3B for me (even though he’s having a down-ish year). With no replacements available on my entire roster, I was able to sign Daniel Descalso to fill the void. He performed well enough and was getting regular starts with the Diamondbacks IF injury issues. He would have filled in 3B this year nicely for me had it not been for the Diamondbacks acquiring Eduardo Escobar to play 3B and a healthy IF slowly pushing Descalso out of playing time. This came at the worst time with Travis sucking full time and no internal roster replacements available after the trade deadline.
After the trade deadline my team was in solid position to make a playoff push, with only a few holes in offense I thought I’d be able to take the 2nd WC spot from Alex. With a strong performance against Forbz, JT and Max I was only a handful of games back from Alex, who I was finishing the regular season against. Needing around 10 cats to get me into the playoffs, my offense came up short in all the rate stats and runs, which I usually take. To my surprise my pitching was dominant and kept me in the matchup but at the end of the week I fell short. Getting a combined 24 AB’s from my 2B/3B helped contribute to my poor offensive week and ultimately ended playoff chances.
With down years from Hosmer, VMart (not that he was playing for me enough), Travis, Ender and Bellinger and inconsistent performances from Newcomb, Lopez, Leake and Gaviglio made my weekly matchups a crap shoot. I’ll look to try to add more consistency to both sides of my roster going forward.
However not all of 2018 was bad - Nick “Big Dick” Markakis, Michael Brantley, Francisco Lindor and Archie Bradley all had great seasons. I had a few younger guys make good MLB impressions that will help me for 2019 (Freddy Peralta SP, Taylor Williams RP). With some spending money for FA, a solid farm and a good amount of draft picks, I’ll look to add a few key players to ensure I’m back in the playoffs for 2019.
Juuuuuuuuuuuuust a few games short.
Disappointment sums up my entire 2018 season. Having had my sights set on a division title, then moving to a wild card spot only to miss out on both in epic disappointment.
Going into the season I had a few question marks that I thought I could overcome throughout the season. My biggest weakness being 2B, with a healthy Devon Travis going into 2018 I thought I’d be able to lock him in as my season starter with average to above-average stat potential for a 2B. While he was mostly healthy in 2018, he had a bad year and spent some time in the minors trying to correct his swing. I added a few 2B replacements to no avail, Utley who was put out to pasture by LAD and later adding Willians Astudillio who was immediately sent down to the minors after I acquired him. With no other full time 2B options on my roster, I had to suffer down the stretch with Travis.
My other weakness was my bullpen, having younger arms I thought I’d be able to have them step into setup roles earlier in the season and earn holds easily. This along with punting saves ended up costing me holds and saves categories for the first half of the season. Adding Andrew Chafin towards the end of June helped and adding Jonny Venters via free agency helped get my bullpen earning holds more consistently. It wasn’t until the trade deadline when I added Yoshihisa Hirano that my bullpen became dominant in holds. Trevor May came back from injury and has performed well along with Juan Minaya who’s minor league stint helped him rebound from a poor start. My bullpen (holds) for 2019 looks great, with a potential for a few closer who could figure to be in the mix (IRL).
With a few SP injuries in the beginning of the season and inconsistent performances I felt I needed to add another healthy SP to my rotation. After some searching I was able to add Reynaldo Lopez for Kyle Seager. Getting a young SP with upside while moving Seager’s $67.5M contract. While I still like the trade a lot, it left a massive hole at 3B for me (even though he’s having a down-ish year). With no replacements available on my entire roster, I was able to sign Daniel Descalso to fill the void. He performed well enough and was getting regular starts with the Diamondbacks IF injury issues. He would have filled in 3B this year nicely for me had it not been for the Diamondbacks acquiring Eduardo Escobar to play 3B and a healthy IF slowly pushing Descalso out of playing time. This came at the worst time with Travis sucking full time and no internal roster replacements available after the trade deadline.
After the trade deadline my team was in solid position to make a playoff push, with only a few holes in offense I thought I’d be able to take the 2nd WC spot from Alex. With a strong performance against Forbz, JT and Max I was only a handful of games back from Alex, who I was finishing the regular season against. Needing around 10 cats to get me into the playoffs, my offense came up short in all the rate stats and runs, which I usually take. To my surprise my pitching was dominant and kept me in the matchup but at the end of the week I fell short. Getting a combined 24 AB’s from my 2B/3B helped contribute to my poor offensive week and ultimately ended playoff chances.
With down years from Hosmer, VMart (not that he was playing for me enough), Travis, Ender and Bellinger and inconsistent performances from Newcomb, Lopez, Leake and Gaviglio made my weekly matchups a crap shoot. I’ll look to try to add more consistency to both sides of my roster going forward.
However not all of 2018 was bad - Nick “Big Dick” Markakis, Michael Brantley, Francisco Lindor and Archie Bradley all had great seasons. I had a few younger guys make good MLB impressions that will help me for 2019 (Freddy Peralta SP, Taylor Williams RP). With some spending money for FA, a solid farm and a good amount of draft picks, I’ll look to add a few key players to ensure I’m back in the playoffs for 2019.