WOW! What An End To The Season!

Post #1 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun Oct 4, 2009 10:53 pm

That was really amazing. I've never seen anything quite like at the end of a non-playoff season. Griffey gets a hit in his last at bat. The ovation for Felix when he left the game. He gets the win to go 19-5 for the year, with an ERA of 2.49. The final save for Aardsma. The 2 big RBI's for Gut. The ovation for Griffey after he left the game. The warmth shown by the fans and players after the game. And winning a one run, nail biting game for the last win in the last game of the season to finish 85-77 after losing 100 games the previous year.

How about the interview with Felix. "I love it here. I want to play my whole career here."

Great year.

Post #2 » by **Sweezo** » Sun Oct 4, 2009 11:02 pm

A fitting end to a surprisingly enjoyable season.

Griffey's last at bat was surprisingly...emotional. I didn't really want the M's to sign him this offseason because I thought there had to be a better option at DH. But the signing wasn't awful, and seeing him possibly for the last time as a Mariner made me sad. I find myself wanting to come back...on a completely irrational level.

I don't even want to talk about Felix this offseason. I know he's going to command a whole lot of money, but I just don't want to see him leave. I've seen Griffey, A-Rod, and Randy leave and it sucks. For the love of God, please let us keep one of these M's icons who we get to see grow before our eyes. You suffer with the guy for years waiting for him to become what he suddenly is. To spend that amount of time and resources only to create a trade chip would be a remarkable shame. Big contracts for pitchers are a bad idea...but if you're going to do one, do it for Felix. Not Washburn, or Batista, or Silva. Do it for Felix.

I know Beltre's gone, which is a shame. But the money they may have used to resign him could help us keep Felix, so...fair enough.

It should be a fun offseason. I look forward to seeing what GMZ can pull off.

Post #3 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun Oct 4, 2009 11:12 pm

Sweezo wrote:A fitting end to a surprisingly enjoyable season.

Griffey's last at bat was surprisingly...emotional. I didn't really want the M's to sign him this offseason because I thought there had to be a better option at DH. But the signing wasn't awful, and seeing him possibly for the last time as a Mariner made me sad. I find myself wanting to come back...on a completely irrational level.

I don't even want to talk about Felix this offseason. I know he's going to command a whole lot of money, but I just don't want to see him leave. I've seen Griffey, A-Rod, and Randy leave and it sucks. For the love of God, please let us keep one of these M's icons who we get to see grow before our eyes. You suffer with the guy for years waiting for him to become what he suddenly is. To spend that amount of time and resources only to create a trade chip would be a remarkable shame. Big contracts for pitchers are a bad idea...but if you're going to do one, do it for Felix. Not Washburn, or Batista, or Silva. Do it for Felix.

I know Beltre's gone, which is a shame. But the money they may have used to resign him could help us keep Felix, so...fair enough.

It should be a fun offseason. I look forward to seeing what GMZ can pull off.

I think Griffey's impact in the clubhouse, on the psyche of the team this year cannot be underestimated. No, he didn't have a very good year at the plate, to say the least; but it wasn't absolutely hideous either. For a .214 BA, he still had a .325 OBP, hit 19 HR's, and was 4th on the team in RBI's. I think it was a great signing GIVEN where the team was at, their need to reestablish credibility with the fan base, to turn this wayward sinking ship around.

We must resign Felix. I totally agree. Just give him the the 5 year 115 million dollar extension. WTF!

Post #4 » by **Bulltalk** » Sun Oct 4, 2009 11:45 pm

What accounts for this:

Last year: 61-101
This year: 85-77

That's a 24 game game positive turnaround, and coming off a 100 loss season. There's only a handful of teams that have managed to lose 100 games and have a winning record the following season, and only 2 who have finished with a better record than us, the only two in history having a record of 87-75 the next year. And the M's did it with a -52 run differential. I believe we were 34-20 in one run games this year.

Obviously pitching, both starting and relief, was the on-field key. I think the better clubhouse, the leadership of Wak and his staff, and the new found faith and initiative of the front office were right behind. I'm still of the opinion that we should try to resign Bedard, if only because the FA pitchers kind of suck this off-season. I could live with:

1) Felix
2) Bedard
3) RR Smith
4) Morrow
5) Snell
6) Somebody else who surprises

...as our starting rotation. Our bullpen is LOADED, especially with Fields and Aumont waiting in the wings. With the reduced contract of a resigned Bedard, the expirings of Batista, Beltre, Washburn, etc... we just need to find some bats for 3rd base, DH/1B, LF...however such players may plug in. We need a 3rd and 4th hitter.

Anyway, I have a lot of faith in Z, and I think he knows what we lack, how much money he'll have to spend, and what we can trade if need be to make such a thing happen.

We'll see.

TTown · Post #5 » by **TTown** » Mon Oct 5, 2009 1:35 am

Crazy part of this turn around is that we're essentially where we were in 2007.

2007: 88-74
2008: 61-101
2009: 85-77

'08 was just an epic fail all around, I guess. Maybe that's what you get when you put so much stock in Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva.

I admit I've drifted away from the M's once football got going. What's 3B look like next year?

Zyme · Post #6 » by **Zyme** » Mon Oct 5, 2009 2:53 am

I would think that Bill hall could step in there. Either that or we have one of our other young guys

Bay_Areas_Finest · Post #7 » by **Bay_Areas_Finest** » Mon Oct 5, 2009 2:01 pm

Man, in one of the threads here before the season, I predicted Franklin Gutierrez to be our breakout player at around .275, 20 HR, and 80 RBI. I came damn close, and he even threw in 16 SBs. What a great trade that was as it gave us (hopefully) our CF for a very long time.

Good season overall though. The team had such tremendous chemistry. It was a pleasure to watch. A number of guys had fabulous years, including Gutz, Ichiro (even though he should have had more SBs), Lopez, Felix, Aardsma, Lowe, and even Branyan (when he wasn't injured).

Really excited to see what we do in the offseason. I'd let Beltre and Bedard go. Need to clean ourselves from those contracts/acquisitions. Unless ofcourse we could resign Beltre for really cheap, but I doubt it. A rotation of:

1. Felix Hernandez
2. Ryan Rowland-Smith
3. Brandon Morrow
4. Doug Fister
5. Ian Snell

isn't so bad, even if its extremely young. If we can add a solid arm to throw in there, then that'd be great. I can't wait to see Mike Carp getting consistent at-bats at first, and hopefully our 1st/2nd round draft picks can get a number of at-bats next year.

Good times are ahead.

Post #8 » by **Sweezo** » Mon Oct 5, 2009 4:34 pm

Bedard's not going to be ready until a few months into the season, I believe. I'm not against adding him though.

Please no Bill Hall at 3B. He'll be a decent utility player to have on the bench but we need someone who can start and hopefully upgrade the offense a bit.

The team is going to have to figure out what to do in LF too. Saunders was impressive defensively, but he was a giant letdown at the plate. A little power would be nice from him but he didn't really show any.

slaterbug · Post #9 » by **slaterbug** » Mon Oct 5, 2009 10:08 pm

Wow, what an amazing year. There was no way I thought we would bounce back and win 85 games this year but it now has me dreaming of the playoffs next season

Post #10 » by **Bulltalk** » Tue Oct 6, 2009 5:22 am

Jesus H. Christ. I looked at all the positional FA's this winter, and it's pretty damn depressing. I think if we're going to add some good bats to the lineup, at least one will have to come through a trade. I don't even know where to begin in terms of getting a strong 3rd or 4th hitter in any kind of market out there. I'm solid with these bats at their positions:

--Gutierrez (CF)
--Ichiro (RF)

I'm okay with these at their positions, provided firepower is found at other positions:

--Lopez (3rd or 2nd)
--Branyan (DH or 1B)
--Carp (DH or 1B)
--Jack Wilson (SS)

I don't know what to make of catcher? Probably Adam Moore, Johnson as backup, trade Jojhima.

We just HAVE to improve our team BA and OBP, our HR production; but it's not easy to figure out HOW to do this. Can we really rely upon youngsters such as Saunders and Carp or Moore? Who else is ready on the farm? Is Lopez going to give us much more at the plate? Branyan? Beltre, if we resign him? Do we have to pull off a blockbuster trade to get some real proven quality at the plate, a strong 3rd or 4th hitter? Who would we trade that could deliver such a player to us?

Questions. That's all I have now.

Post #11 » by **BlackMamba** » Sat Oct 10, 2009 6:07 pm

man, this was a very special season. the start of a new era with so good moments and great news for everyone. the future looks so bright because now seattle has a front office that has good baseball brains and i think the players were really a team on the field.

also, felix had finally his breakout season and i think we are going to see more like this for the next years.

this team needs a tweaking or two, but they are fine fine fine!!!!!!