THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: The good and the bad of the M's COVID-19 season
Play ball.
So, the wild and woolly, 16-team, you-figure-the-pairings MLB playoffs are up and running.
Go Marlins!
(Just kidding…or, well, maybe not.)
Anyway, before this crazy marathon runs its course and the Dodgers lose the World Series in a ninth-inning meltdown, I thought we should do a quick wrap on the much-beloved Mariners.
Yes, yes, Seattle missed even this massive playoff field, extending the sad run that extends back to 2001 — but did you know the M’s played their last 35 games of this strange season at a tidy 20-15 clip?
They were respectable, and then some, except against San Francisco.
The Mariners might have taken their battle with Houston for a playoff spot right to the final day if they hadn’t gone 0-4 against the Giants.
There were plenty of upsides to the Mariners season, however.
And the places where this team still needs help very well might be covered by a now-thriving farm system — or by seeking major free-agent help, as ownership has said would happen when the M’s truly are a contender.
IT’S HARDLY a secret that Covid-19 has made a lot of people miserable, and it’s had a thumping impact on the sports world.
Unfortunately for the Mariners, rebuilding teams that need lots of action for young players were hit hardest by the coronavirus.
That stacked farm system was idle, since there was no minor league baseball — except for about 30 players competing in some intra-squad games at that “alternate site” in Tacoma.
The quickest way to grow into contender status is with good young pitching (see: Tampa Bay) and the Mariners have a stable of exciting prospects who didn’t get to throw many meaningful innings in 2020.
Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Isiah Campbell and top draft choice Emerson Hancock got in bits and pieces of work in Tacoma, but they lost roughly a half-season of development with the lack of a minor league schedule.
Ditto for outfielders Jarred Kelenic and Julio Rodriguez, catcher Cal Raleigh, and others.
A year ago, GM Jerry Dipoto could have imagined that Seattle might be considered an “outside challenger” in 2021.
That’s still possible, but now the realistic time frame for the Mariners to be wearing big-boy pants looks like 2022.
The good news, I guess, is that (although nothing is guaranteed in sports) it almost certainly will happen.
The current M’s roster provides plenty of encouragement, actually, if given a little time and growth.
WE CAN pencil in Marco Gonzales, Justus Sheffield and perhaps Justin Dunn as locks for a future pitching rotation, while hoping that Yusei Kikuchi stays in the groove he found near the end of this season, and…
A couple of effective major league starters emerge from that prospect pool that looks so enticing.
Bullpen?
You can buy those, whenever necessary, although the Mariners may have found a keeper there in gas-throwing Rule 5 draftee Yohan Ramirez.
Now-healthy starter Kendall Graveman and his again-lively fastball also could be re-purposed as a late-inning piece.
As for the everyday lineup, J.P. Crawford is now an established shortstop, center fielder Kyle Lewis and first baseman Evan White appear to need only more at-bats to be outright stars (White has more power than expected), and the deadline trade with San Diego fetched two excellent regulars in catcher Luis Torrens and infielder Ty France.
That deal also included coveted outfield prospect Taylor Trammell (it’s pronounced Tra-MELL, by the way), so Seattle almost surely has enough pieces there.
OH, YEAH, there were disappointments, even in the short season…
Shed Long was the organization’s top second base candidate, but he didn’t hit a lick (something of a shock), and Daniel Vogelbach became so heavy and hopeless at the plate that he was sold to Toronto.
Perhaps surprise package Dylan Moore can take Long’s spot in the plans, or France can play second until Kyle Seager eventually moves on and France goes to third.
Bottom line, though, is that the Mariners got more out of the wonky 60-game season than they might have expected — and even though the lack of minor league play slowed down development, the raw talent is there at various levels.
That playoff drought is still creaking along, but even if MLB cuts back on the number of postseason participants after this year, Seattle should be playing October baseball soon enough.
The decision to tear down this franchise and rebuild it as a copy of someone like San Diego has turned out to be a terrific idea.
We’re going to see some fun at T-Mobile Park.
Email: scameron@cdapress.com
Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. “Moments, Memories and Madness,” his reminiscences from several decades as a sports journalist, runs each Sunday.
Steve also writes Zags Tracker, a commentary on Gonzaga basketball, once per month during the offseason.