THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: Don't sweat Sheffield's funk

Surprises.

Always surprises.

Here we are in the middle of June (more or less), and Gonzaga boss Mark Few has just finished testifying to Congress.

The eternal child, Phil Mickelson, is going after back-to-back major victories at Torrey Pines, the course outside San Diego where he grew up.

Aaron Rodgers is in a showdown with the Packers, and much closer to home, the Seahawks wrapped up OTAs with just one basic question mark…

Can they work out a long-term deal with all-world safety Jamal Adams?

Oh, and the Kraken are close to signing their first coach. With Rod Brind’Amour out of the picture (re-signed with Carolina), feel free to take a flier on Rick Tocchet, now a free agent after four years and almost exactly a dead-even record (125-131-34) with Arizona that included one playoff appearance.

Tocchet, a former teammate of Kraken GM Ron Francis – ditto almost every candidate on the list – left the Coyotes on what both sides called “amicable” terms.

And for once, it seemed like everyone meant it.

SO, BACK to the surprises…

With so much going on, and the Mariners dead set on a less-than-thrilling course that should produce something close to a .500 record, why exactly do I have a fistful of emails about Justus Sheffield?

Minnesota roughed up Sheffield for seven runs in five innings en route to a 7-2 victory Wednesday night – something of a common sight for the big lefty this season.

Other than staff ace Marco Gonzales, Sheffield was Seattle’s most consistent starter in the shortened 2020 season.

Understand this, though…

Mariners fans are remarkably knowledgeable – remember, this is a franchise that might be trying to escape a two-decade funk, but just prior to that, the club attracted north of 3 million paying customers to watch ballgames in a warehouse.

A structure that would have been a perfect setting for some sort of Scandinavian mystery that involved throat-slitting on rainy nights.

True.

Not the murders.

However…

The M’s have drawn 2.6 million or more 11 times in franchise history, and three and half of those seasons were played in the hideous Kingdome.

The luxurious yet comfy home that is now called T-Mobile Park opened midway through the 1999 season.

Newcomers to the Northwest may think the Mariners are little more than an oversized minor league team – but this area has a shockingly large and informed fan base.

Stay ignorant if you wish, but…

This is big-time baseball country, a region that just happens to be suffering from a two-decade drought without postseason excitement.

Don’t mistake that for lack of interest.

If GM Jerry Dipoto’s plan to break up the band and start from scratch produces a pennant-contending team in the next two or three years, this whole part of the country will light up with baseball enthusiasm.

IT’S NOT quite a shock, then, that the Mariners faithful are watching this rebuild carefully.

No little three-game winning streak is going to produce downtown parades, but the Northwest WOULD go bananas if this long-term plan comes to fruition.

Folks in these parts are well aware that Sheffield was 4-3 in that 60-game sprint a year ago, with a handsome 3.58 ERA in 10 starts.

He was touched for just 52 hits and 20 walks in 55 1/3 innings, allowing a .251 batting average.

Bottom line, he was solid.

This time around, though, Sheffield is dragging around a 5-6 record with a 5.51 ERA.

He’s pitched 63 2/3 innings, allowing 79 hits (11 of which left the premises), and 47 runs.

Opponents are batting .304 against him.

For what it’s worth, I doubt you need to worry about Sheffield – not down the road.

Lefties who throw from a low arm slot -- and feature a sinking two-seam fastball as their money pitch -- can get out of whack mechanically.

Without a dose of violent velocity to produce some quick outs, pitchers like Sheffield need to re-calibrate their entire motion, and that takes time and work.

The good news: I doubt that over the next few years, the Mariners will suffer from a lack of talent in the rotation.

Gonzales is still around; Justin Dunn has developed big-time “out pitches”; Yusei Kikuchi has become an All-Star level starter, almost right on schedule; and it looks like signing Chris Flexen after his stint in Korea was a lot better move than simply scouring the bargain bin.

AMAZINGLY, all but Flexen have been injured at some point this year, but…

None of these twinges look grim for the future.

Every team, including the $250 million-plus group like the Dodgers, must find a bullpen year-to-year by mixing, matching, trusting its scouts and analytics crew, then grabbing a couple of long relievers at St. Vincent de Paul.

If no one can get big outs when needed, then it’s back to the thrift store circuit until you’ve got every situation covered.

To reach the playoffs and win, though, the battle is all about your starting rotation, and believe me…

Seattle is almost ready to win on that front.

To quote the manager Earl Weaver, the late lord of Baltimore: “Momentum in baseball is ALL about tomorrow’s starting pitcher.”

Seattle’s current staff, including ready-to-win Logan Gilbert, will have reinforcements coming – George Kirby, Emerson Hancock, Juan Then, Brandon Williamson, Isaiah Campbell, and right on down the line.

The best news of all is that the Mariners don’t appear to have had any terrible “misses” on their own drafts, and of course, they’ve picked from the very top shelf when making a deal that’s involved trading away established big leaguers for prospects.

These are the arms ticketed for T-Mobile Park sometime between now and 2024.

Yes, that includes Justus Sheffield.

Did I mention that he’ll be just fine?

Worry?

Nah.

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 which is published monthly during the offseason.