The stuff that's gone wrong this season

[Seattle or Bust]

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Not all of that is true.

Olson's .829 OPS is pretty middling compared to other years. It isn't MVP-caliber offense. Far from it.

Albies' .708 OPS continues a downward trend in his career.

Harris has been better this year for sure... but nothing insane.

The M's have resilient pitching and a strong bullpen on paper... the Braves are just currently performing better when they struggled the year prior much like the M's have.

40 homers and a .830 OPS is very much in the wheelhouse of a non-broken Cal.

Julio can easily be what Harris has been this year.

The pitching has the talent to be just as good.

It's just been a shitty year for the M's.

Just ironic that the guy that RIGHTFULLY called them a dogshit team all season suddenly thinks they are going win 95 games next season. What's with the newfound optimism? I just don't see it.

Cal going to be 30 next season after a terrible year
Naylor got paid then put up a sub .700 OPS 0.7 WAR season. Also be 30 next June.
Cole: Could improve again but was pretty mid this season
3B: Donovan made of glass
SS: Colt was horrible but could see Cole like improvement.
LF: Arroyo and Boston Smith might work
CF: Obviously need a 5+ WAR season for Julio
RF: Laz has been great but his 45% K rate is scary
DH: Canzone probably be counted on with another .800 OPS season

Rotation:
So many question marks in terms of health and preforman. I see an average rotation.

Pen is currently a mess and Jerry has shown he is never will to do what it takes to fix it.

I see maybe a .500 season unless they actually do something this off season.

I think what you've seen is the crater of this team's potential.

I don't know if it's optimism as much as it's just understanding that this is what rock-bottom looks like and believing that they'll do what they can to dig out of it.

I mean the Huskies lost to Montana in '22... couldn't throw the football to a group of wideouts that featured 4 NFL players. Then found themselves in the Natty in '24 with one of the best passing offenses ever.

The talent is there... sometimes it just takes a kick in the rear and a new message to wake up that talent again.

I've been pissed and calling them terrible because their performance is a spit in the face of that talent. That's the frustrating part. I was far less aggressive about the '19 Mariners for instance lol.

[Donn Beach]

Granted this was a miserable season but understand that was based on expectations. And there were legitimate reasons for those expectations. And those reasons are still relevant. The team has talent. David Schoenfield does a thing ranking talent. Believe he had them 3rd going into the season, I think they are like 10th now. I don't want to debate that sort of crap, if you don't want to believe it that's fine. Teams can go through slumps like players. I'm not going to extrapolate into the future that the mariners need to continue to be crappy.

I don't believe the Brewers superiority is based on talent, in my mind they play a smarter brand of baseball. They have intelligent at bats, aren't making the mistakes in the field. That to me is the model, can you make the current mariners into that? It would take some adjustment. Coaching, approach, some roster adjustments. I'm not interested in just trying to bring in bigger sluggers. That's been the Mets approach, I think there's more to than that.

I think this applies to the the pitching. I heard Buster Olney the other day discussing Coaching doctrine with teams like the Rays and Braves. It made sense to me that the mariners have lost ground in terms of a sophisticated approach to pitching strategies. Analytical plans for going after particular hitters. The flipside of course is hitters having a plan in terms of the pitching. For as anylitcal as the mariners are supposed to be I think they're dropped the ball.

And I have a plan! Not much of one. I'd leave the roster basically intact. I'm not trading off the team. There be adjustment. I think a healthy Donavan is probably a good model to go after. But my block buster move would be going after a true number one pitcher, a true ace. A guy you can stick at the top of that rotation no doubt about it. I'm thinking like the Astros getting Justin Verlander. A big time move to shore up the pitching as well as set a tone for the entire team. Of course that guy is probably not available or even exists. It's not going to be Skubal. There's nobody else in FA. In fact FA in general looks pretty bad. It need to be a trade. And of course there's probably not going to be a season anyway

[Donn Beach]

So here is AI comparing the mariners anylitcal style to the Brewers. It considers the mariners to be star driven, the Brewers focusing on defense

[GL_Storm]

I like the Brewers' approach better.