SCC Sports Update
M's CleanupMariners: Let the cleanup begin
Some say it was bittersweet. Some say it was a failure. And some believe it was a success.
Whatever the opinion is, the 2003 Seattle Mariners season is no more. On Sept. 28, in front of 45,719 people at Safeco Field, the Mariners concluded the 2003 regular season out of the playoff picture after starting the season with an astonishing 42-19 record.
Lots of things happened between then and the end of the regular season.
Since June 8, the day the Mariners returned home from a four-city, three-week road trip in which they went 11-1, Seattle sputtered all the way to the finish line with a 51-50 record. The lead in the American League West they once held for 134 days had vanished as well. For the second consecutive year, the M’s started off at a torrid pace, only to end the season in second place behind the Oakland Athletics.
Without a doubt, the biggest breakdown in 2003 was the offense. The Mariners hit a measly .261 in the second half of the season, and by doing so, wasted a number of outstanding pitching performances from Ryan Franklin and Jamie Moyer, among other starters.
The Mariners also struggled mightily against the bottom-feeders of the league, including Tampa Bay, Baltimore and Texas. The offense had a tough time against no-name, right-handed pitchers, and as Seattle began fading away in the standings in mid-August, the team’s pitching staff began to look tired and worn-out. Eventually though, so did the hitting.
Uncharacteristically, the Mariners’ offense almost stopped producing runs altogether, especially in games and in ballparks in which they had to win.
They lost a crucial three-out-of-four in Kansas City in mid-July, and went 1-6 on a road trip to Toronto and Boston in late-August, including a four-game sweep at the hands of the Red Sox in Fenway Park.
Furthermore, the Mariners were held to three runs or less in 17 of 28 games in August, resulting in a 14-15 record, and simultaneously lost ground to Oakland in the American League West which they never regained.
During this stretch of awful performances, Mariner fans were losing patience with the team and an ownership that was proved wrong for not making any significant moves during the deadline in past seasons. As a matter of fact, there was a slight decline in attendance as many people refused to watch a team melt under pressure as it had the year before.
Many were left wondering if Mariners’ ownership was only interested in huge amounts of cash flow and not interested in spending that cash flow on mid-season adjustments.
People were also beginning to question just how committed the Mariners were in getting to the World Series. Countless Mariner fans knew Howard Lincoln and the ownership had enough money to go out and spend it on a hitter at the deadline, so when the Mariners failed to get anything done, fans, players and the media were disappointed with the results.
Then there was relief pitcher Jeff Nelson’s outburst that became public in early August regarding his position on the ownership’s lack of bringing in an offensive player at the trading deadline. Nelson’s actions got him traded back to the New York Yankees, where he has won four World Series rings for reliever Armando Benitez, who did very little in his days as a Mariner.
After the trade, many speculated Nelson was dealt because of his comments about the organization’s attempts, or lack thereof, to pull off a trade and land a power hitter to the Seattle lineup. Mariners’ ownership vehemently denies that to this day. The Mariners’ front office has never explained itself for pulling the trigger on a trade that sent away one of Seattle’s most beloved athletes, and the fans deserve an explanation.
Contrary to Nelson’s off-the-field problems were Freddy Garcia’s on-the-field problems. Garcia did very little to secure his chances of coming back in 2004 to the organization that praised him for three great seasons. In 2003, Garcia was 12-14 with a 4.51 Earned Run Average (ERA), a far cry from 2001 and 2002 when he was a combined 34-16 with a 3.67 ERA. Garcia, should he be back, could make as much as $8 to $9 million, good enough to pay the entire pitching staffs in Tampa Bay and San Diego. But is he the dominating pitcher who went 6-0 from late May to late June, or the disturbing underachiever who went 0-6 from early July to early August?
Not only was Garcia inconsistent this season, but he was a bit of a head case too.
During the course of the season, pitching coach Bryan Price frequently went out to the mound during Garcia’s outings to calm him down after he made mistakes. Garcia got down on himself too much and during one outing actually turned his back on Dan Wilson when the catcher was trying to communicate with him, which didn’t sit well at all with the Mariners’ front office.
If Garcia wants to be successful, he needs to learn to control his emotions when he is out on the mound making these mistakes, or he’s in for some long and losing seasons.
At the same time, it’s tough to pass up on a guy who gave the Mariners everything he had in 2001, going 18-6 with a league-leading 3.05 ERA and was a candidate for the American League Cy Young award, not to mention a two-time all-star in 2001 and 2002. Let’s not forget Garcia’s dazzling rookie season in 1999, in which he had a remarkable 17-8 record while leading the club with 170 strikeouts.
Nevertheless, the Mariners must fill their priorities this off-season, and that could mean the end of Garcia’s run in Seattle.The Mariners will most likely ship him out with third baseman Jeff Cirillo, who had an absolute nightmare of a season in 2003, batting just .205 and was scarcely used the final two months of the season. Cirillo is due to make $7.5 million next season, which is an absolute joke considering all he has done in his two seasons as a Mariner is hit .224.
So, with all the dilemmas the Mariners are facing this off-season, there won’t be much room for a general manager who is afraid to pull the trigger on a deal, or a third baseman who forgot how to hit, or even a guy who could potentially win 20 games if not for his attitude and composure.
This off-season is about getting better. This is the year the Mariners cannot afford to just sit back and just “be competitive.”
If Edgar Martinez decides to hang them up, the Mariners must pursue a power hitter who can fill his shoes. And as hard as that is to do, whomever the Mariners sign, the front office must make smart and knowledgeable decisions and stick with them. It’s time to bring the World Series where it belongs, to the fantastic fans of the Seattle Mariners.