Seattle Mariners: Hoping for Moneyball or a Miracle in 2016
By Todd Pheifer
If you asked me how I feel about the Seattle Seahawks going into next season, I would tell you that I am pretty optimistic. The ‘Hawks may lose a key free agent or two in the offseason if they get outbid for the services of Jermaine Kearse or other important contributors. However, the core is still there and Seattle has done a great job in recent years reloading through the draft.
The Seattle Mariners? They are a bit harder to assess.
Sports is a funny business because you never really know how a team is going to perform, even if they look good on paper. On paper, the Mariners have a couple of stars and a lot of guys that could be really good in the right circumstances. The word “could” is obviously a problem.
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New GM Jerry Dipoto certainly wins the award for the most moves in the offseason. When I look at what he did, I can’t help but think of films like Moneyball and Miracle. This isn’t to suggest that the 2016 Seattle Mariners are going to be a team for the ages that defies all the critics and rises to glory. Still, one can hope.
If you haven’t seen Miracle, pick it up. It is a pretty epic film and a lot of fun to watch. Moneyball is certainly interesting, though not necessarily on the same level of other sports films. What they have in common is that they are about teams that defy the odds, but on a personal level they are about individuals who have a vision for how a squad should be built. In both films those individuals are heavily questioned by what is portrayed as conventional wisdom, but somehow they know that they are doing the right thing.
That brings us back to Dipoto. I hope he has a similar vision for how to build this team. A lot of moves were somewhat interesting, but not necessarily compelling at face value. Granted, marquee names can be extremely overrated, particularly when teams give them ridiculously contracts that prove to a large millstone around the collective necks of the organization after a couple of years.
The Seattle Mariners? They are a bit hard to assess.
We have seen the impact of Jack Zduriencik’s philosophy in recent years. While he never stated it, Zduriencik seemed to have an ongoing fascination with home runs, rather than going after guys who could consistently get on base. Hence, the Mariners hit a lot of dingers but were consistently at the bottom of the league in terms of OBP.
What is the bottom line? The bottom line is that I have no idea what to tell you about this team. I know that isn’t particularly insightful analysis, but it is the truth. We can crunch the numbers all we want, but ultimately this team has to build some energy in a positive direction.
Granted, that in itself is a vague concept, much like the idea of momentum. The Seattle Mariners seemed to lack any sort of sustained momentum last year, which obviously contributed to their uninspiring season.
Sometimes change is good because it conveys the general idea that this is a new era. Other times change is just change, and it produces the same general results. Let us hope that in 2016 the Mariners are the former and not the latter. Let us hope that we will see some miraculous moneyball come to fruition at Safeco Field in 2016.
Go Mariners!