INSIDE BASEBALL
Seattle Swoon
The Mariners' defense of their division title has been a disaster
by Mark Bechtel and Jeff Pearlman
Posted: Wed September 9, 1998
| |
It didn't help Seattle when Jay Buhner missed 59 games with a
knee injury.
(Doug Pensinger/Allsport)
|
David Segui is no dummy. After missing out on postseason play in
the first eight years of his big league career—the last 2 3/4
of which were spent in the small-market hell of Montreal—the
first baseman became a free agent last fall. He signed with the
Mariners, who had just made their second playoff appearance in
three years and who would have seven recent All-Stars on this
year's Opening Day roster. Plus, because the team is scheduled
to move into a state-of-the-art, retractable-roof cash cow next
summer, Segui figured he wouldn't have to worry about ownership
unloading players to cut payroll. "I came here for a chance to
win," Segui says, then pauses. "We had the chance. We just
didn't win."
That might be the understatement of the year. Seattle's quest
this September isn't the playoffs but merely to avoid becoming
the third American League team to go from first to worst in its
division in one year. At week's end the defending Western
Division champs were 64-77 and battling the A's, a far less
talented club, for third place. Unlike the world champion
Marlins, the Mariners don't have the excuse that they traded
away all their talent.
So what happened? Centerfielder Ken Griffey Jr. made a modest
run at Roger Maris (and will almost certainly become the third
man in history to have back-to-back 50-homer seasons), shortstop
Alex Rodriguez is two homers short of becoming the third player
to hit 40 homers and steal 40 bases, and Segui has been solid
offensively and defensively (a team-best .308 average and one
error). Seattle leads the majors in home runs and became the
first team in history to hit 200 dingers in three consecutive
seasons. Despite the power, Segui says, "there are so many areas
we need to address—bullpen, leadoff hitter, defense, you name
it."
In recent years Seattle has been plagued by those shortcomings
but has always found a way to win. This season, though, a lot of
bad mojo caught up with the club. Ace Randy Johnson spent much
of the spring voicing his discontent with team owners for not
having traded him after talks on a long-term contract extension
broke down last fall. He then spent most of the season pitching
like Lady Bird Johnson. Many of his teammates took management's
refusal to re-up the Big Unit as a sign that ownership wasn't
committed to winning.
As upset as the players were, the fact remains that they had all
but played themselves out of the race by the time Johnson was
dealt to the Astros. The bullpen set the tone for the season by
blowing a three-run lead on Opening Day, and less than two weeks
later it gave up seven runs in the ninth without retiring a
batter to turn a 7-2 lead into a 9-7 loss to the Red Sox. That
defeat dropped them 2 1/2 games out of first; they haven't been
that close since.
The Seattle offense couldn't pick up the slack this time. In
games in which the Mariners didn't homer more than once, they
were 29-51 at week's end, and when they scored fewer than four
runs, they were 9-42. They were hitting .274, but their
performance in the clutch was abysmal—.252 after the sixth
inning and .263 with runners in scoring position.
The good news for Seattle is that the team will be in position
to get help in the off-season. Nearly all the players they want
back next year are under contract, while most of the flammable
bullpen and a few peripheral position players are free to walk.
Last winter free agent Randy Myers expressed interest in
pitching in Seattle, but the Mariners didn't pursue him. The
team can ill afford a similar lapse while addressing their
bullpen needs this off-season. Other items on their wish list: a
No. 1 starter, a leftfielder (the Mariners have used 59
alongside Griffey over the past 10 years) and a leadoff hitter.
Issue date: September 14, 1998
|
