So long, Carlos ~ hello Milton!

Mariners Carlos Silva-for-Milton Bradley could be deal of the year | Steve Kelley

This trade is just another reason to celebrate Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik's arrival in Seattle.

Sure, Bradley is a vial of nitroglycerin suddenly sitting in the finally tranquil Mariners clubhouse.

Sure, Bradley sometimes has trouble with numbers, like last season when he caught Joe Mauer's fly ball in right field, with runners on base, and tossed the ball into the stands.

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Despite a career on-base percentage of .371, Bradley has traveled more than George Clooney in "Up In The Air." The Mariners will be his eighth team in 10 years.

That's what we call a red flag.

But Bradley is worth the gamble. If his head is right — a big if — he could be the steal of the winter.

And at this point in their resurrection, the Mariners are strong enough in the clubhouse that they should be able to absorb one volatile player. Maybe Bradley is incorrigible, but he will know, under manager Don Wakamatsu, that if he acts up, he is gone.

Seattle could be his Last Chance Corral.

The Mariners, at least, got a player. The Cubs got a dirigible. Chances are, Silva will start the season in Chicago's bullpen and be released some time in June.

Bradley crazy or just colorful? Either way, he's no Dizzy Dean

So why would Zduriencik threaten the good-ship Mariner culture that prevailed throughout last season’s dynamic turnaround?

“We think he’s a good fit,” said the general manager, whose words are not to be misconstrued as “we think he’s good for a fit.”

Call it a low-risk, high-reward gamble, the kind that’s Zduriencik’s speciality. If Bradley’s 2010 season mirrors his 2008 work in Texas – without that charging-into-the-broadcast-booth incident in Kansas City – the Mariners have identified an elusive middle-of-the-lineup presence.

And if Bradley morphs into the volcanic Mount Milton? He’s likely presented a one-more-strike-and-you’re-out ultimatum by manager Don Wakamatsu.

There will be no pressure to coddle Bradley, as the $22 million remaining on the final two years of his contract essentially replaces the two years and $25 million the Mariners owed Carlos Silva, the snake-bitten pitcher whose only role next season was to replace Miguel Batista job as the mop-up man in blowouts.

If the Bradley experiment works, swell. And if it doesn’t, at least the albatross of the Silva deal has been removed from the books.

But there’s another dynamic in play, and reflects some hubris: Zduriencik is confident Wakamatsu and his coaching staff can bring the best out in a player whose only impediment to stardom has been between his ears. Wakamatsu has few numbers to show for his brief big-league career, but he’s got a mighty impressive stat as a manager: zero ejections in 162 games.

In any case, Bradley won’t be able to cite a century’s worth of baseball failure in Seattle. The Mariners have deprived their fans of a world championship only since the franchise was born in 1977. Explanations abound for the frustration, and one common explanation is that management has been too cautious to take chances with eccentric firebrands who don’t always follow the company line.

Chances are slim that a pariah discarded by the Cubs ever will be recalled as the kind of folk hero Dizzy Dean became, but what if Milton Bradley discovers the joys of poise? What if the Sultan of Swatted Water Coolers – the Jack of All Tirades – learns to breathe evenly for six months and proves to be the catalyst in the Mariners’ first trip to the World Series?

The season will be a blast, and the movie made about Milton Bradley might even be better

First losing homstand proves exciting but costly | Home Highlights

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A's and R's (2-3)


ROSY RAPTURE

A+ for excitement...
~ 4 out of 5 games decided by one run
~ wins in the 9th are fun (especially when the winning run scores on a single after a 14 pitch AB)
~ wins in the 15th are pretty exciting too (especially when the tie is broken three times!)

Some of the positive pitching numbers...
~ second best ERA in the AL (3.79)
~ fourth highest number of K's in the AL (184 - 14 above league avg)
~ fourth fewest number of BB's in the AL (86 - 7 below league avg)

Some of the positive batting numbers...
~ leading the AL in BA w/RISP (.312)
~ second lowest strikeout total in the AL (148 - 29 below league avg)


PALLID PONDERINGS

Bats need to get a little battier...
~ 25 runs isn't bad, but just a couple more runs and it's easily a 4-1 home stand As for the pitching
~ third lowest BA in the AL (.261)
~ last in the AL in BB (73 - 24 below league avg)

DL stints all too common...
See previous post - let it not be a trend



color me perplexed...
~ Jarrod and Erik have AWESOME outings each going 7IP w/ at least 6 K's and only 1ER) yet in both cases the team came away with the loss
~ Silva, Jaku and Felix all struggled in varying degrees from mightily to just not quite right, yet the team won 2 of those games

G3 | Slim Silva

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AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt

M's 5 | Twins 6

two bad pitches
Well, that's what Wak said re: Carlos's performance tonight. He said that the two home runs were change-ups which, in his opinion, is Carlos's worst pitch. hmmmm.... I feel a "catcher's meeting" coming on...

bright-light jakubauskas and lowe
Yowsa - what a debut! Chris pitched 2 full innings - 2 strikeouts, 2 flyouts, 1 grounder, a hit an intentional walk and they a pick-off to second base for the third out of the 7th inning.

Mark looked sharp (just like we saw when he first came up late in the season 2 years ago) a fly out and 2K's ... if these guys can keep this up, things could get interesting.

and what about that offense?!?
16 runs in the first three games? I think most would take that. But what's really fun about it is that it seems balanced between small ball and power ball. We are seeing that they are capable. Another 2 homeruns (Jose and Branyan) and Endy continues to manufacture (SB and SH)

ON THE MOUND

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courtesy Kirby Arnold | HeraldNet


FELIXhernandez
RIGHT-HANDER
Last season: 9-11, 3.45 ERA
If Hernandez meets his prime goal, to stay healthy all year, he'll eclipse what was a pretty good season in 2008 despite the record. He made 30 starts for the third straight year and reached the 200-inning mark for the first time. How good was he on a bad team? Hernandez made nine starts when he went at least seven innings and allowed less than two earned runs. He went 3-2 in those games.



ERIKbedard
LEFT-HANDER
Last season: 6-4, 3.57
If the conditions were ever ripe for a comeback year, this is it for Bedard. Unlike last year when he squirmed under the scrutiny of being The Guy who would help turn around the Mariners, Bedard is flying under the radar now. He can thank the arrival of Ken Griffey Jr. for that, along with the fact that Hernandez is the likely opening-day starter. Good health is essential, because Bedard was solid when he was pitching last year. He's not a guy you can count on pitching deep into games, so keep the bullpen ready. But when he's on the mound, Bedard will keep the score down.



CARLOSsilva
RIGHT-HANDER
Last season: 4-15, 6.46
If there's a pitcher who needs to make a complete turnaround from 2008, it's Silva. He came to the Mariners a year ago on a four-year, $48 million free-agent contract with the promise that his sinker would be effective at Safeco Field. He was anything but that, suffering through injuries, weight gain and a 0-6 record over his final 11 starts.

This is supposed to be a new year, and Silva reported to spring training as a truly changed man. He lost 30 pounds after a winter of better eating choices and rigorous workouts that included yoga. But is he a changed pitcher? The spring training results are incomplete at best.

Silva worked with pitching coach Rick Adair on mechanical changes designed to create more downward plane and better movement on his pitches. It has been a chore, although Silva has struggled not so much with his mechanics as he has with his mental state. He was torched in his most recent exhibition start, blaming it on his desire to throw too hard, too perfectly even in the relatively relaxed setting of spring training.

"I want to do so good, I want to pitch so well and I screwed up everything," he said. "In the bullpen, I throw as good as anybody. I am so calm and relaxed that I can do what I want to do. In the game, when there is a hitter at home plate, I want to do more than I probably am capable of doing." The Mariners need a completely changed Silva this year, not a guy searching for his confidence.



JARRODwashburn
LEFT-HANDER
Last season: 5-14, 4.69
It's a surprise to some that Washburn is even on this team. The Mariners had a deal in place to trade him to the Twins late last season but team president Chuck Armstrong blocked it. So the Mariners still have a pitcher they'll pay $10.35 million this year, and he's trying to do what he can to earn it _ namely, by tweaking his repertoire. Washburn, who has relied on location and movement with his fastball to get hitters out, is mixing in more offspeed pitches, particularly a changeup.



RYANrowland-smith
LEFT-HANDER
Last season: 5-3, 3.42
Interestingly, Rowland-Smith is a converted reliever who would have started this season in the bullpen had Morrow remained a starter. Rowland-Smith made 12 starts late last season and made eight straight quality starts. He's a big Australian with a fiery aggressiveness and isn't afraid to challenge any hitter at any time. The Mariners want Rowland-Smith to define his pitching style and build a game plan around it.