Brady's Spin: Criticism of Seattle Mariners Manager Is Going a Bit Too Far
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With a playoff spot hanging by a possible thread, it's fair to wonder how Seattle Mariners manager Dan Wilson will hold up. It's fair to wonder if the former player has the chops to navigate the rigors of the playoff race, and the lineup and pitching decisions that come with it. And though he did it last year for 34 games, this is a different situation, where the Mariners are playing from in front of the pack.
That said, some of the criticism has gone too far, or at least gotten too minute.
Let me take three examples from this week's series sweep against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The Casey Legumina decision
The Mariners trailed 7-0 in the top of the seventh inning on Monday night. Legumina had thrown the sixth inning and given up one run. The Mariners rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh to make it a respectable 7-4. Legumina went back out for the seventh, and the plan backfired, and the M's ultimately lost 12-7. Legumina allowed four earned runs in that seventh inning.
Could Wilson have gone to a higher-leverage arm with the game at 7-4? Of course he could have. That said, and you will see a theme here, there are no good options when starting pitcher Logan Gilbert goes only two innings and gives up six earned runs.
When your bullpen has to cover six or seven innings, there's always chance that your weakest members get exposed, or that the unit runs the risk of someone having a bad day. There are no good answers when this happens from your rotation. You are always going to end up with a spot where you're not comfortable.
Carlos Vargas successfully covered three innings in that game, most fans would not be comfortable with that given his struggles, but it worked, so fans move on. This decision backfired, but when you have to cover those six innings, you're left with decisions that don't necessarily make you feel good.
The Tayler Saucedo decision
On Wednesday, trailing 3-2, Wilson went to left-hander Tayler Saucedo instead of left-hander Gabe Speier in the seventh inning.
The Phillies had 6-7-8 in the order up, and spots six, eight and nine were all lefties. It made sense to go to a lefty, but Saucedo ended up giving up four earned runs and the Mariners lost 11-2.
Starting pitcher Luis Castillo only went four innings in this game, which once again, leads Dan Wilson to no good options, especially after his bullpen decimated in games one and two.
Let's say that he brings in Speier for the seventh, and Speier does his job and goes 1-2-3 in the inning. Now, you lead off the 8th with spots 9-1-2 of Bryson Stott, Trea Turner, and Kyle Schwarber.
It makes sense to have a lefty in this pocket, too, but if you've already burned Speier in the seventh, you're using Saucedo in the eighth - against the meat of the order. Are you really comfortable with that? Sure, you could have used Andres Munoz in the eighth inning against that part of the order, absolutely.
Then? You'd be left with Saucedo, Sauryn Lao and Vargas, who had thrown those three innings on Monday, for the ninth and extra innings. There are simply no good options.
Dylan Moore
Look, I get it: Dylan Moore has three hits since June. There are other options in the organization that could be on the roster instead of him. That said, I have a hard time getting mad at his mere presence when Randy Arozarena is hitting. 177 over the last 15 games, and Jorge Polanco is hitting .196, and Cal Raleigh is hitting .211 and Josh Naylor is hitting .236.
The guys who you count on have struggled mightily for two weeks, that outweighs Dylan Moore seeing limited time. The bigger issue with the Mariners is not about Dan Wilson going to Dylan Moore once a week or turning to Tayler Saucedo once in a close game, it's that the guys you count on all across your roster have let you down.
We talked more about all this on the most recent edition of the Refuse to Lose podcast, and you can listen below:
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NEW PODCAST IS HERE: Brady is back on a Friday, talking about the Mariners awful series in Philadelphia and whether or not the criticism of Dan Wilson is fair right now. Furthermore, he talks some of the criticism that he's received, as well as the death wishes sent to Tayler Saucedo. Emerson Hancock is moving to the bullpen, and how do you handle the Victor Robles situation? And Jordan Shusterman of Cespedes Family BBQ joins the show. CLICK HERE:
SCARY SITUATION: Julio Rodriguez was knocked into by a security guard at the Little League World Series complex, avoiding a scary looking injury. CLICK HERE:
SPECIAL BOND: Luis Castillo and Eugenio Suarez have been teammates for several years, and Castillo recently spoke about Suarez's impact on him. CLICK HERE:
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