Monday Morning Mariber is a weekly collection of thoughts on the Mariners week that was, with a focus on the weekend games. It is a format still finding itself, and as such you are welcome to let me know if there’s something you would like to see in it. 

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It is true that every baseball game counts equally in the standings. It’s why we do things like complain about lineups on Opening Day. or lament a team leader not understanding that it’s hard to lead when you’re unvaccinated and subsequently find yourself out of the lineup with Covid. If the Mariners were to once again miss the playoffs by a game or two we’ll look back at games like last Tuesday’s 3-2 loss to Chicago, a game in which the Mariners went 1-8 with RISP, and lament what could have been.

(Note: My brain told me when I read the initial report on Haniger going on the Covid IL that it was reported he was unvaccinated. Re-reading that report I don’t see it anywhere. I’ve corrected my paragraph. My apologies to Mitch, and to you.)

From the casual fan perspective however, April baseball is about vibes. It’s about hi-how-are-yas and nice-to-see-yous. It’s a chance to get to know your baseball team. The initial forging of the unique bond between player and fan that only baseball offers; a daily ritual in which both parties agree to make time for one another for six month out of the year, regardless of whatever chaos 2022 may be throwing at us. 

The Mariners opened their home schedule over the weekend against the Houston Astros. As much as the Mariners and Angels have wrestled back and forth in the mud over the years for the title of “Class’ Smelliest Kid” it has been the Astros that have been the annual foil for this franchise. Year after year, regardless of a game, series, or even overall year’s worth of head-to-head results, the Astros have stepped on the field and reminded the Mariners of the talent gap between them and the sport’s elite. 

In taking two of three over the weekend from a mildly jaundiced looking Astros lineup, a series in which Seattle outscored Houston 18-7, the Mariners made their first and most real claim to 2022 being a year unlike any the past two decades. They met the Astros player for player, plus tool for plus tool. It’s just a single series, and despite all the wonderful energy around the team they are only a pedestrian 5-5. But this roster, when healthy (please stay healthy. There is so little depth here) feels as complete as any since 2016.

It’s going to take a long time to earn anything resembling belief out of many, myself included. But a weekend spent trouncing a longtime tormentor in front of large crowds is the first step in baseball regaining its foothold in the region’s sports consciousness. They finish out the homestand with six games against Texas and Kansas City, who are both bad. It’s another chance to show us they are not the same. Keep it up and belief will follow

Three Up

Geno Suarez Cordially Invites Me to Suck It

The deck is stacked against me enjoying Suarez in Seattle. He’s replacing Kyle Seager, a franchise icon and player I adored. His aesthetic of dad bob + batman villain in a mid-life crisis hair + swinging a bat that looks like it weighs 20 lbs + poor 2021 season really is not my cup of tea. Last week I wrote that his bat looked slow, and I still think it does! But reality doesn’t care what I think, and the reality is that Suarez has thwocked a few dingers, shown a Drew Lock-esque hose and surprising range at the hot corner, and is rocking a 2021 Kyle Seager-ish .182/.270/.455. I still think it could go wrong, but it hasn’t yet, and that’s good enough to keep the dance going for a bit.

Ty France Is the Mariners’ Best Hitter

This isn’t really a source of controversy I don’t think. France was the Mariners best hitter last year as well, but it’s possible we are seeing the beginning of a true breakout for the team’s thicc boi first baseman. Ty is off to a fantastic start in 2022, hitting .289/.400/.500, a 176 wRC+ with a relatively reasonable .300 BABIP. His walk rate is up four percent, his strikeout rate is down three percent. While his hard hit rate is down slightly his ability to hit the ball to all fields and drive the ball up the middle, coupled with an ability to, erm, Control the Zone, makes him the toughest out in this lineup.

I’m still interested to see how another year of defensive metrics rate his glove, but we’re looking at a player with a lifetime wRC+ of 123 over almost two full seasons of data. Ty France can hit.

The Andrés Muñoz Singularity

As far as I know, as a layman, we still aren’t sure what exactly lies at the center of a black hole. My understanding is that matter is compressed to an infinite degree, perhaps even warping time itself. I’m not sure our mortal minds can really understand it. If you told me it was a portal to the underworld/heaven/hell/Mount Olympus or what have you I wouldn’t really have a strong case against it.

What I can say, and again this is not empirically proven, but one American League scout did tell me that Andrés Muñoz actually crawled out of the center of a black hole, his hair flame and his eyes glowing a cold blue that portends a divine energy. The scout indicated he descended to earth upon a chariot drawn by the flying scorpions from the Book of Revelation, and that when his feet touched soil the sky turned blood red as God Himself pronounced him his anointed instrument of justice upon this land. 

Again, this is just what I’ve heard. Anyway Andrés Muñoz has struck out the last nine batters he’s faced.

Three down

More Like Abraham Doh’ro

Look I am trying my best to not drag the weight of past narratives into this discussion. Abraham Toro has only had 23 plate appearances in the young season. My issue is less the .087/.087/.174 batting line, or the fact that he hit .215/.293/.285 after an absolutely red hot first two weeks in Seattle. It’s not that his defense is generally whelming, or that his baserunning is average at best. It’s the whole thing. He’s a player filled to the gills with 40-45 tools that the team has talked about being Nu Zobrist. He’s very far from a Dude, and you may have to squint to call him a Guy. He’s not the reason this team will fail or succeed but yeesh, on a roster suddenly filled with capable major leaguers he sure stands out to me as a weak link. At least Dylan Moore can run, pick it, and accidentally hit the occasional 430-foot dinger.

Swing the Bat, Julio

The kid has been able to legally drink alcohol since December. He’d be one of the youngest players in AAA if he were there instead of MLB. He has come to bat fewer than three dozen times. All that said Julio is striking out 45.7% of the time. You can (and LORD everyone certainly is) complain about umpires stretching the zone on him, and not without merit. But it’s been far from a smooth jump off for the team’s most highly touted position prospect in 25 years. 

The game is all adjustments. Pitchers will keep hammering breaking balls off the corner, letting MLB-quality framers give umpires every excuse to ring him up until he either starts fighting that pitch off or attacking more hittable pitches earlier in counts. Until then it’s the first big, fat dose of failure for the Mariners young prodigy.

What Would You Say, You Do Here?

Writing negatively is a challenge. We have to be able to say something doesn’t work, or that we don’t like something without coming across as completely denigrating certain players. I never want it to seem personal (unless it actually is). BUT, I do not understand what role Luis Torrens plays on this roster. I grant he showed a few months of quality hitting against left-handers last season. I understand he’s out of options and I can see why the Mariners don’t want to part ways with him. In the right context he could be a useful player. However, this roster is already filled to the brim with players whose best position is DH. They have what is most likely a perfectly adequate catcher rotation in Cal Raleigh and Tom Murphy. Torrens is, charitably, a below average catcher.

Luis makes sense on a big league roster, but I do not think he makes sense on this big league roster. At minimum, please have him stop catching Matt Brash, a rookie with below average command and a slider that breaks so far left it has moved beyond electoral politics and pops up every few weeks agitating for a national strike. 

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You can follow Nathan on Twitter at @nathan_h_b. Additionally he appears on the Ian Furness Show on Mollywhop Mondays on KJR 93.3 FM every Monday at 1:10 PM with Chris Crawford and Kevin Shockey. Please be nice. He is doing his best.