Your Thoughts Exactly

For those out there who think Melvin doesn’t know how to use his bullpen, the primary mistake being not using Guardado unless we have a lead in the 9th, take heart in Melvin’s post-game after losing game 2 of the Detroit series, in which he said he was ready to use Guardado in the 8th!!!! but changed his mind once the game was tied. So he’s extended his best-reliever usage to having a lead in the 8th. Good on you Melvin. See, I think Melvin is outsmarting all those bloggers out there who critique his bullpen management; he knows we don’t have the offense to come back, so why waste a good reliever giving us a chance? Better have Guardado waste away and not reach performance clauses in his contract. The best part is it keeps him from providing more fodder to the naysayers, for if he actually tried to preserve a tie game, one run in the ninth would in fact guarantee a win, and bunting would be much more worthwhile. So by not preserving a tie, he prevents his use of the sac from swelling to even more outrageous heights. This guy is just too damn smart.

What else is wrong with this team? They are slow. And I don’t mean Edgar, Olerud, and Wilson slow; I mean slow. This from Melvin after last nights game, courtesy of the Seattle Times:

“It’s close to the time to have to do something a little differently. “I don’t know exactly when.” And, even better: “This is the first time I’ve actually thought, ‘Maybe we need to try something differently.’ Maybe I’m an idiot. I don’t know.”

So here’s the problem. Either the manager doesn’t know a damn thing about baseball, or the general manager won’t listen to his manager, and doesn’t know a damn thing about baseball. Melvin sounding like he is just noticing the fact that the 14-28 Mariners are bad and maybe sometime in the soon-or-not-so-soon future we might try something different and maybe just maybe he’s an idiot is not an encouraging sound bite. The more discouraging possibility, however, is that Melvin is trying to not attack his boss too much, but also is getting it out in the papers that he thinks its time for some roster moves. If Melvin has been suggesting and asking for some players from Tacoma, and Bavasi has been saying something along the lines of, “No, I don’t think we need that just yet - they are young and energetic and will disrupt our professional clubhouse,” we are in a lot more trouble than we think. Either reason for this type of refusal is discouraging – either he doesn’t want to admit Aurilia, Ibanez, Myers, Villone, McCracken, and Spiezio were bad acquisitions and is hoping they’ll improve a bit to cover his ass, or he thinks they were good acquisitions and are simply slumping. Sure, some are slumping to a degree, but even if performing to reasonable (non-Bavasi) expectations, we would still not be a contender. The bigger problem is that a GM who either can’t or won’t recognize and admit his mistakes will be a burden for years to come. Hiring Squiggy doesn't help.

(Since I wrote this, the Mariners rode another strong outing by the Chief to a 3-1 victory over the Tigers, avoiding a shameful sweep. Even better, Guardado was used in the 8th! See, Melvin said he would do it! The next test will be a 9th inning tie, and then maybe we can move up to a tie in the 8th. Or maybe that will have to wait until next year. Baby steps, Bob, baby steps.)