Salk: Focus has been lacking for Mariners during their funk
Jul 24, 2024, 12:28 PM | Updated: 12:29 pm
Fortunes change quickly in sports, as in life. One injury derails a promising season. One backup exceeds expectations and changes the reputation of an entire franchise. One pass is intercepted at the goal line and no one in the game ever truly recovers and a dynasty starts to crumble. One trade can ignite a struggling offense or defense.
And while the Seattle Mariners’ freefall from 10-game lead to a virtual tie didn’t happen as quickly as some in-game turnarounds, it has been quicker than any in the rich history of the sport.
The inept offense was obviously the primary cause, but in the last 10 games or so, the bullpen sure threw gas on the fire. Teams go through ups and downs, and sometimes your offense or pitching is better than others. You just hope to minimize the downturns and capitalize when you’re hot, but largely it isn’t in anyone’s control.
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I have often said that managers don’t hit and don’t pitch. When a team doesn’t hit well or pitch well, that generally isn’t on the manager. They can’t make a team nor a player execute. They can provide information, suggestions, aid, comfort, or even a day off to clear the head. But they can’t do anyone’s job for them on the field. The manager can create a culture where players want to show up early, stay late, work hard, and support each other. But once the process is in place, the players are on their own in the batter’s box or on the mound.
But sloppy play is different. And in the first five games after the All-Star break, we have seen something that goes beyond executing the basics.
Multiple errors. Throwing the ball around the infield. Major baserunning gaffes. Inability to throw strikes at key junctures.
Those fall into a different category because those aren’t about the incredibly difficult tasks of hitting a major league pitcher; they are about focusing on the job at hand. Every pitch of every inning of every game.
And that does ultimately come back to the manager.
Baseball, like golf, takes an immense amount of focus for an unusually long time. Both sports have excessive stretches of downtime and often can feel like the same thing is happening over and over. But the moment you lose concentration even for one shot or one pitch, that is when the tournament or the game finds a way to make you pay.
Watching this team since the break, they are not focused. Not enough anyway.
To be fair, even great teams have moments during the season where their concentration wains. And it might even be understandable in Seattle given the circumstances. The Mariners are less than a week away from a massively important trade deadline that could change the complexion and future of this roster. They did just move on from a stalwart of their past five years in first baseman Ty France. They did just place two of their top leaders on the injured list, calling up three players in one day to replace them all. That is a lot for anyone. And it’s understandable to need a night or two to clear your collective heads.
But that break is over. The Mariners can’t afford for it to continue. And it is up to the manager to lead his team out of not only this slump but even more this funk.
That’s a tough assignment, but it’s what the job calls for right now and it is something that has been one of his great strengths during Scott Servais’ Seattle tenure.
Not everything is the manager’s fault. He isn’t responsible for the way the France exit was handled. The timing and handling of that situation unfortunately blew up in their face, much like the Kendall Graveman and Paul Sewald trades did. I understand why France needed to go and why they attempted to pass off his salary through the waiver process first rather than through the cleaner option of going straight to designating him for assignment. It might have worked out just fine if the information hadn’t leaked and forced their timeline to change. But it backfired. And it brought back the gone but not forgotten ghosts of the two deadline deals that nearly tore apart this clubhouse.
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I don’t know how many times you can reasonably ask Scott to pull things back together. This situation is different – France was struggling badly unlike the very productive Graveman and Sewald – but still managed to ignite some of the same vibes.
And of course the timing got even worse when Julio Rodríguez and J.P. Crawford were lost to injury in back-to-back games. It forced too many changes at once and left a minor league lineup to fend for itself at a time when the team should be coalescing for the final push.
Again, it’s up to Scott to make it all work. To get this group to buy in and to focus on their jobs before the division is out of reach.
The MLB trade deadline is July 30, and the lineup the Mariners are currently rolling out could look a lot different after it passes. This may just be a brief transition phase as they move on from the players that were not producing and replace them via trade and/or internal options. But they can’t allow it to get too far away during that time.
The Mariners (as of the time I am writing this) are in first place. Strange but true. If they can focus long enough for reinforcements to arrive, they might even be able to stay there. If not … well, that is a whole ‘nother column.
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• Passan: One hitter makes most sense for a Seattle Mariners trade