Then what's Bryce Harper's excuse? I'm only 19 with and I'm hitting BA .303 OBP.384 SLUG.548 OPS .933. This is my second year out of junior college. Give me a break.

I hadn't written him off, I just didn't expect him to turn it around so quickly. Guy's still young as heck. He could have toiled in Tacoma for another 4 years and still ended up the next Mike Morse for all we know. To put it another way, you don't give up on guys that tear up AAA at age 22. Especially not after a couple hundred bad at bats in the major leagues at age 23 and 24. Plenty of guys don't become useful pieces until their late twenties. That he's useful now is just awesome for us.

He's a freak of nature that has been projected to do well since he was still in highschool. Like Strasburg or Arod or Griffey some guys are just on a different level. Now we just sit back and see if he turns into a HOFer or fizzles out due to injury or lack of effort.

I really hope you aren't comparing Smoak or Carp or even Ackley to Harper. Just not the same man.

Saunders is about where you want to see him turn it around. But, you would have to say that the overwhelming majority of people had written him off. I don't know if I totally wrote him off, but I sure didn't have high expectations.

As for the Harper thing, of course I am joking. The Nats got so lucky to have the #1 pick in two years where there was a freak of nature that was light years ahead of everyone else in the draft in terms of talent. Harper is an intense dude (as you saw in his most recent interview and his little tantrums in runway). I don't see effort ever being a problem with him because he is all about baseball. Injuries to me are the only wild card between him and a HOF career.

There are a lot of teams that would love to have a 24 year old center fielder hitting .282/.350/.474. That's quite good when you consider most people think players primes aren't until 28-30 years old.

Oh, you mean the best hitting prospect since Alex Rodriguez? Those Mariners guys should be ashamed of themselves for not being generational talents!

Given the statistic fetish that people have now in baseball, I'm surprised that more stats haven't be produced to reflect age. Honestly, in my opinion, some of these guys are much closer to their potential than you think. I understand the concept of patience, but honestly these guys should be showing a little more than they are on a consistent basis if the Mariners are going to be contenders in the next 2-3 years.

Here is one piece to suggest that the youth thing is sort of a myth and another WAR chart that shows that more players do have success after 27, but it't not probably as many as you or I would have thought. I know they aren't the best sources, but it was all I could find.

http://sports.espn.go.com/fantasy/baseball/flb/story?page=age27myth
http://www.pinstripealley.com/2012/2/11/2791595/prime-time-when-does-a-players-career-reach-its-peak

Obviously, I had my sarcasm font on there, Einstein.

I understand where you're coming from and I agree. When I say peak I just mean that they will be BETTER at that age, not that they are going to take some major leap. If Saunders is an .850 OPS bat now then at his peak I would hope for maybe one or two .900 OPS seasons or at least .880. Not some huge jump, just an increase with experience while his physical talents are at their best.

Awwwwwwww yeah. Gonna get swept at home by the worst team in baseball.

Another year. Another embarrassment.

AWWWW YEAAAAH!!

Ackley needs to do whatever he needs to do to stop flat out s*cking as well.

I got home from a late shift and checked out the MLB Gameday and saw that Iwakuma came in for one batter, the batter got a single, and Wedge pulled Iwakuma. What the f... was that about?

Didnt you know we are playing for the first pick next year?

Well that is something to look forward to!

Also, I really wish the M's just made this an indoor ballpark. As dumb as it is, I think this team plays terribly in "cold" weather.

That is silly, because teams coming from San Diego should have a hard time adjusting to the weather and we should grow accustomed to it. Really, there is just no excuses for getting swept by a team like the Padres. They have won less that 1/3rd of their games before this series.

I repeat, this team flat out s*cks. You can harp about inconsistency all you want, if you get swept at home by the Padres, you simply flat-out s*ck. Worst team in the Majors, bar none. The Padres didn't sweep a single road series all of last year and obviously didn't so it so far this year considering they had the worst road record(and record overall) in the MLB.

We were unbearably s*cky last year and this year we are barely even better. This team s*cks. Wedge s*cks. It's gotten to the point where I'm happy seeing so few filled seats at Safeco because hopefully the FO can get the message and do something about it, starting with canning Wedge who was proven to be a terrible manager before coming to Seattle to begin with.

Just Wedge being Wedge bro.

"Didnt you know we are playing for the first pick next year?"

You might be right on target with that suggestion, wazzujon.

This is what I'm thinking. The owners are probably trying to improve the team while spending as little as possible, with a sale of the team in mind. Consider this info from Lookout Landing:

"The Mariners won't have to wait until 2021 to begin a new, more lucrative deal. As Fanshotted earlier and as originally written at Forbes, it turns out the Mariners' contract with FSN Northwest or ROOT Sports or whatever contains an opt-out clause after the 2015 season. That's the halfway point. The Mariners can and probably will opt out and negotiate a substantially bigger deal."

With a more lucrative TV deal, the owners would be able to raise the price of the franchise to potential buyers. The catch is, a continued drop in ticket sales meanwhile would erode the value of the franchise.

2015 would seem to be too far away for the fans to put up with sequential losing seasons till the owners can negotiate a new TV deal. But maybe they intend to pitch the property on the basis of a probable TV deal, aiming to sell sometime in 2013. They wouldn't be able to jack up the price as much as they might if they had the deal in place; but if they can argue that a better deal is a pretty sure thing, they can still boost the price somewhat. Maybe what they're hoping for is some incremental improvement in wins that might slow the dropoff in ticket sales or even reverse it somewhat. Then they can argue to potential buyers that the increased TV revenue will enable the new owners to buy better players to put the team in contention, leading to a substantial increase in ticket sales.

I'm thinking they'd love to sell the franchise right now, but they don't want to forfeit the increased value from a new TV deal. So they'll compromise and take whatever increase in value they can argue on the basis of a probable deal.

Too bad. I wish they'd sell the team tomorrow.

In view of how Wedge has treated Iwakuma, I get the feeling that Eric is a prejudiced d*ck.