Game of the Week: June 18: SEA @ TOR

[Commissioner Erick]

Seattle Mariners (36-28) @ Toronto Blue Jays (33-30)


SEA: Danny Duffy (1-2, 4.84)
TOR: Francisco Liriano (4-6, 4.33)


The Seattle Mariners are finally finishing taking the bandages off their players. The Toronto Blue Jays are shuffling their's off to the doctor's office. These two playoff hopefuls are on different ends of the injury spectrum, but are squaring off for tonight's Game of the Week.

After myriad injuries to pitchers and middle infielders, the Seattle Mariners are finally starting to heal up. Boone Logan, Dan Altavilla, Buddy Boshers, and Matt Moore should return in several weeks, providing depth to a pitching staff that has been held up by duct tape and pixie dust despite doing a commendable job. Robinson Cano has been a force since returning from an oblique injury, and Jurrickson Profar should be back from a fractured thumb soon to fill out the lineup. After scuffling in May, the team just took three out five against division leaders in Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

The injury returnee who may be the most important to Seattle's success is taking the mound tonight though.

Danny Duffy was outstanding at controlling the strike zone last season. His K-BB% among AL starters who worked 100 innings placed him twelfth in the circuit among 74 pitchers. Among qualifiers, that ranking goes to eighth. He gave up a bit too many home runs in Seattle, and had some rough batted-ball luck in Kansas City, but he profiled well enough for Seattle to give up two promising youngsters in Nick Neidert and Joe Rizzo, plus a lottery ticket in Ti'Quan Forbes to acquire Duffy, who was staked to a five-year contract.

However, Duffy was awful to begin the year, with a walks per nine number over 5.5, an elevated home run rate, and a dip in strikeouts. He sat with a strained forearm before going on the DL with a bad rotator cuff. Seattle is hoping that resting his shoulder fixed him as his first start back was a gem—6 innings, six hits, three runs, no home runs, no walks, eight strikeouts against a stingy Pirates lineup. With Felix Hernandez in Cincinnati, Hisashi Iwakuma perhaps permanently broken, and Robert Stephenson ineffective, Duffy may be the only pitcher on the roster capable of consistently hitting another gear and leading a rotation. Without him, Seattle may not have the juice to hold off Houston and Texas in the AL West.

Seattle's offense has gotten a nice spark from Mitch Haniger over their recent stretch against division leaders. Haniger had a couple of hits and an RBI against Pittsburgh, but went 6-13 in Baltimore with a pair of home runs, a pair of doubles, and five runs driven in.

The Mariners will take on a Blue Jays team reeling from major injuries this month. Ryan Braun, Devon Travis, Josh Donaldson, J.A. Happ, and Ronald Osuna have all gone down since May 31. The injuries haven't crippled the team, and the Blue Jays are 11-5 in June, but they haven't won a series against a team with a winning record this month.

Toronto has tried to solve their injury issues by promoting young Richard Urena. Urena was part of the Dominican Republic team that won the World Baseball Classic this spring, where he played strong defense and got on base respectably, despite little pop. He's hit well in Triple-A, both this year and last year, and had a solid showing in the majors last season. This year, he's hitting .210, and has just three home runs combined across his time in the majors and minors. Scouts think he has some power, and he showed some last year. If he taps into it, the Blue Jays can weather the loss of Travis.

Lonnie Chisenhall has moved to third base with the loss of Donaldson. He had a six-RBI day against Oakland earlier last week and will likely team with Urena to fill in at third. It's hard to make up for the loss of a player who had 40 home runs and over 100 RBIs last year, but Donaldson was having a very ordinary first half, batting only .258 with eight home runs and a .763 OPS. His struggles were a huge factor why the team was 11-18 to start the season.

Jose Bautista coming around has been a huge factor in Toronto's turnaround. After a rough start, he has six home runs and a .999 OPS thus far in June. Bautista only hit .159 with a pair of home runs in April, raised that to .235 and eight in May, and has a .271 average with the aforementioned six home runs halfway through June. Bautista's year has paralleled Toronto's year, and if he keeps hitting well, Toronto may still make the postseason despite its injuries.


Questions for the GMs:


For Aaron Dunham, Ben Gamel and Jose Iglesias have some minor injuries. How will you handle those players for today's game.

Your team is second worst in baseball in outfield assists. Is that a factor you concern yourself with very much?

Prince Fielder's bat has deserted him and he's still owed $18 million after this season. How will you handle that contract going forward?

For Joe Mazzola, first your team struggled, then your guys got hurt, yet your team has played better as the year has progressed. What has keyed the turnaround?

Reese McGuire was a backup to begin the year, but you made him a starter to juice the offense. What do you think of your catching situation this year, both in terms of what McGuire can bring you and how Martin will handle his benching?

Your team has very little speed, yet Seattle doesn't have a lot of strong arms in their outfield. Will we see some aggressive baserunning in this game, or would you rather try to play station-to-station?

[torontogm]

These are great questions.

First of all, I'd like to say that I'm very pleased with my team's showing so far, particularly the offense. After trading away Seager, Cruz, Felix, and Segura this offseason, I knew that my team might have growing pains in my efforts to bring youth to the squad. The offense has been clicking, especially lately, but my pitchers have pretty consistently given up home runs, and seem about ready to completely fall apart. My pitching staff is capable of posting bottom 5 numbers if I don't find a way to handle these injuries (Iwakuma) and ineffectiveness (Stephenson).

On to the questions:

Ben Gamel and Jose Iglesias have some minor injuries. How will you handle those players for today's game.

Iglesias is heading to the DL. I need him at shortstop, and I don't want to risk an injury to my starter. I think some rest might actually do him some good. Hanser Alberto will get most of the starts this week, as I think his bat has not had the opportunity to shine. Profar has also been activated and is slated to return Friday. He will share shortstop duties with Alberto until Iglesias returns in a couple weeks.

As for Gamel, he'll get a rest and allow Boog Powell (who can also handle any OF position) to get some playing time. I have more depth in the outfield, and can afford to sit Gamel for a few games.

Your team is second worst in baseball in outfield assists. Is that a factor you concern yourself with very much?

I wasn't aware of this, and honestly, it doesn't bother me. Outfielders don't have as much ability to create assists if the balls are leaving the yard. This is what I'm more concerned about. Mitch Haniger, Ben Gamel, Lorenzo Cain, and DJ Peterson already have well-rated arms. I don't see how I would go about improving this one area. It's likely a stat that fluctuates year-to-year (although I'm not sure of this).

Prince Fielder's bat has deserted him and he's still owed $18 million after this season. How will you handle that contract going forward?

Fielder has a place on this team's 25-man for 2018. He had a decent 2017, and I expect his experience to turn things around this year. Even if he can't, I'm not going to pursue a "win-now" mentality very strongly. I'll be ecstatic if this team claims a Wild Card, but ultimately, I hope for some growth from my youth and to compete more strongly in 2019. As for the remainder of Fielder's contract, I have a lot of room this offseason. He's a candidate to be cut and his contract swallowed in entirety at that time.

[TorontoGM_Joe]

Getting my answers in just in time....

For Joe Mazzola, first your team struggled, then your guys got hurt, yet your team has played better as the year has progressed. What has keyed the turnaround?

Mostly guys playing up to their capabilities. The team really struggled out of the gate, but with their track record, we knew they would turn it around. Unfortunately, the injuries really have mounted up and taken most of our starting lineup. I hope these guys can show their mettle and keep us in the race for a playoff spot.

Reese McGuire was a backup to begin the year, but you made him a starter to juice the offense. What do you think of your catching situation this year, both in terms of what McGuire can bring you and how Martin will handle his benching?

I think McGuire can bring us a decent contact hitter with a good eye and really helps round out our lineup. He is the future of the position in Toronto. Martin hates being benched, he's made it known, and I've tried to work him into the lineup whenever possible. Unfortunately, he hasn't hit a lick this year, and may soon find his playing time cut even more.

Your team has very little speed, yet Seattle doesn't have a lot of strong arms in their outfield. Will we see some aggressive baserunning in this game, or would you rather try to play station-to-station?

The young guys will run a little bit, but aggressive baserunning isn't really our MO.

[Commissioner Erick]

Blue Jays 6 - Mariners 2

WP: T.J. Zeuch (2-0)
LP: D. Duffy (1-3)
SV: D. Coulombe (2)


Danny Duffy had been a bit more homer prone this season compared to last season. Jose Bautista had really begun to tap into his power. It was a confluence of events that worked in Toronto's favor.

Jose Baustista clubbed his seventh home run of the month, Dalton Pompey added a two-run shot, and the Toronto Blue Jays powered past the Seattle Mariners 6-2.

Toronto coach Joe Mazzola mentioned that his team was primarily a team that moved station to station. It was their power and Seattle's defense that allowed the Blue Jays to trot around the bases. With no one out in the third inning, Dalton Pompey parked a two-run home run to left field to give the Blue Jays a quick 2-0 lead. Reese McGuire followed by lacing a single down the right field line, but conservative baserunning kept him at first. No matter for Toronto. Robinson Cano's attempt to snare Richard Urena's line drive to his left actually knocked the ball away from Cano and into right field. What should have been an out became two men on and no one down.

Troy Tulowitzki lined out for the first out, but Duffy spiked two curve balls away from Mike Zunino allowed each runner to move up 90 feet and then 90 feet again, getting a run home in the process. With Urena advancing over to third, his speed allowed him to score on Anthony Alford's moderate depth fly ball making it 4-0.

Meanwhile, Seattle's offense was being done in by poor hitting with runners on base. After Robinson Cano doubled with two outs in the first, Adrian Beltre's opposite field screaming single was too hard for Cano to score from second. Mitch Haniger grounded out to short to end the threat. Seattle got a man on in the second, but Herschel Powell slapped a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play to end the opportunity. Seattle went down in order in the third, but another double play ball right to Tulowitzki, this one off the bat of Haniger, ended the inning.

It wasn't until the fifth that Seattle crept back into things. Prince Fielder, who Aaron Dunham gave a vote of confidence for in the pre-game media interview, connected on a high, towering home run that landed in the right field seats. It was the first run allowed by young TJ Zeuch, who was getting so much help from his defense.

Seattle got another run home in the sixth. Cano walked, before Beltre banged a triple off the center field fence, continuing a strong game from the third baseman. In the biggest moment of the game, Zeuch buckled down, striking out Haniger on three pitches, and whiffing Fielder on three pitches to hold the Blue Jays to a two-run deficit.

Zeuch halted Seattle's advances, while the Blue Jays lineup forced Seattle back. Bautista didn't waste any time getting a run back, homering off Duffy to begin the sixth. It was Duffy's last batter, as he gave up five runs, three earned, over 5 innings. Duffy's ability to control the zone was impeccable as he walked nobody and fanned eight, back to back instanced of no-walk, eight strikeout performances. However, the two home runs killed him.

The Blue Jays extended their lead back to four that same inning. Lonnie Chisenhall doubled off Matt Barnes, and advanced to third after a McGuire force out. Urena hooked a double to left to make it 6-2 Toronto.

Toronto brought in its own Barnes, Danny, and he worked a scoreless seventh before walking two in the eighth. Toronto made the odd choice to go to lefty Daniel Coulombe to work to Adrian Beltre with two on. Beltre's grounder was snagged by Coulombe, starting a double play, the third of the game for Toronto, to end the threat. Coulombe stayed on in the ninth and finished up his second save of the year.


Questions for the GMs:


For Aaron Dunham, by some measures Duffy pitched well. No walks and eight strikeouts against a formidable lineup is fantastic. You let the league know, however, that Duffy was on the block. What about his performance rankled you so?

With Jose Iglesias on the disabled list, and Jurrickson Profar not ready to be called up, Cano had to get the start at second base. In some respects it worked. Fielder homered, and Cano got on base four times. However, the error Cano committed in the second proved costly. How likely are you to find ways to get Cano's glove off the field in the second half?

TJ Zeuch had look very flustered to begin his career. Did you think your squad had a good approach against him tonight?

For Joe Mazzola, most managers don't want left-handed pitchers going against premier righty bats like Adrian Beltre. Your manager bot made that call though, and it worked out spectacularly. What did you think of the decision?

You gave Lonnie Chisenhall the start against the lefty and he banged out two hits. Will he be playing against lefties all year?

What did you see from Zeuch? He's got some upside but he may not be ready. He was able to perform well against a balanced Seattle offense though.

[TorontoGM_Joe]

For Joe Mazzola, most managers don't want left-handed pitchers going against premier righty bats like Adrian Beltre. Your manager bot made that call though, and it worked out spectacularly. What did you think of the decision?

Not the move I would have made, but it did work out. I would've preferred to play the percentages and bring in a right hander.

You gave Lonnie Chisenhall the start against the lefty and he banged out two hits. Will he be playing against lefties all year?

Chisenhall will be getting starts regardless of pitcher handedness. Don't have a ton of options at the moment!

What did you see from Zeuch? He's got some upside but he may not be ready. He was able to perform well against a balanced Seattle offense though.

Zeuch had a nice start. Not sure if he's really ready, but he has the most potential out of all my starting pitching depth. Hoping he takes his chance and runs with it

[torontogm]

By some measures Duffy pitched well. No walks and eight strikeouts against a formidable lineup is fantastic. You let the league know, however, that Duffy was on the block. What about his performance rankled you so?

I loved the K/BB ratio, yes. Besides HR/9, that is probably what I love to see out my pitchers, so I was very pleased with that result. However, Duffy did not do a good job preventing runners from advancing on the bases or keeping the ball in the yard. That being said, his performance isn't the reason I'm thinking about moving him. Simply put, I've acquired some cheaper pitchers and would prefer to move Duffy's salary. He's one of my better options, but I'd like to clear some budget room down the road.

With Jose Iglesias on the disabled list, and Jurrickson Profar not ready to be called up, Cano had to get the start at second base. In some respects it worked. Fielder homered, and Cano got on base four times. However, the error Cano committed in the second proved costly. How likely are you to find ways to get Cano's glove off the field in the second half?

Yeah, it kills me to start Cano at 2B. But ever since Profar went on the DL, that's where he's been. He hasn't been awful, but he hasn't been good. Profar will likely get 80% of the starts at 2B once Iglesias returns to SS and Cano can return to DH most of the time. In the 2nd half, Cano will be a main DH unless I'm facing a pitcher that really struggles against LHP, in which case I may move him to the field and allow Fielder some playing time.

TJ Zeuch had look very flustered to begin his career. Did you think your squad had a good approach against him tonight?

We didn't win, so ultimately it wasn't good enough. I typically don't look at results (maybe I should more) when scouting upcoming pitchers. Instead, I look at ratings and try and adjust my roster accordingly. I thought I had assembled my best lineup against Zeuch, and for the most part they gave good effort. Zeuch pitched well enough to give his team the win. Hats off to him.

[Commissioner Erick]

At least Cano got on base 4 times to offset the two errors. If he gets on base 4 times a game going forward, you're probably going to be able to live with his defense lol.