Underperforming Veterans

Eric Wedge came out this week, criticizing his underachieving veterans. Today, Jack Cust, one of those underachievers, was designated for assignment. Cust was hitting just .213 this season, with an OPS of .673. His career average and OPS are .242 and .813. He’s averaged 25 homeruns per 162 games over his career. He hit three so far this season. Cust isn’t the only one struggling at the plate. Up and down the lineup, most of the veteran position players have significantly underperformed.

Ichiro’s batting average, .272, is over fifty points below his career average, .328. His OPS, .640, is nearly 160 points below his career norm (.796). He is currently on pace to notch just 182 hits, which will be his first season of fewer than 200. Ichiro has another year and $18 million left on his contract in 2012.

Chone Figgins has been a disappointment since he first donned a Mariners jersey last season. He started slowly last year, and only picked it up once the Mariners were well out of the AL West race. He ended 2010 hitting .259. If last year was a slow start, this season has been a nightmare. Figgy is batting just .180 with a .471 OPS in 2011. The average is 100 points below his career average and the OPS is almost 250 points below his career level (.720). Figgins has two more years, and $18 million more on his contract. Yikes.

Franklin Gutierrez’s offensive struggles this season may be affected by ongoing stomach ailments. Regardless, his offense has been horrible. He’s batting just .193, with a .471 OPS. Unfortunately for the Mariners, after his first season in a Mariner uniform, when he batted almost 100 points higher and had an OPS nearly 300 points higher than this season, Jack Z offered Guti a long-term contract. He’s got two more years left on that 4-year, $20 million deal.

Miguel Olivo is also underperforming. He’s batting just .217 this season, with a .639 OPS, well below his career .243 and .703 career norms. His defense has also been an issue. He also leads all American League catchers with eight errors behind the plate; and, he is second in the AL in passed balls (8, Saltalamacchia-12). Olivo is in the first year of a 2-year, $7 million deal.

Of all the position-player veterans on the Mariner roster, Brendan Ryan’s season most closely resembles his career averages: his 2011 batting average (.263) and OPS (.661) are nearly identical to his career numbers (.260 and .658), despite switching from the National to the American League.

Ichiro, Figgins, Gutierrez, and Olivo will not likely be DFA’d in 2011. Too much money remains on their contracts. As a result, Mariner fans will have to sit and watch these veterans continue to struggle.

Revolving Door: Mariner Hitting Coach

The Seattle Mariners have a history of chewing up and spitting out batting coaches. The revolving door of hitting coaches the past decade has featured Hall of Famers, World Series Champions, and former All-Stars and Rookies of the Year. Nobody has been able to establish offensive consistency for years. Chris Chambliss, the 1971 AL Rookie of the Year and six-time World Series Champion (two times as a player and four times as a coach), is the current Mariners batting coach. If history is any indication, his seat may be heating beneath him. Look at the two most recent casualties of the chronically-lousy Mariner offense.

Jeff Pentland – Fired June 9, 2008.

On the morning of June 9, 2008, the Mariners were preparing for a series in Toronto, and reeling from a two-game losing streak that saw their record fall to 22-41. At the time, the Mariner offense held a collective .248 batting average, with a .305 on-base-percentage, and .377 slugging percentage—for a .682 OPS. That day, Mariner batting coach, Jeff Pentland was relieved of his duties and longtime Mariner coach, Lee Elia, assumed the role of hitting coach. The Mariners went on to lose 101 games.

Alan Cockrell – Fired May 9, 2010.

Prior to a Sunday afternoon game at home against the Angels on May 9, 2010, the Mariners fired hitting coach Alan Cockrell. Cockrell’s offense at the time was hitting .225, with a .302 OBP, and a .315 SLG—good for a .617 OPS. Cockrell was replaced by AAA Hitting Coach Alonzo Powell for the remainder of the 2010 season. The Mariners went on to lose 101 games.

Chris Chambliss – Still Employed on July 6, 2011.

The Mariners lost again today, 0-2 in Oakland, after collecting just two hits against the A’s pitching staff, led by Guillermo Moscoso. The Mariners are currently sitting in last place in the Major Leagues, in every major offensive category—fewest runs scored (292), lowest batting average (.226), OBP (.293), and SLG (.337).

Fortunately for Chambliss—and unlike the Mariner clubs of 2008 and 2010—the Mariners are hovering near .500 (43-44) and sit just 3.5 games behind first-place Texas in the AL West.

Ironically, Chambliss seems to have the Mariner pitching staff to thank for his continued employment.

Doug Fister's 3-9 First-Half

By now, Mariner fans realize that Doug Fister has received some of the worst run support in baseball. He is averaging 2.51 runs of support per start. His two-and-a-half runs per game is even more remarkable, considering the Mariners scored 13 runs for Fister on April 19, inflating what his run support numbers should look like based on the other sixteen games he’s started.

In 2011, Doug Fister has accumulated a very good ERA of 3.02, though his 3-9 record wouldn’t indicate how well he’s pitched. Despite a complete-game, one-run performance last night from Fister, the Mariner offense notched just two hits and took the 0-1 loss against spot-starter Cory Luebke.

Fister’s story last night has become all too familiar to him. Last night was Fister’s third complete game this season. He has lost each of those three starts. Fister has tallied ten “quality starts” this season (a quality start being one in which a pitcher goes at least six innings and allows three runs or fewer). Of those ten quality starts, he’s earned a win in just two of them.

Of Fister’s 17 total starts this year, the Mariners have scored two runs or less in thirteen of those starts. Fister is 1-9 in those 13 starts, with a 3.21 ERA.

Doug Fister may not have the stuff of a staff ace, but there’s absolutely no way that he should be 3-9.