NorthWest Sports Blog brings you daily features on Oregon, Washington State, and BC amateur and pro sports teams.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke talks about the 2013 season and the expectations for Dustin Ackley. He points out when looking at Ackley’s splits from a year ago, the numbers are almost identical. Unfortunately, they were consistently low. He goes on to say at this point in his career, Ackley has been more consistent with quality commercials than producing quality play at the plate. He is still young, give it time M’s fans.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke talks about the 2013 season and the expectations for Kyle Seager. He points out Seager is no longer fighting for his spot at 3B, he also knows about the grind of 162 games. Mariners fans are not hoping for better numbers in that department, just more plate appearances! M’s fans expect Kyle Seager to produce at SafeCo Field the way he has done on the road in his career.
NWSB Managing Editor and Seattle Mariners blogger “Q” tells us today that the Mariners released their 2013 commercials. Not only did they bring back Felix Hernandez to do another one with the classic hot sauce but now Brendan Ryan talks to a Buffalo, which in itself is just classic. The newest season features Dustin Ackley wearing his love for fans on his sleeve.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Danny Ferguson tells us the things he needs to see most from the M’s this year, in a letter to skipper Eric Wedge. Not only does he want to see the Big 3 advance to the MLB roster, he also wants to see Justin Smoak become the player he was promised to be. But on top of everything, he wants Eric Wedge to take some accountability and show some emotion to us fans. It is us who is the reason that he has his job in the first place.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke talks about the pros and cons about Raul Ibanez coming back to Seattle. While he may be seen as a little arrogant as time and will surely take at-bats away from other players throughout the year, his upsides seem to outweigh his costs. Ibanez, contrary to what the Mariners thought was going to happen, has actually gained power in the past few years and will be a valuable piece in the Seattle lineup.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Danny Ferguson gives us the top five things he’s going to watch out for at Seattle Marines Spring Training camp this year. Danny want’s to see some consistency out of M’s 1B Justin Smoak, possibly last September was a showing of what was to come from the young slugger. Miguel Montero is another question mark for Danny, he is going to be asked to carry the weight behind the plate this year, and no one knows if he’s quite ready for that yet.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Clinton Bell weighs in with 5 things he is watching out for this year at Mariners spring training. Cactus League play is under a month away, and pitchers and catchers report in less than a week, and this year the M’s have a lot of question marks heading in. The outfield, first base, and the handling of Mike Zunino top the things to watch for in 2013 Mariners camp.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke brings us the positive and negative approaches for the upcoming MLB season with the Mariners infield. Jeff puts it plain and simple for us; it’s put up or shut up time for several Mariners youngsters starting in the infield. Namely, Justin Smoak, Dustin Ackely, and even though he’s a veteran, Brendan Ryan. All three positions have players who were brought in this season chomping at the bit for starting time.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke brings us a wish list of sorts, players who could be valid catching backups for the now limited role in Seattle. With the recent trade for Mike Morse, the M’s sent John Jaso to the Oakland A’s, leaving a whole behind the plate, while acquiring more unneeded 1B and OF personnel. Four names stood out to Jeff, and yes, one of them happens to be Miguel Olivo.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke brings us the newest installment to the NWSB page, the 2013 M’s opening day lineup predictions. Dustin Ackley, Michael Saunders, Jason Bay, Jesus Montero, Felix Fernandez are some of the usual suspects. Where is Eric Thames? Read on to find out. Spring in the air, sunshine and the smell of sunflower seeds cover the field as the Seattle Mariners prepare for game 1 of 162.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners’ blogger Jeff Budke brings us the newest installment to the NWSB page, the 2013 MLB statistics that must improve for the Mariners. He points out the obvious. The M’s need more runs. Kendrys Morales, 3B Kyle Seager, and C Jesus Montero may not be traditional home run hitters, but all can work the count and should get more base knocks with runners on this season.
NWSB Insider and Seattle Mariners blogger Danny Ferguson gives us what he thinks needs to happen for the Mariners to improve the most important stat in all of baseball. Wins. The 5 guys who need improvement are Brendan Ryan, Justin Smoak, Hector Noesi, Mike Carp, and Dustin Ackley. Though Ackley already has an important role with this team, Danny is asking for about 20 more triples from the Ack Attack. These 5 guys improve, and the M’s will have 5 more wins in 2013.
