Seattle, WA
Passan: Mariners’ flaws ‘getting lesser and lesser as season goes on’
Throughout his weekly go to with The Mike Salk Present on Seattle Sports activities 710 AM, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan was requested Wednesday morning tips on how to inform if a crew is nice, particularly because it pertains to the Mariners, who entered the day holding the highest wild card spot within the American League.
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“I feel it’s simpler to determine what what a fantastic crew seems to be like than what an excellent crew seems to be like,” Passan advised Mike Salk. “I feel there are 5 probably nice groups in Main League Baseball proper now, and people are the Dodgers, the Mets, the Braves, the Yankees and the Astros. All people else, to me, is on that border line of ‘are they good?’ or ‘are they not?’ as a result of they’re all groups with flaws.”
So the place does that go away the Mariners?
“The Mariners’ flaws, to me, are getting lesser and lesser because the season goes on,” Passan stated.
“What I see an excellent crew as is a well-rounded crew that doesn’t have any demonstrable weaknesses,” he later added. “And when you have a look at the Mariners proper now, I feel that their bullpen is fairly sturdy, I feel that their beginning rotation with Luis Castillo in it has gotten fairly sturdy, and I feel their lineup, getting a few of the guys again who they’ve been lacking for therefore lengthy shouldn’t be sturdy, however is robust sufficient. So sure, I might say that the Seattle Mariners are an excellent crew.”
Passan pointed to the Mariners coming into Wednesday as 5 video games above .500 on the highway and 7 video games above .500 in division video games as two different causes to point out they’re an excellent crew. Moreover, Seattle overcame some early adversity that Passan finds notable.
“I have a look at the truth that they obtained completely punched within the face earlier this yr and didn’t let it derail them,” he stated, referring to Seattle sitting at 10 video games underneath .500 at one level in mid-June. “There are little comfortable elements that come into figuring out whether or not a crew is nice, and I don’t know – to me, the Mariners examine these containers.”
Luis Castillo
Passan introduced up Castillo, the Mariners’ prized commerce deadline addition, when speaking in regards to the crew’s rotation. Simply how good is the 29-year-old right-hander?
“He’s actually good. And right here’s the factor, you’re getting Luis Castillo at his finest proper now,” he stated. “Which is to say Luis Castillo the final couple years – and I do know that the COVID season isn’t essentially an excellent one to evaluate by – however all through his profession, Luis Castillo has not come into spring in one of the best of form or together with his arm the place it must be. And typically that takes a month, typically it takes a bit of longer than that. However when he will get going, man, it’s nasty.”
Passan famous that Castillo has labored deep into video games and carried a heavy workload in his three Mariners begins, which bodes effectively for the crew going ahead.
“One factor I recognize about him, he desires to be on the market and he desires the ball,” Passan stated. “And the truth that he’s averaged (round) 110 pitches in his three outings for the Mariners up to now, like, that’s a dude you need on the entrance of your rotation in October.”
Hearken to the complete second hour of Wednesday’s Mike Salk Present at this hyperlink or within the participant beneath.
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