Weirdness on the Orangeline

After watching the second loss in a row by the Mariners to the Nationals.  I got on the train to head home.  After getting on the Orange Line at L'enfant and a few stops later the crowd on the train had thinned out enough that most people had a seat to themselves including me.  Around the McPherson Square or Farragut West stop a drunk looking middle aged woman got on the train.  She wobbled around looking for a seat.  She looks at me for a second and then decided to take the plunge...right into my lap.  She was wearing bar clothes (short skirt, revealing top, and very high heels).  I quickly stood up which slid her off of me and sat back down.  Throughout the ride she kept touching me with her arm and leaning on me.  I just moved so my back was kind of facing her, turned up my head phones and continued to play solitaire on my iTouch.  I kept thinking, I only have a few more stops, I can make it.  Finally my stop came and I told her I needed to get off.  She did not get up out of her seat.  She simply moved her legs to the side.  I just stood there dumbfounded for a few seconds until I realized if I didn't get going the doors were going to close and I was going to miss my stop and probably miss my bus.  So I crawled over her to get off which is what I think she wanted.  I fell on her at least once and stepped on her feet too.  I was wondering if anyone saw what was happening.  I probably would have been laughing if I saw someone forced to crawl over a drunk middle aged woman who looked like she had lived a very hard life.  After riding the subway for a year, that was definitely the strangest experience I've ever had.

Marlins

I went to 711 wearing my Mariner tshirt. A guy walks up to me all excited and says 'didn't the Marlins win the Superbowl last year.' I just stared at him. Does he mean Dolphins? Does he mean World Series? Does he think my shirt says Marlins? Seeing my puzzled look he says 'did the Marlins win the World Series last year?'. I said no it was the Giants. He said, 'yes, from San Francisco.' He then said that the Marlins have won recently though. I said I think so in maybe 2005. I said it was there second World Series I think. He says, 'Wow, nice job. I bet your happy about that.' I said I guess so. At this point I was sure he thought I was wearing a Marlins shirt, but I wanted to leave so I didn't correct him. That was probably the most I've ever talked about the Marlins with a stranger.

Mariners look legit, need to upgrade Left Field

Now that the Mariners have beaten up on New York, Boston, and Tampa Bay I think it's safe to say that this team is legit.  I don't think that they will win the division or the wild card, but I think it's possible.  Earlier in the year I thought this team was a 78 to 82 win team, but now I think they are an 85 to 87 win team.  I think it will take winning over 90 games to have a real shot at the division or wild card.  Texas looks good, especially with Hamilton and Cruz back for them.

If the Mariners want to get closer to 90 wins I think it's time for them to address Left Field.  I don't think that the answer is in the organization so I have looked at three players from struggling franchises who could make a big difference for this team.

Hunter Pence (R/R) - Houston Astros .314/.358/.494
Pence is putting up great numbers for the Astros this year.  He makes $6.9 million this year so he isn't cheap, but considering his production that's great value.  He would instantly become the best hitter on the Mariners.  I think he will cost a lot for the Mariners to pry from Houston as he's only 28 and is the only star for that team.  It would probably take a combination of three of our best prospects to get Pence.  I'm thinking Nick Franklin (SS), Johermyn Chavez (OF), and maybe Mauricio Robles (SP).  This would be a high price to pay for a team that started the year playing for the future.  It's possible that all three would develop to be good major leaguers, but Franklin is the only one that we might kick ourselves over later (see: Adam Jones).  One other thing to note is that Pence is a righthander and we have seen how Safeco Park kills the value of most righthanded hitters (See: Adrian Beltre)

Michael Cuddyer (R/R) - Minnesota Twins .263/.329/.387
Cuddyer is a decent player who would be better than anything the Mariners can put into leftfield right now, however I'm not sure that he's enough of an upgrade.  He makes $10.5 million this year so I think the Twins would be very happy to trade him for a bag of balls.  This fits in better with the fact that the Mariners are building for the future as they wouldn't have to give up any top or midlevel prospects to obtain him.  If the Mariners are willing to take on payroll Cuddyer would be a good addition to this team and would add a little stability to the lineup.  Again, Cuddyer is a righthander and he might not fare as well in Safeco as he has in Minnesota.  Minnesota is a pitcher's park too so the dropoff might not be as bad as one might expect.

Laynce Nix (L/L) - Washington Nationals .302/.328/.579
Nix is having a great season, at least with power numbers, for Washington this year.  His slugging percentage of .579 is the highest of his career, but Zips projects him at .474 for the rest of the year.  He would be a great addition as a lefthanded platoon for the Mariners outfield.  He only makes $700,000 this year and is only 30.  The Nationals have slipped far out of contention and should be looking to deal him for the future as they are built to contend in 2013 or later with Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg.  I'm not exactly sure what it might take, but I think it would be significantly cheaper than Hunter Pence even though he hits for more power.  I think it might be a Carlos Puegero type and maybe a 2nd tier pitching prospect.

I think the hardest thing to do for this team is walk the line of contending and building for the future.  We all saw how bad things can go when the GM doesn't grasp this (see: Asdrubal Cabrera and Shin Shoo Choo for Ben Brousard and Eduardo Perez) (See also: Eric Bedard for the rest of the M's prospects).  If I had my choice I would take Nix.  Let's play for now and the future.