Sounders Sign Swedish MF Friberg

The Seattle Sounders FC announced on December, 16 2010 that they have agreed to a deal with Swedish midfielder Erik Friberg. This signing will serve to fill the void left by the departures of Nathan Strugis and Sanna Nyassi from the Expansion Draft.

Erik Friberg (middle) is the newest Seattle Sounders FC signee

Friberg is a 24 year-old midfielder expected to either compete with Brad Evans for the other center mid spot besides Osvaldo Alonso or start on the right side as winger.

As many Sounders fans will note, this is not the first Swede that the Sounders have signed. Freddie Ljungberg was the first Designated Player for the first year and a half of the MLS franchise, but was traded away mid season last year. That trade sparked a run that propelled the Sounders into the playoffs for the second time in as many years and also to their second Lamar Hunt US Open Cup championship.

Friberg is a different player than Ljungberg, and that will benefit the Sounders greatly. For starters, Friberg is almost 10 years younger than Ljungberg. Upon signing, Ljungberg was looked at to be a scorer for the Sounders and he never lived up to that title. He piled up the assists however and even made the Best XI after the 2009 season.

That is the type of play we should expect from Friberg as well. Look for him to make passes that make plays and become scores. In his six years of European play, he has only found the back of the net eight times, but the Sounders brass are going to look for his ability to play smart and create chances.

The signing of Friberg answers some big questions that were surrounding the midfield after Sturgis and Nyassi were both left unprotected in the Expansion Draft last month and were also both taken by the Vancover Whitecaps. As of now, the starting midfield looks to be Steve Zakuani, Alonso, Friberg, and Evans.

The QB of the Future

Hasselbeck puts up a 5 turnover game that causes even the most loyal Hasselbeck fans to realize that he cannot take us any further.

The question many fans are asking and wondering is: Who is the QB of the future?

This is a slightly muddy situation and I am going to break it down for you in three parts:

Matt Hasselbeck for another year?

1- Charlie Whitehurst- from his 29 snaps he has taken as a starter in a regular season game, he was less than impressive. All the reports coming out of practices and training camps indicate he is not what Schneider and Carroll initially thought. Looks like San Diego may have had it right with him as their 3rd stringer.

2- The Draft- Andrew Luck looks to be the only NFL ready quarterback, that can come in and begin to make an impact. Even if he comes out, he will not be available to us, he will go first overall. All the quarterbacks behind him have too many question marks for us to feel anymore comfortable with our season next year than we do this year. Even the QB prospects with a huge projected upside, are not ready for a starting gig right away in the NFL. And may not be for a few years!

3- Free Agency- I went through the free agent, QB class of 2011 and realized that Matt Hasselbeck and Chad Pennington are the headliners at QB in free agency this year. I will give you the list: (in no particular order)

• Rex Grossman– If turning the ball over was a good thing, he would have Tom Brady’s contract.
• Tyler Thigpen– No more than a number 2 on any team
• Chad Pennington– Showed he can control an offense, but poses no real threat.
• Marc Bulger– terrible, just terrible.
• Jordan Palmer– Madden has him rated at 58 and its not like Carson (his older bro) looks good nowadays.
• Matt Leinart– Likes the benefits of the NFL more than playing in the NFL.
• Alex Smith– If the 49ers don’t trust him…no one should.
• Troy Smith– See above
• Brian Bohm– How are you the backup in Buffalo??
• Mark Brunell– Buried behind Mark Sanchez. (who has been no good)
• Kellen Clemens– See above
• Seneca Wallace– Bring back the Senecat?
• Dennis Dixon– When the 2 guys above you go down, and they sign a guy to be the starter instead of you. Not a good sign.
• Kerry Collins– Old man…
• Bruce Gradkowski– Part of the rotating QB situation in Oakland…not a good place to find QBs.
• Chris Sims– Behind Vince Young and Kerry Collins—the next Whitehurst!
• Brodie Croyle– ugh…
• Billy Volek– The Chargers liked him more than Whitehurst- Let’s give him a shot? *sarcasm*
• Jim Sorgi– Could of sworn he was a QB coach by now.
• Caleb Haine– WHO? exactly
• Drew Stanton– one word- Lions
• Tarvaris Jackson– STAY AWAY!
• Matt Moore– The Panthers tried that experiment.
• Patrick Ramsey– Unproven in the NFL and is 31.
• Matt Hasselbeck– We know what he gives us (or doesn’t give us)

There is your 2011 Free Agency Class for QBs!

We might just need to sign Hasselbeck for another year, because the draft looks better and the 2012 free agency looks better.

Or we swing a trade…but it’s hard to predict that!

Seattle Mariners Winter Meetings Strategy Guide

If Jack Zduriencik can make magic happen again this winter, Seattle might want to look into knighthood. (AP Photo/Marcus R. Donner)

Major League Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings are right around the corner. Next week, December 6-9, the executives of every big league club will head to Florida to mark what many consider the true start to the offseason.

In the past few years under Jack Zduriencik, the Mariners have seen some pretty exciting meetings results. We’ve seen our once All-Star closer, J.J. Putz, get dealt away and in turn saw Gold Glover Franklin Gutierrez and starting pitcher Jason Vargas come over from the New York Mets. Last year saw the departure of 2007 first round pick Phillipe Aumont and speedy outfielder tyson Gillies to Philadelphia in a HUGE blockbuster trade that brought Cliff Lee to the northwest. That same trade sent 2010 NL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay to the Phillies (not bad eh? Lose Lee to pick up Halladay?). Last year’s meetings also saw Chone Figgins sign with Seattle as well.

Talk is that Jackie Z and the M’s will not be major players in many, if any, of the big name, top-tier free agents. With supposedly not a whole lot of money to spend, $60 million of their desired $90ish team salary spent on the group of: Felix Hernandez, Ichiro, Gutierrez, Figgins, and Milton Bradley.

The Mariners have a very solid core group of minor leaguers waiting to play at the Safe, and if the M’s are patient enough, some of them will pay big dividends in the future. The Lopez deal all but blasts the door wide open for Dustin Ackley to be at least on the 25 opening day roster, if not the starting 2B. Pitching prospect Michael Pineda is licking his chops as he waits for his chance to pitch in the big leagues with Josh Lueke and Mauricio Robles not far behind him. The Giants winning the World Series with a completely homegrown rotation throughout the playoffs will be these prospects best friend as I feel many teams will start to turn their focus to bringing up their own prospects, instead of using them as bait for trades.

This year for the Mariners, their golden eggs lie somewhere in the 52 players who became free agents yesterday. One of those being Ryan Rowland-Smith, the australian left-handed starter/long reliever. The Mariners also avoided letting go of Jose Lopez for nothing yesterday as well in trading him to Colorado for a pitching prospect.

The needs that are clear for Seattle are there. They need to pick someone up to split with Adam Moore behind the plate, while it’s been a long time since our bullpen has been really bad, we still need a few upgrades there. Perfect options for those needs come right out of the pool of newly made free agents. J.P. Howell is a lefty coming from the Tampa Bay organization. He had both some starting experience and closer, but with a majority of his major league experience being from the ben. He would fill the gap left by Rowland-Smith and provide the always wanted veteran presence. Former All-Star catcher Russell Martin is also available this winter. He has fallen from where he was a few years ago, but honestly all that does it make him more available for Seattle. He would be a perfect fit to help mentor and train Moore into a legitimate major league catcher.

The Mariners have also been linked to former Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis. He is a pitcher very similar to our own Jason Vargas. A left who is more about the changing of speeds and placement than about overpowering batters. If we picked him up and tossed him behind Doug Fister and before our fifth spot (whether that is Pineda or someone like David Pauley) it would make for a solid rotation. But we all know that a good team “on paper” means nothing unless they can actually win games on the field (see 2009 Mariners).

Next week will be a fun time. Check headlines consistently, because these winter meetings have been where Zduriencik has shown his almost heavenly ability to make magic happen.

All This Drama in The ALCS…

Its kind of hard being the Yank-dee oh double E’s. At least thats what ive gathered from these past 4 games.

I feel like my usual social networking criticism hasn’t been to constructive in the past week. Anyone can bash the yankees just for the sheer thrill of a “FUCK YEAH MAN YANKEES CAN SUCK THE FATTEST PART OF MY DI-…!” from your fellow low-brow peers. Its the best way to get your opinion heard without the merciless beating from an ACTUAL New Yorker. Feels good, man. So we have already established that I am by no means a yankees fan, but being a baseball fan I feel like they deserve an unbiased opinion that doesnt include the words “fuck” “suck” or “money” included in it…from this point on at least.

Im going to keep this simple. That means no stat vomit or sabermetrics. This is straight amateur (and boy do I mean amateur) sports writing, son.

All this comes down to the fact that the Rangers want this more. Plain and simple.  The way ive seen that offense perform against these post-season veteran Yankees is astounding. The yankees have enormous talent at almost each one of their positions with the exception of first base (sorry Texiera), but the way I see it is that no matter how genius their summer was, the marquee talent is past their prime.  They simply CANNOT stop this Ranger offense, especially with the way Burnett, Sabathia and the relief has been throwing(also, questionable Girardi calls. But thats a completely undesirable topic for me to discuss). C.C. has a chance to put them back in the race tonight but I dont see it happening against Lee and Ranger bats. Gruesome combo.

Bottom line: The yankees are out of this as far as im concerned. I said rangers in 6, Rangers in 5. It ends tonight for the Yankees.

This is about as constructive as I want to get for now, I just couldn’t fit all of this into a status update.

(Who really wanted to see a rematch world series anyways?)

Lendale White Released by the Seattle Seahawks

I know it has been awhile since our last post but May has proven to be a busy month and a somewhat irrelevant month for major blog postings.

But on to the business at hand which is that the Seattle Seahawks have decided to release RB Lendale White after acquiring him for almost free in the draft.

He was debated to be the leading starter on the roster and he came into camp weighing about 220lbs. He looked to be in shape.

However, he wasn’t what the Seahawks were looking for, with or without Pete Carroll as their coach.

THE FACTS:
In college at USC and in his prime at Tennessee, White weighed about 260. He dropped his weight down to about 225-230 and he became a non-factor for the Titans.

This season, he came to camp weighing 219 and now the Seahawks are cutting him.

He is a “bruiser” style runner but without weight “bruisers” get pushed to the side. He has never been a quick step guy, or an agility guy. He just runs hard and between the tackles. Therefore, if his weight is 260 he is going to do some damage. If his weight is 220 he will get thrown around.

Looks like Justin Forsett is still the primary candidate to lead this team with Leon Washington and Julius Jones.

Seattle Sounders Keel Over

The Seattle Sounders FC played the LA Galaxy over the weekend. Oh wait, excuse me, the Seattle Sounders forgot to show up. They lost the match 4-0, but the entire match was dominated by the Galaxy. LA captain Landon Donovan was apart of every goal in the match as he scored one and assisted the other three.

At least when Landon Donovan suits up for team USA it will be okay to root for him

Luckily for Seattle, there is a bright spot coming from Saturday’s shellacking. Newly signed Columbian Miguel Montaño made his Sounders debut. And with Michael Fucito going on the disabled list and Nate Jaqua not quite ready from his stint on the disabled list, he could be seeing more action very soon.

The most interesting story coming from the weekend’s game is the reaction that the franchise itself is taking. Because of the poor effort resulting in the worst home loss in Sounders history, the club is going to provide a refund to the season ticket holders who were at the game. Only the season ticket holders though, so if you aren’t a season ticket holder then no dice. This is just the latest action taken by the Sounders to ensure that the franchise stays fan orientated. Minority owner Drew Carey is a major part of that commitment to the fans and has been since he signed on to the Sounders ownership. The Sounders may have lost, but it looks like the team is making sure the fans still win.

With that, here are the game day awards for the May 8th game vs the LA Galaxy.

The Sloppy Joe Award goes to the entire team. Since joining the MLS last season the Sounders have always, at the very least, put up a decent challenge, but Saturday was the first showing of a team that had zero chance to win. I’m just glad the scored was kept at 4-0.

The Shining Light Award goes also to the team, but not the players. It goes to the ownership and the rest of the upper level individuals who decided to refund the season ticket holders. Keeping the fans happy is clearly the main objective of this team and now its clear that they will go to extreme lengths to ensure that the fans are given the best experience.

The Sounders next game is on Saturday May 15th. They travel to the new Red Bulls Stadium to take on the New York Red Bulls for a 4:30 PDT kickoff. Hopefully this time the team will decide to actually play this time.

Mark’s Top 10 Mariner Silver Linings

The Mariners lost again…this time 8-3 to the Tampa Rays…with Cliff Lee pitching…with more errors…with Griffey still in the 5th spot.

While many have the Mariners in the toilet, I don’t think now is the time to think the Mariners are done. Here are my Top 10 Mariner Silver Linings:

10- Our Bullpen has looked strong. If you take out tonight’s miserable performance by Sean White. Our bullpen is pitching above average compared to the years past and the majority of the league. Aardsma has blown a save or two but that happens to all closers, for every 5 or 6 Aardsma saves, he will lose one. Our bullpen is starting to look like a unit we can rely on in the last few innings.

9- Franklin Gutierrez is off to his best start ever. He had a few off nights in the last series but he is still the hottest bat on the team. He is not only starting to get his batting average up towards .350 he is also leading the team in slugging (.505) and OPS (.901). Having him in that 4th spot in tonight’s game was the only reason we even got the runs we did. He hit a 2 run homerun and was able to score the 3rd run.

8- Rob Johnson is second behind Figgins in walks. Johnson, last year was trying not to have the most strikeouts on the team, he struggled with one of the lowest OBP (on-base percentage), and struggling to do anything at the plate. I know he is not doing great behind the plate, with the pass balls, but drawing 11 walks when you are only playing 3 of every 5 games is pretty good! We need more guys on our team to just draw walks- best way to get on base.

7- Every game we have played, has been competitive. We aren’t getting blown out. The score of tonight’s game might suggest otherwise but if you watched it, it didn’t look like the Mariners were dominated. We lost 3 games in Chicago thanks to walk-offs. We lost 2 games to the Rangers in extra innings and one came down to a botched squeeze bunt. We are in every ball game, we just need to find a way to start coming out on top.

6- The Angels have lost 6 in a row. The Rangers have lost 2 in a row and we are still only 3 games out of first to Oakland who is 15-14. This division seems to be helping us sort out our issues so we can still compete in it. That’s nice of them.

5- Milton Bradley is wanting help. He has had some issues in Seattle but we all knew he would when Dr. Z brought him in. Yet, he loves manager Don Wakamatsu and Jack Zduriencik. He actually wants to play for this club and he wants to work on his issues so he can help this club. We haven’t seen that side of Milton before! And its probably because he finally found coaches and teammates, that actually care about him and not just his production.

Photo by Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images

4- Doug Fister.

3- Jack Zduriencik seems to have a plan that involves eventually adding an extra bat. Here is a quote from ESPN.com, “Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik said Monday he’s been making a ‘tremendous’ amount of phone calls in search of another hitter, but other teams are not offering because the trade market had yet to open.
‘I expect something to happen. I don’t know when. It might not happen now. It might not happen for a month from now,’ Zduriencik said.” In Jackie Z we trust.

2- Cliff Lee.

1- What was our biggest problem last year? You may remember the hitting not being good similar to our problem this year. However, that wasn’t the main thing because we were somehow winning games with that hitting. What the biggest problem was last year was a lack of starting pitching that could eat innings.

We finally have a whole rotation of pitchers that have been making it into the 6th and 7th with no big ordeal. Last year was a nightmare, I used to pray that a pitcher besides Felix would pitch past inning 4 so the bullpen could rest. This year we have a rotation of Felix, Lee, Fister, Rowland-Smith, and Vargas. Eventually Bedard will be thrown in there somewhere. Up until this point—all quality inning eaters.

3 Perspectives on Cliff Lee’s First Start

R.L. Judd: What I saw on Friday when Cliff Lee and the Mariners played Texas was a mixture of things. Most importantly, all the good things came from Lee. Lee made his season debut with 7 innings of 3-hit baseball with 7 strikeouts. To be honest, he probably could have gone 8 innings, but he threw quite a few pitches in the first two or three innings before he fully found his groove.

Cliff Lee made a dominant season debut against the Texas Rangers at Safeco Field.

When Lee did find it, he pitched just as well as the Cliff Lee from the World Series. He hit every one of his spots and was lights out against the Texas Rangers. I must admit that I thought he would be a little rusty for a few starts when he came off the DL, but he proved me wrong and I have never been more happy to be wrong.

Something that was concerning about Friday night is once again, the Seattle bullpen. On the night that Shawn Kelley was optioned to Tacoma, the bullpen gave up 2 runs in the 12th on plays that shouldn’t have allowed runs. To lose a game on throwing errors and passed balls is disappointing and took away from the wonderful night Lee had.

I see Lee coming out against Tampa Bay and having another good game. Not a beautiful start like he did against Texas, but an all-around successful one. He’ll surrender his first few runs to the Rays, but will ultimately come out on top.

Jeff Versoi: Couldn’t have asked for a better performance than what Cliff Lee gave this spiraling Mariners team on friday.  I kind of figured it would be a battle at the mound since both Ranger and Mariner teams have had quiet bats this season, but i really didn’t expect them to be THIS quiet. This is a perspective on Cliff Lee though so ill leave the rest of the team out of this for now.

Lee threw like a man possessed allowing 3 hits in 7 scoreless innings with 8 strike outs and no walks.  Yeah, I know it was mentioned above already but I just like saying it.  Ill take that any day of the week.  And so will the city of seattle, if they’re anything like me which is, used to the M’s team with the bats and less-than-reputable bullpen of yesteryear, have to get used to the opposite.

The aspect of Lee’s performance on friday I noticed is that he has mastered the art of the change-up. He can adjust to any speed he wants at any time he wants making guys miss left and right.  It seemed kind of unfair, but at the same time Rangers starter Colby Lewis retired 11 mariners, matching Lee’s zeros.

I’m sure i’m not alone when I say that I would love to see Lee in an M’s uniform for another couple years, but as of recently, Lee’s manager says that an extension is looking quite unlikely at this point.  Lee will test free agency once again this offseason, with buyers already circling overhead (Mets). Looks like Jackie Z and the Wak need to start filling the ever growing Lee void now, and its going to be one hell of a void if he keeps this up.

Mark Knight: Cliff Lee was an animal out there, I was at the gate trying to get in when I heard the crowd erupt for his first strike out. As I got in I looked out from behind home plate in time to watch Lee get his second K.

It didn’t stop there, Lee remained dominant and the hitters couldn’t figure out the speeds of the pitches Lee was throwing. It seemed to me that Lee could at will just pull the ball back on a string or push it forward to make it go faster. It was incredible to watch a pitcher with so much command.

We are used to Felix now in Seattle, with debatably the nastiest stuff but now we get at least a year of watching Lee just be the man with command. He was hitting all of his targets and commanding the strike zone like a summer breeze. Calm and cool.

If all indications are a go, then we can expect more of the same tonight. Sorry Tampa Bay you can’t score 10 runs on us to beat us, you will have to do it with just 1.

The Problematic 5th Spot

I was in a conversation the other day with my brother and my brother in-law about why the mariners suck. Of course the cop-out answer is always “lack of offensive production” and while that may be the case we are not off the charts in terrible hitters. We have some solid production guys and OBP (on-base percentage) hitters.

Griffey is currently the main guy in the 5th spot

I think most of us would agree that we just need to string some hits together, quit leaving guys out there at the end of innings and get some runs in.

There are a couple of ways to fix this without hurting what Dr. Z is trying to accomplish with his “defense first” team.

If you read my previous article about the problem at DH then you will see that the DH is one potential problem and if done right we could add a bat without worrying about losing our defensive mindset.

The second problem in a series of problems, in my mind is the 5th spot in the lineup. The 5th spot is a crucial spot because that is your RBI spot. This is where you hit guys in most often.

If small ball baseball works the way its supposed to work, and the mariners team is set up to operate in exactly this way; one of the first two guys gets on base. The third or fourth guy gets them into scoring position and then the 5th guy comes up and hopefully drives them in.

Who else is tired of seeing Ichiro stranded here?

To put the mariners into this scenario we see; Ichiro gets on first, Chone Figgins walks, let’s say our third guy gets out and our fourth guy hits into a fielders choice leaving Ichiro at 3rd and our fourth guy at first. This is when the 5th guy steps up to the plate with 2 outs and is needed to drive in at least one run.

Another case in point of this 5th guy scenario is the Cliff Lee game against the Texas Rangers on April 30th. It was the bottom of the 11th and Ichiro singles. Figgins reaches on a bunt: runners at 1st and 2nd. Franklin Gutierrez strikes out, and then Jose Lopez walks. Now it is the bases loaded and only one out. Eric Byrnes happens to be our 5th guy in this spot because he pitch ran for Ken Griffey Jr. in the 10th. The Bases our loaded and there is ONLY ONE OUT! Sacrifice fly, base hit, squeeze bunt, almost anything works to bring in Ichiro for the win. Byrnes blows it on a squeeze bunt attempt and then goes on to strikeout.

And you can work out a bunch of other scenarios in your head, but the point is the 5th spot is important and is always batting after your high OBP guys.

I went through the stats of the different spots in the lineup, not the person that bats there, but the actual spot and the production coming out of it.

At this point in the season, if I asked you what is our least productive spot, you might say maybe the 8th or the 9th spot (the usual spot in the lineup with low production). Others of you are smart and realize since I am writing about the 5th spot it must be the fifth spot. BINGO!

The fifth spot is not just one person, it has been: Ken Griffey Jr., Jose Lopez, Mike Sweeney, Milton Bradley, and Casey Kotchman. Casey Kotchman is the only one that has found success there thus far and he has only been in that spot a couple of times.

The 5th spot is batting .222 with only 6 RBIs, 0 homeruns, 2 doubles, and well over 20 strikeouts.

If this doesn’t shock you yet, the 3rd spot has almost 20 RBIs and the 4th spot has almost 10. The 9th spot has 8 and the 6th spot has 9.

The spot in the lineup that is leaving the majority of the runners on base is the 5th spot.

Its an important spot, that is why Nelson Cruz is the 5th spot for the Rangers, Kendry Morales is it for the Angels, Carlos Pena is it for the Rays, Jason Werth for the Phillies, Robinson Cano for the Yankees, and so on.

Casey Kotchman has provided the most production from the 5th spot

If you like me are getting frustrated at these findings you might be wondering, “well then who can be our 5th spot hitter?”

As of right now, almost anyone on our team could fill that spot other than the two that have filled that spot the most; Griffey and Sweeney.

The most obvious seems to be Casey Kotchman, its not like they have found a home for him in the lineup yet and he has produced the best out of all of the hitters that have filled that spot.

I think mainly the mariners need to take action and go get a guy that can not only be our DH but maybe even our 4 or 5 hole guy.

In Jackie Z we trust. Make it happen Dr. Z!

Mariners Release Eric Byrnes

On a questionable squeeze bunt call where Ichiro was easily going to score and thus win us the game if Eric Byrnes could have just laid down a bunt. It didn’t even have to be a good bunt it just had to be a bunt. Eric Byrnes decided to pull back on it and Ichiro was called out and then Eric Byrnes struck out.

Eric Byrnes was released by the Mariners

That could have been one of the reasons the Mariners decided to release Eric Byrnes or maybe it was because he was batting .094 and had 9 strikeouts.

Either way the Mariners have decided to release the struggling outfielder and also option Matt Tuiasosopo to Triple-A.

To make room for infielder Josh Wilson and outfielder Ryan Langerhans. The best infielder and outfielder in our Triple-A organization. Josh Wilson was the hottest hitter for the Tacoma Rainiers and Ryan Langerhans has one of the highest OBP (on-base percentage) on the team.

Will this solve our problems? Probably not but it gives us a shot of a couple players that look like they can produce or at least listen to instruction and we get rid of Byrnes who to say it mildly “stinks”!