The Seattle Series, August 10-12

[Frobby]

Last 3 games of a 9 game West Coast swing.

Nuno (0-1, 2.52) vs. Chen (5-6, 3.32)

Walker (8-7 4.67) vs. Tillman (8-7, 4.35)

Iwakuma (3-2, 4.41) vs. Gausman (2-3, 4.56)

Nuno is making only his second start of the year, the other coming back in May. Hopefully he tires in the middle innings and we get to him. Chen has not been that sharp lately.

Walker has been mediocre all year, whereas Tillman has been very good lately and has always done well against Seattle, the team that drafted him. However, he may be rusty.

Iwakuma has pitched well since coming off the DL in July. Gausman has been erratic, to say the least.

Seattle has been on a major offensive uptick since the all star break, led by the red hot Nelson Cruz (12 HR in 23 games since the break, has reached base 22 games in a row). Cano is also red hot.

The Seattle bullpen is a weakness, 10th in the AL in ERA at 3.98.

Overall, it's a winnable series for us, and one we certainly need to win.

[murph]

Glad we missing King Felix too!

[Rene88]

I am depressed to see Cruz. He should be an Oriole and last I check over a 4 WAR for all those Billy Beane fans out there.

I feel quite confident that he would be worth more than 4 wins to this team. I am sure Jimmy P would have survived somehow.

[LookitsPuck]

I'm worried about Chen. He had an easy match up in Oakland and wilted again. Also curious to see how Tillman did. He hasn't pitched in quite some time. He missed 2 starts and a few days.

I'd also like to see Joseph catch Gausman. Not a fan of Wieters handling of him at times.

[TheDirtyBird]

Man I hope Tilly can make a start tomorrow and hope Gausman returns to form. Chen is a lost cause with me

[gmelson26]

I am depressed to see Cruz. He should be an Oriole and last I check over a 4 WAR for all those Billy Beane fans out there.

I feel quite confident that he would be worth more than 4 wins to this team. I am sure Jimmy P would have survived somehow.

3 years from now we might regret having signed him!

[sportsfan8703]

Man I hope Tilly can make a start tomorrow and hope Gausman returns to form. Chen is a lost cause with me

You're nuts. Chen's are best pitcher.

[Frobby]

3 years from now we might regret having signed him!

I'll say this: I was against the signing because I did not think he'd provide enough value over the four years. But if you had told me in advance he'd be this good in 2015, it probably would have changed my mind. He looks to be on his way to a 6 WAR season, and only needs to produce about 9 WAR total over the four years to be worth his $58 mm deal. Simply put, I wasn't expecting Cruz to have a career year at age 34, even though I fully expected he'd be pretty good. I also wasn't expecting our corner outfielders to be as bad as they've been. I'm sure Dan Duquette feels the same way.

[sportsfan8703]

I'll say this: I was against the signing because I did not think he'd provide enough value over the four years. But if you had told me in advance he'd be this good in 2015, it probably would have changed my mind. He looks to be on his way to a 6 WAR season, and only needs to produce about 9 WAR total over the four years to be worth his $58 mm deal. Simply put, I wasn't expecting Cruz to have a career year at age 34, even though I fully expected he'd be pretty good. I also wasn't expecting our corner outfielders to be as bad as they've been. I'm sure Dan Duquette feels the same way.

Good post! You can get by with role players as your 5th starter or in the BP, but you can't use a bunch of platoon guys to replace your cleanup hitter. You have to pay for quality.

[Rene88]

3 years from now we might regret having signed him!

So you would rather have a .500 team and miss the playoffs for the next 3?

All to save a few bucks that isn't even yours. You have to overpay in free agency on occasion if you want to win. Cruz was a great clubhouse guy and his price wasn't that crazy.

I guess what the real issue is that fact Travis Snider was plan B. Pathetic.

[TheDirtyBird]

The Jays have won 8 straight. It's time to hang it up for the season. There's no hope of a wild card at this point, IMO.

#doom

and

#gloom

It's getting close to this being very true. This team has yet to inspire any other thoughts, whereas the Jays are setting the world on fire, man I hate them

[25 Nuggets]

The Jays are winning the AL East they keep it up. The Orioles would be chasing the Yankees and the Angels/Astros.

[Malike]

I wouldn't call any series winnable for this Orioles team. They are especially terrible on the road.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[gmelson26]

So you would rather have a .500 team and miss the playoffs for the next 3?

All to save a few bucks that isn't even yours. You have to overpay in free agency on occasion if you want to win. Cruz was a great clubhouse guy and his price wasn't that crazy.

I guess what the real issue is that fact Travis Snider was plan B. Pathetic.

I was an advocate for re-signing him. To Frobby's above post, I did not think he was do better than we did last year. That said, I thought we needed his production.

[gmelson26]

I believe the Jays are winning the East and have since they acquired Lowe, Tulo, Price, Hawkins. I know we can point to late season swoons of the past, but each year is different.

So it seems it will be Astros/Angels, Twins, Rangers, the Rays, Yankees, and us vying for the wild cards. I've always said we should be shooting for the division until it's realistically out of contention for us. I look at the Jays and think it's their division this year.