Seventh Round Mock Draft

The greatest sporting event of the year is here!  The NFL Draft begins tonight!  Hope springs anew amongst all fans.  Yes, it is truly the best weekend of the NFL calendar starting today.  That is, the best weekend excluding any of the weekends with games and, more importantly, all the weekends without games in which we don't have to pretend we're not ok with rooting for spousal abusers to run for 100 yards a game.

By now, there have been more than enough mock drafts written.  Every expert has weighed in and, by now, everyone knows exactly what will happen in the first round.  Therein lies the problem, however. The first round is all taken care of, but nobody pays attention to all our favorite rounds!  Anyone can say that Buccaneers should draft Jameis Winston or JaMarcus Russell or Ki-Jana Carter, all can't miss NFL superstars.  It takes a real expert to know what will happen in the draft's final round.  That's when all the players we truly care about are drafted anyway.  Marques Colston, Trumaine McBride, DeVon Harrison, and Scott Mruczkowski are all pillars of our NFL fandom and only one of them is a made-up name.  That's why Unique Sports Theme Name is committed to giving you the most comprehensive, most accurate Round 7 Mock Draft that has ever been written.  Be wary, as the revelation that we can see the future can be rough for some.

Why Aren't You Rooting for the Bucks?

The Milwaukee Bucks are God's chosen gift to basketball.  After last night's stirring defensive performance, the Bucks have won two straight games over the Chicago Bulls to get back in a series they were down 3-0.  Are they going to win?  No, of course not.  It's almost unheard of in the NBA for a team to come back from down three games to none, having occurred only once since the first round became a best-of-seven series.  Outside of Mark Cuban's nightmares, it's pretty much impossible.  However, that doesn't mean that the Bucks are anything but the best thing.  They may be essentially doomed this season, but it's never too early to think ahead for what bandwagon to get on.  Everyone likes to look down on bandwagon fans, which means now is the time to hop on so you too can act like you're better than everyone else the next few years.

The Mariner's Starters are just Not that Good

Heading into this season the majority or fans and media seemed to think the Mariners starting pitching was going to be great. Lots of local talking heads held them up as one of the best pitching staffs in major league baseball. So far things haven’t turned out that great. I am personally not that surprised. I didn’t understand the hype preseason. 

The one sure thing in the rotation was Felix Hernandez. And what do you know? He has been awesome. He continues to decimate AL batters and keep the M’s in every game he pitches. He sets the bar so high it makes it hard for other pitchers to follow. M’s fans rightfully appreciate a great player.

Iwakuma and Happ have both been surprises, but for different reasons. They have basically flipped spots based on performance. Iwakuma has been much worse than expected. He is supposed to be a legit number two starter, instead he has struggled to get out of the fourth inning. Happ looked like just another arm. Someone to eat up innings every fifth day. Instead he has provided the M’s with almost all of their good starts not belonging to The King. 

Looking back neither of these results should be that surprising. There was writing on the wall for both of these players. ‘Kuma had a 7.61 ERA in 23.66 IP during the month of September last year. He struggled to end the season and he hasn’t gotten it back. I hope that he figures it out, but I am not holding my breath. His struggles could have been predicted. 

J.A. Happ, the newcomer to the staff, was a high profile prospect in his youth. After struggling in Houston he landed in Toronto. As a flyball pitcher Happ was ill-suited for the home run friendly confines of the Rogers Centre. In 2014 his 39.5% flyball rate put him at the 17^th highest among all qualified starters in both leagues and that was the second lowest flyball rate of his career. Happ is a flyball pitcher and the exact kind of guy that Safeco Field helps succeed. His recent success isn’t as crazy as some people believe. 

The other two starter, Paxton and Walker, are essentially rookies. Combined they pitched 112 innings in 2014. That is less than half what Felix threw. The sample size on these guys was small. Expecting them to perform at All-Star levels was crazy. Rookie Pitchers struggle. It takes them a while to figure out the majors. I expected both to figure it out eventually, but in the meantime we are going to have to suffer through the learning curve. 

The sky high pre-season expectations for the M’s starting pitchers was unfounded. All four starters that aren’t named Hernandez had red flags. Three of the four struggling isn’t a surprise. This team’s pitching staff isn’t as star studded as the 2013 Tigers or the 2015 Nationals. They are just average and it is time for people to realize this.

9 Mariners Position Players Who Are Starting Positions Players

Buzzfeed.  Everybody loves it, even if it is a horrible conspiracy run by sentient bees who subsist on our delicious, delicious brain waves (editor's note: this is probably not true).  Essentially, it's just a compilation of lists on lists on lists, because who doesn't love lists?  It's why grocery shopping is everyone's favorite chore.

We here at Unique Sports Theme Name strive to give our readers only the best or, barring that, the published.  Sports lists are an under-served market on the intrawebs, unless you count Bleacher Report, in which case you are an idiot who may not actually know what sports are or how to read. We also realize that Seattlites like you (editor's note: if you are a reader not from Seattle, you are of no use to us) want content tailored to what you know.  That's why we bring you, today, the most important list that has ever been listed: the top nine Mariners position players who are starters. There's sure to be a lot of debate about just who should be on this list, who has really earned the right to be called a starter (by virtue of starting).

A brief bit of housekeeping: all statistics used in this article are up to date as of this article's publishing.  Starters were determined based on whether or not the player was a starter or not.  Edgar Martinez was removed from consideration because oh my God he's been retired for 11 years, get over yourselves.

Mariners vs Astros = Fail

The Astros joined the American League West in 2013. Since then they have been one of the worst teams in baseball compiling a record of 129-209. The team hasn't had a winning season since 2006, when they were still in the National League. All this seemed like a good thing to Mariners fans. We were gaining a weak opponent in our division. This should have been a chance for our team to feast on a bad opponent. We could have bolstered our record against Houston. It hasn't quite worked out that way for the Mariners.

According to Baseball-Reference.comas of 4/21/15 the Astros have a 20-20 record against the M's since 2013. While going .500 against a team in your division isn't normally terrible against a team as bad as the Astros you have to do better. The Astro's have a .366 winning percentage against MLB teams not in Seattle. This means the Mariners have let the Astros outperform their expected win-loss record by five games. This is five games the Mariners really could have used, epecially last year when they missed the post season by one game.

If the Mariners have any chance of making the post season this year they need to win their games against teams as bad on paper as Houston's. Starting 0-2 against the 'Stros is definitely a step in the wrong direction. The bull pen needs to shut down the Astro's offense in the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings. This team is rip for striking out. They led the American League in 2014 and 2013 with 1442 and 1535 K's respectively. Our hitters need to destroy their pitching. Houston's team ERA was fourth worst in the AL last year at 4.11 and worst in 2013 at 4.79. There is just no excuse for not dominating these guys.

It is nice of the Mariners to welcome the Astros to the American League by taking it easy on them, but it is also stupid. Letting such an inferior opponent beat you half the time is pitiful. Lloyd McClendon needs to whip his team into shape and stop the embarrassment. The Mariners need to beat the Astros.

Thanks and Good Bye Jerry Brewer

My absolute favorite local sports meida figure is the Seattle Ties Jerry Brewer. He does an excellent job of avoiding the "hot take" approach to sports jouranlism and actually thinking through his positions. Brewer is an excellent writer and provides an upbeat and optimistic view of the sports world, which makes his pieces a joy to read (especially when you remember Steve Kelley who he replaced). During his brief time at KJR, Brewer also did an excellent job speaking his views to the world on the radio. Sadly his time in Seattle his coming to an end.

On April 6th the Washington Post announced that Jerry Brewer would be leaving the Seattle Times and joining them as a sports columnist. The change has been under the radar here in Seattle. I have seen nothing from the Times about his departure. In fact I heard about it through Seattle Sports Net. This is sad new for us here in Seattle. We are losing a great local voice, someone that stood above the ruckus.

Brewer's departure comes on the heals of the announcement by Bud Withers of his retirement from the Seattle Times. That means the only major local daily will be losing two of their three sports columnist in a months time. The Seattle Times Sports Editor has their work cut out for them. Hopefully they do a good job picking a writer to follow in Brewer's foot steps. Finding talented and interesting sports writers isn't the easiest thing in the world. Many of them just fall into the Skip Bayless trap of trying to say the most shocking or provocative thing they can. This is not what Seattle needs in a sports columnist.

Fans in Washington D.C. are getting a true gem of a sports writer. Hopefully they appreciate what Jerry Brewer brings to the table. If they don't he will always be welcome back to the Emerald City.

Overreactions from One Game

Yesterday the Mariners 2015 regular season started with a win. The game was exciting and a great way to welcome back the baseball season. However, it was only game 1 and there are 161 more games to play before we know if 2015 is the year the M's can break their string of terrible teams and finally get back into the playoffs. That means yesterday only represented 0.6% of the regular season. In football terms that is equal to about 6 minutes of play clock in the NFL season. The point being yesterday's result was a very small percentage of the overall slate of games that will be the 2015 season and we shouldn't pull any judgement about the upcoming season from this one game.

Lloyd McClendon constantly reminds us it takes at least 50 games before you can really tell what a team is made of. It is rational to wait and see where the season goes. I say to hell with rationality. The Mariners won the first game of the season in convincing fashion and are sitting in first place. It is time for some irrational thoughts. WE ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES BABY!

First up, the offense. The best player yesterday was obviously Seth Smith. The former Padre went 3-3 with two doubles and a triple. While there is no chance he finishes the season with a 1.000 average and a SLG over 2.000, it sure does look like he can hit. Let's say we pencil him in at like a .290 average with 40 doubles. Production like that from a guy you got for a pretty good middle reliever (Bradon Maurer) is a major win for the team. After watching a disaster in right field last year, it looks like we have a worthy successor to Ichiro. Mashing like this, Smith could easily become a fan favorite and earn himself a trip to the All-star game. He is definitely going to help the team.

Smith wasn't the only positive at the plate. Austin Jackson looks to have returned to form. With his combination of speed, patience and ability to make contact he might be one of the best leadoff men in the league. Robby Cano showed us once again that he knows how to deliver when it counts.The guy is straight up clutch. A runner in scoring position with Cano at the plate is as good as scored. Seager, Ackley, and LoMo all contributed as well. It is a good thing that Seth Smith and company have fixed the Mariner's offense because the M's big name free agent, Nelson Cruz, appears to be a complete bust.

Heading into the season there were red flags all over Nelson Cruz. He is an aging and injury prone slugger coming off the best season of his career in one of the most hitter friend parks in the league. After an 0-4 game where he looks over matched it appears our worst fears have come true. Jack Z would have been better off just putting the money in a high yield CD then giving it to Cruz. Any guesses how long Cruz will last before a phantom injury permanently side lines him?

Baseball isn't all about hitting. To win a team also has to prevent runs.Yesterday highlighted exacly how amazing the Mariners are at doing this. Our starting pitcher was King Felix, who clearly lived up to his name. He struck out 10 and only gave up one run. That run was to Mike Trout during the second at-bat of the game. Giving up the occasional jack to the best player in the sport is acceptable. It seems obvious that Felix is back and on a mission to win his second Cy Young Award.

Seattle's bull pen finished off the game for Felix. There was a slight stutter from Lord Farqhur, but generally the team looked like they were picking up right where they left off. It is great knowing that any lead of 2 or more runs is basically a guaranteed win.

There was one spot on the defense that concerned me. Shortstop Brad Miller failed to turn two double plays last night. Obviously Miller isn't the second coming of Omar Vizquel, but I did expect a little high caliber of defensive play from him. Hopefully the coaching staff can work out the kinks. If they dont we could be in for an interesting year. At least the offense looks good enough to carry the team.