Player Ratings April 9th - 16th

Hi, you probably don't really know me but Lonnie asked for me to come around more often.

I'm a bit of a soccer fan and every week after the match every analyst has to give their own subjective interpretation of how well a player performed over the weekend or on occasion (such as a cup or playoff match) during the week. I enjoy reading about other sports and seeing how best things can be kind of "imported" to into baseball analysis or even just discussion points.

Basically early on in the week, and originally this was written Tuesday morning, I'm just going to a short synopsis on how the roster is doing or how they are playing the previous week. It's entirely subjective and what's best is that often times it will brew conflict and unrest since it's purely opinion. The rating system runs on a 2-10 scale, with 6 being average, and 1 being a dead body that they continue to trot into the batter's box.

It's really not a complicated process, you are all pretty smart girls and boys. So, let's have fun!

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Starting Pitchers

Felix Hernandez - 5; Process > Results... he's still missing bats. Needs to sharpen up command to succeed with lower velocity. Still not worried.

Jason Vargas - 7; Good start in Texas, solid against Oakland. I have high hopes for him in 2012, we'll see where he lands.

Hector Noesi - 6; Hard to give him a higher grade. Great outing against Oakland, but poor in Texas.

Blake Beavan - 7; Ok. I'm starting to come around. He's better than I've been giving him credit.

Kevin Millwood - 7; Great first start, don't think you could ask for much more.

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Relief Pitchers

Charlie Furbush - 4; Poor outing Friday against the A's but he's the guy that I think can be "The" lefty out of the bullpen for Seattle.

Hisashi Iwakuma - N/A -Just give the poor guy a chance.

Steve Delabar - 5; Outside of some crazy home runs rates, he's pitched pretty good. I'd like to see him stick around.

Brandon League - 8; He seems to always keep it exciting but he's so much fun to watch pitch.

Lucas Luetge- 6; Interesting, he seems to have found his niche on this ball club.

Erasmo Ramirez -6; 1 lucky/ semi skillful appearance from the bullpen. 1 unlucky/semi poor appearance from the bullpen. It's the slim shady song and dance...

Tom Wilhelmsen - 9; So.Very.Good.

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Catchers

John Jason - 8 - #FreeJohnJaso

Miguel Olivo - 3 - #Nolivo

Jesus Montero - 7; outside of the complaint that he hasn't been hitting for power (he did hit his first HR this week) there isn't much to complain about, he's been great.

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Infielders

Dustin Ackley - 6; I wanted to give him a higher grade he just seems to be doing so much for this offense, numbers are just not there.

Chone Figgins - 5; I like Figgy, I never get too high or too low on him. I think he's got a good thing going just had a tough series against Oakland.

Munenori Kawasaki - 4; Interesting glove, puts the ball in place, meh results and he's yet to his a line drive in 11 trips.

Alex Liddi - 5; 3 k's in 8 PAs... I'm not worried about him. At this point either he works out or he doesn't.

Brendan Ryan -6; He got benched last week in Texas and since he seems more focused at the plate and on the field.

Kyle Seager - 7; He's started to slow down but he's had a really great start to the season. Now let's see him get on base more often.

Justin Smoak - 5; Nice to see him hit a HR Sunday but overall he's had an underwhelming start to the season.

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Outfielders

Michael Saunders - 6; A lot of very positive signs but he needs to stop taking so many hittable pitches and missing so many bad ones.

Ichirco Suzuki - 6; 9 - 40, 2 BB, 2 Ks, and a SB. He's driving the ball great and has been pretty good in the field.

Casper Wells - 5; 1-7 and 3 strike outs... I love you Casper, but you got to do better.

Player of the week: Dustin Ackley

Pitcher of the week: Tom Wilhelmsen

Mariner Central: Player Ratings April 9th - 16th - Mariner Central