Jones hits winning home run; Mariners lose, again

As I was walking into work today, I saw on that Adam Jones hit what ended up being a game winning home run in the seventh inning. So I decided to take a look at the Trade to see if there is any indication who got the upper hand.

Adam Jones is hitting .256 while playing in all of Baltimore’s 59 games (they are 29-30). He has 53 hits in 207 at bats with 11 walks, for an on base percentage of .297. Of his hits, 11 are doubles, 2 are triples, and 3 are home runs. He has scored 20 times, has 11 RBIs, and has struck out 49 times. Definitely not all-star numbers (unless you have been in the league for ten years, had a few legitimate all-star years, and, most importantly, are a fan favorite). But not bad for a 22 year old in his first year as a full time starter in the big leagues.

George Sherrill is having, arguably, an all-star year. He is second in the American league in saves at 20. In 28 appearances, he has an ERA of 3.04, is 1-1, pitches 26.2 innings (to be accurate, shouldn’t it be 26 and 2/3 innings?), has allowed 16 hits and 9 earned runs, 2 home runs, 14 walks, 25 strike outs, and an opponents batting average of .172.

The Mariners are stuck in a 21-39 season. Erik Bedard has played in 10 of those games; pitching 56.10 innings (56 and 1/3 innings) for a 4-4 record and a 4.47 ERA. He has no complete games as the M’s number one, I mean number two starter (sorry Felix), allowed 49 hits, 33 runs (28 of which are earned), 8 home runs, 26 walks, and 49 strike outs.

Obviously, it’s tough to compare Sherrill’s and Bedard’s stats; one is a relief pitcher and one a starter. So let’s look at the Mariner’s closer’s stats. Wait, who is the closer? Putz? Well, he’s been injured so that’s not a fair comparison. Oh, by using that rationale, Bedard has been injured too so of course his stats and impact are going to look bad on paper.

So let’s look at Jones in comparison with the Mariner’s outfield. Okay, there’s Ichiro. He’s having a down year by Ichiro standards but is putting up decent numbers. I imagine he’ll end up hitting over .300. As one of the best outfielders in the game, Jones was not going to displace Ichiro. Thus, no need to compare. What about Raul Ibanez? Ibanez is also having a good season (stat-wise, better than Jones) and a comparison may be relevant as Ibanez very well likely could have been moved to DH for Jones. But let’s look at right field…..shit, right field sucks.

Who wins? On its face, it appears Baltimore. Bedard has been almost non-existent in the starting rotation. No right field, perfect fit for Jones; no closer, perfect fit for Sherrill. However, Putz’s suffered a strange and obscure injury and Bedard has always been healthy, who would have predicted both these guys go down. I image both will be back next year (I won’t bother saying later this year because I’ve already given up on the season). But, the question still remains, who will play right? I got an idea, Bavasi can sign a crappy has-been to fill the hole, rather than rolling the dice on Mike Morse, Wladimir Balentien, or someone else in the organization in their mid-20s or younger who cannot possibly be worse than, say, Brad Wilkerson.