Hargrove says Mariners on right track

12/07/2005
DALLAS -- Mike Hargrove's first season as manager of the Mariners didn't exactly go to plan, with the team losing 93 games.
But there are quite a few reasons for him to be confident that Seattle will have a much more satisfying trip around the American League circuit in 2006, and he accentuated those points in his Winter Meetings media session Wednesday afternoon.
"Our younger players are a year older, [with] a year's more experience under their belt, but a year older doesn't mean better," Hargrove said. "But certainly, it gives the chance for things, for them and the ballclub to be better.
"We're trying to do some things right now that I think will help the ballclub. If we can get some people that can accomplish those things, I think that there are good things ahead of us. I think we're moving in the right direction."
Hargrove said the most encouraging thing about last year's club was that the team's effort was never the problem, and that the team didn't lose games because it wasn't working and playing hard.
Once the Mariners were out of contention, the front office gave younger and less experienced players -- infielders Jose Lopez, Yuniesky Betancourt and Mike Morse, catcher Rene Rivera and pitchers George Sherrill and Jeff Harris, to name a few -- more of a look at the big-league level than they would have gotten on a winning club.
"At times, our talent level was such that it didn't allow us to go ahead and win games that maybe we could have or should have," Hargrove said. "But the ballclub, the veterans and the young players alike, approached every game with the idea that they were going to win that ballgame.
"They went out and played that way. That doesn't mean we played well every day, but I didn't see our guys, you know, just start looking forward to the next year. We played the season out and we played hard every day."
As far as the biggest positives from a player perspective, Hargrove quickly mentioned 19-year-old starter Felix Hernandez, who made 12 starts and went 4-4 with a 2.67 ERA and 77 strikeouts in 84 1/3 innings.
He also mentioned that the team figures to get much more from third baseman Adrian Beltre and center fielder Jeremy Reed, who didn't perform up to expectations on the offensive end in 2005.
"I think it was a year of adjustment," Hargrove said of Beltre, who arrived in Seattle in the 2004 offseason after a career year in Los Angeles.
"We're talking about a guy that had been with one organization since the age of 15 or 16, and to come into a new environment and be one of the count-on guys stepping into that, I think that's a huge responsibility and it takes a while to adjust to that idea," Hargrove said.
"There's so many things that Adrian brings to the party other than just his physical tools that make him a winning player and make him a guy that is a go-to guy and the guy that you want on your ballclub, with a lot of intangibles. For a young man at the age of 25 to have those intangibles and have them there every day, is tremendous. ... I think that given the talent that Adrian has, that bodes well for his years to come in Seattle."
The same goes for Reed, according to Hargrove.
"The one cause for, not concern, but disappointment, I guess, in Jeremy's season last year was his inconsistency at the plate," said Hargrove, who raved about Reed's play in center field.
"We thought offensively we would get more out of him. But I think that you have to step back from that and realize that it's his first full season in the big leagues. ... I'll tell you that he didn't have the offensive season that I think he can have. But it wasn't from lack of work. This kid probably worked too hard at it.
"I expect us to see this year that Jeremy's offensive game will be more what we think it can be. He's settling more into himself and belonging, he's working hard this offseason."
Hargrove said Reed spoke with hitting coach Jeff Pentland a few days ago and the two would probably meet in Peoria, Ariz., soon to "talk about some things and work on some things."
As for Hernandez, Hargrove said the team wouldn't "coddle him or baby him," but the club would monitor his innings closely.
"I don't think we'll take any pitches away from him or limit him to how many times he can throw his changeup or how many times he can throw his curveball," Hargove said. "He's going to pitch the season, he starts at 19, and as everybody knows, he's a very, very special talent.
"I think we're trying to be proactive and bring this kid along so he's pitching the way he's pitching when he's 30 years old also. I think a little caution early on in his career is called for and we're going to exercise that."
Another player Hargrove enjoyed talking about was Cuban refugee Betancourt, who started the season in Double-A San Antonio and ended up the Mariners' slick-fielding shortstop of the future with surprising offensive potential.
"I think a lot of us have a tendency to forget, myself included, that this kid, his last year -- the entire previous year he didn't play competitive baseball at all," Hargrove said. "And for him to be able to do what he did and move as quickly as he did through our Minor League system and come up to the big leagues and really hold his own defensively and show flashes offensively of what he can do, I think it was absolutely amazing. I think it's a real tribute to his talent."
Overall, Hargrove's feelings about 2006 seemed to be that the Mariners have plenty of potential and need more consistency to continue to improve.
"Certainly, there are some things that we can do differently that we'll do differently, but there will be some things that we continue to do the same way, things that I believe in that had worked before and they will work again," Hargrove said.
"We just have to be consistent with it and that's probably the biggest thing: just be consistent in whatever we do, just be consistent from Day 1."

Source: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/