Major League Baseball

The lonely world of Nelson Cruz

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:37 p.m. ET

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I’ve got just one pet: Buddy the Dog. But I've any number of pet peeves, pet projects and ... pet subjects. One of my all-time favorites, the gift that just keeps on giving, is the relative unimportance of single baseball players. And every time I think I might have spotted the Best Example Ever, before long a new one comes along. I don’t see how to get much better, though, than Nelson Cruz circa 2015.

Before this season, you said it. I said it. We all said it: Nelson Cruz wouldn’t be as good this season as last season, but he’d be good enough to solve the Mariners’ biggest problem, which was an absurd lack of production from one of the power spots in the lineup.

In turn, this would make the Mariners the best team in the American League West. After all, the M’s got better this winter after finishing last season with the fourth-best run differential in the entire league. Meanwhile, the first-place Angels and the second-place Athletics both looked a bit weaker this spring. And the Astros ... well, maybe all that young talent would really start showing up next year. Or the year after that.

Next up: Facts.

Fact Number One: Call it luck or call it pluck, but the Astros are in first place and they’ve already got a whopping lead.

Fact Number Two: Nelson Cruz has been tremendous. Even better than last year.

Fact Number Three: Cruz’s contributions, while not meaningless – without him, the Mariners would be in an even bigger hole – haven’t been nearly enough to balance all the terrible hitting around him.

It’s actually sorta crazy, how good Cruz has been. He’s got 13 home runs. Nobody else on the team has more than three. He’s driven in 25 runs. Nobody else on the team has more than a dozen RBIs. Cruz has a .387 on-base percentage and a .788 slugging percentage. Among the six other regulars, Brad Miller leads the way with a .301 OBP and a .382 slugging percentage. Seth Smith, splitting time between DH and the outfield, plays mostly against right-handed pitchers, and has done quite well in that role. Miller’s been good for a shortstop. Nobody else on the team has hit well.

The Mariners’ problem is best exemplified by Kyle Seager and Robinson Canó. Both were All-Stars last year, MVP candidates this year. Well, they’ve now combined for three home runs and posted identical .296 on-base percentages.

The Mariners are 10-15, and it’s not just the (non-Cruz) hitters. Felix Hernandez has been King Felix, as usual. And J.A. Happ’s been better than advertised. But Taijuan Walker has followed up a tremendous spring training with an 8.74 ERA in five starts, while supposed co-ace Hisashi Iwakuma went winless in three starts before hitting the disabled list. And finally, the bullpen’s been inconsistent, at best.

Is this team so radically different than we believed, just four weeks ago?

Probably not. We have (almost) every reason to think Seager and Canó will hit, along with some of their mates. Granted, we also have (almost) every reason to think Cruz will come back to earth.

It’s too early to say the Mariners aren’t as talented as we thought. We just don’t have enough information yet. Especially about their health, and especially about Iwakuma’s health and Walker’s ability to go six or seven innings every five or six days.

What we do know is the Mariners are eight games out of first place on May 4. And that’s traditionally not been a good place to be. Not now, not here. Not even a long time ago in some American League city far, far away.

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