You read their columns, blogs and tweets on a daily basis. Some of them you can even catch on the radio. These are your Seattle Mariners beat writers and reporters. Each of them brings something different to the table, whether it be the smart and analytical voice coming from USS Mariner or the authoritative tone of Geoff Baker at the Seattle Times. Here is a roundup of every single person covering the Mariners and what they have to offer with links to their respective websites and twitter accounts.
Geoff Baker, Seattle Times (@gbakermariners)
Along with providing breaking news on transactions, injuries and lineup changes, Baker gives his readership an educated baseball opinion in his Seattle Times Mariners blog. Baker is not afraid to take a negative tone towards the team in his writing.
Case in point:
Good thing that Mariners offense is "improved" over last season, huh? I mean, after the first 87 games a year ago, the M's had scored 296 runs. This year, after having all winter to bolster things on an offense some sabermetric pundits were arguing was the worst in baseball history, the Mariners have now played 87 games and scored exactly...292 runs. Good job on those winter additions. I mean...oh, er, um...never mind. (Via: Seattle Times)
Sometimes it feels like Baker is stirring up controversy just to drive traffic to his blog. However, even his controversial write-ups usually have reasonable evidence and valid points. He's disagreed with Dave Cameron and USS Mariner on several occasions, but at least he's been open and willing to embrace the writers and communities of the burgeoning Mariners blogosphere.
Larry Stone, Seattle Times (@StoneLarry)
Growing up, Stone's weekly MLB power rankings were a lot more humorous than anything the Comics section could offer in my Sunday newspaper. The one-liners about each team in the major leagues has never gotten old. While Baker will provide a lot of inside information of the Mariners, Stone's knowledge allows him to put the Seattle Mariners in the context of all of the major leagues and the history of the game of baseball. This column about a new proposed playoff system and what it means to Mariners history is a perfect manifestation of what Stone is best at.
Ryan Divish, The News Tribune (@RyanDivish)
Divish has been with the Tacoma-area paper since 2006. The former baseball player at Dickinson State University joins Baker and Shannon Drayer among the three most prominent reporters covering the Mariners. Divish takes his job a little less seriously than Baker, but that is meant as a compliment. If you take a quick look at his twitter feed, he'd seem like a normal Mariners fan with a sense of humor. He'll tweet relevant news out, but a lot of what he does is having conversations with his readers and local media which is a fun interaction to watch unfold. You can hear his off-the-beat opinion on the Mariners and the Seattle sports scene on The Karate Emergency Podcast by SeattleSportsNet.com where the head writer Alex Akita loves giving the poor guy crap all the time.
Larry LaRue, The News Tribune (@LarryLaRue)
Remember Griffey SleepGate? This is the guy that broke the infamous story. LaRue has been a Mariners beat reporter since 1988 as is currently a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America, which means he gets a Hall of Fame vote. LaRue finally joined the world of Twitter and is beginning to get the hang of it, though he's still chasing some of the quicker writers to breaking news. Even still, it's hard to rag on someone who has an impressive and long track record as a beat reporter for the Mariners.
Christian Caple, The Seattle PI (@ChristianCaple)
The newbie, if you will, Caple jumped back into the Seattle sports scene after a short stint in Pullman, where he covered Washington State football and basketball, as well as a variety of local sports, for the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. As a University of Washington graduate, you can imagine how interesting this particular assignment was. Caple's back on this side of the mountains now, working as an all-everything sports guy for the Seattle PI -- Mariners, Huskies, pretty much everything else Seattle sports you can think of. And, of course, there's that last name: Christian is the nephew of Jim Caple, a Washington alum and ESPN.com scribe that's quite well-known in these parts.
Shannon Drayer, 710 ESPN and MyNorthwest.com (@shannondrayer)
Drayer seems to be breaking every major Mariners news story. She's a nice in-between reporter because she is not as opinionated as Baker, yet not as laid back as Divish. Instead, she is more of a by-the-book type of reporter. She's willing to ask the tough questions and thankfully often gets baseball quotes that aren't cliche. She didn't plan to be a baseball reporter all her life, in fact she was studying to become an actor and working at Starbucks before she got her start.
Greg Johns, MLB.com/Mariners.com (@gregjohnsmlb)
Johns recently became the Mariners official beat writer after covering the Mariners for the Seattle PI and several other smaller local newspapers. Obviously you won't find large dissent or criticism in his writing, but that's not to say he doesn't provide a smart and analytical voice to the conversation. His mailbag column on Mariners.com is a simple straight to the point must-read for baseball fans.
Jeff Sullivan, Lookout Landing (@LookoutLanding)
Hilarious. Subtle humor that include headlines like "Mariners Beat Up ON Pathetic Embarrassing Padres Who Aren't Evan A Real Baseball Team" and artistically challenged game recap probability charts make Lookout Landing an absolute must-read for all Mariners fans. It doesn't hurt that Sullivan is one of the best and smartest (alright I'm a little biased) baseball bloggers out there. Fans can digest information and debate topics from beat reporters like Baker and Divish, however, fans will only learn more about the game of baseball if they read Sullivan's writing. His prose isn't that of a trained sports journalist, but that might be a good thing as his writing is straight-forward and understandable with a little humor tied in. Try reading one of his game recaps, and if you want to read and look at something funny, take a look at his Pitchers as Volcanoes piece. It is a masterpiece.
Dave Cameron, USS Mariner (@d_a_cameron)
For a guy that lives in North Carolina, he is doing a decent job at covering the Mariners. Not only can you find Cameron's writing on the most popular Mariners blog, USS Mariner, you can also read his work at fangraphs.com. It's happened more than once where Cameron has suggested a move, and the Mariners actually ended up making the move soon after. Ryan Langerhans! Some say Cameron's writing comes across as a little arrogant, but he is easily one of the smartest baseball minds out there. Mariners fans are lucky to have him giving his insight on a team that has been so bad the past decade.
Jason Churchill, Prospect Insider (@prospectinsider)
Guys like Cameron and Sullivan would not be able to have completely informed opinions of the Mariners farm system if it wasn't for Jason Churchill and Prospect Insider. The website has a thriving community of readers and provides the most in-depth information and analysis regarding the Mariners minor league teams and players. Churchill regularly makes the rounds on 710 ESPN and 950 KJR and is also featured on ESPN.com. Similar to Cameron's case, Mariners fans are lucky to have such a well-respected baseball voice in the nation to be situated and focused in on the Seattle Mariners.
Other writers worth mentioning: