"As bad as [The Mariners] were offensively last year, [Miguel Olivo] still was our best home run and RBI guy, all things considered."
Leaving aside how primitive it is to measure hitters by HRs and RBIs only, Miguel Olivo wasn't the best on the '11 Mariners. He had the highest in raw totals, but he also had the second most — the second most! — plate appearances on the team. For example, both Casper Wells and Mike Carp had more HR and RBI per PA than Olivo did.
"[T]o not have any veteran presence in there and just fully throw in the kids? It will get in the way of their production. It will get in the way of their development, literally. It will take them longer to get there if we don't have that. And I know that for a fact."
No. No you do not know that for a fact.
"Because you've got to have veteran presence," Wedge said. "It's enough on the kids already. We don't have a 30 (HR) and 100 (RBI) guy , a veteran guy, in the middle of our lineup these kids can always count on him coming to the ballpark."
Miguel Olivo is bad. His veteraness does not count in the stats or the standings. Also, last I checked Ichiro Suzuki is in the middle of your lineup (yep) and is regarded as about the most dedicated baseball player out there.
Wedge said he can already see some of his younger players taking on too much by themselves to make up for the lack of hitting in the lineup. To have no veteran presence in there, he added, would simply be a disaster.
The veteran presence of Miguel Olivo is a part of why there's a lack of hitting you thick twit.
"As I told you in spring training, it's about performance, it's about production," he added. "Now, they are going to be earning within that process. No doubt about it. But it is about them producing. And that's the bottom line."
Miguel Olivo 2012: .164/.177/.197
John Jaso 2012: .250/.308/.667
Miguel Olivo 2010-2: .239/.275/.401
John Jaso 2010-2: .246/.342/.374
"But I think it's understood -- [Olivo]'s here to win. That's it. Regardless of how he does, that's his greatest attribute. He's here to win a ballgame."
Miguel Olivo 2012: .164/.177/.197