Want the Seattle Mariners to trade for Shohei Ohtani? You must like losing | Opinion

No need for Ohtani

In the July 17 issue of The News Tribune, Jim Moore chides the 44% of fans opposed to trading the Mariners’ best young players for Shohei Ohtani.

“Do you want to win or what?” Moore exclaims. And he doesn’t stop at mortgaging our future — offering several of our current best players if needed.

The Los Angeles Angels, who have Ohtani, own a worse record than we do. If Ohtani is what the Mariners need to win, why isn’t that working for the Angels? Sure, they have had some costly injuries — most teams do. If we gave up some of our best starting players for Ohtani, wouldn’t we be in a much more compromised position than the Angels?

History is filled with great players on losing teams. The Mariners don’t need Ohtani to improve. They have some excellent players. They need a batting coach able to convince players to focus on basics: don’t anticipate pitches, be ready for anything; don’t blame the ump, swing if it’s close and let it go if it’s not; and above all, watch the ball hit the bat on every swing.

Batting isn’t about walking or making the pitcher throw more pitches. Batting is about hitting the ball. Consistent, aggressive hitting, by multiple players, wins games.

John Alessio, Steilacoom

JBLM Airshow debacle

By noon Saturday, it was apparent from the long lines and the parking lot lawn chairs along South Tacoma Way that the shuttle arrangement for the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Airshow was failing. Hundreds were lined up at the transit center lot where regular bus riders and airshow patrons competed for scarce parking. The lot manager told us there were six buses running but there was only one when we were there and it was already full. An Air Force vet told us they had been there nearly two hours.

I don’t know who deserves the acclaim for the apparent breakdown in the transportation arrangements, but it kept a lot of tax-paying citizens from viewing a military show that we all paid for. I’ve been to air shows and this was by far the biggest parking bungle I’ve seen.

Time to let people park on base or put up the money for more buses. Staging out of Lakewood Towne Center worked well one year by avoiding competition for parking with regular transit riders.

We all deserve a chance to see our regional airshow. As an aircraft aficionado, I was sorely disappointed to miss the show.

Kimberly Toal, Fox Island

Republican ‘Truth Squad’

Thank you for updating your Opinion page to include humor. Martin Schram’s hilarious July 12 opinion piece urging the formation of a Republican “Truth Squad” was the funniest thing I’ve read in ages. He posits that leading Republicans will win back the electorate by scrupulously adhering to — get this — truth in all things.

Uh-huh. Look what’s happened to every Republican who has told the truth. Look what happened to Fox News when they were forced to admit the truth.

Truth is the last thing the Republican party wants. They win success by protesting beer cans — not by telling the truth.

I was doubled up in laughter reading the whole thing. Thanks for making my day. Republicans insisting on the truth. Now that’s funny.

Michael Thompson, Tacoma

This story was originally published July 23, 2023 at 5:00 AM.