Grand Salami Blog

2009-02-20T09:22:00.001-08:00

Longtime no post, but here at Grand Salami HQ we're excited about the news that Ken Griffey, Jr. is returning to the Mariners! Should make for an interesting season at Safeco.

In other news, Grand Salami Publishing has recently launched a soccer magazine covering the Seattle Sounders FC, the new expansion franchise in Major League Soccer. The magazine will be known as Soccer Seattle. Our editor is Steve Clare from www.prostamerika.com and our writers will include Steve, Dave Clark from www.sounderatheart.com and David Falk from www.goalseattle.com.

It's good to be back!

2005-12-15T16:20:00.000-08:00

I know from the majority of the posts on USS Mariner, and other sites, that I am not alone in my distaste for the recent signing of Carl Everett. I cannot fathom the thinking of the front office on this one! It really makes no sense, except to shout from the rooftops for all to hear, that our beloved Mariners simply don’t have a clue. I abhor everything about Carl Everett, and have vigorously rooted against every team for which he has ever played. Now frankly, that’s a little strong concerning my feelings for the 2006 Mariners, but they’ve severely damaged the goods. As long as he remains here, I will be more an observer than a fan, and I may boo him at Safeco. We’ll see about that! One of my biggest problems with this is that the stench may remain long after he is gone.

2005-11-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Where is everybody? How about your thoughts on who the Mariners should pick up as free agents?
How about their starting lineup??

C - the new Japanese catcher?
1B - Sexson, obviously
2B - Lopez or Bloomquist
SS - Betancourt
3B - Beltre
LF - Morse/Reed platoon?
CF - Ichiro?
RF - Free agent
DH - Ibanez

SP's - Felix, Pineiro, Moyer, and two free agents

2005-08-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

I am really pissed off! What the hell was Mike Hargrove thinking, trotting out Matt Thornton in the 6th inning last night? Even a casual fan knows better than to put Thornton into a close game! We had a 4-2 lead at the time, and I still believe the game was winnable. If Thornton doesn’t enter the game and give up the three run dinger on his third pitch, a hanging slider, it’s still close. It’s time to initiate FireMikeHargrove.com
I have seen enough!

2005-08-10T14:33:00.000-07:00

Felix Hernandez made his home debut last night, and it was everything a fan could have wished! 8 innings, 5 scattered hits, 0 runs, 0 walks, and 6 strikeouts: it was amazing! Conor & I saw him 2 years ago in Everett, and again last year in Tacoma, but I honestly didn't expect him to be as dominating as he was last night. You should have been there! Long live the King!

Last night was also Pacific Rim Baseball Night, and we sat behind a large group of visiting Japanese teenage girls, obviously ga-ga over Ichiro. I wonder if anyone in the Mariners' organization noticed that yesterday was also the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. A rather somber affair, and an interesting way to celebrate it.

2005-07-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

Well, we saw them. They were real, and they were spectacular! Conor and I attended the game Friday night. It was “Girls Night Out”, so of course I am referring to Rafael Palmeiro’s hits number 3000 and 3001. Barring the loss, it was a wonderful night at the ballpark!

2005-07-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

The second half has begun, thankfully! I disagree with Hargrove and think even a three day All Star break is too long. Conor and I will catch the game tonight and tomorrow. We should witness a little history with another Rafael Palmeiro hit. He's been a shameless Mariner killer over the years! In his periods of free agency, I have loudly advocated for the M's to sign him, mostly so they don't have to pitch to him! We seem to have struggled excessively versus the Orioles in recent years.

A few assorted ramblings:

Bret Boone looked strange in a Twins uniform last night. I know it's only one game so far, but 0-4 sure looked familiar.
Gary Sheffield is an ass! Of course the World Cup (or whatever they call it) is "made up". So are the World Series, the game of baseball and nursery rhymes, but that doesn't diminish their appeal. If you're afraid to get injured, or you don't want to stay in shape during the offseason, just say so! What country won't he represent?
Hey, the score pencils have the address of the Grand Salami blog, so we'd better provide some thought-provoking commentary.

2005-07-06T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm better now, though I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the two game winning streak... Not likely, though getting rid of Boone helped considerably! A few random thoughts on Boone:

The Mariners graced the cover of their official magazine with Bret Boone in June, then DFA'ed him in July! Talk about being out of touch with reality.
I am relieved not to have to watch Boone as a Mariner anymore. He has unquestionably the worst plate strategy, and some of the worst plate discipline I have ever witnessed from a Major Leaguer.
This is the second year in a row in which the Mariners have jettisoned an overpaid "fan favorite". Maybe they will remember this before they write the next long term contract offer.
Conor had it right when he said that any mention of "Boone" and "Hall of Fame" in the same sentence is laughable.

2005-06-30T15:47:00.000-07:00

Please pardon my attitude, but I'm pretty irritated with our Mariners now. We were just swept by the formerly hapless A's. We're becoming firmly entrenched in the cellar of the American League West, and nobody seems too bothered by that fact. I'm having a very difficult time watching games lately.

Now for the good news...

The Mariners are headed home for a short homestand against the dreaded Texas Rangers. Who among us seriously thinks we will win one out of three? Any bets on the series? I didn't think so...
Tomorrow night (Friday) is 1995 Retro Cap Night! Woohoo! Please refer to previous post below. They probably have a warehouse full of these ugly and dated teal babies, and management was wondering how they might possibly get rid of them. After all, the Salvation Army turned up their noses already. Those leftover caps and that leftover baseball should really put the asses in the seats over the weekend!

2005-06-06T15:12:00.000-07:00

Long time, few posts... Sorry, we have all been busy!

I would like to comment on the 10-year anniversary of the 1995 season. Baseball, more than other sports, loves to revel in its history. I do, too. I love that aspect of the game! 1995 was a remarkable time to be a baseball fan in Seattle. It was a wondrous rebirth of sorts. Many new fans discovered how cool a pennant race could be! What I object to is the Mariners using 1995 as a sales pitch to try to distract us from how awful this year's team has played so far!

On the flip side of this, and a view you won't hear from the front office, is this:
Get over it, and let's seriously try to get in another pennant race real soon! It won't be this year, obviously, but every fan wants to believe their team is honestly doing everthing in their power to improve. Please show me this is the top priority. Baseball also has the aspect that says, "What have you done for me lately?"

2005-05-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Mike Hargrove, on tonight's pre-game show on FSN, speaking about Ryan Franklin's outing last week vs. Texas (5 runs in the first) -- "Superman couldn't pitch up in the strike zone and get away with it." Actually, Mike, Superman would get away with it could he could throw 300 miles an hour!
He'd pitch a no-hitter every time out. Even if he cost $30 mil a year I call for the M's to try to sign this Superman character...

2005-04-17T22:48:00.000-07:00

Scott Spiezio career deathwatch update: In the first 14 times Super Scott has stepped to the plate in '05, he has put the ball in play a total of five times. He has become a two-true outcomes hitter, like a slugger who can't slug. To watch him hit is sad - he waits patiently for his pitch, fouling off crap, getting deep in the count... then, when he gets his pitch, nothing. I'm guessing that they'll elect to decline their 2007 option on him. I wouldn't be terrifically surprised if Spiezio, and not Dobbs, is the odd man out when Bucky comes back. Not that it will make a dime's worth of difference which guy that can't hit is on the bench.

2005-04-06T01:32:00.000-07:00

An overlooked encouraging sign early in the season: Hargrove understands that a relief pitcher can go multiple innings. BoMel seemed to believe that there was some rule that a reliever had to come out at the end of every inning. This is very dumb - if a guy has his good stuff, pulling him quickly can cause lots of problems. Not least, it can expose the back of the bullpen needlessly. I'd love to see guys like Mateo and Franklin get two inning stints every third game or so - it will make a 6 man pen more workable. Hell, would they even get bold enough to go with a five man pen for a stretch? Not that I see this as a real possibility, but I think it would give the M's a nice competitive advantage (or would if they had another good bat to bring up and plug in).
Matt Thornton, the pride of Three Rivers, MI, probably sealed his fate tonight. This is a good thing - the M's have better arms in T-town for his spot. This is sad - Three Rivers makes Aberdeen look like a happening, vibrant economic powerhouse. Still, a guy who spends less time over the plate than Mary-Kate Olsen has no business pitching in the majors, particularly in a tight game.

2005-03-28T22:32:00.000-08:00

David Pinto over at Baseball Musings has created a nifty little tool that allows you to compare players over extended periods of time. So, for example, you can compare players and see who had the best April in 1997. I chose to look at what Ichiro! has done since his debut 4 years ago, and it blew me away!
Ichiro has 924 hits since joining the Mariners. From 2001 to 2004, this ranks Ichiro first in hits BY A MILE! The next closest is Juan Pierre (who the Mariners drafted...twice!) with 797.
If you go back and look at hit totals from 2000-2004, Ichiro! still ranks 3rd, behind Todd Helton and Derek Jeter. And if you look at the hit totals from 1999-2004 (basically giving everyone else a 2-year head start), Ichiro! ranks 38th, ahead of Pudge Rodriguez, Adrian Beltre, Nomar Garciaparra, Scott Rolen, Jim Thome, Edgar Martinez and Barry Bonds.
The man is truly amazing.

2005-03-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

This gem from Will Carroll at BP, regarding the signing of Aaron Sele:

"Sele was brought in as insurance against injury. The problem is, he's always injured and at this stage, he stinks even when he's healthy. Signing him is like buying an old Fiat just in case your Yugo breaks down."

2005-03-01T00:16:00.000-08:00

Larry Stone has some great insight into the M's failed negotiations with Carlos Delgado this past winter in Wednesday's Seattle Times. This is the kind of stuff I really like to read; oftentimes we never find out what really happened in these situations. It seems like Bavasi and the M's played things right. Delgado just wasn't going to sign on the club's timetable or anything close to it so they moved on to Sexson and Beltre.

2005-02-21T22:59:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, Tuesday, we'll find out if Dave Niehaus will be elected to the Hall of Fame this year as winner of the Ford Frick Award. I thought he'd get in last year but longime Oakland and SF broadcaster Lon Simmons got in instead. This year the competition isn't as stiff, with Ken Coleman, Ron Santo, Dizzy Dean and Jerry Coleman among the finalists. I think Niehaus will get in this time as Santo is more likely to be voted in as a player. If Niehaus does make the HOF, look for a commerorative cover of The Grand Salami this July or August...

2005-02-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Nice to see Richie Sexson get off on the right foot with the M's. Now, if he can just get caught soliciting a prostitute, the team may be able to get off the hook for the contract. I'm willing to show some forgiveness to a person who drives with a borderline BAC, especially if noone got hurt and a lesson is learned by all. But owning a Hummer? Unfreakingforgivable. The M's fanbase will never forgive you for that one, Richie.

2005-02-07T13:57:00.000-08:00

Below is the latest misinformation from Jim Street's Mariner mailbag. Guess Jim hasn't seen USA Today's salary database (http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/default.aspx) or doesn't think the average Mariner fan deserves to have access to this information...

Nowhere on MLB.com is player contract information posted. Is there anywhere a fan can conveniently find out how many more years a player has on his contract, whether he has option years, his current year's salary, free agent and arbitration eligibility coming up the next off season, etc.? It seems that since that information is released to the public from time to time, that it should be compiled somewhere for a fan to conveniently find it. After all, true baseball fans would love to know that information, especially around trade deadlines and during the offseason. -- S. W., Auburn, Wash.

JIM "DEAD END" STREET: MLB teams consider contract information to be confidential. The Mariners rarely release details of a contract, especially if the player wants the figures to be confidential. However, the Associated Press usually obtains the information quicker than any other news organization. As far as I now, there isn't a specific site on the Internet that publishes each player's salary and other contract information.

2005-02-07T02:33:00.000-08:00

Chew on this: The Magglio Ordonez deal is the exclamation point to Scott Boras' off-season. If Ordonez signs for the reported 5 year, $75 million dollar contract, Boras will pocket somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 million combined from all of his agents who signed contracts this winter.

2005-02-01T21:52:00.000-08:00

The mailbags on the Mariners site bother me. Very few mailbags pass without a glaring error. I don't really know why I read them. It's a bit like watching a car crash - not something you want to see, but for some reason you can't stop looking.

Here is Jim Street's blatant error this week...

Q: Last year the Mariners traded Dave Hansen and Rich Aurilia to the Padres and Mike Myers to the Red Sox for players to be named later. Who did they end up getting back in these trades, once the dust had cleared? Thank you. -- David H., Andover, Mass.

A: Right-handed pitcher Jon Huber was the player in the Hansen deal and currently he is on the Triple-A Tacoma roster. Aurilia was not traded to the Padres, but signed with the NL team as a free agent after being released by Seattle. The trade that sent Myers to the Red Sox was for either a player to be named later, or cash considerations. The Mariners received cash.

Really? Aurilia wasn't traded? That's weird...because a 2-second search on the same web site as the mailbag will reveal this, from July 19th:
"Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operations Bill Bavasi today announced that the Mariners have traded infielder Rich Aurilia to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later or cash considerations."

Anyway: On a more uplifting note: pitchers and catchers report in 16 days!!

2005-01-30T11:48:00.000-08:00

Now that the Cubs seem determined to dump Sammy Sosa for a hill of magic beans (while giving out $10 mil for the opportunity to do so), the M's have a golden opportunity: put the Randinator in blue pin stripes. The Cubs have some interesting arms in their system that might even make the trade a steal. Hell, I'd send them Ibanez, too, if they'd rather have him. Since this team probably won't compete this year, I'd like to see the M's spend 2005 figuring out which of Reed, Snelling, Strong, Jacobsen, et al is worth keeping around, rather than goofing around with an outfield/DH/1B of middling 30 year olds.

2005-01-27T17:48:00.000-08:00

Mariners rated as the third most improved team according to Jason Stark!!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=1976844

2005-01-26T04:46:00.000-08:00

Hey, it's been a while! Anyway, a few things have piqued my interest lately and I thought I would comment on them.

1) Baseball Prospectus' 2005 PECOTA projections were released yesterday! While certainly not the be-all, end-all, PECOTA is the most accurate projection system out there...which is unfortunate, because taking a look at the M's revamped squad is rather depressing.

Here are some observations I made from PECOTA's 2005 projections...
*Our projected starting rotation has a combined VORP of 72.2 - Johan Santana's projected VORP is 63.6.
* Strictly looking at VORP, PECOTA has J-Lo (21.3) pegged as the 16th best SS in MLB next season (17th if you include A-Rod) and, as a 2B, he would rank 14th. Like I said, PECOTA's not all knowing, but it is certainly encouraging and it will be interesting to watch him progress.
* Again, going off of VORP, Jeremy Reed (24.6) is projected to be the M's 4th best hitter next season, behind Boone (31.9), Beltre (30.9) and Ichiro! (30.7). If you didn't notice - that's a HUUUGGEEE drop-off for Beltre and Ichiro (who posted VORPs of 89.1 & 80.9, respectively, last year). Beltre's lowballing can be attributed to the fact that, historically, there aren't many players who have had the odd career path he has experienced. For Ichiro - it's because he's so unique that PECOTA doesn't know what to do with him.
* Number of pitchers still available that project to be better than Villone next season: 8
* The crystal ball is looking bleak for Raul Ibanez. PECOTA is projecting that Ibanez will hit .270/.324/.420 with only 12 dingers and a VORP of 9.7.

2) Apparently, the Arizona Diamondbacks are looking at Jeromy Burnitz as a possible "center field solution." To me, this just screams: "Yes, we'd love to trade for Randy Winn!" The D-Backs certainly have some interesting young arms they could send in return. Hell, I'd even take Casey Daigle - just to free up about $4 million and for the possibility of seeing Jenny Finch at Safeco Field!

3) Sports Weekly is doing a week-by-week rundown of the best prospects for each team in baseball. Last week they looked at the AL West, and I found it very interesting (and a little hard to believe) that, for overall organizational power ranking, the Seattle Mariners were ranked second in all of MLB to the Oakland Athletics.

2005-01-10T13:54:00.000-08:00

Again, long time no activity. Uh, we here at the Grand Salami are trying to get our livers in shape for the upcoming season. Please forgive the lack of activity on the site. Please don't confuse this with a lack of dedication to our craft.

The angle on the Beltran signing seems to be that the best free agent winds up in New York. While this may in fact be true, indulge me while I present an alternate view.

Carlos Beltran is a very good offensive player. He is also a bit overrated by conventional stats by spending most of his career in Coors-mid-west. Average park factor for KC over the 2001-3 seasons is about 1100, or 10% more offensiveness than the average park. (Expect a Buster Olney article about how Beltran can't handle the stress of New York when his offense drops off a predicted 10% or so - ETA July 1st.)

Beltran has established a pretty clear record of an EqA of .300 at his career peak. This is pretty good, and while it wouldn't probably be league top ten, it would push the team toward the top. But what happens going forward?

Nate Silver's PECOTA system tends to be pretty pessimistic. He gets compared most closely to a number of players who fizzled out very young - Ken Henderson, Bobby Bonds, Andy Van Slyke. It predicts a slow and steady decline from here. I find PECOTA pretty pessimistic across the board, but this is a good reminder that centerfielders often will decline early compared to other positions. Even if Beltran holds his own at this level for seven more years, he's not any more valuable than, say, Aramis Ramirez by the advanced metrics. Clearly, this level is not consistent with other $15+ mil players.

Contrast this with Adrian Beltre. He is a player who's peak years are possibly ahead of him (although he's just not going to ever be any better than last year). Are you convinced he's going to give back a lot of his gains from last year? Here is a list of some players who made big leaps in their age 24 or 25 seasons who stayed at that level for a long time: Brooks Robinson, Miguel Tejada, Roberto Clemente, Robin Yount. Interesting is that each one of these players was compared to Beltre by PECOTA before his breakout year last year. Also interesting is that PECOTA's five year outlook for Beltre is not all that dissimilar to Beltran's prior to that breakout.

To recap: Beltran is well established as a very good, but not elite (defined as Ramirez, Rodriguez, Bonds, Pujols, etc), player. He is not likely to get any better. He is clearly a step below other players making similar money. There is a past record of similar players falling off very quickly around age 30.

Beltre is a risk - he's only had one truly elite year, but arguably this is one more than Beltran has had. He is likely to play at a peak level for most of the life of his contract. He plays a position in very short supply right now (the only three other elite third basemen are locked up under contract for a LONG time).

Add in that his front loaded contract pays about 30% less than Beltran for the 2006-2009 seasons, and who got the best player? If Beltran doesn't hold his value well over the next few seasons, and Pedro's shoulder falls off, the Mets could set a new standard for expensive and bad teams. Of course, they'll be facing stiff competition from their neighbors in the Bronx.

2005-01-05T11:13:00.000-08:00

There was a very insightful commentary by Frank Deford on NPR this morning about the NY Yankees. I hope most of you were fortunate enough to hear it. You can still hear it at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4259515
The crux of his commentary was this:
It cannot be satisfying to be a Yankee fan. They buy every free agent they think is attractive. Price seems no object. They laugh at the luxury tax! Everyone expects them to win, though applauds when they don't. When they do win, oh well, everyone expected it.

2004-12-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

What a day. Several important moves involving the M's, so forgive the long post. God, where to begin?

The Beltre signing is a hell of a job by the organization. He is a guy who is a) just entering his prime, b) coming off a season where he led the MLB in homeruns, c) plays a position in short supply right now, and d) doesn't have a serious injury history. Three years ago, this guy gets $100+ million, easily. I'm frankly pretty shocked he came for so cheap. I think he's almost as valuable a commodity as Beltran going forward, and comes for less than 2/3 of what Carlos will probably eventually go for.

I don't hate the Sexson signing as much as some writers have (even Buster Olney hated it!). He is a local kid, which really seems to matter to the M's marketing department, as much as us real baseball fans mock it. More importantly, he is a guy who has a shot at hitting 35-40 HR's per year. Yeah, they gave him a lot more than he's worth, but does it really matter that much? Won't the team just make up some arbitrary payroll number, and cry poverty anyway? Do we really think that the difference between $12.5 mil and $8 mil will be the difference between the M's making a profit or not? Also, first base is not as crowded with elite players as it once was. Julio Franco, Robin Ventura, Tony Clark, Scott Hatteberg, and the steaming remains of John Olerud all saw significant time at the sack for playoff teams. Hell, Sexson can get on base, hit the ball far, and catch it. I'll expect him to have three of the four years that look like the prime of Jay Buhner. Or else his shoulder flies apart.

With all of the excitement, the DFA of Luis Ugueto kind of slid underneath the radar. It makes the fact they carried his dead weight for most of 2002 (up until that devastating late season hangnail) more laughable. Somewhere down south, Lou Pinella is coughing up a lung laughing about this. Still, kind of surprising they held two expendable third basemen (Dobbs and Leone) over a AAA shortstop who may be a useful insurance policy for a shallow position next year. Still, this is the time of year he might sneak through anyway. If he doesn't, there are others out there just like him.

The Hudson trade seems kind of bizarre. The got a lefty with a low strikeout rate (not to be confused with the Mariners first 'star'), a spot starter with a live arm and no control, and a 26-year-old outfielder with only 250 MLB AB's. At first glance, Thomas looks like the kind of guy the A's value - high OBP, decent pop. Looking into the numbers further, nearly half of his walks were intentional, and he got hit by a flukish amount of pitches. He only earned his base about once every 20 times up. If he doesn't hit .288 again, he'll be Terrance Long. I would have thought they'd have gotten a little more. Kenny Williams must not have been by the phone today.

The M's position players look pretty set - the only question seems to be who the utility infielder is going to be. I'm feeling hopeful that the fallout from today's signing includes the end of the Bloomquist era. Sure, the difference between two utility infielders probably won't mean a damn thing in the standings; but still, he really doesn't belong in the MLB. I think the team will bring back Cabrera, as he can handle shortstop a little better.

Jeez, if the M's pitching weren't such a shambles, I'd think they could actually contend next year. Right now, though, I don't see a dependable starter in the stack. Madritsch was good last year, but don't expect him to continue giving up a tater every four starts. He'll come back down to earth, probably in league average territory. Pinero may come back OK, but the reports on his elbow last year were scary. If the reports about elbow damage last year were true, don't expect anything from his this year. Moyer looked done last year, but he did in 2000, too. His run at the single season souvenier record seems a little flukish - if he comes back down to 20-some gopher balls, he'll be at least passable in the back of the rotation. Meche and Franklin don't exactly fill me with confidence.

So where is this going? If the M's want to contend next year, they'll need to take a chance on a high-risk, high-potential reward starter. I'd put Derek Lowe, Orlando Hernandez, Estaban Loiza, and (disclaimer: this is sort of a joke) Jose Lima all in this category. These guys should all be available for a short deal, maybe one year plus an option. If they can find the old magic, they might scrape above .500. If they pitch like you would predict - badly - toss 'em in the garbage and bring up the kids. The season would be over by then, anyway.

Damn, Adrian Beltre. Nice job, Bavasi. I'm looking forward to the season now.

2004-12-10T13:01:00.000-08:00

Grand Salami would like to give a final tip of the cap to one of our favorite players: Mark McLemore. Mark was a class guy when he was here, and was always good for a joke at the photo booth. We'll miss you, Mac.

Now to the good news: the Diamondbacks just signed Russ Ortiz! One more mediocre pitcher is officially off the radar. Four years, $34 mil. It looks like the Snakes would like to challenge the (formerly?) Montreal Expos and both New York teams for worst off-season signings. They'll now owe Ortiz and Glaus about $20 mil in 2008. I'll predict at least one of them will be a millstone by then.

Remember that by this time last year, our Billy B (you know, the other Billy B) had jumped the gun and signed a bunch of expensive mediocrities. Perhaps he is learning his lesson, as he has laid back and waited for the big fish this time. I'll have to admit, I'm feeling hopeful: Beltre, Beltran, Delgado, Sexson, Drew, Clement, and Renteria are all available. The Yanks have already spent a lot, and spend $1.50 or so for every $1 another team spends from here out due to luxury tax. The Cubs, Rangers and Dodgers will get at best one of these guys each. The Red Sox have their hands full bringing back the old guys. Maybe Anaheim or Baltimore gets one. It's getting harder to imagine a scenario in which the M's don't get at least one, maybe two A list guys.

2004-12-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

I would like to encourage everyone to buy MLB.com's all-access video pass. It's only $4 a month and you can watch video highlights from last season and some highlights from previous seasons.
Want to see every home run Mike Cameron hit last year? No problem...
Feel like watching every error Willie Bloomquist made? You're a few clicks away!
Seriously, it's money well spent. Check it out!

2004-12-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

Andy Sisco
Although I’ve been told otherwise, I still believe (as does Will Carroll) that Andy Sisco will be available in the Rule 5 draft next week. He was 18 years old when he was selected by the Cubs in the 2nd round of the 2001 draft, so, according to Rob Neyer’s invaluable Transactions Primer, Sisco should be available.

Neyer says: “A player not on a team's Major League 40-man roster is eligible for the Rule 5 draft if: the player was 18 or younger when he first signed a pro contract and this is the fourth Rule 5 draft since he signed, OR if he was 19 or older when he first signed a pro contract and this is the third Rule 5 draft since he signed.”

Just as they will in June, the Mariners hold the third pick in the Rule 5, and if Sisco were still available, I would love to see him come home (he’s from Redmond). He could spend a year with Bryan Price, working on his mechanics, developing his pitches, and seeing a few innings here and there, probably mostly mopping up out of the bullpen.

Here is what Baseball Prospectus said about Sisco in their 2004 book:

Sisco’s fastball-curve combo is good and should continue to get better, as should his command. He’s well ahead of where Randy Johnson was at the same age. The concern is his delivery. Sisco has an odd 5/8ths arm slot, and a habit of leaning forward with his body last leaves him off-kilter as he releases the ball. Although the injury that sidelined him for part of the summer did not occur while he was on the mound—Sisco broke his hand, reportedly as a result of punching a clubhouse wall—refining his mechanics is a critical given the big frame he’s carrying.

While his mechanics need work, Sisco’s 5/8ths arm-slot makes it tough for both righties and lefties to pick up his pitches. On top of that deception, Sisco is a 6’9” lefty with a fastball in the mid-90s and a decent changeup, so obviously he has great upside. His other pitches need some work (he’s been known to use a splitter, curve and slider), but with his size and stuff, there have been a lot of Randy Johnson comparisons. Personally, I don’t think comparing a player who hasn’t played in AA to one of the best pitchers in baseball history is really fair. Sure, Sisco could be the next Randy Johnson, but he could just as easily be the next Jeff Juden or Kyle Farnsworth. A more realistic comparison would probably be someone like C.C. Sabathia.

One of the best Rule 5 selections is Johan Santana. Here are Santana’s pre-Rule 5 numbers, next to Sisco’s minor league numbers to this point:

Name---IP---ERA-K/9-BB/9
Santana-334.0-4.77-8.76-3.37
Sisco----331.0-3.72-9.92-3.94

As you can see, I really need to figure out how to insert tables! As you can also see...while they are very similar, Sisco put up slightly better numbers prior to being exposed to the Rule 5 draft. There are certainly other factors to consider and this probably doesn't mean much, but I still found it interesting.

If you check out his minor league statistics, you will see that after being drafted in the second round of the 2001 draft, Sisco has spent four years in professional baseball, slowly progressing through the ranks. He played for the Daytona Cubs of the Florida State League last season and will turn 22 a month after the Rule 5 draft.

Santana, on the other hand, was a few months shy of 21 when the Twins plucked him from the Astros’ system in 1999. Like Sisco, Santana topped out at A-ball before being exposed to the Rule 5 draft. He spent 2000 in Minnesota, pitching 86 innings in 30 games, five of which were starts. Santana struggled through those 86 innings, posting an ERA of 6.49 after giving up 102 hits—11 of which were home runs—striking out 64 and walking 54.

In conclusion, there isn’t a lot at risk by picking up Sisco—-either financially or in the standings—-and there is a lot that could be gained. Although the M's are already pretty loaded with minor league arms, Sisco would certainly be a welcommed addition in my eyes, but I won't be holding my breath!

2004-11-10T13:27:00.000-08:00

The Grand Salami would like to make an official endorsement of Steve Stone for our new color man. He's really good, even if Kent Merker doesn't think so. Or Dusty Baker. Or the other Cubs. They haven't had to hear Dave Valle call a game, after all. Niehaus and Stone wouldn't quite be Harry and Steve, but it would be close enough as far as I'm concerned.

2004-10-29T19:35:00.000-07:00

Dear Santa Claus
Here is my winter free agent wish list (in roughly the order I want them):
Carlos Beltran
Adrian Beltre
JD Drew
Matt Clement
Troy "the lip" Glauss
Carlos Delgado
Edgar Renteria (even though his name sounds like a bad disease)
Nomah
Brad Radke
Magglio Ordonez
Carl Pavano
Orlando Cabrera
Richie Sexson
Glendon Rusch (Seattle native!)
Richard Hidalgo
A big lump of coal
Pedro Martinez
Jaret Wright
Jermaine "eat shit and" Dye
Kevin Millwood
Jason Varitek
Derek Lowe
Brad Fullmer
Jose Lima
Elmer Dessens
Juan Gonzalez
Hepatitis C
Jeromy Burnitz
Cristian Guzman
Jeff Kent
Paul Byrd
Liver cancer
Neifi Perez
Dan Wilson

I'll be satisfied with one of the first two, and two of the next 10. I need a new TV, too, please.

2004-10-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

Apparently due to "a limited payroll and the club's commitment to young players," the Colorado Rockies declined their option on Jeromy Burnitz. Personally, I would have a commitment to players who can straight-up mash. Burnitz is probably thrilled that the Rockies declined his option, because, after hitting .283/.356/.559 with 37 HRs, he might be able to fetch more on the free-agent market than the $3 million he was owed. Sure, those numbers are Coors-inflated, as Burnitz hit just .244/.327/.448 on the road, but, I think the short porch in RF at Safeco could counteract the lower altitude. He's certainly not the outfielder we need, but I'd love to see the M's sign Burnitz and stick him at 1B. Burnitz played for Hargrove in 1995 and 1995, but I'm not holding my breath...

2004-10-28T09:43:00.000-07:00

All hail the Boston Red Sox! World Champions for the first time since Woodrow Wilson’s presidency! This is big! Red Sox Nation is ecstatic!

Some thoughts:

Curt Schilling’s courage, determination (and temporary surgeries) give new meaning to the term “Red Sox”.
I thought about Nomar Garciaparra last night and wondered what he might be thinking and feeling about all this. The Cubs no longer have the Red Sox for company in their misery. Truth is stranger than fiction!
The Curse of the Bambino is dead! It was long overdue. After all, it was dreamed up by Yankee fans to torture Red Sox fans, and it worked for many years. Turnabout is fair play; therefore, we have all witnessed the advent of the Curse of A-Rod! Long live the Curse of A-Rod!
Watching Derek Lowe pitch masterfully to Jason Varitek in the final game of the World Series, and shutting out the Cardinals, made me recall a curse of our own. Many thanks to the announcers for reminding us of the Heathcliff Slocumb debacle! That still ranks (and rankles) as possibly the worst trade of the modern era! I would be delighted to have them both back in Seattle, though I seriously doubt that would ever happen.

2004-10-27T02:36:00.000-07:00

Three random things...
1) I'm (sort of) rooting for the Cardinals for the next two games because I really want to see the Sox win it in Boston.
2) Rene Lachemann is now the bench coach for the Oakland A's
3) My last post was getting messed up, so check this out...Bavasi Sports LLC

2004-10-25T13:22:00.000-07:00

To prove to people that I'm not completely crazy, I've been working on a master plan for the 2005 Mariners that I will post sometime this week. This plan isn't going to be what I think the M's will do, it's what I would do if I were the general manager. I'm trying not to get too crazy with it and stay within realistic parameters. I've been looking at payroll information and sticking to a $95 million budget.
Here are some things that I've been thinking about while working on this plan...
1) The first thing on the list for my plan would be to trade Randy Winn. With the emergence of Jeremy Reed and the hopeful signing of a free-agent outfielder, Winn must go. Sure, he has a weak arm and not a lot of power, but he's a switch hitter, has good speed, posts a good average and a decent on-base percentage, so, his good qualities outweigh the bad and for all we criticize him, he does have some value. Looking at Winn's VORP, Winn is probably more valuable than we give him credit for. His VORP of 33.2 ranked him 4th for AL centerfielders. He ranked 9th in MLB for centerfielders. Now, I believe Winn's problem is that his defense isn't quite good enough for centerfield and he doesn't have the power that you expect from a corner outfielder. Strictly going by VORP, however, Winn ranked 28th in the majors for all outfielders. I have heard a lot of people talk about Winn going to the Phillies, but with Burrell, Abreu and Marlon Byrd, I don't think there's room. Here are some teams that I think could use (and afford) Randy Winn...

Marlins: Assuming that Lowell is gone, Miguel Cabrera will move back to his natural position - third base. That leaves the Fish with Juan Encarnacion and Juan Pierre in the outfield...meaning they'll be Juan short.
Astros: I don't think Beltran will return to Houston and Biggio has said that he would like to move back to second base. This leaves Lance Berkman as the only regular outfielder in Houston. Houston can make up for Winn's lack of power by signing Troy Glaus - who would thrive with that short porch in left field.
Diamondbacks: Danny Bautista and Quinten McCracken are free agents, leaving Arizona with three outfielders you wouldn't recognize if they were standing next to you...Doug DeVore, Josh Kroeger and Luis Terrero.

There are a few other teams that could probably use Winn, but those were the main three that I thought of. Who can we get in return? That's another question...

And a quick, off-topic question before I go to class...When will we find out who we get for Rich Aurilia?
Stay tuned for my 2005 master plan!

2004-10-24T02:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the 2004 statistics (and career numbers) of two shortstops that will be free agents this off-season:

Player A: .287/.327/.401 (career: .289/.346/.400)
Player B: .291/.353/.388 (career: .275/.341/.358)

Three-year averages for fielding metrics also show that they are similar...

Player A: 4.28 Range Factor / .861 Zone Rating
Player B: 4.72 Range Factor / .858 Zone Rating

As you can see, their numbers are very similar. The main difference with these two players is age. Player A is Edgar Renteria and Player B is Omar Vizquel. Renteria is 28-years-old and will probably command about $8 million on the free-agent market. Now, I know that we all pissed and moaned about almost getting Omar last year, but the circumstances were vastly different at the time. Instead of trading a very under-appreciated player entering his prime and taking on $6 million, Omar should be available for $1 - 2 million.

Vizquel was the first person I thought of when I heard that we signed Hargrove. That said, at the right price (and those are the key words!), I wouldn't mind seeing the two reunited. The M's have a hole at shortstop, but there are much better ways for them to spend their money than to overpay for someone like Nomar or Renteria (especially with Lopez, Asdrubel Cabrera and hopefully Justin Upton waiting in the wings). Plus, I really think this deal just makes sense. Here's why...

* The Indians said they want to re-sign Vizquel, but they also have Jhonny Peralta (who just hit .324/.441/.425 at AAA) ready to step in. If Omar re-signed, it would probably be as a reserve, and don't you think he'd rather start?
* I like Jose Lopez, but he could really use another year at AAA. Eight walks and 31 strikeouts is horrible and another year down in Tacoma can only help.
* Omar lives in Issaquah and played for Hargrove for six seasons.

Go ahead...call me crazy (and I can't say that I'd blame you...the only moves I've suggested so far are to sign Omar Vizquel and trade for Adam Melhuse or sign Gregg Zaun). Maybe I'm just trying to justify this move because I really think it will happen.

2004-10-21T18:27:00.000-07:00

Dad -
Baseball-Reference is an awesome Web site. Between that and Retrosheet, you can find the answer to about any baseball question you have - given that you have the time needed.
Anyway, here is the answer to your question...
Last year was the only other year in which both the ALCS and the NLCS lasted 7 games.
Through 1968, there were only two divisions and therefore there weren't any playoffs, just the World Series at the end of the season.
From 1969 to 1984, playoff series were best-of-five.
1972 (Oak v. Det & Cin v. Pit) and 1973 (Oak v. Bal & NYM v. Cin) saw both series go the distance.

And speaking of bad trades...The World Series could be a bitter reminder of another one of the worst of the modern era. In 1990, the Red Sox traded a 22-year-old Jeff Bagwell to Houston for 22 innings of 37-year-old journeyman, Larry Andersen. Ouch...

2004-10-21T14:40:00.000-07:00

“Start spreadin’ the news…”

If the Yankees want to watch the World Series, they’ll have to buy tickets! This is clearly the beginning of a new era for the Red Sox, and frankly it’s long overdue. That curse business was getting awfully old!

Speaking of curses, watching Derek Lowe pitch masterfully to Jason Varitek in Game 7 of the ALCS, reminds me of a curse of our own. That has to be the worst trade of the modern era!

Oh my! What a postseason this has turned out to be! I was wondering last night, how often have the ALCS and NLCS both gone 7 games in the same year? Does anyone know where to find this information? Regardless of the outcome tonight, it promises to be a tremendous World Series! Hopefully seven exciting games! Go Red Sox! Clearly, you are the team of destiny!

2004-10-21T01:15:00.000-07:00

Who-hoo! Thank you, Red Sox! Now, every time some boob in a Yankees cap gets up to cheer at the home park, we can turn around with confidence and give the universal sign for choke. Or just laugh and laugh.

Lots of funny stuff in the game tonight. Where to start?

1) $45 million worth of pitchers (this is not an exaggeration - look it up) give up 10 runs.
2) A-rod in the post game press conference kvetching like a Scooby-Doo villian. "And I'd have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for those meddling umpires..."
3) Derek Jeter.
4) The last hope of the Yankees is a v.2003 Mariners discard hitting for a v.2004 Mariners discard. Sierra and Olerud? What, is it 1993?
5) Jason Giambi sitting on the bench, watching Tony the Tiger look for a hit.
6) Mark Bellhorn, who looks like he walked in straight off a 1973 Topps baseball card.
7) Derek Lowe, David Ortiz, and Jason Varitek leading their team into the series. Somewhere, Woody Woodward, Heathcliff Slocumb, and Luis Polonia eat Cheetos and smile.

What four days ago looked like a bummer of a baseball season has turned into another in a good run of classic postseasons. I hope the series turns out half this good.

2004-10-19T14:59:00.000-07:00

I've said to friends that it wouldn't be the end of the world if the Mariners re-signed Dan Wilson - with the caveat that it is a one-year deal for $1 million or less. He's pretty good defensively, but swings the bat like the majority of his fan-base (soccer moms). That said, I don't think we should re-sign Wilson simply because he's been here so long and it's the expected action. Good teams are constantly searching for ways to improve, not sticking with the status-quo. Here is what I propose: Because Olivo does pretty well against lefties (.306/.339/.578 over the past 3 seasons), I think we should sign a catcher who mashes righties and platoon them. Aside from Jason Varitek, there aren't many righty-mashing catchers on the free-agent market. Gregg Zaun did pretty well against righties this season (.268/.380/.409), but it appears to be an aberration because his 3-year splits against righties aren't as encouraging (.234/.325/.363). Although I would sign Zaun before I would sign Dan Wilson, what I think the Mariners should do is trade for Adam Melhuse of the Oakland A's. Melhuse (or "That little blue-haired kid" - as Jon likes to call him!) would be a great platoon partner for Olivo. Over the past 3-seasons, Melhuse, a switch hitter, has hit .277/.332/.500 against righties. Now, I'm not sure what it would take to get Melhuse, but if we could, a Melhuse-Olivo platoon would basically give us the offensive production of Ivan Rodriguez (.306/.347/.490 for his career) for 1/10th of the price. This isn't going to happen - but it's something to think about when the Mariners give Wilson a 2-year, $5 million contract.

2004-10-18T13:48:00.000-07:00

Miscellaneous Rants:

Please let Scooter be retired immediately and never allowed to return to network baseball broadcasts! Who is this targeted toward? I’m fairly certain that most children watching have a more mature and well-developed idea of what constitutes a curveball, changeup, etc. Lose it, already!

The Diamond Cam is entirely self-serving, and deserves the same fate. I have to stand with Jorge Posada on this one. In case you missed it, he covered one with dirt, then when FOX uncovered it (and left a hole), he broke the camera and covered it with dirt again. His argument was that anything in his area that could interfere with the path of a bunted ball was his business and I completely agree! The images from the Diamond Cam are essentially fluff, or more specifically FOX touting their technical expertise and mastery of the game (ha!). They add nothing to the broadcast, and might, in fact, interfere with the game!

As a postscript, I must add that neither LCS is going quite as I predicted. Oh yeah, I forgot: “You can’t script October!”

2004-10-12T02:22:00.000-07:00

Jim Street did a "mailbag" article yesterday on the M's site and every answer he gave made me laugh - sometimes out of disgust. So, I decided to breakdown the article, question-by-question.
(The original questions are in bold, his answers are normal and my responses are in italic.)
Grab a cold one - this might take a while...

Mariners mailbag: Offseason update
Beat writer Jim Street answers a variety of questions

By Jim Street / MLB.com

The offseason is underway, and the Mariners face some tough decisions before reporting to Spring Training in Peoria, Ariz., next February.

Mariners fans from east to west, north to south and even overseas have questions about the team, and we're here to answer as many of them as we can. Please e-mail your questions, and include your name and the city in which you live.

Q: I was impressed with the play of Jolbert Cabrera this past season. He played fairly well in any of the positions that Bob Melvin penciled him in to. I have mixed feelings about a guy like Jolbert. You want him on your roster because of his versatility, but the Mariners seem to have been doing that over the last few seasons in lieu of acquiring more offensive-minded talent. We've got some guys that can play many positions, but none are really significant power threats. What can be done about that? -- John C., North Bend, WA

A: As you say, Jolbert Cabrera did a fine job playing practically every position on the field last season, and every team needs someone like that. Willie Bloomquist is another. Neither is a home run threat, but if they were, they would be playing every day in one position and not being moved around so much. The key to putting together a 25-man roster is having regular players with some power mixed with guys like Cabrera and Bloomquist who can fill in and contribute in other ways.

No Jim, no team needs players like Cabrera and Bloomquist. The fact that they can sort of play many different positions is trumped by the fact that they’re shitty hitters. No team needs a player who hits .270/.312/.384, compiling a whopping 6.9 VORP over 391 plate appearances. What’s worse is that 34 of Cabrera’s 391 plate appearances came in the #3 spot in the order – that’s just pathetic. Players like Cabrera can be had for the major league minimum ($300,000), so spending $1 million is simply a waste. And don’t even get me started on Bloomquist…I’d love to hear the “other ways” in which Bloomquist contributed (Shagging balls during BP? Carrying luggage? Keeping Boone’s seat warm? Making sure BoMel’s candy drawer was well-stocked?)

Q: Coming off a tough season as a Mariners fan, I was wondering what kind of changes you think the Mariners will make during the offseason. Also, who do you think the Mariners will get as their new manager? Thanks.

A: The game plan going into the offseason is to improve the middle of the lineup, and add at least one, perhaps two, player(s) with home run potential. Potential free agents Troy Glaus (Angels) and Carlos Delgado (Blue Jays) are expected to get considerable interest from the Mariners. As for the new manager, it's just a guess, but look for someone who has Major League managerial experience and has worked with general manager Bill Bavasi in the past.

I like how Jim doesn’t even mention the top two free agents…

As for his managerial candidates, here is a list of guys who have “Major League managerial experience and (have) worked with general manager Bill Bavasi in the past.”

Buck Rodgers, Marcel Lachemann, Joe Maddon, Terry Collins, Davey Johnson, Rene Lachemann, Jim Riggleman, Larry Bowa, Ken Macha and Jim Tracy.

Hmm…not too promising, is it?

Q: Do you think Justin Leone will come back to play in the 2005 season? -- Russell V.

A: Unless he's traded, Leone figures to be one of the third base candidates in Spring Training. He showed that he can hit the ball a long way, hitting several second-deck home runs at Safeco Field, but he struck out too many times. He will be spending several weeks in Lara, Venezuela this winter honing his hitting skills.

The leader board for strikeouts is filled with guys like Adam Dunn, Jim Edmonds, Jeff Bagwell, David Ortiz, Hank Blalock, Brad Wilkerson, Miguel Cabrera and Jim Thome. Strikeouts aren’t the problem. It’s a problem when you strikeout and don’t walk, like Leone did in his brief stint in the bigs. Although Leone was looking at 4.1 pitches per plate appearance (which would have put him near the top of the list if he had enough plate appearances), he was swinging at bad pitches, because he compiled 32 strikeouts and only 9 walks in 115 plate appearances. Luckily, these numbers are drawn from a pretty small sample size and Leone’s minor league totals are more promising. In about 2494 minor league plate appearances, Leone had 343 walks and 598 strikeouts (.57) – which would rank him right alongside guys like Mark Teixeira, Milton Bradley and Edgar Martinez, if he put up those ratios as a Mariner. His minor league BB/PA numbers were also solid (.137), which is what guys like Gary Sheffield and Jeff Bagwell do at the major league level.

So, don’t be so down on strikeouts. They’re not always a bad thing. If the Mariners realized this, maybe my favorite player, Mike Cameron, would still be around!

Q: I'm a little removed from the Seattle media so I'm not able to keep up with Mariners news quite as well as I'd like. Is there any talk of bringing in a legitimate No. 1 starter and a middle-of-the-order bat? Also, who are the frontrunners for the managerial job, and are they looking for somebody with a little more "fire" than BoMel? Thanks. -- Brad B., Anthem, AZ

A: There is some talk about bringing in a "legitimate" No. 1 starter, but the team must first address the fact it finished last in runs scored and RBIs this past season. You would be surprised how much better pitchers can be with some run support. Just ask Kenny Rogers of the Rangers. His ERA was about the same as Mariners right-hander Ryan Franklin (4.76 to 4.90), and Rogers had an 18-9 record compared to Franklin's 4-16 record. The scuttlebutt is that Bavasi is looking for an experienced manager with great communication skills with players and coaches.

Pitchers aren’t better or worse depending on run support, they can just have better records and trick the flat earth society into believing that they’re better than they are. Why so many people value won-loss records for pitchers just boggles my mind. Study DIPS. Learn it. Live it. Love it. But, in the meantime, here’s a fun experiment…

Pitcher A: 215.2 IP, 4.84 K/9, 2.55 BB/9, 19 HR allowed, 14-9 record

Pitcher B: 212.1 IP, 4.62 K/9, 2.97 BB/9, 20 HR allowed 11-14 record

Pitcher C: 200.1 IP, 4.67 K/9, 2.74 BB/9, 33 HR allowed 4-16 record

Pitcher D: 188.2 IP, 4.91 K/9, 2.10 BB/9, 8 HR allowed 12-6 record

If you didn’t already figure it out – Ryan Franklin is “Pitcher C.” The other three are Jake Westbrook, Tom Glavine and Tim Hudson (in that order). Obviously the number that stands out is Franklin’s HR allowed, but it's not surprising. Although all four pitchers have very similar rate stats, Franklin is a pretty extreme flyball pitcher, while Hudson, Westbrook and Glavine have three of the highest groundball-to-flyball ratios in the game. I think turning Franklin into a sinkerballer would be a very interesting experiment. It certainly can’t hurt!

Q: Do you think the size of Safeco Field has anything to do with top hitters not wanting to come to play in Seattle because their career numbers will suffer? Maybe we should think about moving the outfield walls in a little bit. Then we could attract some of the top hitters. Was this one of the reasons why Griffey and/or A-Rod left? -- Erik H., York, PA

A: The cool dampness in April, May, June and September has more to do with hitters shying away from Safeco Field than the dimensions. It can be downright cold early in the season, and the ball doesn't travel nearly as well as it does in the hotter months of July and August. Bringing in the fences would help a little, but that wouldn't make it a warmer place to play. And, yes, that is one reason Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez wanted to play elsewhere.

Oh, so it’s the cold weather, huh? Yeah – that’s why so many free agents turn down Boston and New York, right? Where does he come up with this shit? Here are some average temperatures in April and May, according to City Rating:

Seattle: 50° in April, 56° in May

Boston: 48° in April, 58° in May

New York: 52° in April, 62° in May

Detroit: 47° in April, 58° in May

Baltimore: 53° in April, 63° in May

Remember, Baltimore and Detroit landed two of the top free agents last season. Apparently Miguel Tejada (who actually did want to come to Seattle!) and Ivan Rodriguez weren’t scared away by those “downright cold” cities.

And, while we’re on the topic of moving the fences in…

I’ve said this before, but I believe it's worth repeating: It's not the stadium - it's the players! Seriously, it's not the architect's fault that Dan Wilson doesn't hit home runs or that Willie Bloomquist can barely get the ball out of the infield.

I compiled a lot of data regarding home runs hit at Safeco Field. There were 178 home runs hit at the Safe this season, 71 by the Mariners and 107 by the visiting teams. Although the M’s were the team that was out-homered the most severely at their home field, 178 dingers at Safeco ranks 15^th (smack dab in the middle) on the list of total home runs hit at each stadium.

So, no, the fences should not be moved in. That’d be like petitioning your city to build tunnels because your Subaru Justy and its in-line 3-banger can’t make it up the hills. Problems should not be “solved” by adjusting the ballpark – when, clearly, it’s the roster that’s the issue.

Q: What will happen to veterans like Jamie Moyer and Bret Boone, and what do you think of the young guns such as Jose Lopez, Jeremy Reed, Bucky Jacobsen, etc? What do you think they will plan to do this offseason for free agents? I have been waiting for a big trade or signing for a while now. -- Sean S., Conyers, GA

A: Moyer and Boone are signed through the 2005 season, so unless they are traded, they will return for at least one more year. Lopez, Reed and Jacobsen all figure in the roster plans for next season, but exactly how they fit in depends on whether Bavasi can land some productive hitters with run-producing capabilities. You have to wait a little longer for some action, as Major League Baseball has an embargo against making trades (or announcing them) during the playoffs. And players don't become free agents until after the World Series.

Yawn…next?

Q: Even though he is still just 18 years old, Felix Hernandez continues to dominate Class A and Double-A hitters as he establishes himself as the best pitching prospect in the game. Is there any chance that the Mariners will give Hernandez a call to the Majors before September, and whatever happened to Ryan Anderson? -- Stephen L, Anchorage, AK

A: The fact Hernandez is only 18 years old has a lot to do with how the Mariners are bringing him along in the minor leagues. If he stays healthy, Hernandez could be the next great pitcher in the American League, but his body is still maturing and the last thing management wants to do is rush him to the big leagues. There always is a chance of him being promoted in September, but that depends on how he does next summer. Anderson, by the way, is still recuperating in Arizona.

Yeah, they’re really taking it slow with King Felix; that’s why he was the youngest player in AA – 7 years younger than the average AA player and only one of 18 guys who couldn’t buy their own PBR.

Q: My only complaint, other than lack of a winning season, is that we are unable to get all the Mariner games, as we do not get the Seattle station KSTW here in Ketchikan, Alaska. Why aren't all the games shown on FSN? -- Carolyn W.

A: The main reason is that the Mariners have an existing contract with KSTW to televise a certain amount of games on that station.

Carolyn – you didn’t miss much!

Q: As a displaced Mariners fan, I don't get much of a chance to get to Safeco to watch the M's play ball. My biggest concern for next year is the replacement of Melvin. I was optimistic at first, but my optimism dwindled throughout the year. He did a great job his first season, but this last one was nothing to be particularly proud of. What is going on there? I would like to see the Mariners pick up next year and make the AL West the best division in baseball. -- Kevin T., Athens, GA

A: Bob Melvin did the same job last season as he did in 2003, but the players did not produce the same way, and therefore 2004 was a poor season. As you know, Melvin was dismissed and the search is on for his replacement.

Nothing really to critique here – although the only real question asked was ‘What is going on there?’ I guess Jim’s “mailbag” was pretty light…or he evaded the real questions (did you notice that there were basically three questions asking the same thing?) and threw in shit like this.

Q: Now that the Mariners fired Bob Melvin (though difficult, it was the correct action to take), what type of manager do you think they will be looking at? The fact that the manager doesn't play doesn't mean that they can make this team win. It all depends on what it looks like in April. I hope they don't go for someone who has been recycled over and over again. They need a leader, one who thoroughly knows the game but also has the instincts and knows when to use them. Maybe Lou Piniella was a bit too fiery for this management group, but make no mistake, he had the qualities in what the Mariners need in a new manager. But that is only part of it, they first need to put a team together than can compete and win. The manger can push the buttons, but the players need to execute. -- Terry M.

A: The last part of your email hits the nail on the head. Unless a manager has good players, he won't win, and that is plain and simple. Joe Torre didn't have the talent to win until becoming the Yankees manager. Dick Williams once told me that the best manager in the game is only worth four to five wins a year.

Another pretty good answer – but that won’t stop me from cringing if they hire Joe “keep-alives” Maddon or Larry Bowa.

Q: Why didn't the Mariners keep John Olerud? I don't understand why we get rid of the best first baseman. His bat will come around, like all hitters do. I think that was a bad thing to do to John, a former (Washington State) Cougar who wanted to come back to Seattle to stay. Thank you. -- Jerry G.

A: The same thing would have happened even if Olerud had been a former (University of Washington) Husky. He simply wasn't producing (22 RBIs in 166 at-bats), and the team was so far out of the pennant race that management had to find out if younger players in the system could fit into future plans. No one wanted to see John Olerud leave, but even he said he understood the decision.

It’s true that Olerud was released because he wasn’t producing. However, when Olerud was released, there was a guy on the M’s who only had 31 RBI in 375 at-bats! How come they didn’t release him for “not producing”? Because that player was Ichiro and this just goes to show that RBI does not accurately represent production, as so many would love for you to believe. Olerud was hitting like a weak second baseman for more than $7 million. Sure, a lot of people liked him, but the fact that he’s local can’t make up for that kind of underachievement.

2004-10-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

October baseball! I really do live for this! Wouldn’t you pay nearly anything to be a part of these playoffs?
(Quiet please; I’m trying to prompt the Mariners…)
The games so far have had a lot of everything to offer baseball fans. There have already been two games go into extra innings, though unfortunately the “dark side” won both. During the first of these, I would say I was on the edge of my seat, except I couldn’t even sit down! Hopefully, the Twins can shake off that horribly disappointing loss and regroup for a major rally back in Minnesota!
Conor and I made a friendly preseason wager, though it now seems eons ago. Conor predicted the Red Sox over the Astros in the World Series. I predicted the Angels over the Astros. In retrospect, it seems odd we both picked Houston (to lose). I’m still alive, though just barely. From today’s perspective, I now believe the World Series will be between the Red Sox and Cardinals, but I refuse to make any predictions other than a wonderful series! There are sufficient curses in place already. Talk about power versus power!

2004-10-05T01:22:00.000-07:00

Today was a great day to be a Mariner fan as one of the worst managers in club history, Bob Melvin, was shown the door. Also getting the ax along with the rest of the coaches (save pitching coach Bryan Price) was third base coach Dave Myers.

While there's some hope for 2005 and beyond the unfortunate thing is that Bill Bavasi is still general manager. To exemplify what a complete and utter idiot this fellow is here's a Bavasi's quote from the press conference on Monday announcing Melvin's firing:

We knew we had some holes," Bavasi said. "And we felt that to be competitive in our division there would have to be some fallback by the other teams and we had to get fortunate. We did show some age real quick on the field."

WHAT THE HELL? Bavasi basically admits that he knew that the club he constructed last winter wasn't good enough to compete and that the club would have to get lucky in order to compete in the AL West. This has to be one of the stupidest comments ever to come out of the mouth of a so-called "baseball executive". Bavasi had the money last winter to put together a competitive team, heck he even got an $8 million windfall in January when Kaz Sasaki decided to go back to Japan, but he didn't spend it, not on Pudge Rodriguez, not on Greg Maddux -- only $1 million of the Sasaki money was spent -- on signing lefthander Ron Villone (who actually probably got $2 million for reaching incentives based on starting X number of games).

This is the team we purchased season tickets for, a team that would have to have other teams suffer a bunch of injuries and poor seasons to compete? Is this Bavasi's idea of a joke? While it's great that the organization recognized that Melvin had to go, it's truly unbelievable that this is the clown running the franchise. He presided over one of the worst falloffs in baseball history yet he gets a mulligan because it was his first year. A team with a payroll over $90 million should not have to hope for other teams to stumble in order to contend.

In the press conference Bavasi alluded to his own potential firing (after next season) saying that if he didn't make the right managerial choice (and the team sucked in '05), next year there'd be a press conference and Tim Hevly (Mariners Director of Baseball Information) would be standing there instead of him...

2004-10-02T01:22:00.000-07:00

A Grand Salami tip of the cap to Ichiro Suzuki, your new all-time single season hit king. He now has 19 more hits in a season than any other guy who played since Hoover was president. Bitch all you want about his lack of power or ability to take a walk - that's a hell of a feat. I'm glad I could be there to see it.

A hearty Grand Salami raspberry to the new crackdown on selling tickets outside the ballpark. The guy I bought my tickets from (three tickets, $50+ less than face) got a $200 ticket for selling them as I walked away. Scalping tickets, meaning selling them for more than they cost, is a crime. Selling tickets for less than they cost is a gift. A quick thought experiment: if I buy a ticket for a friend, and meet him/her at the game, am I a criminal when he/she pays me back?

The last few times I've been up to games, I've noticed that the ticket guys seemed scarce and furtive. I had also heard that season ticket holders were getting revoked if caught selling them outside. This is the first I've heard about non-scalping tickets. If it is true that people really are getting busted for selling less than face on the street, it is time we fans get involved. Because that would be BS.

It is funny to hear the announcers excited about not losing 100 games. This is sort of like Peggy Noonan from the Bush campaign being excited because her man failed to wet himself on stage. "Well, Kerry is a born debater. I think that the fact that the president was able to not get reduced to tears has to be seen as a big victory on his part..." Losing 99 games, as well as not being able to conjugate a simple verb, is no cause for self-congratulatory blather.

Tomorrow is Edgar day - drop everything and go to the game. Buy a ticket on the street.

2004-10-02T01:20:00.000-07:00

I heard today that an 800-foot stretch of Atlantic St. that runs right by Safeco Field is being re-named "Edgar Martinez Drive." To really get the full effect, the city should also lower the speed limit to 5 MPH.

2004-10-02T01:06:00.000-07:00

Pat Gillick has expressed interest in the GM job that opened up for the D.C team. Here's a quote from the article:

"I'm still working for Seattle, but I am always interested in a challenge." -Pat Gillick

That made me laugh out loud. Apparently helping Seattle rebound from their worst season since 1983 isn't a challange.

In other news...with the win Friday, Seattle escaped losing 100 games and cemented the third pick in the June draft (and we can't lose this one no matter what crappy free agent we sign over market-value!)

2004-09-30T23:39:00.000-07:00

YES! Mike Cameron will make his return to Safeco Field next season! If you don't know, Cammy is my favorite player and I'm already stoked for June 17th - 19th. I'm going to buy front-row tickets in section 102 and I'll probably dork out and make a sign.

2004-09-30T13:17:00.000-07:00

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new strikeout king: Adam Dunn just broke Bobby Bonds' single season strikeout record with 190. A tip of the cap to Dunn and the Reds for allowing him to play in the final few games and finish his run at the mark. Even though the #%^$(@ @$) is killing the Cubs.

2004-09-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else see the weird ending to the Giants @ Padres game last night? Giants OF Dustan Mohr injured his knee on the bullpen mound while fielding a foul fly ball in the bottom of the 10th inning and allowed the winning run to score. It solidified for me many thoughts that I’ve harbored for a long time. That is, all of the mounds and bullpens in the field of play need to be bulldozed, and that includes that monstrosity in center field in Houston! Most of the newer ballparks have understood this and built the bullpens out of harm’s way, where they belong. Unique aspects of ballparks are generally interesting and part of the game, but not if they pose a serious risk to the players’ health or to the integrity of the game.

2004-09-28T13:47:00.000-07:00

Revile me, if you will, and stone me, if you must, but at this point in this train wreck of a season, I am hoping for the Mariners to lose 100 games. It's sick, I know, isn't it? I have been called a heretic before. Honestly, I have long term goals in mind here. I really believe that 100 games is the milestone of futility that no one can possibly ignore. I think that is the only way to possibly mandate some serious introspection and wholesale housecleaning! Four losses to go.

2004-09-24T14:41:00.000-07:00

After reading the Post-Intelligencer this morning, and specifically two(!) columns defending MelBob, I have to go on the record. I believe MelBob should be fired immediately, or retroactively, if possible, for more reasons than I can enumerate here. The main one is this: Baseball should be entertaining at least, if not competitive. This team under MelBob has never been entertaining! Last year they were somewhat competitive, but still boring! His management style, as well as his interviews, are supremely dull and predictable. I'm still hoping for his termination at season's end (or before).
It really shouldn't stop there either. There is plenty of blame to go around. I believe Bavasi and Lincoln share in this big time! I'm reminded of the "groupthink" phenomenon from the national intelligence failures. There was a huge intelligence failure in Seattle during last year's offseason! If MelBob is fired, but Lincoln and Bavasi remain, does anyone have any confidence that they can right the good ship Mariner? I don't.

2004-09-21T15:12:00.000-07:00

A blog with no fresh posts invites action, rather like a tattooed lady with a large expanse of bare skin.

A strange thing happened to me last night that hasn't occurred for many years. The Mariners played a game, and I not only didn't watch it, I didn't really care! Apparently, I didn't miss much. I read about it this morning; the Mariners haven't soured me on the sports page yet. Last night on TV, I did check in on the Red Sox and the Yankees. They both lost to teams out of contention. I am excited for next weekend's series in Boston, and I'm seriously hoping for a Red Sox and Cardinals World Series! Thanks to MLB Extra Innings, I will survive this season, as there is always someone playing good baseball.

2004-09-10T21:14:00.000-07:00

In contrast to Bob Melvin, the Diamondbacks don't seem to have any issue with playing a AAA team against a contender, in this case the Giants. Their cleanup hitter is a 36-year-old with a total of 61 MLB AB's and a slugging % of .262. Four people in the starting lineup were south of .200 on the year, and only one was Randy Johnson. This might be the worst starting eight I've ever seen. If I'm the Cubs (and although I'm old enough, I'm not), I'd be pissed.

So in the eighth, Barry Bonds comes to the plate with two out and nobody on in a game they are winning 2-1. The D-backs don't give a shit, they're just playing out the string, so what do they do? Of course, an intentional walk. Bizarre.

Speaking of Bonds, can someone at ESPN please write a column about him that doesn't mention BALCO? In this year of accountable steroid testing, you'd figure a cheater would see his numbers fall off noticeably. Instead, in the same year he turned 40 and his dad died, he's put up arguably the greatest season in the history of the game. I don't know why I even still have that damn site bookmarked.

2004-09-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

The Mariners golden labrum award for the week goes to starter Bobby Madritsch. Tonight, he threw 126 pitches in a meaningless (for his team, at least) game. He's now averaging 114 pitches in his seven MLB starts. Granted, he's not a kid, and is maybe at lower risk of serious arm injury than he would have been five years ago, but still this raises a red flag. I haven't seen a Mariners pitcher not named Freddy Garcia put together this kind of workload since Bryan Price came on board.

By the way, he threw a hell of a game.

Compare and contrast section (would have looked even better if I got around to this before the game)
Willie Bloomquist: 1st 404 MLB AB's, 2 HR's
Greg Dobbs: 1st 6 MLB AB's, 1 HR
Chance Greg Dobbs gets enough AB's to catch Willie at two: about 75%
Chance Greg Dobbs should have been in the MLB long enough to get one: nil
Number of these two players who should be on the 40 man roster next year: 0

2004-09-09T19:46:00.000-07:00

Niehaus quote of the year (as Jason Varitek strides to the plate): I wonder what Heathcliff Slocumb is doing tonight. Well, Dave, that makes one of you. Thanks for bringing it up.

We've discussed this here before, but it bears repeating. Ichiro doesn't seem to be the best team player. Runner on second, two outs, he tries to bunt for a base hit. That is not the kind of thing that wins games. Even if he is 100% sure he can get on (he didn't), that swaps out about (too lazy to look up) points of OBP in a scoring situation. Nice.

I think it is looking possible for Madritsch to have a nice few year run as a third starter based on what we've seen so far. With the rest of the pitching staff looking like extras from a WW1 movie (scars, slings, ancient, etc), this might be as good as it gets for a while.

2004-09-08T18:48:00.000-07:00

Bob F Melvin was true to his word -- Jeremy Reed is not in the starting lineup tonight --- against the Cleveland Indians. Last I looked the Indians were about 9 games out in the AL Central and not even in the Wild Card picture. Yet apparently Bo Mel doesn't think it's fair to the Minnesota Twins to start Reed tonight. After tonight Seattle has a four game series against Boston -- will Reed be glued to the bench for all four of those games too???

Never mind that the people this bozo should be concerned about are the people in the stands at Safeco tonight -- all 20,000 (maybe) of them. Those are the people that are anxious to see Jeremy Reed, to get a glimpse of this kid the team got in the Freddy Garcia trade. But instead

This just in --- Rich Waltz just asked Melvin on the pre-game show on TV when we'd see Jeremy Reed in the lineup. Melvin replied "I'm not gonna tell you. I've got to tell him first.
The best I'm gonna do is you might see him in the lineup in the next couple of games." Then he went on to add, "with all these contending teams coming in, you're kind of under the gun to put your veteran lineup out there and put your supposed best lineup out on the field. You could see up to 2 kids in the lineup on any given day but we're not gonna put 8 kids out there against one team and not another." Who exactly is putting Bob Melvin "under the gun" not to play the orgnization's best outfield prospect??? What an idiot.

And finally, it looks like Greg Dobbs may get more playing time than Reed this month. More Melvin: "Dobber (Greg Dobbs) you might see a little more in that we don't have an everyday guy out there at third. " So I guess Melvin hasn't figured out that he has the option of moving Ibanez to first (he has played there before, both with KC and Seattle), a position where we don't have an everyday guy either (last I looked Wille F Bloomquist was starting 5 of the last 7 games at first base). With Ibanez at first, Reed could step in in LF -- but NO! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW!

2004-09-08T01:41:00.000-07:00

First I would like to say that it's ridiculous for BoMel to think that he owes anything to the other teams. Um...I think you've given them enough already this season Bob! No worries... How about owing something to the fans? Does anyone really give a shit if Scott Spiezio plays or not? Will Joe Torre piledrive Bob Melvin if he starts Jeremy Reed against the Red Sox instead of Randy Winn? As a side note - I think the real reason Melvin wanted Mickey Lopez up is because his name already ends with an EY. I'll bet the front office didn't call Rene Rivera up just to save him the humiliation of being called "Rivey" for the next 3 weeks!

Anyway, the real reason I wanted to post was because I was thinking about the money that I won by betting my dad that Travis Hafner would hit a home run Monday night, and it got me to thinking...

On July 22nd, I tried to end the myth that it’s nearly impossible to hit home runs at Safeco Field. I know the announcers like to recite that and watching enough of "Wee-Willie Bloopquist" could certainly have you believing it. While I understand that Safeco Field is indeed a pitcher’s park, I have heard people hysterically calling KJR saying that the fences should be moved in and it provoked me to do a little research. I came to the conclusion that it’s not the stadium...(drum roll please)...it’s our weak-ass players! At the time of the initial post, the M’s were being out-homered at Safeco, 39-59. So, without further delay, I present...

Home runs @ Safeco Field in 2004 v2.0
Mariners: 61
Opponents: 93

As you can see, not a lot has changed in the past 5 weeks. The difference is still about 30 dingers, even though the M’s brought up Bucky and the first tally was right after the Indians went yard 8 TIMES in one game!

I will post a more detailed analysis on hitting home runs at Safeco Field after the season.

2004-09-07T01:54:00.000-07:00

More Bob Melvin BS. The September callups aren't going to get much playing time because Melvin thinks the Mariners owe it to the teams that are in contention to play "the veterans". So instead of seeing Jeremy Reed in the outfield, Raul Ibanez moved to first, Willie Bloomquist on the damn bench and Greg Dobbs at third, we'll supposedly continue to see Ibanez in the OF, Bloomquist as the starting 1B and Reed and Dobbs in pinch-running roles and as defensive replacments.
FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW!
FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW! FIRE BOB MELVIN NOW!

2004-09-07T01:21:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Trident Fever for the following unbelievable numbers:

Ben Davis
in 93 at-bats with Chicago
.290/.320/.527

John Olerud
in 70 at-bats with NY
.329/.425/.414

Rich Aurilia
in 62 at-bats with San Diego
.302/.384/.444

2004-09-07T01:02:00.000-07:00

OK, enough is enough. BOB MELVIN MUST GO! The man is an embarassment. Tonight he put in a new pitcher, George Sherrill for the ninth inning after Masao Kida pitched a 1-2-3 eighth. Fine, no problem. Then, with two outs and a man on first and the M's trailing 5-0, Melvin comes out to make another pitching change, removing Sherrill in favor of righty J.J. Putz.

Why Bob felt it was that important to make a right-left switch with the club trailing by 5 runs in the ninth is beyond comprehension. What's his thinking? He wants the fans to feel that he still thinks the ballclub can win the game, so he's gonna manage right to the end? Or, "hey, if we lose 7-0 instead of 5-0 I could get fired"? One more thing -- if Melvin hadn't already lost the respect of the club (by all reports he has) , this probably did it. The players on the field, who all couldn't wait to get home, just had to be shaking their heads, thinking "What the hell is he doing! We don't have a chance in this game. Let's just get this one over and get this fucking awful season over!"

I caught the pre-game TV interview with Melvin tonight in which he said how happy he was for Mickey Lopez to get the call, because he goes way back with Mickey, to their time in the Milwaukee organization. Since there's really no reason to be calling up Mickey Lopez unless he's next year's Willie Bloomquist (he is better -- but who isn't?), it seems that Bo Mel had some influence here. If by all accounts Melvin is gonna be fired soon, why is he getting input on who the organization calls up for the final month? Firing Melvin and getting Dan Rohn in here as the interim manager can't come soon enough for me -- it should have happened in July or August...

2004-09-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

Moyer watch: Jamie is now 20th all-time in gopher balls in a season. He needs four more to hit the top five all-time. He projects out at 46, which would tie Bert Blyleven and Robin Roberts for third. This looks pretty achievable, given the upcoming schedule and the pace he's been on (11 in the last 6 games!). He'll likely fall short of the 50 required for the record, though. Sigh.

2004-09-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

Leave it to ESPN.com to raise the bar for irresponsible journalism to a record height. Check the headline of this article: Giambi reportedly treated with steroids. Stop the presses - you mean Jason has been taking steroids to enhance his baseball ability. Uh, no, he's been taking anti-inflammatory steroids (probably Prednisone) to stop a dangerous swelling in his brain. These steroids tend to make people lose muscle mass and strength, as well as feel fatigue. Scanning the article, you also find the inevitable tie-in to whispers of anabolic steroid abuse - although no scientific evidence supports this assertion, anecdotal reports (i.e. this reporter would like you to believe) that this is related to his past abuse of performance enhancing drugs. Bullshit, there is no known or speculated link between pituitary adenoma and anabolic steroids, that I've ever been able to find. Prolactinoma and other pituitary tumors are a serious condition, and we shouldn't be taking this opportunity to pile on Mr. Giambi. If you want to do that, make fun of his deodorant commercials.

2004-09-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

Did anyone else see this? It seems every time Mel Bob opens his mouth, out pops Blog fodder. His latest:

“For my money, Ron Villone is this team’s pitching MVP. Whatever we’ve needed him to do, he’s done.”

This is so insane on so many levels it hurts to contemplate. It screams incompetence! That comment alone is reason enough to fire him.

2004-08-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

At two hits a game, Ichiro catches Sisler in game 154. Sure, it's improbable, but he's been averaging this for a while now.

2004-08-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

The Mariners have 32 games remaining. Ichiro averages 4.395 AB/G, so he should get about 141 more ABs this season. At his current rate (.369), he is on pace to get 52 more hits - putting him at 261, 4 more than Sisler had in 1920. Sure, there hasn't been much national press about it now - but you know someone is going to write about how Sisler only had a 154-game season.

Ichiro is currently hitting .369, but since the All-Star break he's been unbelievable: .459/.488/.592!

And think about this...If Ichiro got 9 more hits in April (which would have put him at 35 for the month) and 9 more in June (which would have put him at 38 for the month), he'd be hitting .400 right now.

2004-08-30T13:27:00.000-07:00

Other than Rick Rizzs, who mentions it every second breath, I have been surprised by the lack of attention paid to Ichiro threatening the 84-year-old record for single season hits. I still haven't seen a single national columnist pick this up. This is different, for example, than when Darin Erstad (Darin Erstad!) made a run at the record a few years ago. Don't say it is because the M's are bad - the Disney's were fully out of it in 2000, as well.

I put the over / under for unintentional walks that Ichiro takes the rest of the year at three. Any takers?

2004-08-29T11:30:00.000-07:00

The Mariners are really going to have to kick it up a notch - they open today's game at the brink of elimination from the division title. Still, if the M's get hot, and the A's, Rangers, and Angels are all killed in a simultaneous intestinal parasite incident, the Seattle club may be able to pull it together for a post-season run. Although, I think in my scenario that the intestinal parasites themselves may be able to seize the flag.

2004-08-28T20:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, shockingly bad managing tonight! First, Melvin managed to dump out most of his bullpen in the first game of the doubleheader, and got damn lucky that Madritsch managed to tough it out through eight in the nightcap. I know I've told you this before, Bob, but there is no rule yet banning you from using a relief pitcher for more than an inning toward the end of a game.

Even worse, in the ninth inning of the second game, he pulls Edgar off the on-deck circle (to pinch hit for Spiezio) and replaces him with Bloomquist. Willie was put up there to bunt, and AGAIN struck out with a foul bunt on an 0-2 count. Just because Willie is a slap hitter does not prove that he can bunt (same for Dan Wilson, by the way). If you want a bunt, just leave Spiezio in the game. I can say with damn near certainty that no position player this decade has struck out trying to sacrifice twice in one season. This is really, really poor strategy - Melvin is awfully lucky to have picked up the run anyway.

I've refrained from saying this until now, but here goes. I'm with you Jon, fire Bob Melvin ASAP. You want proof he's lost the team? Randy Winn got picked off in the eighth, but Bucky Jacobsen had called time at the plate. Before another pitch could be thrown, he was picked off AGAIN! He really needs to be pulled out of the game for that kind of lapse.

Of course, as I type this, Winn wins the game with a home run. What do I know? Give Melvin another extension.

2004-08-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

I'm with you Bill! Keep speaking the word! An NL team in Portland will be my new favorite as the M's slide back into irrelavence. Now that Edgar is going, I can go back to my active hatred of the damnable DH rule.

This is a funny article. I would love to hear Mr. Olney explain just how the Marlins upgraded their offense by adding Juan Encarnacion for the rest of his bloated two year deal. Paul DePodesta must piss himself with laughter when he reads this crap. Just think, he could be making these terrible deals here in Seattle, leading the home team to another pennant.

2004-08-27T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of all this negativism! All of my posts this season have been negative. I'm going to try to think more positively! OK, here goes...
I'm positive that the Mariners will lose over 100 games this season! And I'm heavily rooting for Portland to be awarded the Expos franchise. I love National League baseball, and the Pacific Northwest needs more "Beavers"!

2004-08-26T08:58:00.000-07:00

Swept by the Devil Rays?! Inconceivable! Lou's smirk is alive and well.

2004-08-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

When, oh when, will Mariner management finally realize that Randy Winn really can't play CF? Another double to CF last night that would've been an out last year. It's frankly painful to watch. It's difficult to swallow a 9-0 spanking at the hands of the Devil Rays! Try to imagine Lou without a smirk on his face!

2004-08-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm predicting a brawl tonight in Kansas City.
The Royals are 43-75 and the M's are 45-74.
So, you have two very frustrated teams and there have already been 5 beanballs in the past two games, including one that broke Justin Leone's hand and another that hit Ichiro in the head, giving him a mild concussion.
The M's have had 4 guys pegged, while Ken Harvey is the only Royal to get plunked.
Now, with the lineup the Royals have been running out there the past two days, you can argue that they don't have anyone worth beaning anyway, but I expect Ron Villone to go after someone.
BoMel better have a long-man warm, because the benches will clear.
Now I'm expecting this crazy game with vicious brawls, but what we'll probably get is a snooze-fest between the two worst teams in the AL.

2004-08-16T02:26:00.000-07:00

I've been going to baseball games for a long time (a dead guy got the game winning hit at the first game I ever went to), and I still saw something today I've never seen before. A position player, named Willie Bloomquist, struck out by bunting foul in a game his team was losing by a run. I have some big concerns about this. First, if a player is such a bad hitter that he can't be trusted to swing away in a key situation, why is he on the team, let alone batting at that time? This to me is another data point in the case against Mr. Melvin. Second, how many intangibles would be necessary to outweigh all of the crappy tangibles for said Mr. Bloomquist? He doesn't hit, is not great afield, it doesn't look like he can bunt, so does it matter that he is scrappy?

What do grunge rock and Scott Spiezio have in common? No, not Sandfrog. Both are overhyped million dollar northwest phenomena that have passed their marginally useful shelf-life. Scott is now a year older than his dad was when he washed out of the league 30 years ago. I don't think Scotty is going to bounce back.

Maybe the M's would have been more reluctant to offer such a generous contract if they would have followed the link above. The second guy from the left has got to be the biggest rock dork I've ever seen. And I've seen a Phish concert (unfortunately).

2004-08-15T23:24:00.000-07:00

If Willie Bloomquist is such a bad hitter that you have him bunt with two strikes, why is he in the game? This is not a trick question, really, and I'll bet most of you could handle this one. I've heard about Willie's intangibles, but he is so bad at tangibles, I think it is a moot point. On a team full of utility infielders (a recurring theme over the last four or five years), he really has no business getting in most of the games.

What do Scott Spiezio and grunge rock have in common? They are both multi-million dollar fads, whose shelf-life ended a few years ago. I'd really like to never be faced with either one again.

2004-08-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure all of our readers know by now, a certain former Mariner has completely torn his hamstring from the bone in his right leg. Although he left on bad terms, and was never particularly close to those who cover the team when he was here, this really is sad news. When he left for Cincy, he was on pace to end up in some rarified air at the end of his career. Now, it looks like he'll peter out somewhere in Sniderland. Not that this is anything to be ashamed of, it just feels like a disappointment to see him drift away so soon.

Those of us who express sour grapes about the way he treated the local writers or the circumstances under which he left have every right to do so. Certainly, we've been guilty of this over the last couple years at the GS home offices. Still, we should remember that with no Griffey, there'd likely be no insurance co field, no GS, no Danny Wilson...

Anyway, our best to Ken in his rehab efforts. If you can get Mr. Lindner to pay 80-90% of your salary, we have an opening in the NW for a DH without functioning leg muscles. Hell, it's not like you'll be much use in the NL when you get back. We'll even send your old team Gil Meche for the trouble. (This is a joke - If you are reading this, Bill, please don't try to pick up Griffey)

2004-08-11T08:28:00.000-07:00

As we've talked about in this space a number of times, it appears that the M's have wrecked Mr. Soriano's elbow by having him try to pitch through an injury. Nice job, guys. Adding insult to injury, the team was already effectively out of the race by the time they were trotting Soriano out there to take his lumps.

Jon, in response to your last post, they couldn't have traded Guardado at the deadline. He'd have never passed a physical. He's clearly been dealing with an arm problem for at least a couple of weeks prior to going on the DL. I doubt he'll provide any more value over the life of his contract.

I'm surprised they didn't go ahead and drop the third bomb to put the cherry on top of the crappy day. Pinero is probably going to go under the knife, too. His elbow hurts, he's got structural damage to the ulnar collateral ligament, they are going to try to treat conservatively.. This is exactly what you could have said about Soriano in June. Maybe they can get a group discount.

I think we can all agree that this changes priorities for 2005. Other than Ichiro, they really don't have anyone you could expect to be better than league average at their position. Maybe Boone, if you squint really hard. Maybe Bucky J, if he continues to mash and can keep the injuries away. The pitching staff projects to stink worse than Courtney Love's leather pants. They are no longer a couple of free agents away from righting the ship.

2004-08-11T00:37:00.000-07:00

As if this season, the most disappointing in Seattle Mariners history, weren't already bad enough, Tuesday was one of the worst single days in the history of the franchise. Not one, but two of the top pitchers on the team, were found to need surgery and will be out for the rest of the year and much longer.

Right-hander Rafael Soriano, who hadn't pitched since May 9th, has a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow and will need Tommy John surgery, putting him out of action for 12 to 18 months. His earliest return date would be spring training of 2006. Lefty closer Eddie Guardado, who went on the DL on August 1st, has a torn rotator cuff and he'll also need surgery, putting him out of action for 8 to 12 months. He could possibly return sometime in 2005 or could miss the whole '05 season.

The worst part of this for the M's is that they're on the hook for Guardado's contract for two more seasons, at a minimum of another $9 million. Just two weeks or so ago there were multiple trade offers on the table for Guardado and the M's might well have been able to acquire a package of players close to what they got from Chicago for Freddy Garcia. Instead they get no prospects, they'll pay Guardado not to pitch and the team's decision on what they do for a closer could have a major impact on whether this team is able to contend in 2005.

The Mariners can either go with one of the kids (Putz, Nageotte, Madritsch, Sherrill, Gil Meche, Felix Hernandez even?) as next year's closer and hope they catch lightning in a bottle or they could sign one of the veteran closers on the free agent market. Add one more huge hole for the club to fill this winter (and a few million dollars less to fill the holes)... While everyone (including me) is mapping out the road to the M's contending in 2005, picking out potential free agents (Beltran? Beltre? Ordonez? Garciaparra? Sexson?) we could sign with all of the team's riches, today's news has to make it less likely that any of those players will want to sign here as a free agent -- since it makes it less likely that the 2005 Seattle Mariners can be a contending team.
As I've said before the M's really blew it last year when they didn't sign Tejada or Pudge, guys that would have signed here. Because of the ballpark we have, most free agent hitters won't want to come here unless we overpay (fat chance of that). Now there's another reason -- the team stinks and might not be contending in '05...

Not trading Guardado when his value was high will go down as another in a long line of stupid moves by GM Bill Bavasi. Seattle was seriously in need of position player prospects and got well in a hurry in that area due to the Garcia deal, but they needed more. I wrote in the July issue of The Grand Salami that the Garcia deal was just the beginning, that there were several more players with value that Bavasi could and should move before the July 31 deadline and that the M's could acquire a nice harvest of prospects in the process. To look at things now, little more than a month later and see that the only players traded were Dave Hansen and Mike Myers and all the team got was one low level prospect who's unlikely to ever reach the major leagues is beyond disappointing.

To pass up the opportunity to cash in Guardado for prospects in the middle of his best major league season and find him on the shelf two weeks later for an extended period has to be a devastating blow for this organization. This is a pitcher that's been in the big leagues more than ten seasons; there's a lot of mileage on him. It's not like the organization and the community had any sort of emotional attachment to Eddie Guardado -- he was just signed in December. Seattle needed to do what Texas did last year. They signed Ugueth Urbina to a one-year, below market deal ($4 million a year) . When they didn't contend, they flipped him at the deadline to the Marlins for a package of prospects, including 1B Adrian Gonzalez, the first player picked in the 2000 draft. Gonzalez is a pretty fine prospect, one the M's and their fans would drool over. Don't you think that Seattle could have gotten a better package of young players for Guardado, who was signed for two more years, than the Rangers got for Urbina, a rent-a-player????

2004-08-10T15:09:00.000-07:00

Edgar played for 17 years, and got on base 42% of the time. This is a hall-of-fame career. You want to keep one dimensional players out? Kick out Harmon Killebrew. You don't think a DH can be there? Kick out Paul Molitor. Yeah, he stayed a year past his expire date. You could say a lot worse about Yaz, Hank Aaron, Dave Winfield....

2004-08-10T08:09:00.000-07:00

I'm with you Bill. I nearly drove off the road yesterday when our idiot general manager Bill Bavasi called Edgar a "first ballot Hall of Famer". He's a marginal Hall of Famer at best. I am so sick and tired of hearing everyone in this town call him a no brainer Hall of Famer -- these people don't seem to realize that the Hall of Fame is not voted on solely by latte drinking Seattleites. 98% of the voters are from outside Seattle in fact.

And then to hear Howard Lincoln at the press conference -- "I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure Edgar makes the Hall of Fame". What's Howie gonna do, bribe some of the voters? What exactly can a team do to get a player in the Hall? Maybe you should put more of your efforts into trying to get your last place team back into the playoffs and get some fannies back in the seats at Safeco Field...

Kudos to Mitch Levy at KJR AM 950 for having several of the writers that actually vote for the Hall of Fame on his show this morning. and discussing the case for Edgar. Most of them said that they either would not vote for Edgar for the Hall or that they wouldn't vote for him at the beginning of his eligibility and would consider him later. One guy, the Phillies beat writer from Philadelphia, said "How can a guy be a Hall of Famer when he has to sit the bench when his team comes to a National League ballpark, that he's not even capable of playing a position?"

I only wish you were right about the game selling out tonight, Bill, but it's pretty likely that we're still going to have 20,000 empty seats at the Safe tonight. But don't worry bout them having any of those leftover giveaway bears -- they're only giving them out to the first 15,000 kids...

2004-08-10T07:50:00.000-07:00

At the risk of being permanently shunned in Seattle as a heretic, I must get something off my chest. Please spare me from all the communal gushing over Edgar’s retirement! It is at least a year overdue, and probably more. Although I’m painfully aware that Seattle fans are hungry, nay eager, for a hero/superstar, Edgar Martinez is not the guy. Several potential superstars have been allowed to leave under various circumstances to shine elsewhere, or to be regularly injured, in Griffey’s case, and this is the hand we’ve been dealt. I can’t deny that Edgar is probably going to come to be known as “Mr. Mariner”, mostly for his loyalty and longevity, but in reality that is a reflection on how sadly this franchise has been managed over the past decade or so. I will grant you that he is an above average hitter; though even if you believe he’s a fantastic hitter, which is arguable, he’s truly a one-dimensional player. He was average, or below, at any position in the field, and he’s a freaking liability on the base paths! It takes a triple to score him from second! Some clown on the radio today, trying to justify his shortage of lifetime statistics, had the audacity to compare him to Sandy Koufax! Unbelievable! Emotions run deep apparently, but the five-year mandatory waiting period will certainly allow time for cooler heads to prevail. He may be a wonderful teammate, and the pride of the community, but for God’s sake, get over it! He’s an over-the-hill player, who should have been coaching two years ago. For the record, I am not entirely convinced he can coach. He is not exactly a great communicator. We shall see.
His retirement at the end of this season was inevitable. Why announce it now? Mostly, I find the timing of his announcement curious. It seems to accomplish two things:
One, it takes the fans’ eye off the ball with regard to the train wreck of a road trip the team just completed. And two, it will probably sell out the so-called “Edgar Bear” night planned for tonight. Without the press conference yesterday, someone would undoubtedly be stuck with a warehouse full of the little rascals.

2004-08-10T00:50:00.000-07:00

The insanity has begun.
For the next 5-10 years, sports-talk radio shows and hundreds of newspaper columns are going to debate whether or not Edgar Martinez is a Hall of Famer. Aside from filling column inches and hours of airtime, there will be heated debates in bars, on the monorail and in Internet chatrooms and discussion boards. Today I actually heard a caller on KJR say that because Ronnie Lott is a great human being and is in the Hall of Fame, Edgar should be too. Nevermind the fact that Ronnie Lott was a FOOTBALL PLAYER, or that he was probably voted in based on his accomplishments on the field! And, unlike Edgar, Lott actually played defense! Just kidding folks...
My point is that people in Seattle seem to look at Edgar through rose-colored lenses. Countless times today I heard that, in his prime, Edgar was the best right-handed hitter in the game.
Let's take a look...
Edgar had an odd career, because of his late start. So, I'm considering his prime to be between 1992 and 2000. In 1992, Martinez was 29 yeas old - typically old for one's prime, but those were his best seasons. During that time span, Edgar won 2 batting crowns, attended 5 All-Star Games and finished in the top-10 in the MVP voting twice.

1992-2000
EDGAR: .327/.436/.560/ with 327 doubles and 208 home runs

Now, when people were gushing with praise for Edgar today, calling him the best right-handed hitter of his era, the one name that stood out, to me, was Frank Thomas. Let's see what the Big Hurt did from 1992-2000, during Edgar's prime years.

THOMAS: .320/.438/.584/ with 319 doubles and 305 home runs

Others that you could possibly make an argument for include:
BAGWELL: .306/.421/.566 w/ 325 2B & 295 HR
SHEFFIELD: .303/.420/.553 w/ 240 2B & 258 HR
JUAN GONZALEZ: .299/.347/.581 w/ 268 2B & 330 HR
*stats from '92-'00

Also keep in mind that, for the most part, these players weren't just sitting on the bench when the rest of their team was out scooping grounders and shagging flies. Aside from Bagwell, who won a Gold Glove in 1994, none of these guys are particularly swift in the field, but none have DH-ed as much as 'Gar either, and that, along with some of their superior numbers, is why these guys are more likely to end up in Cooperstown.

I don't have the time or energy to dive into park factors right now, but another thing to consider is that I'm sure Edgar's numbers are inflated by playing in the Kingdome for the majority of his career.

2004-08-09T14:59:00.000-07:00

Jon, I'm disappointed in your lukewarm posting. Maybe Edgar should have retired in the off-season, but if this team were contending, we'd all be pretty pleased about having a bench bat with a .350+ OBP. He's not the person we should be blaming for the team's collapse this year (cough..Bavasi...cough).

Beyond this, he has been the cornerstone of the resurgence of this team. Arguably more important than Griffey / Johnson / Rodriguez. He's been a hell of a player. He's played for less than market value to stay with his team. He's been a class guy for his whole career here. Edgar, my hat is off to you, it's been a hell of a ride.

In the next few weeks, we'll see some goofy lists explaining why he should or shouldn't be in the hall of fame. He'll be compared to other hitters in terms of OBP, doubles, BA, etc. He'll be docked for not playing in the field. He'll get bonus points for staying in one place. He'll be penalized for the Kingdome. All of this misses the point. For the last fifteen years, he's been the guy in the middle of the lineup who the other team pitches around because they know he'll hurt them. Even now when he can barely walk down the line, other teams don't really challenge him when the game is close. These are the guys who belong in Cooperstown, regardless of whether they own a fielder's mitt.

All of the controversy about the first DH in the hall is kind of shite, anyway. Paul Molitor played about half of his games there, Edgar about 2/3. If the M's had called up Edgar when they should have, it would be closer to 50/50. If a DH doesn't belong in the hall, pull out Paul. Barring this, shut the hell up Joe Morgan (or whoever else will say this).

2004-08-09T12:35:00.000-07:00

Edgar Martinez will hold a press conference at Safeco Field today at 2:30 PM and the Mariners have said it is a "major announcement". Edgar was a great player in his day but he should have retired after the 2003 season. I hope he'll at least stick around for this homestand so the fans can say their goodbyes. Then the club can call up A.J. Zapp and we can get a chance to see what he can do. Now if only that useless pile of crap Scott Spiezio would retire too -- that'd be great!

2004 Statistics
Edgar: 8 HR's in 333 AB's.
Bucky: 6 HR's in 71 AB's.

2004-08-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

I am still furious about the umpire’s call to end Friday’s game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays! To end an extra innings game tied at 1-1 on a poor interpretation of a rarely applied rule is shaky at best! Obstruction rarely occurs in Major League Baseball, and it didn’t occur on Friday night. I believe that was, without question, the worst call at any level that I have ever seen, and I challenge other MLB umpires to break ranks with their protectionist majority and admit the obvious error.
I am an umpire with fifteen plus years experience at many levels of ball, up to and including junior college baseball. I have taught other umpires the craft of umpiring. I am still a student of the game and have diligently studied the rules for many years.
Nowhere in the obstruction rule (7.06) is there any mention of blocking a runner’s line of sight. The spirit of the rule applies to physically impeding a runner’s progress, and this is the manner in which it has always been applied. Friday’s egregiously erroneous interpretation has serious consequences, as it implies that fielders may not go certain places in the field, for fear of blocking the runners’ view of the ball. How absurd is that? Major League Baseball needs to admit this error and move on. This cannot become an approved ruling on the obstruction rule!
As an aside, in my opinion, Carl Crawford should not have been watching the ball; he should have been watching and listening to the third base coach. Why else, pray tell, does the third base coach even exist?

2004-08-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

Bloomquist thought the call was a bad one and that he saw no obstruction, but he did say "I could have done a better job of getting in position as the cutoff man." But, seeing that no play was going to be made, he was closer to Lopez, third base and Crawford than he needed to be.

You're an idiot, Willie. You WEREN'T in position as the cutoff man. Not even close.

2004-08-07T09:14:00.000-07:00

Last night Toronto traded Josh Phelps to Cleveland for a minor league first baseman. While I'm not 100% convinced that the Mariners should have gotten involved because Phelps is a1B/DH type and we have Bucky there and because he's likely to be arbitration eligible (as a Super Two) in the winter, Phelps makes $342,000 this year and had to clear waivers past the Mariners in order to be dealt to Cleveland. Phelps was having a bit of an off year for him but still had 12 HR's and 51 RBI in 295 AB's (admittedly 4 of the HRs and 17 of the RBI came against Seattle, he had 8 RBI vs. TB and didn't have more than 4 RBI against any other team). Coming into the '04 season Phelps had a .497 slugging pctg and had hit 35 HRs in 674 career AB's. Not bad for his first two years in the league. If only Phelps could still catch (he came up originally as a catcher), this would have been a no-brainer -- next year's catching tandem of Olivo and Phelps would have been awesome -- and would have spelled the end of Dan Wilson...

2004-08-06T18:35:00.000-07:00

Amazing! By-the-book Bob left a relief pitcher in for more than one inning! Stop the presses!

2004-08-06T18:14:00.000-07:00

Your new centerfielder: Willie Bloomquist. This is a failure of roster construction. Willie can't handle the position, and they need a fourth outfielder who can. If Jamal Strong is not healthy, bring up Bocachica. If he is healthy, give him a shot - his roster spot will be a hot commodity in the off-season, so it is high time that they figure out whether he's worth it (I doubt it). Letting Strong get some playing time is far more important than a seven man bullpen.

The M's signed Bill Pulsipher for Tacoma. Maybe they should bring in Dallas Green as a pitching coach to see if he can destroy his arm one more time.

2004-08-06T17:21:00.000-07:00

Tonight's centerfielder: Willie Bloomquist. This is a failure of roster construction. The Mariners need to have a fourth outfielder who can handle the position. If they are not confident that Jamal Strong is healthy, bring Bocachica back. I'd argue that a fourth outfielder is more important than a seven man bullpen, especially now that a situational lefty is a moot point. C'mon, Bavasi, let's see if Strong can play, because his roster spot will be a valuable commodity in the off-season.

2004-08-05T21:35:00.000-07:00

Just like I'd have thought at the end of May: the 2004 Rainiers could beat the D-Rays at their own park. Even if you load them down with Boone, Ibanez and Spiezio. Madritsch was really sharp tonight - 8 innings in 105 or so pitches, 6 K's. I know it was the fish, and all, but you've still got to get the ball over. I'm curious to see how Bobby fares against a better offensive team.

I'm very troubled by the news about Soriano's continued elbow problems. As we bitched about in this very space this spring, continuing to have a young pitcher pitch when he is injured is a good way to wreck his arm. This was risky, and has the potential to turn out very badly. Just ask Mark Fidrych.

I have a message for Miguel Olivo: Carlos Guillen called, and he wants his batting stance back. Jeez, you've already stolen his number.

2004-08-03T12:20:00.000-07:00

Amazingly enough, the marginal prospect we got from San Diego on Friday for Dave Hansen, Jon Huber, pitched 4 2/3 shutout innings last nigh for Class A Inland Empire, striking out ten! If only they'd traded Randy Winn -- now that would get me excited...

2004-08-02T18:37:00.000-07:00

I'd say with Guardado going on the DL today (Matt Thornton up from Tacoma to fill his roster spot), the move the Mariners really need to make now is to put Gil Meche in the closer's role. If Rafael Soriano were ready to pitch now, having him close is probably what the team would do, but since he's a couple of weeks away, I think Meche is the best choice. The way he's pitched this season he's likely to be non-tendered in December (since players don't get pay cuts, he'll get at least the $1.95 million he got this year in aribration).

There's been plenty of failed starters (Eric Gagne for one) who've thrived in the closer's role, where they don't have to pace themselves, don't have to deal with facing the same hitters 3 or 4 times a game and they can just rare back and throw the heat. Meche has a 95 MPH fastball.
Seriously, what do the M's have to lose? If Meche shows that he can do the job, they won't have to non-tender him and they can deal Guardado in August or in the off-season.

Making Meche the closer is a daring move, the kind this organization isn't known for, but for once let's see them start to think ahead. Knowing that they're gonna toss Meche aside in the winter for nothing (since he apparently has no trade value), if they can put him in a new role where he can succeed and be a part of the team's success the next couple of years, where's the harm???

2004-08-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

ESPN, who needs to fill column inches in the days after the trade deadline, is reporting that John Olerud is about to sign with the Yankees. Even though he was struggling here with putting the bat on the ball with any authority, he'd likely be an improvement over Tony Clark. Olerud, for all of his problems (including what seemed to me to be a decline in defensive skills), still gets on base. And the ability to get on base is a big reason the Yankees win. John, we still love you in Seattle, but if you sign with the Yankees, that goes out the window.

Speaking of the Yankees, raise your hand if you predicted that their most significant deadline move would be dumping Jose Contreras' salary. I guess I don't understand this move from the White Sox perspective, but this always seems to be the case with Kenny 'why the hell haven't I been fired yet?' Williams.

I'm glad to see Randy Johnson, or "the big eunuch" as Popeye calls him, stay in Arizona. That type of reverse tampering where the player says in public who he can be traded to should really be clamped down on by the commissioner. It's bad for the game. The nice bonus of him staying in Phoenix is that he'll be working against the Snakes in the Upton sweepstakes. Get hot Randy, pitch yer bums out of the number one pick.

2004-08-02T10:43:00.000-07:00

You heard it here first! Yes, you can take this one to the bank. The Mariners will not lose today!

2004-07-30T18:51:00.000-07:00

Dave Hansen to the Padres for future considerations! Woo-hoo!!! I was hoping for future considerations.

2004-07-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

I've got a great idea for next years ad campaign: the 2005 M's against the 1916 Philadelphia A's. Think of the possibilities. "You think you guys are old, we're all at least 108!" "Throw the ball over the plate, kid, or I'll cough TB on you" Connie Mack could hit Bob Melvin with his cane. It'll be a regular laff riot.

Surprisingly, even with the Randy Winn outfield follies, the M's managed to pull one out tonight. I like this guy Madritsch - he's fun to watch. Maybe he'll earn a start soon.

2004-07-29T22:05:00.000-07:00

Some thoughts on the game tonight:

- Sad to see Guardado not put this one away. I think there's a decent chance this is the last time we'll see him in the clothes of an also ran this year. I hope we get a good return on him.
- I got to the game late tonight. I was watching John Kerry's speech at the convention. He promised to balance the budget with a combination of undoing tax breaks to corporations, rolling back tax breaks on rich people, and, wait for it, a nickel tax on every irritatingly stupid and repetitive thing Dave Henderson says. Pitch to their strength. Sit on the fast ball. Blah blah blah.
- Speaking of irritating, Eckstein's Pete Rose act is getting thin. Running out a walk doesn't make you a valuable player. He's Willie Bloomquist with a ring.
- Brendan Donnelly is a good pitcher, as are a lot of the Angels relievers. Their starters suck, though.
- What is with the Ibanez / Spiezio shift? Are they that extreme in their pull hitting? Shouldn't the Spiezio shift be eight second basemen and someone to throw it to after the weak grounder? Seriously, I can't imagine that this is a good strategy, especially a hard throwing team against some slow bat old guys.
- Hey, Rick, did you know Bucky Jacobsen was in the minors for seven and a half years? Yeah, I guess you did. Thanks for reminding me. At least those are two seconds I don't have to hear Dave Henderson say he should sit on the fastball.