Saturday, November 15, 2003
BOONE AS AL MVP? I DON'T THINK SO
More corporate asskissing from Jim Street here.
Bret Boone had a good season. He finished 2003 with a .294 BA, 35 HRs, and 117 RBIs. But keep in mind that 24 of those home runs were hit in the first half of the season. In the second half (69 games), Boone hit .267, 11 HRs, and 41 RBIs.
The Mariners were 35-34 in the second half. Boone's less-than-stellar second half was one of the main reasons why the Mariners didn't go to the playoffs. Now, the MVP award shouldn't be based on just a player's team accomplishments. But Bret Boone is not the AL MVP.
As far as I'm concerned, just give Alex Rodriguez the AL MVP. Sure, his 2003 numbers weren't as great as his previous seasons, but there really isn't a clear cut player who should win this thing. So by default, give it to Alex. It's unreal how the best all-around player in baseball doesn't have a MVP award yet.
Just give it to Alex. I don't care anymore.
Bret Boone had a good season. He finished 2003 with a .294 BA, 35 HRs, and 117 RBIs. But keep in mind that 24 of those home runs were hit in the first half of the season. In the second half (69 games), Boone hit .267, 11 HRs, and 41 RBIs.
The Mariners were 35-34 in the second half. Boone's less-than-stellar second half was one of the main reasons why the Mariners didn't go to the playoffs. Now, the MVP award shouldn't be based on just a player's team accomplishments. But Bret Boone is not the AL MVP.
As far as I'm concerned, just give Alex Rodriguez the AL MVP. Sure, his 2003 numbers weren't as great as his previous seasons, but there really isn't a clear cut player who should win this thing. So by default, give it to Alex. It's unreal how the best all-around player in baseball doesn't have a MVP award yet.
Just give it to Alex. I don't care anymore.
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SUPERSONICS 98, BULLS 90
A couple things learned from tonight --
Rashard Lewis is good (27 pts).
Ron Murray is nuts (26 pts). He had seven points at the half and nailed 4 three-pointers in the third quarter.
The Sonics got the good version of Vlad Rad tonight (19 pts).
They also got the good version of Jerome James tonight, who scored all his seven points in the 4th quarter and was playing good defense.
On the Sonic radio broadcast, I actually heard the sentence "Calvin Booth (9 pts tonight in the center-by-committee deal with James) has been solid all year."
I think the Bulls got within one point of the Sonics in the 4th quarter, but I'm too lazy to wait for the game log to get online to check.
The Sonics went 3-1 on the 4-game road trip. Not bad. It's a shame they lost that game to the frigging Hawks, because they could be 7-1 right now. But they'll settle for 6-2.
Rashard Lewis is good (27 pts).
Ron Murray is nuts (26 pts). He had seven points at the half and nailed 4 three-pointers in the third quarter.
The Sonics got the good version of Vlad Rad tonight (19 pts).
They also got the good version of Jerome James tonight, who scored all his seven points in the 4th quarter and was playing good defense.
On the Sonic radio broadcast, I actually heard the sentence "Calvin Booth (9 pts tonight in the center-by-committee deal with James) has been solid all year."
I think the Bulls got within one point of the Sonics in the 4th quarter, but I'm too lazy to wait for the game log to get online to check.
The Sonics went 3-1 on the 4-game road trip. Not bad. It's a shame they lost that game to the frigging Hawks, because they could be 7-1 right now. But they'll settle for 6-2.
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BRUINS 2, CANUCKS 1 (OT)
Guess what, kids? The Canucks haven't won a big game on the road yet this season. This from a team that was great on the road last year.
The top line of Morrison/Naslund/Bertuzzi had six shots all night, and none of the six shots occurred after the second period. Not good.
The Canucks went 0-1-0-2 on the road trip, coming away with a lucky point the other night in Philly, and the one tonight in Boston.
The Canucks scored a measly 4 goals on the three-game road trip, and three of the goals were scored in Philadelphia.
The Bruins this game from the second period on, controlling the physical game and controlling the puck itself as the Canucks were chasing the puck around most of the night.
Dan Cloutier was awesome tonight, as he was peppered with pucks by the Bruins and stopped 37 of 39 shots. The Canucks were outshot 39-24.
Lone Vancouver goal tonight scored by Jason King, his 10th of the year to lead all rookies, assisted by Dan Sedin to open the scoring. Unfortunately, that's all they would get because Andrew Raycroft was busy stopping all but one Canuck shot on the other end.
Home cookin' will be coming for the Canucks with Montreal Tuesday, Chicago Thursday, and Toronto Saturday to continue the Canucks' stretch of seven games against Original Six teams.
The top line of Morrison/Naslund/Bertuzzi had six shots all night, and none of the six shots occurred after the second period. Not good.
The Canucks went 0-1-0-2 on the road trip, coming away with a lucky point the other night in Philly, and the one tonight in Boston.
The Canucks scored a measly 4 goals on the three-game road trip, and three of the goals were scored in Philadelphia.
The Bruins this game from the second period on, controlling the physical game and controlling the puck itself as the Canucks were chasing the puck around most of the night.
Dan Cloutier was awesome tonight, as he was peppered with pucks by the Bruins and stopped 37 of 39 shots. The Canucks were outshot 39-24.
Lone Vancouver goal tonight scored by Jason King, his 10th of the year to lead all rookies, assisted by Dan Sedin to open the scoring. Unfortunately, that's all they would get because Andrew Raycroft was busy stopping all but one Canuck shot on the other end.
Home cookin' will be coming for the Canucks with Montreal Tuesday, Chicago Thursday, and Toronto Saturday to continue the Canucks' stretch of seven games against Original Six teams.
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BEARS EAT DAWG MEAT
It's games like this that make me really want to listen to KJR on Monday to hear the disillusioned Husky fans. The Huskies got bombed by the Cal Bears by a score of 54-7 in coach Keith Gilbertson's not-so-triumphant return to Berkeley, where he once coached. The Bears set a school record with 729 total yards of offense. Cal QB Aaron Rodgers went 20-for-33 for 348 yards in the air and three TDs, and ran for another. Adimchinobe Echemandu, 2nd in the Pac-10 in rushing, was out with an ankle injury. Nonetheless, the Huskies let J.J. Arrington rush 14 times for 185 yards. The Bears rushed for 381 yards and averaged more than 10 yards (basically a first down) per carry. I wonder what Greg Carothers will be saying to his teammates after THIS game.
Oh yeah, I'd be remiss not to include some more Jimmy Newell-related material, in the form of a sign I swear I've seen somewhere by the Tacoma Dome (I know Jeremy said he saw it), as well as another sign.
Oh yeah, I'd be remiss not to include some more Jimmy Newell-related material, in the form of a sign I swear I've seen somewhere by the Tacoma Dome (I know Jeremy said he saw it), as well as another sign.
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AND WE'RE BACK!!!
It's time once again for some good, clean, Jimmy Newell Husky bashing.
Cal destroyed the Huskies, 54-7. 729 yards of total offense racked up by the Bears. Which means that Jimmy Newell got burnt a few times.
Enjoy these pics, fools.
photo 1, photo 2
The Huskies are now 5-6. They have to win the Apple Cup next Saturday against the Cougars in order to be bowl eligible. But I think the Cougs are due to win the Apple Cup. The Huskies have won 8 Apple Cups in a row, dating back to 1995. This Husky ballclub is not good. In fact, they are the most overrated team in the country. Yes, they are even worse than Auburn.
The Apple Cup, next Saturday on your Fox Sports Net channel at 6:30 Central, 4:30 Pacific. Get your apples on.
Cal destroyed the Huskies, 54-7. 729 yards of total offense racked up by the Bears. Which means that Jimmy Newell got burnt a few times.
Enjoy these pics, fools.
photo 1, photo 2
The Huskies are now 5-6. They have to win the Apple Cup next Saturday against the Cougars in order to be bowl eligible. But I think the Cougs are due to win the Apple Cup. The Huskies have won 8 Apple Cups in a row, dating back to 1995. This Husky ballclub is not good. In fact, they are the most overrated team in the country. Yes, they are even worse than Auburn.
The Apple Cup, next Saturday on your Fox Sports Net channel at 6:30 Central, 4:30 Pacific. Get your apples on.
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KILLIN' TIME
Okay, killing time probably isn't something I should be doing when I'm responsible for outlining a very long chapter of text for a study group in my airphoto interpretation class by Monday for a test that's on Tuesday. That and I have two brutal geologic cross-sections due on Thursday. So what am I doing??
1) I'm waiting for the Canucks/Bruins internet radiocast at 4pm
2) Doing some cleaning here and there -- washing dishes...such is life in an on-campus single studio apartment. No one else is going to do those dishes.
3) Internet time-killers. It was first guided by Tanner from FourSixteen, who has permanently linked us, and has commented here on a couple occasions. He has stumbled across the Church Sign Generator, which is just too much fun. I used it to recreate a sign that said "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap." Tanner also brought to my attention the Scribbler, which I have renamed the Tim Burtonizer for what it does to your drawings if you leave it on the default setting. Every time I introduce someone to the Scribbler, I preface it with "I'm not sure there's a point to this, but you'll probaly spend some time on it."
A bunch of other generators were found in a Sports and Bremertonians fight against boredom last night (in other words, IM conversation between the writers of this site where we ran out of things to talk about), and were subsequently linked under Other Miscellaneous Non-Sports Links on the sidebar to the right. Before you start clicking on a bunch of them, you might want to make sure you have a couple hours or so cleared away with no plans on the horizon.
1) I'm waiting for the Canucks/Bruins internet radiocast at 4pm
2) Doing some cleaning here and there -- washing dishes...such is life in an on-campus single studio apartment. No one else is going to do those dishes.
3) Internet time-killers. It was first guided by Tanner from FourSixteen, who has permanently linked us, and has commented here on a couple occasions. He has stumbled across the Church Sign Generator, which is just too much fun. I used it to recreate a sign that said "Puppet Show and Spinal Tap." Tanner also brought to my attention the Scribbler, which I have renamed the Tim Burtonizer for what it does to your drawings if you leave it on the default setting. Every time I introduce someone to the Scribbler, I preface it with "I'm not sure there's a point to this, but you'll probaly spend some time on it."
A bunch of other generators were found in a Sports and Bremertonians fight against boredom last night (in other words, IM conversation between the writers of this site where we ran out of things to talk about), and were subsequently linked under Other Miscellaneous Non-Sports Links on the sidebar to the right. Before you start clicking on a bunch of them, you might want to make sure you have a couple hours or so cleared away with no plans on the horizon.
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CAM IT UP
So Mike Cameron wants to stay. Hmm.
He hasn't been contacted by management.
He has heard that all the other Mariner free agents have been contacted other than him.
He was even curiously left off (this conspiracy theory by KJR's David Locke) of the Mariners' "Thank you, Fans" commercials at the end of last season
He contends that if he had problems with the Safe, he would have left after his first year here, before he signed his first contract with Seattle.
He knows that he may be worth something different (I'm hoping less) than what he got when he signed his first deal with Seattle.
Most importantly about the article -- Cameron insists none of his bashing of the Safe that he's done over the years should have been taken to mean he wanted to blow the joint and leave a gaping defensive hole in CF for the Mariners.
It might be negotiational posturing move, but it seems odd to me and might even be a slap in the face to Cameron that they haven't talked to him yet. Of course, you could argue that the fans endured many slaps to the face from Cameron during the season when he'd be up with runners on first and second and nobody out, get the count to 3-0 and strike out.
He hasn't been contacted by management.
He has heard that all the other Mariner free agents have been contacted other than him.
He was even curiously left off (this conspiracy theory by KJR's David Locke) of the Mariners' "Thank you, Fans" commercials at the end of last season
He contends that if he had problems with the Safe, he would have left after his first year here, before he signed his first contract with Seattle.
He knows that he may be worth something different (I'm hoping less) than what he got when he signed his first deal with Seattle.
Most importantly about the article -- Cameron insists none of his bashing of the Safe that he's done over the years should have been taken to mean he wanted to blow the joint and leave a gaping defensive hole in CF for the Mariners.
It might be negotiational posturing move, but it seems odd to me and might even be a slap in the face to Cameron that they haven't talked to him yet. Of course, you could argue that the fans endured many slaps to the face from Cameron during the season when he'd be up with runners on first and second and nobody out, get the count to 3-0 and strike out.
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Friday, November 14, 2003
LOU PINIELLA HAS LOST HIS MIND!!!
How, you ask?
Paul Abbott and John Halama are now DEVIL RAYS. Chew on that.
Yikes!!!
Paul Abbott and John Halama are now DEVIL RAYS. Chew on that.
Yikes!!!
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PACERS 101, SUPERSONICS 78
What happens when you have a team with no post presence that relies on jumpshots falling, and then the jumpshots don't fall? You get something like the score above...
The Sonics get the Gas Face tonight at the hands of the Pacers, who now have competent coaching. It should also be noted that Jamaal Tinsley gets almost no play now. Remember when everyone was ranting and raving about him a couple years ago? No more, I guess. Tonight, the Pacers had Jeff Foster set a Conseco Fieldhouse record for offensive rebounds with 10.
The Sonics...5 of their first 7 possessions were turnovers. The Pacers kept going to the line. Their defense was solid. The Sonics shot 36.5% from the field. The Pacers had six players score in double figures; the Sonics had three (Daniels, Murray, Lewis).
Murray finally scored under 20 points in a game, but he was still the leading scorer, which wasn't good news for the Sonics tonight. He shot 6 of 15 from the field. Lewis shot 5 of 16 from the field. Antonio Daniels was put in because Ridnour was a zoo out there (2 turnovers, 3 fouls in 11 minutes) and scored 4 of 5 from the field and 5 of 6 for free throws. Yes, that's Antonio Daniels finally getting some play and yes, he did something. Why this guy had been DNPCD'd so many times I'll never know.
Anyway, the Sonics have the Bulls tomorrow for their 4th game in 5 days. It's always brutal when the Sonics get put on these kind of road trips, it really is, but that's life as a Sonic.
The Sonics get the Gas Face tonight at the hands of the Pacers, who now have competent coaching. It should also be noted that Jamaal Tinsley gets almost no play now. Remember when everyone was ranting and raving about him a couple years ago? No more, I guess. Tonight, the Pacers had Jeff Foster set a Conseco Fieldhouse record for offensive rebounds with 10.
The Sonics...5 of their first 7 possessions were turnovers. The Pacers kept going to the line. Their defense was solid. The Sonics shot 36.5% from the field. The Pacers had six players score in double figures; the Sonics had three (Daniels, Murray, Lewis).
Murray finally scored under 20 points in a game, but he was still the leading scorer, which wasn't good news for the Sonics tonight. He shot 6 of 15 from the field. Lewis shot 5 of 16 from the field. Antonio Daniels was put in because Ridnour was a zoo out there (2 turnovers, 3 fouls in 11 minutes) and scored 4 of 5 from the field and 5 of 6 for free throws. Yes, that's Antonio Daniels finally getting some play and yes, he did something. Why this guy had been DNPCD'd so many times I'll never know.
Anyway, the Sonics have the Bulls tomorrow for their 4th game in 5 days. It's always brutal when the Sonics get put on these kind of road trips, it really is, but that's life as a Sonic.
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FOLLOW UP
Bob Mong also names Geoff Jenkins as a possible LF in his grand Mariner plan. Maybe the idea isn't as hair-brained as I thought.
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KICK ME IN THE JENK
Yes indeed, there is someone out there who thinks Geoff Jenkins is at least worth a look, and he goes by the name of "g" (a new poster) from Just Another Mariners Blog. He contends that Jenkins would be a lefty bat with pop in the outfield who would still leave money for a key bullpen acquisition if needed. I just say do that if the whole Vlad thing doesn't work out. Or everyone can just wait a year for Jenkins and Sexson to go into free agency and see if there's any chance the market price drops and the players scream collusion.
My argument for Jenkins in the form of four posts...one, two, three, four
And to anyone questioning my sanity, YES I do have second thoughts about taking on Jenkins' $8.25M salary, but the POP...the POP is what we need.
My argument for Jenkins in the form of four posts...one, two, three, four
And to anyone questioning my sanity, YES I do have second thoughts about taking on Jenkins' $8.25M salary, but the POP...the POP is what we need.
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POHLAD TAKES A GAT TO HIS PAYROLL
Here's the deal, which is true.
to SF: AJ Pierzynski
to MN: (all pitchers) Joe Nathan and minor-leaguers Boof Bonser (name of the CENTURY) and Francisco Liriano
The Giants get a solid catcher (one that wouldn't have looked bad behind the plate in a Mariner uniform and no, I don't like Dan Wilson). The Twins unload payroll and get a bunch of arms in return. Carl Pohlad sucks. Also, the path is cleared for the Joe Mauer Era to begin for the Twinkies.
One last thing--
Carl Pohlad sucks.
Another last thing--
Has anyone figured out why management has never removed their lips from Dan Wilson's .241-hitting (last year) ass? Has anyone ever figured this out? Do they realize they have a younger switch-hitting catcher who I know is capable of exceeding Wilson's ceiling? Do the fans realize Jason Varitek could be their starting catcher right now (thanks, Woody) and they could actually be seeing offense from behind the plate?
The very last last thing--
I bet you Ryan Christianson (that high draft pick who probably should be catching for the M's right now) has an irreparably torn labrum and the organization doesn't want anyone to know.
Okay, there's my useless vent.
Oh, wait--
In that Finnigan article in the Times, did you fully realize the part where the Mariners refused to pull the trigger on a pre-2001 deal of Jose Paniagua-for-Alfonso Soriano?? Granted, fitting him in may have been somewhat of an issue unless you pushed out Guillen (why the hell not), but that certainly would have been something.
to SF: AJ Pierzynski
to MN: (all pitchers) Joe Nathan and minor-leaguers Boof Bonser (name of the CENTURY) and Francisco Liriano
The Giants get a solid catcher (one that wouldn't have looked bad behind the plate in a Mariner uniform and no, I don't like Dan Wilson). The Twins unload payroll and get a bunch of arms in return. Carl Pohlad sucks. Also, the path is cleared for the Joe Mauer Era to begin for the Twinkies.
One last thing--
Carl Pohlad sucks.
Another last thing--
Has anyone figured out why management has never removed their lips from Dan Wilson's .241-hitting (last year) ass? Has anyone ever figured this out? Do they realize they have a younger switch-hitting catcher who I know is capable of exceeding Wilson's ceiling? Do the fans realize Jason Varitek could be their starting catcher right now (thanks, Woody) and they could actually be seeing offense from behind the plate?
The very last last thing--
I bet you Ryan Christianson (that high draft pick who probably should be catching for the M's right now) has an irreparably torn labrum and the organization doesn't want anyone to know.
Okay, there's my useless vent.
Oh, wait--
In that Finnigan article in the Times, did you fully realize the part where the Mariners refused to pull the trigger on a pre-2001 deal of Jose Paniagua-for-Alfonso Soriano?? Granted, fitting him in may have been somewhat of an issue unless you pushed out Guillen (why the hell not), but that certainly would have been something.
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GARCIA FOR CARLOS LEE
Yup, I'm serious.
Expect White Sox to ask about trade for Garcia
If Freddy Garcia's name has not already come up in discussions the Mariners have had with the Chicago White Sox, it is certain to in the future.
According to a source, Ozzie Guillen is one of Garcia's best friends and biggest boosters.
"And since Guillen is now managing the White Sox, and Freddy's name is coming up in trade talks," the source said, "you can book it. It may not mean a trade, but it will be discussed."
Freddy Garcia for Carlos Lee straight up.
Lee, as is Garcia, is arbitration eligible. The White Sox have been rumored to let Lee go for years now. This offseason may finally be the time do just that.
I've always been a fan of Carlos Lee. He flat out rakes the ball. What do the Mariners need, first and foremost? Power. Second? Power. Third? Power. So on, and so on.
Lee in 2003:
.291 BA, 31 HR, 113 RBI
Lee at Safeco Field in 2003:
.429 BA, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Lee's career average
.284 BA, 27 HR, 101 RBI
Lee is right handed. Yes, I know Safeco Field could use some lefty mashers. But let's face it, when the "lefty masher" being talked about is Raul Ibanez, that doesn't excite me one bit.
The other day, I was talking about Vlad. But that's a pipedream. Carlos Lee is a real possibility. As far as contracts go, Lee won't get more than 6 million. If the M's are thinking of offering Ibanez a 3-4 million dollar deal, Lee should get 4.5-6 mil.
An outfield of Carlos Lee/Randy Winn/Ichiro wouldn't bother me one bit. If getting Lee means that Carlos Guillen is back at shortstop for 2004, so be it.
Here's the main point about Lee that needs to be brought up. He's the type of player Oakland would love to get. So here's a novel idea for the M's brass:
How about stealing that player away from Billy Beane's grasp???
See, it doesn't sound so hard, does it? So just do it, dammit.
Carlos Lee in 2004. Book it.
Expect White Sox to ask about trade for Garcia
If Freddy Garcia's name has not already come up in discussions the Mariners have had with the Chicago White Sox, it is certain to in the future.
According to a source, Ozzie Guillen is one of Garcia's best friends and biggest boosters.
"And since Guillen is now managing the White Sox, and Freddy's name is coming up in trade talks," the source said, "you can book it. It may not mean a trade, but it will be discussed."
Freddy Garcia for Carlos Lee straight up.
Lee, as is Garcia, is arbitration eligible. The White Sox have been rumored to let Lee go for years now. This offseason may finally be the time do just that.
I've always been a fan of Carlos Lee. He flat out rakes the ball. What do the Mariners need, first and foremost? Power. Second? Power. Third? Power. So on, and so on.
Lee in 2003:
.291 BA, 31 HR, 113 RBI
Lee at Safeco Field in 2003:
.429 BA, 2 HR, 4 RBI
Lee's career average
.284 BA, 27 HR, 101 RBI
Lee is right handed. Yes, I know Safeco Field could use some lefty mashers. But let's face it, when the "lefty masher" being talked about is Raul Ibanez, that doesn't excite me one bit.
The other day, I was talking about Vlad. But that's a pipedream. Carlos Lee is a real possibility. As far as contracts go, Lee won't get more than 6 million. If the M's are thinking of offering Ibanez a 3-4 million dollar deal, Lee should get 4.5-6 mil.
An outfield of Carlos Lee/Randy Winn/Ichiro wouldn't bother me one bit. If getting Lee means that Carlos Guillen is back at shortstop for 2004, so be it.
Here's the main point about Lee that needs to be brought up. He's the type of player Oakland would love to get. So here's a novel idea for the M's brass:
How about stealing that player away from Billy Beane's grasp???
See, it doesn't sound so hard, does it? So just do it, dammit.
Carlos Lee in 2004. Book it.
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Thursday, November 13, 2003
FLYERS 4, CANUCKS 3 (OT)
The Flyers and Canucks traded goals on this night, but unfortunately the Flyers scored the first and last goals on a night in which Vancouver never had the lead.
Goal scorers tonight for the Canucks were Jason King, Matt Cooke, and Todd Bertuzzi.
The top two lines' point totals...
Naslund (1 A), Morrison (zip), Bertuzzi (1 G) = 2 pts
D Sedin (1 A), King (1 G), H Sedin (1 G) = 3 pts
The Mattress Line was involved in what was described as a "pretty" goal, fed by passes from one end of the ice to the other (coast-to-coast in basketball terms), with the Sedins feeding rookie Jason King, who leads all rookies with 9 goals.
Unfortunately for the Canucks, there were two big giveaways in this game, and both were by experienced players. Sami Salo gave the puck away and fed the Flyers' goal on an outnumbered rush that put them up 3-2 with 3:49 to go in the game. In overtime, Brendan Morrison was caught coming down the ice with his back to the Flyer goal and had his pocket picked, feeding the 3-on-2 Flyer rush that resulted in Simon Gagne's game-winner. So no, you can't pin this one on Johan Hedberg in the net.
But the clutch play that netted the Canucks the single point in this game was Todd Bertuzzi camping out in front of the net and not being pushed around, thanks to his hugeness, and punching in the game-tying goal with just under 8 seconds left. Verrry clutch.
The Canucks also got Ed Jovanovski (1 A) and Magnus Arvedson back from injuries.
Game photos: one, two, three, four
Next Canuck game at Boston on Saturday.
Goal scorers tonight for the Canucks were Jason King, Matt Cooke, and Todd Bertuzzi.
The top two lines' point totals...
Naslund (1 A), Morrison (zip), Bertuzzi (1 G) = 2 pts
D Sedin (1 A), King (1 G), H Sedin (1 G) = 3 pts
The Mattress Line was involved in what was described as a "pretty" goal, fed by passes from one end of the ice to the other (coast-to-coast in basketball terms), with the Sedins feeding rookie Jason King, who leads all rookies with 9 goals.
Unfortunately for the Canucks, there were two big giveaways in this game, and both were by experienced players. Sami Salo gave the puck away and fed the Flyers' goal on an outnumbered rush that put them up 3-2 with 3:49 to go in the game. In overtime, Brendan Morrison was caught coming down the ice with his back to the Flyer goal and had his pocket picked, feeding the 3-on-2 Flyer rush that resulted in Simon Gagne's game-winner. So no, you can't pin this one on Johan Hedberg in the net.
But the clutch play that netted the Canucks the single point in this game was Todd Bertuzzi camping out in front of the net and not being pushed around, thanks to his hugeness, and punching in the game-tying goal with just under 8 seconds left. Verrry clutch.
The Canucks also got Ed Jovanovski (1 A) and Magnus Arvedson back from injuries.
Game photos: one, two, three, four
Next Canuck game at Boston on Saturday.
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RAUL????
Shocking.
It would be really shocking to see Raul Ibanez back in a Mariners uniform, it really would.
No it wouldn't. Knowing the Mariners like I do, and most hardcore fans do, this is the type of move they will make. Ibanez has improved the last two years, because he has had a chance to play everyday. But do I think Ibanez would be a great signing?
No.
It would be disappointing to me. For once, can this organization go out and sign a BIG TIME FREE AGENT??? I mean, crap, Safeco Field didn't grow out of the ground, you know. The fans deserve to see the best possible players in that damn cash cow of a ballpark. Raul Ibanez over Vladimir Guerrero? That's just insulting to me.
But, as a Seattle sports fan, I'm used to this talk. But for once, I'd like to see something different from a Seattle sports team. Hell, at least the Seahawks have signed players who were big time names, i.e. Chad Brown, John Randle, and Randall Godfrey.
And Mike Cameron re-signing with the M's? For 3-4 mil, why the hell not? But that being said, it would be shocking.
No really, THIS WOULD BE SHOCKING. No sarcasm here, kids.
It would be really shocking to see Raul Ibanez back in a Mariners uniform, it really would.
No it wouldn't. Knowing the Mariners like I do, and most hardcore fans do, this is the type of move they will make. Ibanez has improved the last two years, because he has had a chance to play everyday. But do I think Ibanez would be a great signing?
No.
It would be disappointing to me. For once, can this organization go out and sign a BIG TIME FREE AGENT??? I mean, crap, Safeco Field didn't grow out of the ground, you know. The fans deserve to see the best possible players in that damn cash cow of a ballpark. Raul Ibanez over Vladimir Guerrero? That's just insulting to me.
But, as a Seattle sports fan, I'm used to this talk. But for once, I'd like to see something different from a Seattle sports team. Hell, at least the Seahawks have signed players who were big time names, i.e. Chad Brown, John Randle, and Randall Godfrey.
And Mike Cameron re-signing with the M's? For 3-4 mil, why the hell not? But that being said, it would be shocking.
No really, THIS WOULD BE SHOCKING. No sarcasm here, kids.
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IN A FLASH
In a truly weird turn of events, I had the following scenario with the folks at Shop.Canucks.com.
-- ordered a Todd Bertuzzi shirt last Saturday
-- "order shipped" letter sent to email inbox on Monday
-- I started to worry because I couldn't go to the website and check the status of my order, which, though I knew it'd been shipped, on the My Account page it kept saying "your order status should appear here in the next 24 hours" though it was more than 24 hours since I'd placed the order.
-- shirt is in mailbox on Wednesday, though it may have been there Tuesday because I hadn't checked it that day
-- order receipt letter finally sent to my email inbox Thursday
So this is weird compared to the process I'm used to when ordering stuff online, which would go like this...
-- order placed
-- confirmation and receipt sent to inbox
-- go to the website and hit up the tracking number so you can see where the hell the package is
-- wait until the package shows up
With the Canucks shop transaction, it seems that the parcel itself went warp speed compared to the time it took to get the damn order receipt emailed to my inbox. Go figure. What I'm basically used to is reversing the third and fourth steps in the Canuck transaction. I'm not too miffed though. It got here a lot quicker than I thought it would.
-- ordered a Todd Bertuzzi shirt last Saturday
-- "order shipped" letter sent to email inbox on Monday
-- I started to worry because I couldn't go to the website and check the status of my order, which, though I knew it'd been shipped, on the My Account page it kept saying "your order status should appear here in the next 24 hours" though it was more than 24 hours since I'd placed the order.
-- shirt is in mailbox on Wednesday, though it may have been there Tuesday because I hadn't checked it that day
-- order receipt letter finally sent to my email inbox Thursday
So this is weird compared to the process I'm used to when ordering stuff online, which would go like this...
-- order placed
-- confirmation and receipt sent to inbox
-- go to the website and hit up the tracking number so you can see where the hell the package is
-- wait until the package shows up
With the Canucks shop transaction, it seems that the parcel itself went warp speed compared to the time it took to get the damn order receipt emailed to my inbox. Go figure. What I'm basically used to is reversing the third and fourth steps in the Canuck transaction. I'm not too miffed though. It got here a lot quicker than I thought it would.
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NEW DISH FOR TODAY
First off, John Hickey of the P-I reports that the Mariners have offered Shigetoshi Hasegawa a two-year deal. Shig's agent Gregg Clifton also says that ten teams have contacted him inquiring about Hasegawa, two of which are the Phillies and Mets. I knew teams would be inquiring about Hasegawa, but I never thought ten teams would be lighting up Gregg Clifton's cell phone at this rate in pursuit of him.
The second part of the article is a bunch of hooey about Benny Looper staying with the organization, which honestly I really don't care about.
The second P-I article has Melvin and Price bitching about Jamie Moyer not being higher in the Cy Young voting, which I had thought would happen and at the same time, I agree with. The bitching, that is. I thought Moyer should have ranked higher than at least one of Tim Hudson and Pedro. Of course, as the article pointed out, there was somewhat of an ERA gap between Moyer and the pitchers ranking 2-4, but Moyer also had an ERA only 0.02 higher than that of Halladay. So I'll chalk his low rank up to a combination of ERA gap, and of course, the obligatory east coast bias and conspiracy. If the Boston writers and everyone over there can fall back on the Curse over and over again, then I can use east coast bias in some way twice a week.
Bob Finnigan of the Times says "it seems more likely Mike Cameron and Raul Ibanez are at the top of their free-agent outfield wish list."
All together now...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
And they're offering $3-4M/yr. Cameron could sign with the Mariners and take that money, or he could walk, and I wouldn't give a damn either way. Of course, that would be way lower than the $7M he made last year, but even he's gotta know he was crap offensively and hopefully can't expect to get that kind of money from anybody. The article quotes a scout as saying "[e]ither he softened or the market softened around him" and that no one would be getting Manny money, and of course, that would never include Cameron by any stretch of the imagination.
As for bringing back Ibanez for a second cup of coffee (small last time, large this time, or in the terms of Fourbucks coffee, "tall" and "venti"), this will go one of three horribly obvious ways. The first and best one is they bring back Ibanez and he's great (like Bret Boone the second time around). The second is they bring him back and he's just okay (can't think of one right now, I'll think of one later). The third is that they bring Ibanez back and he stinks it up (John Mabry). I think Raul's more likely to be one of the last two. Call me pessimistic, but that's just what I think. With the Mariners' luck with this kind of stuff, he'll probably have something end up playing mind games with him and he'll fall 50 points off his average off the last couple years, maybe drop off by 15 bombs a year, who knows. Just got a feeling, that's all.
A feeling that would be gleefully SQUASHED if they got Vladimir Guerrero.
The second part of the article is a bunch of hooey about Benny Looper staying with the organization, which honestly I really don't care about.
The second P-I article has Melvin and Price bitching about Jamie Moyer not being higher in the Cy Young voting, which I had thought would happen and at the same time, I agree with. The bitching, that is. I thought Moyer should have ranked higher than at least one of Tim Hudson and Pedro. Of course, as the article pointed out, there was somewhat of an ERA gap between Moyer and the pitchers ranking 2-4, but Moyer also had an ERA only 0.02 higher than that of Halladay. So I'll chalk his low rank up to a combination of ERA gap, and of course, the obligatory east coast bias and conspiracy. If the Boston writers and everyone over there can fall back on the Curse over and over again, then I can use east coast bias in some way twice a week.
Bob Finnigan of the Times says "it seems more likely Mike Cameron and Raul Ibanez are at the top of their free-agent outfield wish list."
All together now...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!
And they're offering $3-4M/yr. Cameron could sign with the Mariners and take that money, or he could walk, and I wouldn't give a damn either way. Of course, that would be way lower than the $7M he made last year, but even he's gotta know he was crap offensively and hopefully can't expect to get that kind of money from anybody. The article quotes a scout as saying "[e]ither he softened or the market softened around him" and that no one would be getting Manny money, and of course, that would never include Cameron by any stretch of the imagination.
As for bringing back Ibanez for a second cup of coffee (small last time, large this time, or in the terms of Fourbucks coffee, "tall" and "venti"), this will go one of three horribly obvious ways. The first and best one is they bring back Ibanez and he's great (like Bret Boone the second time around). The second is they bring him back and he's just okay (can't think of one right now, I'll think of one later). The third is that they bring Ibanez back and he stinks it up (John Mabry). I think Raul's more likely to be one of the last two. Call me pessimistic, but that's just what I think. With the Mariners' luck with this kind of stuff, he'll probably have something end up playing mind games with him and he'll fall 50 points off his average off the last couple years, maybe drop off by 15 bombs a year, who knows. Just got a feeling, that's all.
A feeling that would be gleefully SQUASHED if they got Vladimir Guerrero.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
MORE GAMMONS (POSSIBLE) HOGWASH
We like to slam Pete Gammons here at Sports and B's, but I think I can believe maybe one or two of his thoughts in tonight's Fact or Fiction segment on ESPN SportsCenter. Here's what he said.
Rodriguez stays a Ranger: leaning toward Alex leaving
Pettitte stays with NY: fact
Schilling in the NL: fiction (Yank)
Soriano and Johnson in NY: one gone, maybe both
Sheffield in ATL: yes
Gammons brings up Magglio, but he's making $14M. Ouch. Only if the Sox eat some of that contract...
Gammons says Baltimore will spend a lot of money, and spend it wisely, though I honestly can't remember the last time they actually did that.
Gammons says the Angels will spend money.
I'm not sure what I'm more interested in right now. Gammons deceiving me, or the pot pie cooking in my microwave. You know, I had a bad pot pie incident the other day when I tried to mix a beef pot pie together with a turkey or chicken (not sure which) pot pie. It was my worst pot pie experience of my life. Other than that incident, pot pies have never let me down.
Rodriguez stays a Ranger: leaning toward Alex leaving
Pettitte stays with NY: fact
Schilling in the NL: fiction (Yank)
Soriano and Johnson in NY: one gone, maybe both
Sheffield in ATL: yes
Gammons brings up Magglio, but he's making $14M. Ouch. Only if the Sox eat some of that contract...
Gammons says Baltimore will spend a lot of money, and spend it wisely, though I honestly can't remember the last time they actually did that.
Gammons says the Angels will spend money.
I'm not sure what I'm more interested in right now. Gammons deceiving me, or the pot pie cooking in my microwave. You know, I had a bad pot pie incident the other day when I tried to mix a beef pot pie together with a turkey or chicken (not sure which) pot pie. It was my worst pot pie experience of my life. Other than that incident, pot pies have never let me down.
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BLACK HOLE SUN...IT WON'T COME...
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!
Say goodbye to the Oakland Raiders. Bye bye, Black Hole..see you later.
Rick Mirer as the starting quarterback of this horrible football team for the rest of the season? Hell, they might as well bring Vince Evans AND Jay Schroeder out of retirement. They could probably throw the deep ball in their sleep better than Mirer can.
Words I expect to hear in April 2004:
"With the first pick of the 2004 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders select Eli Manning, quarterback, University of Mississippi."
They have to get younger, don't they?
Say goodbye to the Oakland Raiders. Bye bye, Black Hole..see you later.
Rick Mirer as the starting quarterback of this horrible football team for the rest of the season? Hell, they might as well bring Vince Evans AND Jay Schroeder out of retirement. They could probably throw the deep ball in their sleep better than Mirer can.
Words I expect to hear in April 2004:
"With the first pick of the 2004 NFL Draft, the Oakland Raiders select Eli Manning, quarterback, University of Mississippi."
They have to get younger, don't they?
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HAHAAAHAAAA
This is kind of a follow-up to Jeremy's post from earlier with the Jim Street link saying Bob Melvin was worthy for AL Manager of the Year consideration and "thrived under pressure." Well, the votes have been tallied...here are the results--
1) Pena. K.C. 130
2) Gardenhire, Min. 44
3) Macha, Oak. 26
4) Little, Bos. 19
5) Torre, N.Y. 14
6) Piniella, T.B. 13
7) Tosca, Tor. 3
8) Wedge, Cle. 2
9) Trammell, Det. 1
And of course, with this information, you can clearly see that Jim Street gave Manager of the Year consideration to someone who didn't even finish in the top 9 in the voting. Hell, Bob Melvin didn't even a single vote.
And that, my friends, is FRIGGING HILARIOUS!!
1) Pena. K.C. 130
2) Gardenhire, Min. 44
3) Macha, Oak. 26
4) Little, Bos. 19
5) Torre, N.Y. 14
6) Piniella, T.B. 13
7) Tosca, Tor. 3
8) Wedge, Cle. 2
9) Trammell, Det. 1
And of course, with this information, you can clearly see that Jim Street gave Manager of the Year consideration to someone who didn't even finish in the top 9 in the voting. Hell, Bob Melvin didn't even a single vote.
And that, my friends, is FRIGGING HILARIOUS!!
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HAIR-BRAINED TRADE VERSION 2
Okay, I'm amending the trade. It might be even more stupid than it was in the first place. And yes, I DO realize that adding Geoff Jenkins and Vlad Guerrero would tack on about $21M-$23M in payroll. Do I think the Mariners will do that? Hell no. This trade will never work. But it's sure fun to think about.
Here's how to take care of about $7M of that payroll.
to the Brewers: Freddy Garcia, Craig Anderson, Allan Simpson, JJ Putz
to the Mariners: Geoff Jenkins
The title of the post has the phrase "hair-brained" in it, so of course I don't think the Mariners could trot out an outfield of Geoff Jenkins, Ichiro, and Vlad Guerrero. But if you want a top-notch outfield with three of the best arms in the majors and three guys that can rake the frigging ball, go for this outfield.
But I guess the realistic option here would be to go after one of these guys if you couldn't get the other one. In other words, if you can't get Vlad, get Jenkins, who by the way IS LEFT-HANDED and HAS POP and MADE ZERO ERRORS LAST YEAR.
The sensible move after this would be to move Julio Mateo or Raf Soriano (develop a third pitch please, Raf) up into the rotation. But anyway...
Here's how to take care of about $7M of that payroll.
to the Brewers: Freddy Garcia, Craig Anderson, Allan Simpson, JJ Putz
to the Mariners: Geoff Jenkins
The title of the post has the phrase "hair-brained" in it, so of course I don't think the Mariners could trot out an outfield of Geoff Jenkins, Ichiro, and Vlad Guerrero. But if you want a top-notch outfield with three of the best arms in the majors and three guys that can rake the frigging ball, go for this outfield.
But I guess the realistic option here would be to go after one of these guys if you couldn't get the other one. In other words, if you can't get Vlad, get Jenkins, who by the way IS LEFT-HANDED and HAS POP and MADE ZERO ERRORS LAST YEAR.
The sensible move after this would be to move Julio Mateo or Raf Soriano (develop a third pitch please, Raf) up into the rotation. But anyway...
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FONT HIJINKS
Okay, I've realized here at the Central Wash Univ GIS lab that the wicked font that's supposed to show up at the very top and at the head of every post doesn't show up on all computers. If it just shows up as some drab font, I'll just tell you that it's suppsed to look like the font that the Fox network uses on their free TV telecasts on their nameplate graphics and stuff. So trust me, it's supposed to look cool...better post coming right up...
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GOOD DEAL...
Personally, I hope Kazuo Matsui stays in Japan. I'm not that impressed by him in the first place.
Sure, Vlad is a longshot. But pipedreams are fun. Like the little kid in "Angels In The Outfield" would say, "it could happen."
Anyways, I'm not in Alabama, Gabe. I'm in Arkansas. I don't know what I would do with myself if I was in Alabama. I think I would have too much fun making fun of the Crimson Tide zealots. Arkansas isn't a great state by any means, but it is better than Alabama. No, I've never been to Alabama myself, but that's just my opinion. Deal with it.
Five years ago, it would have been hard as hell to follow the Mariners in a state like Arkansas. But with the power of the Internet, you can follow the M's on Gameday Audio, or on other national media sites. Hell, you can still read the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett-Olympia-Bremerton papers everyday on the Internet. And it's all free, except the Gameday Audio Part. Well, it was free for me during the second half of the 2003 season, because of my Sportspages.com gig.
I wouldn't worry too much about Richie Sexson going to Arizona. He'll stay there for the 2004 season, and then leave for Seattle. Trust me, Jerry Colangelo can't pay him what he wants. But the Mariners can.
And I wouldn't worry about Bill Bavasi's quotes just yet. This is all just media fluff right now. I wouldn't expect Bavasi to tip his hand this early in the game. We'll see what happens.
But I'll say this. If he really doesn't want to trade prospects, well, then go sign a free agent or two.
Like Vladimir Guerrero. Why the hell not?
Sure, Vlad is a longshot. But pipedreams are fun. Like the little kid in "Angels In The Outfield" would say, "it could happen."
Anyways, I'm not in Alabama, Gabe. I'm in Arkansas. I don't know what I would do with myself if I was in Alabama. I think I would have too much fun making fun of the Crimson Tide zealots. Arkansas isn't a great state by any means, but it is better than Alabama. No, I've never been to Alabama myself, but that's just my opinion. Deal with it.
Five years ago, it would have been hard as hell to follow the Mariners in a state like Arkansas. But with the power of the Internet, you can follow the M's on Gameday Audio, or on other national media sites. Hell, you can still read the Seattle-Tacoma-Everett-Olympia-Bremerton papers everyday on the Internet. And it's all free, except the Gameday Audio Part. Well, it was free for me during the second half of the 2003 season, because of my Sportspages.com gig.
I wouldn't worry too much about Richie Sexson going to Arizona. He'll stay there for the 2004 season, and then leave for Seattle. Trust me, Jerry Colangelo can't pay him what he wants. But the Mariners can.
And I wouldn't worry about Bill Bavasi's quotes just yet. This is all just media fluff right now. I wouldn't expect Bavasi to tip his hand this early in the game. We'll see what happens.
But I'll say this. If he really doesn't want to trade prospects, well, then go sign a free agent or two.
Like Vladimir Guerrero. Why the hell not?
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MIDNIGHT NEW STUFF
John Hickey has the midnight Mariner post with the P-I here.
He spends the first half talking about Kazuo Matsui possibly staying in Japan because the Japanese national team qualified for the Olympics. Ho hum. Not too excited about Matsui on this end, which you'd know if you read the four or so Geoff Jenkins posts I did yesterday.
The most surprising thing (for me, anyway) about the article has to be the revelation (maybe I was the only one who didn't know) that "[t]he Mets have made signing Mariners reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa one of their top priorities." No sir, I did not know that.
There's the now much-ballyhooed speculation regarding the Rodriguez/Nomar three-team trade. There's Texas and Houston being interested in Andy Pettitte. There's the Sexson to Arizona talk (he'd spend one year there and then COME TO SEATTLE, or at least that's what I'd have him do) and the shipping out Jenkins talk also.
Then there's this sick trade...
to the Yanks: Curt Schilling, Jim Edmonds
to the Cardinals: Nick Johnson, Danny Bautista
to the Diamondbacks: Alfonso Soriano, Jeff Weaver
I guess Big George has given up on having Bernie in CF in the Bronx? That's how I take that. And he's covering up for the holes in the rotation. The Cards appear to be covering up for a departure from Tino. The Diamondbacks are getting a guy with pop and speed who strikes out a lot (a degenerative form of which is a bad Mike Cameron) and a guy in Weaver who really needs a change of scenery. Weaver in top form is nasty and eats up innings. And he should have been a Mariner before the Yankees ever got him.
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Bob Finnigan has the after-midnight Times article on the Mariners, about Bill Bavasi's first day as Mariner GM, and there's some material to be had here...
Discouraging quote of the article: "I'd love to be able to tell you I'm a trade guy. But I like young prospects, and I'm always afraid to move them."
UUUGGGGGHHHH!!!
Then the article proceeded to conveniently point out five of Bavasi's biggest moves as flops, desribed as "some rocky times" with the Angels -- the return of Jim Abbott, Damion Easley for Greg Gohr, JT Snow for Allen Watson, the Chili Davis signing, and the Mo Vaughn signing.
The article also says in the Notes section that Tony Attanasio is debunking the talk about seeking $15M for Ichiro.
Also mentioned is yet another sickening possible Schilling-to-the-Yanks deal...
to AZ: Richie Sexson
to NYY: Curt Schilling
to MILW: Nick Johnson, John Patterson
Man, seeing Schilling wearing pinstripes would make me sick, but seeing Sexson in those ugly-ass Arizona uniforms and playing in a park with a damn swimming pool would make me pretty damn sick too.
He spends the first half talking about Kazuo Matsui possibly staying in Japan because the Japanese national team qualified for the Olympics. Ho hum. Not too excited about Matsui on this end, which you'd know if you read the four or so Geoff Jenkins posts I did yesterday.
The most surprising thing (for me, anyway) about the article has to be the revelation (maybe I was the only one who didn't know) that "[t]he Mets have made signing Mariners reliever Shigetoshi Hasegawa one of their top priorities." No sir, I did not know that.
There's the now much-ballyhooed speculation regarding the Rodriguez/Nomar three-team trade. There's Texas and Houston being interested in Andy Pettitte. There's the Sexson to Arizona talk (he'd spend one year there and then COME TO SEATTLE, or at least that's what I'd have him do) and the shipping out Jenkins talk also.
Then there's this sick trade...
to the Yanks: Curt Schilling, Jim Edmonds
to the Cardinals: Nick Johnson, Danny Bautista
to the Diamondbacks: Alfonso Soriano, Jeff Weaver
I guess Big George has given up on having Bernie in CF in the Bronx? That's how I take that. And he's covering up for the holes in the rotation. The Cards appear to be covering up for a departure from Tino. The Diamondbacks are getting a guy with pop and speed who strikes out a lot (a degenerative form of which is a bad Mike Cameron) and a guy in Weaver who really needs a change of scenery. Weaver in top form is nasty and eats up innings. And he should have been a Mariner before the Yankees ever got him.
---
Bob Finnigan has the after-midnight Times article on the Mariners, about Bill Bavasi's first day as Mariner GM, and there's some material to be had here...
Discouraging quote of the article: "I'd love to be able to tell you I'm a trade guy. But I like young prospects, and I'm always afraid to move them."
UUUGGGGGHHHH!!!
Then the article proceeded to conveniently point out five of Bavasi's biggest moves as flops, desribed as "some rocky times" with the Angels -- the return of Jim Abbott, Damion Easley for Greg Gohr, JT Snow for Allen Watson, the Chili Davis signing, and the Mo Vaughn signing.
The article also says in the Notes section that Tony Attanasio is debunking the talk about seeking $15M for Ichiro.
Also mentioned is yet another sickening possible Schilling-to-the-Yanks deal...
to AZ: Richie Sexson
to NYY: Curt Schilling
to MILW: Nick Johnson, John Patterson
Man, seeing Schilling wearing pinstripes would make me sick, but seeing Sexson in those ugly-ass Arizona uniforms and playing in a park with a damn swimming pool would make me pretty damn sick too.
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Tuesday, November 11, 2003
FURTHER HAIR-BRAINED SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
This is aided by Jeremy, who suggested that an outfield of Jenkins/Ichiro/Guerrero would make everyone forget about the "best defensive outfield ever."
Ichiro is a freakin awesome defensive outfielder. Barely any errors, and has that arm that quite a few people don't take the extra base against.
Geoff Jenkins, as I said in a post earlier today, had ZERO errors in 124 games last year along with 11 outfield assists in 124 games. In addition, Jenkins has had four errors in the past three seasons combined. He also recorded 14 assists in 1999 and 12 assists in 2000. I'd have to say this guy probably has one hell of an arm.
Vlad Guerrero. He's good for about 10 errors a year. But I and many Mariners fans will look that over when he pops well around 35-40 (maybe more) bombs and drives in over 100 runs. And they'll even look it over defensively when they realize that over the past five years, Guerrero has averaged 13 outfield assists each year.
Mariners fans, I present to you my 2004 outfield of Geoff Jenkins, Ichiro, and Vlad Guerrero. An outfield that's great defensively, an outfield that absolutely no one will take the extra base against, and an outfield that can RAKE.
Of course, the drawbacks are that Jenkins is due $8.25M in the final year of his deal (and is a tad bit injury-prone) and Vlad will get well over $13-15M or something. But hey, let Garcia walk and cut some of the fat on this team, and damn, that's an outfield from hell.
Ichiro is a freakin awesome defensive outfielder. Barely any errors, and has that arm that quite a few people don't take the extra base against.
Geoff Jenkins, as I said in a post earlier today, had ZERO errors in 124 games last year along with 11 outfield assists in 124 games. In addition, Jenkins has had four errors in the past three seasons combined. He also recorded 14 assists in 1999 and 12 assists in 2000. I'd have to say this guy probably has one hell of an arm.
Vlad Guerrero. He's good for about 10 errors a year. But I and many Mariners fans will look that over when he pops well around 35-40 (maybe more) bombs and drives in over 100 runs. And they'll even look it over defensively when they realize that over the past five years, Guerrero has averaged 13 outfield assists each year.
Mariners fans, I present to you my 2004 outfield of Geoff Jenkins, Ichiro, and Vlad Guerrero. An outfield that's great defensively, an outfield that absolutely no one will take the extra base against, and an outfield that can RAKE.
Of course, the drawbacks are that Jenkins is due $8.25M in the final year of his deal (and is a tad bit injury-prone) and Vlad will get well over $13-15M or something. But hey, let Garcia walk and cut some of the fat on this team, and damn, that's an outfield from hell.
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HAIR-BRAINED TRADE OF THE DAY
Okay, here goes. I like this one, of course.
==WARNING TO MARINERS MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL: THIS TRANSACTION INVOLVES GIVING UP PITCHING PROSPECTS!==
to MILW: Craig Anderson, Aaron Taylor, JJ Putz. I'd give them all three or two of the three. If it's not enough, give 'em Allan Simpson or something.
to SEA: Geoff Jenkins
Let's face it. The Mariners are so loaded with arms that not all of them can possibly contribute at the Major League level for this team. So do what makes sense with those arms. Give them a better chance at the Majors and get something that can help you with the big club.
And for my more detailed defense of Jenkins, here's my post from earlier today. To add to those stats I have below, he drove in 95 runs, struck out 120 times, and walked 58 times in 2003.
==WARNING TO MARINERS MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL: THIS TRANSACTION INVOLVES GIVING UP PITCHING PROSPECTS!==
to MILW: Craig Anderson, Aaron Taylor, JJ Putz. I'd give them all three or two of the three. If it's not enough, give 'em Allan Simpson or something.
to SEA: Geoff Jenkins
Let's face it. The Mariners are so loaded with arms that not all of them can possibly contribute at the Major League level for this team. So do what makes sense with those arms. Give them a better chance at the Majors and get something that can help you with the big club.
And for my more detailed defense of Jenkins, here's my post from earlier today. To add to those stats I have below, he drove in 95 runs, struck out 120 times, and walked 58 times in 2003.
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PARENTAL SUPERVISION HIGHLY SUGGESTED
It's almost college basketball season.
And dammit, this little audio link just brightened my day. Click on it. And make sure the kids are in bed. Good night.
And dammit, this little audio link just brightened my day. Click on it. And make sure the kids are in bed. Good night.
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YOUR SEAHAWK STAT OF THE DAY THAT SHOULD INFURIATE YOU
Heard this one off a KJR sports update tonight...
Matt Hasselbeck's quarterback rating right now is at 85.3, good for 10th in the league.
Without dropped passes, Hasselbeck's rating is 106.
Granted, dropped passes are going to happen. But the number of drops this year has been nuts, and Hass' QB rating should probably be at least 95 or something.
Matt Hasselbeck's quarterback rating right now is at 85.3, good for 10th in the league.
Without dropped passes, Hasselbeck's rating is 106.
Granted, dropped passes are going to happen. But the number of drops this year has been nuts, and Hass' QB rating should probably be at least 95 or something.
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WILD 1, CANUCKS 0...SONICS 89, TIMBERWOLVES 87
It was a jumpin' night tonight in the Twin Cities, and they came away with a split decision.
Sergei Zholtok of the Minnesota Wild backhanded his own rebound past Dan Cloutier with 5:09 left in the game, and it stood up. The radio guys were saying early on that it seemed like a game where one goal might win it, and sure enough, it did. It wasn't a stereotypical Wild game, which usually ends up as a low-number-of-shots defensive chess match, because there was a fair number of shots here, and it became apparent that the team that had one lucky bounce would come away with it. Zholtok shot one off the post and it sounded like it was one of those things were when you're down as a goalie, that you're told to get back up if there's a rebound. That instinct is what let Cloutier down this time.
So it was a good game before a more-than-sellout crowd at the Xcel Energy Center, but in some ways it hurts because it seemed like that game was the most winnable on this road trip that also goes to Philadelphia and Boston, which have two pretty though teams.
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Ron Murray is officially nuts. He scored 11 of the Sonics' final 18 points and carried the Sonics on his back down the stretch in an 89-87 victory at the 5000-short-of-capacity (thanks Jeremy) Target Center. Yes, Minnesota is indeed the State of Hockey.
Murray scored 29 points tonight. In the Sonics' five games so far, Murray has put up point totals of 24, 22, 24, 24, and 29. That's an average of 24.6 points a game. Yeah, I wrote the Sonics off after Ray Allen got injured. Some places in Seattle were wondering whether the Sonics could just have him sit out for a longer period of time and have the Sonics really suck so that they could get the number 1 pick and use it on a big man (i.e., the Spurs having David Robinson injured, sucking, then drafting Tim Duncan). It's early and everything, but a 4-1 start has to be a little commendable. The play of Murray is far above commendable though. He is on fire right now. For the Sonics' sake, it's great that someone's stepped up in the absence of Ray Allen.
Sergei Zholtok of the Minnesota Wild backhanded his own rebound past Dan Cloutier with 5:09 left in the game, and it stood up. The radio guys were saying early on that it seemed like a game where one goal might win it, and sure enough, it did. It wasn't a stereotypical Wild game, which usually ends up as a low-number-of-shots defensive chess match, because there was a fair number of shots here, and it became apparent that the team that had one lucky bounce would come away with it. Zholtok shot one off the post and it sounded like it was one of those things were when you're down as a goalie, that you're told to get back up if there's a rebound. That instinct is what let Cloutier down this time.
So it was a good game before a more-than-sellout crowd at the Xcel Energy Center, but in some ways it hurts because it seemed like that game was the most winnable on this road trip that also goes to Philadelphia and Boston, which have two pretty though teams.
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Ron Murray is officially nuts. He scored 11 of the Sonics' final 18 points and carried the Sonics on his back down the stretch in an 89-87 victory at the 5000-short-of-capacity (thanks Jeremy) Target Center. Yes, Minnesota is indeed the State of Hockey.
Murray scored 29 points tonight. In the Sonics' five games so far, Murray has put up point totals of 24, 22, 24, 24, and 29. That's an average of 24.6 points a game. Yeah, I wrote the Sonics off after Ray Allen got injured. Some places in Seattle were wondering whether the Sonics could just have him sit out for a longer period of time and have the Sonics really suck so that they could get the number 1 pick and use it on a big man (i.e., the Spurs having David Robinson injured, sucking, then drafting Tim Duncan). It's early and everything, but a 4-1 start has to be a little commendable. The play of Murray is far above commendable though. He is on fire right now. For the Sonics' sake, it's great that someone's stepped up in the absence of Ray Allen.
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TWO! SIX SIX! THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST
Not exactly...
But it was two years ago tonight that Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander ran for 266 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 34-27 victory over the Oakland Raiders at Husky Stadium.
David and I were there. I had tickets to the game because during the 2001 season, the Seahawks were giving away 4 free tickets to the military and their families. So, I took advantage of this opportunity. I went to three games that season, all Seahawks victories.
It was a great night. It was rally towel night, so I put my towel to great use. Poor David, I think he was covered in white fibers from the towel by the end of the night. And it was cold as hell. But that's football weather baby.
Oh, the best part about that night, other than the game? It had to be before the game. There was this group of guys sitting near us. One of the guys got up to go get some food, or whatever. He then comes back. He falls on his ass on the Husky Stadium stairs, which are very wet and steep, I might add. And the insane part about all of this? His friends were just laughing their asses off at the guy. And they were videotaping the whole thing as well. That was so wrong, yet so freaking hysterical.
However, I don't miss Husky Stadium one bit as an NFL venue. Seahawks Stadium is just fine, thank you very much. Taking a Metro bus to a game from the ferry terminal isn't as fun as walking to the damn stadium itself. That's the best thing about Seattle if you're a Kitsap County resident, or in my case, a former Bremerton resident. Seahawks Stadium and Safeco Field are within walking distance from Colman Dock, and that's a very good thing.
I miss going to sporting events...next summer can't come soon enough.
But it was two years ago tonight that Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander ran for 266 yards and scored three touchdowns in a 34-27 victory over the Oakland Raiders at Husky Stadium.
David and I were there. I had tickets to the game because during the 2001 season, the Seahawks were giving away 4 free tickets to the military and their families. So, I took advantage of this opportunity. I went to three games that season, all Seahawks victories.
It was a great night. It was rally towel night, so I put my towel to great use. Poor David, I think he was covered in white fibers from the towel by the end of the night. And it was cold as hell. But that's football weather baby.
Oh, the best part about that night, other than the game? It had to be before the game. There was this group of guys sitting near us. One of the guys got up to go get some food, or whatever. He then comes back. He falls on his ass on the Husky Stadium stairs, which are very wet and steep, I might add. And the insane part about all of this? His friends were just laughing their asses off at the guy. And they were videotaping the whole thing as well. That was so wrong, yet so freaking hysterical.
However, I don't miss Husky Stadium one bit as an NFL venue. Seahawks Stadium is just fine, thank you very much. Taking a Metro bus to a game from the ferry terminal isn't as fun as walking to the damn stadium itself. That's the best thing about Seattle if you're a Kitsap County resident, or in my case, a former Bremerton resident. Seahawks Stadium and Safeco Field are within walking distance from Colman Dock, and that's a very good thing.
I miss going to sporting events...next summer can't come soon enough.
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I STILL WANT SEXSON...MAYBE JENKINS??
It might not happen this year, I realize that, but man, after reading this...
The Brewers may be slashing their payroll down to $30 million, a 25% reduction. Richie Sexson's 2004 salary will be $8.6 million. His fellow cohort, left fielder and lefty bat with pop (.296 with 28 bombs last year, you can de-Millerize that a bit and it'd still be decent) Geoff Jenkins is slated to earn $8.25 million.
And I didn't realize until just now, but I wouldn't mind having both or even one of those guys. To those wondering about his glove, he made ZERO errors in 233 chances over the span of 124 games. He also had 11 outfield assists.
Sexson and/or Jenkins. I like.
The Brewers may be slashing their payroll down to $30 million, a 25% reduction. Richie Sexson's 2004 salary will be $8.6 million. His fellow cohort, left fielder and lefty bat with pop (.296 with 28 bombs last year, you can de-Millerize that a bit and it'd still be decent) Geoff Jenkins is slated to earn $8.25 million.
And I didn't realize until just now, but I wouldn't mind having both or even one of those guys. To those wondering about his glove, he made ZERO errors in 233 chances over the span of 124 games. He also had 11 outfield assists.
Sexson and/or Jenkins. I like.
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"MELVIN THRIVED UNDER PRESSURE" (WHAT THE F@#%?)
Jim Street's take on Bob Melvin at seattlemariners.com.
Are you freaking kidding me? Bob Melvin, I mean, Blow-Mel, thrived under pressure? Uh, no.
The transition went superbly through most of the season as the Mariners started quickly and had at least a share of first place in the American League West from April 14 through August 27, when they fell into second place behind the Athletics and stayed there the remainder of the season.
Just as the Mariners did in 2002 -- Piniella's final season -- Melvin directed the team to a 93-69 record. It matched the second-best record in franchise history, but wasn't quite good enough to get Seattle into the playoffs. The Mariners finished four games behind the Athletics in the AL West and two games behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card race.
Even so, Melvin performed a job worthy of Manager of the Year honors in the American League, becoming only the 18th skipper in MLB history to manage his team to at least 93 wins in his rookie season as a manager.
Wow, that's what I call "thriving under pressure". Yep, falling out of first place in late August and not coming back is thriving under pressure. That's what I want out of a "Manager of the Year" candidate.
Matchups were important as Melvin tried to keep the hitters sharp, especially the extra players, and had the good fortune of beginning and ending the season with the same five starters.
OK, I promised myself I wouldn't get worked up over this again, but alas, I have no choice.
WHO GIVES A RATS ASS ABOUT BEGINNING AND ENDING THE SEASON WITH THE SAME FIVE STARTERS!!!!!!!!!!! God dammit. Does this team care about WINNING or setting little meaningless records? And that's what this is, MEANINGLESS.
Kids, when you don't win a championship, the season is a waste. It's horrible for me to say that, but sadly, that's the truth.
If Melvin doesn't get this team to the playoffs in 2004, well, Paul Molitor is waiting in the wings.
Back to my regularly scheduled work...schoolwork.
Are you freaking kidding me? Bob Melvin, I mean, Blow-Mel, thrived under pressure? Uh, no.
The transition went superbly through most of the season as the Mariners started quickly and had at least a share of first place in the American League West from April 14 through August 27, when they fell into second place behind the Athletics and stayed there the remainder of the season.
Just as the Mariners did in 2002 -- Piniella's final season -- Melvin directed the team to a 93-69 record. It matched the second-best record in franchise history, but wasn't quite good enough to get Seattle into the playoffs. The Mariners finished four games behind the Athletics in the AL West and two games behind the Red Sox in the Wild Card race.
Even so, Melvin performed a job worthy of Manager of the Year honors in the American League, becoming only the 18th skipper in MLB history to manage his team to at least 93 wins in his rookie season as a manager.
Wow, that's what I call "thriving under pressure". Yep, falling out of first place in late August and not coming back is thriving under pressure. That's what I want out of a "Manager of the Year" candidate.
Matchups were important as Melvin tried to keep the hitters sharp, especially the extra players, and had the good fortune of beginning and ending the season with the same five starters.
OK, I promised myself I wouldn't get worked up over this again, but alas, I have no choice.
WHO GIVES A RATS ASS ABOUT BEGINNING AND ENDING THE SEASON WITH THE SAME FIVE STARTERS!!!!!!!!!!! God dammit. Does this team care about WINNING or setting little meaningless records? And that's what this is, MEANINGLESS.
Kids, when you don't win a championship, the season is a waste. It's horrible for me to say that, but sadly, that's the truth.
If Melvin doesn't get this team to the playoffs in 2004, well, Paul Molitor is waiting in the wings.
Back to my regularly scheduled work...schoolwork.
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REHASH
Back on September 26, we were all ticked off over how the Mariner season was ending up. Another unfortunate thing was that I detrimentally had messed with the HTML byline coding so that the permalinks didn't work. So it's because of that that I have to cut-and-paste what I'm about to post rather than just link you there because it won't work.
My hair-brained 6:20pm post on Sept 26 involved this:
I got a three-way deal that probably won't happen; I haven't taken contract length into account or anything at all. So this trade probably has no chance in hell of happening. That said...
to SEA: Pat Burrell (from PHI)
to PHI: Preston Wilson (from COL), maybe a Craig Anderson or something (from SEA)
to COL: Jeff Cirillo and cash (from PHI via SEA) and two minor-league arms or something (from PHI)
Now, my attempt at rationale. With Cirillo and Burrell, based on this year's stats, you're trading crap for crap. Of course, Burrell has more power and upside, so that's where the Craig Anderson or some minor-league arm comes into play. Of course, the Phils don't want Cirillo if they have David Bell. But do they want Preston Wilson (again, no research)? That's where they send Cirillo. If there's one thing Cirillo could use, it's the false sense of security and confidence that Coors Field exudes, right? And of course, Cirillo sucks, so the Phils would sweeten the pot with a couple minor-league arms or something.
My other hair-brained post at 10:39pm was...
Okay, here's a trade that once again, probably won't happen.
to SEA: Eric Byrnes
to OAK: Jamal Strong, cash considerations
The cash is only to offset the fact that Byrnes has legit Major League experience. I guess my only rationale for Oakland here is that they could use more speed. BUT, my rationale for Seattle is this -- Eric Byrnes had an AWESOME FIRST HALF and A PUTRID SECOND HALF!!! He'd fit right in!!
Okay, both those posts are hogwash, but the first one would unload Cirillo, and I'm still all for that because I think Burrell is way more likely to turn it around than Cirillo. But would I rather pick up Burrell over...Vlad Guerrero? No way. I don't have to tell you Guerrero is sure-fire compared to a gamble on Pat Burrell, but I also know which of those two deals I think this ownership would be more likely to pull the trigger on, and it sickens me.
My hair-brained 6:20pm post on Sept 26 involved this:
I got a three-way deal that probably won't happen; I haven't taken contract length into account or anything at all. So this trade probably has no chance in hell of happening. That said...
to SEA: Pat Burrell (from PHI)
to PHI: Preston Wilson (from COL), maybe a Craig Anderson or something (from SEA)
to COL: Jeff Cirillo and cash (from PHI via SEA) and two minor-league arms or something (from PHI)
Now, my attempt at rationale. With Cirillo and Burrell, based on this year's stats, you're trading crap for crap. Of course, Burrell has more power and upside, so that's where the Craig Anderson or some minor-league arm comes into play. Of course, the Phils don't want Cirillo if they have David Bell. But do they want Preston Wilson (again, no research)? That's where they send Cirillo. If there's one thing Cirillo could use, it's the false sense of security and confidence that Coors Field exudes, right? And of course, Cirillo sucks, so the Phils would sweeten the pot with a couple minor-league arms or something.
My other hair-brained post at 10:39pm was...
Okay, here's a trade that once again, probably won't happen.
to SEA: Eric Byrnes
to OAK: Jamal Strong, cash considerations
The cash is only to offset the fact that Byrnes has legit Major League experience. I guess my only rationale for Oakland here is that they could use more speed. BUT, my rationale for Seattle is this -- Eric Byrnes had an AWESOME FIRST HALF and A PUTRID SECOND HALF!!! He'd fit right in!!
Okay, both those posts are hogwash, but the first one would unload Cirillo, and I'm still all for that because I think Burrell is way more likely to turn it around than Cirillo. But would I rather pick up Burrell over...Vlad Guerrero? No way. I don't have to tell you Guerrero is sure-fire compared to a gamble on Pat Burrell, but I also know which of those two deals I think this ownership would be more likely to pull the trigger on, and it sickens me.
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CIRILLO
I had to go back and clarify my screwed-up mind in regards to the Jeff Cirillo deal from a couple years ago. For some reason, I'd thought that the Mariners had to sign him in order for the deal to go through, when in fact Jeremy was right in saying the Mariners were taking on the contract extension that had yet to go into effect that the Rockies gave him. Here's what I got with the Google cache in the form of a Times article.
The search was "jeff cirillo" "four-year contract."
The article said that Cirillo "may [have been] willing to restructure his contract to help the Mariners meet payroll." Man, I wish that was still the case...maybe knock him down to about $500k/yr.
Also from the article, "[t]he Mariners [were balking] at guaranteeing a fourth year in offers to [Jason Schmidt and Bret Boone]." They were offering Schmidt $22M to $23M over three years with a 4th year optional (I'm guessing that was a team option and not a player option).
So yes, I'm wrong, I'm a bastard. I'll own up to that. I just badly wanted Jason Schmidt that offseason, that's all. It all comes down to that, since my ballyhooed argument for Jason Schmidt-instead-of-Jeff Cirillo either/or for a four-year contract is pretty much shot down. I guess I have to go with never making the trade in the first place, but then I'd probably be all over the brass for not trying to plug the hole at third base.
The search was "jeff cirillo" "four-year contract."
The article said that Cirillo "may [have been] willing to restructure his contract to help the Mariners meet payroll." Man, I wish that was still the case...maybe knock him down to about $500k/yr.
Also from the article, "[t]he Mariners [were balking] at guaranteeing a fourth year in offers to [Jason Schmidt and Bret Boone]." They were offering Schmidt $22M to $23M over three years with a 4th year optional (I'm guessing that was a team option and not a player option).
So yes, I'm wrong, I'm a bastard. I'll own up to that. I just badly wanted Jason Schmidt that offseason, that's all. It all comes down to that, since my ballyhooed argument for Jason Schmidt-instead-of-Jeff Cirillo either/or for a four-year contract is pretty much shot down. I guess I have to go with never making the trade in the first place, but then I'd probably be all over the brass for not trying to plug the hole at third base.
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NO MORE TALKING TO THE HAND
Yes, kids, the Seahawks solution to stopping the run has been shelved for the season with a torn biceps muscle.
So what does this mean? Look for 100-yard games out of Shawn Bryson and/or Olandis Gary when the Hawks face Detroit on Sunday, 200 yards out of Jamal Lewis in two weeks in Baltimore, and 100 yards out of Willie Green when the Hawks face the Browns in three weeks.
So what does this mean? Look for 100-yard games out of Shawn Bryson and/or Olandis Gary when the Hawks face Detroit on Sunday, 200 yards out of Jamal Lewis in two weeks in Baltimore, and 100 yards out of Willie Green when the Hawks face the Browns in three weeks.
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ALEX SHIPPING OUT?
Okay, I'll preface this by saying that I thought using "A-Rod" as a nickname for Alex Rodriguez was phony from day one. It's a stupid, crappy nickname and I don't care if Rodriguez likes and/or uses it. I'm calling him by his first name. It's more classy.
Down to business here. New York Newsday is reporting a truly twisted three-way trade involving Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez. Teams involved: Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels.
to Boston: Alex Rodriguez
to Anaheim: Nomar Garciaparra
to Texas: David Eckstein, "a few pitchers"
And yes, the Rangers would send some money to defray some of Alex's contract.
Two other interesting and potentially hilarious tidbits from the article are that the possibility of going to Boston intrigues Alex because he would be with a passionate fan base and an ownership willing to spend to win. The arrticle also debunks the possibility of Alex going to the Yankees because either Jeter or Alex would have to move to 2B or 3B, and because "Jeter doesn't like Rodriguez anymore." I'm not sure why, but I found that frigging hilarious.
Down to business here. New York Newsday is reporting a truly twisted three-way trade involving Nomar Garciaparra and Alex Rodriguez. Teams involved: Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Anaheim Angels.
to Boston: Alex Rodriguez
to Anaheim: Nomar Garciaparra
to Texas: David Eckstein, "a few pitchers"
And yes, the Rangers would send some money to defray some of Alex's contract.
Two other interesting and potentially hilarious tidbits from the article are that the possibility of going to Boston intrigues Alex because he would be with a passionate fan base and an ownership willing to spend to win. The arrticle also debunks the possibility of Alex going to the Yankees because either Jeter or Alex would have to move to 2B or 3B, and because "Jeter doesn't like Rodriguez anymore." I'm not sure why, but I found that frigging hilarious.
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NOT HADDAWAY
"What Is Love" by Haddaway was the theme song for the head-bobbing Roxbury Guys on Saturday Night Live.
In a move not at all surprising to me, Roy Halladay came away with the AL Cy Young Award, beating out Esteban Loaiza of the White Sox. Of course, some horribly partisan Mariner fans will scream bloody murder because Jamie Moyer (who finished fifth in the voting behind Pedro and Tim Hudson) didn't win the Cy Young, but let's face it. Jamie didn't have a chance in hell. Moyer was amazingly steady, yes, and I love what the guy's done for the Mariners and for the community in Seattle. But did he have a chance against Loaiza, who came from the dead to win 21 games for the White Sox? He probably should have, but in this case, no. Did he have a chance to beat out Roy Halladay, who went 22-7 and reeled off 15 straight winning decisions? Hell no. Did he have a chance to beat out Pedro and Hudson, at least? I think so. I think Moyer had at least as good a year as Pedro and Hudson, and those guys were hurt for some portion of the year.
So basically what I'm saying is that Moyer should have at least been fourth and maybe third in the Cy Young voting if there were any justice in this world. Second was a little too lofty. I know it's an old finger to point, but I'll chalk up the fact that Moyer finished behind Pedro and Hudson to one thing -- EAST COAST BIAS. Yeah, I know it's been used too many times before, but the east coast media loves Pedro and the east coast media always loves to pick Oakland and the Big Three over any of the Mariners any damn time.
In a move not at all surprising to me, Roy Halladay came away with the AL Cy Young Award, beating out Esteban Loaiza of the White Sox. Of course, some horribly partisan Mariner fans will scream bloody murder because Jamie Moyer (who finished fifth in the voting behind Pedro and Tim Hudson) didn't win the Cy Young, but let's face it. Jamie didn't have a chance in hell. Moyer was amazingly steady, yes, and I love what the guy's done for the Mariners and for the community in Seattle. But did he have a chance against Loaiza, who came from the dead to win 21 games for the White Sox? He probably should have, but in this case, no. Did he have a chance to beat out Roy Halladay, who went 22-7 and reeled off 15 straight winning decisions? Hell no. Did he have a chance to beat out Pedro and Hudson, at least? I think so. I think Moyer had at least as good a year as Pedro and Hudson, and those guys were hurt for some portion of the year.
So basically what I'm saying is that Moyer should have at least been fourth and maybe third in the Cy Young voting if there were any justice in this world. Second was a little too lofty. I know it's an old finger to point, but I'll chalk up the fact that Moyer finished behind Pedro and Hudson to one thing -- EAST COAST BIAS. Yeah, I know it's been used too many times before, but the east coast media loves Pedro and the east coast media always loves to pick Oakland and the Big Three over any of the Mariners any damn time.
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THANK YOU, VETS
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of our veterans who have served our country, living or dead.
Although today is "Veterans Day", everyday IMO is Veterans Day. If it weren't for these brave men and women, our country wouldn't be as great as it is today.
Unfortunately, Southeast Arkansas College doesn't realize that. They receive federal money to keep their institution open. But they force their students to go to school on Veterans Day, which means, reluctantly, I'm going to class today. I would love to miss class today, but that's simply not the case.
Boy, I guess the hillbilly guy who said back in April that "you're in the South now, we do things a little different down here" was right on the money.
It's been almost 7 months since I moved down here, and I tell ya, I still feel like a West Coast guy. Hell, I always will. It keeps me normal.
I respect Southern culture, but the West Coast is always the best. That's the way it is. Deal with it.
Although today is "Veterans Day", everyday IMO is Veterans Day. If it weren't for these brave men and women, our country wouldn't be as great as it is today.
Unfortunately, Southeast Arkansas College doesn't realize that. They receive federal money to keep their institution open. But they force their students to go to school on Veterans Day, which means, reluctantly, I'm going to class today. I would love to miss class today, but that's simply not the case.
Boy, I guess the hillbilly guy who said back in April that "you're in the South now, we do things a little different down here" was right on the money.
It's been almost 7 months since I moved down here, and I tell ya, I still feel like a West Coast guy. Hell, I always will. It keeps me normal.
I respect Southern culture, but the West Coast is always the best. That's the way it is. Deal with it.
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NO JAPAN????
Well, maybe the Mariners won't open up the 2004 season in Japan after all.
It looks like the Japanese suits want the New York Yankees to open over there instead of the M's, because of Hideki Matsui. The M's want no part of a series with the Yankees in Japan because of the competitive inbalance, being from different divisions.
This is great news, if it becomes true. Let the Yankees open in Japan. All along, I've been against the M's opening their season in Japan. Again, if Hiroshi Yamauchi wants to see his team play, then get on a damn plane across the Pacific and come to Seattle!
As for the Jeff Cirillo deal...
David, we're all frustrated with the headcase. But keep in mind that it was Colorado who gave him that obscene deal, not Pat Gillick. As much as I've bashed Gillick, I can't really do it here for the Cirillo deal, because who knew that he would become a headcase in Safeco Field? Nobody did.
And Jason Schmidt...
Oh man, this hurts big time. Now THIS is where I have no problem bashing Gillick. Oh my god, we can't give four year contracts to anybody!!! There's no doubt in my mind that if Schmidt was a Mariner, this team would have been in the playoffs the last two seasons. But that's not the case.
2004 better be a different story.
It looks like the Japanese suits want the New York Yankees to open over there instead of the M's, because of Hideki Matsui. The M's want no part of a series with the Yankees in Japan because of the competitive inbalance, being from different divisions.
This is great news, if it becomes true. Let the Yankees open in Japan. All along, I've been against the M's opening their season in Japan. Again, if Hiroshi Yamauchi wants to see his team play, then get on a damn plane across the Pacific and come to Seattle!
As for the Jeff Cirillo deal...
David, we're all frustrated with the headcase. But keep in mind that it was Colorado who gave him that obscene deal, not Pat Gillick. As much as I've bashed Gillick, I can't really do it here for the Cirillo deal, because who knew that he would become a headcase in Safeco Field? Nobody did.
And Jason Schmidt...
Oh man, this hurts big time. Now THIS is where I have no problem bashing Gillick. Oh my god, we can't give four year contracts to anybody!!! There's no doubt in my mind that if Schmidt was a Mariner, this team would have been in the playoffs the last two seasons. But that's not the case.
2004 better be a different story.
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LIVING AFTER MIDNIGHT...
Rockin' to the dawn.
Aside from the obvious Judas Priest reference, staying up a tad past midnight means that we can get an early look on the headlines that will show up on subscribers' doorsteps five or six hours later. This of course includes sports headlines.
Both the Timesand P-I have run articles for their Tuesday editions alluding in some way to what the hell Bill Bavasi may or may not do at the GM meetings. The general consensus is that there'll be a lot he WON'T do.
John Hickey has the P-I piece, basically bringing up the Ichiro negotiations, and how Ichiro's agent Tony Attanasio (whose name I easily confuse with that of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio) has been in Seattle trying to pound out a contract extension for Ichiro, all the while Billy Bavasi is in Phoenix and "[not] intimately involved in the Ichiro negotiations." Bavasi also said that he doesn't anticipate anything huge happening at the GM meetings, and that most of the big FAs that are available now will be available afterward. He also talked very vaguely about the CF position.
==
Bob Finnigan has the Times piece.
Bavasi on the big free agents: "With the big guys, you can take your time. They're still going to be out there."
Bavasi on first moves: "Right out of the chute, I prefer to go after a number of players who can help us win, rather than putting everything in one basket."
(the article then talks about the Mariners' "successful formula" used in 2000 and 2001 with the B-list signings of John Olerud, Stan Javier, Aaron Sele, Arthur Rhodes and Jeff Nelson.)
Bavasi on Cirillo: "How much you can do, it's tough to say. You can lay the groundwork. ... That's about as specific as I want to get."
Bavasi on the Mo Vaughn signing: "We were under orders to sign him. We wanted to get out in front, leave ourselves a little wriggle room, but scare off other teams."
Bavasi also acknowledges that Mo Vaughn is now "very available."
Well, Bavasi saying he was "under orders" to sign Mo Vaughn...those are some strong words there. Or at least that's how it struck me.
The general feel of the article toward the end is that the Mariners are going to play it fairly safe at first. It's the last sentence of the Finnigan article that still chaps my hide, though...
"Seattle's three-year statute of limitations on long-term contracts seems alive and well."
Okay, I've said this a bunch of times before. You know who they broke the 3-year statute of limitations on long-term contracts for?
Jeff Cirillo.
INSTEAD OF JASON SCHMIDT.
Both guys were available for "the hometown discount." Why is Schmidt not a Mariner? Good ol' Stand Pat wouldn't give Schmidt a fourth year on his deal. Buuuuut, he gives JEFF FRIGGING CIRILLO a 4th year.
End result: Jeff Cirillo at third instead of somebody else. Cirillo ends up crapping the bed. Instead of Jason Schmidt starting for the Mariners, the fill-the-void-left-by-Sele's-regular-season-numbers pitcher was JAMES BALDWIN.
Baldwin 2002: 7-10, 5.28 ERA, 150 IP
Schmidt 2002: 13-8, 3.45 ERA, 185 1/3 IP
So...the Mariners traded for the third baseman (for basically nothing) and then signed him to a four-year deal. He ended up being crap. The Mariners sign James Baldwin, whose shoulder was never back to speed (never totally healthy) and he had a little too much confidence in HIS 88-MPH FASTBALL THAT DIDN'T FOOL ANYONE. Jason Schmidt had come to SF in 2001 in a day-before-the-deadline deal and went a torrid 7-1 down the stretch. The guy pitches with heart, and his only fallacy this whole time was the small tarnish of injury-proneness. Schmidt pitched fairly well in 2002 (a hell of a lot better than Baldwin). If the 7-1 record down the stretch in 2001 didn't convince you of how badass he was/is, then take into account Schmidt's 17-5 year for 2003 with over 200 innings and a 2.34 ERA (2003 stats are NOW UP at Baseball-reference.com) and the fact that HE CARRIED THAT GIANT PITCHING STAFF. He had some considerable adversity with the death of his mother toward the first half of the season as well as the occasional reminders from his arm that something might be up. Anyway, Schmidt carried the staff in a year where they had lost Russ Ortiz (who would win 20 games in Atlanta) and where they would probably need a couple more complete games from the number one guy because of the absence of Robb Nen in the 9th (luckily Worrell stepped up). Schmidt threw 5 complete games last season.
Okay, so the lesson here is...the Mariners broke the unwritten 3-year law for Jeff Cirillo when they should have broken it for Jason Schmidt. They didn't, Cirillo ended up sucking (did anyone predict him sucking that badly?), but James Baldwin was brought in, which would have never happened if Schmidt was signed (like he would have been if I, David, were your Mariner GM at that point). If I'm not mistaken, the top FA pitchers that were available that offseason were Rick Helling, Ismael Valdes, Jason Schmidt, and James Baldwin. The sick irony is that the Mariners tried Baldwin, he sucked, and in the death throes of the season, they picked up Valdes, who did average, but average for the whole season would have been a lot better than the CRAP that James Baldwin was spewing out a little too regularly.
I'll stop this post while it's still half-coherent...
Aside from the obvious Judas Priest reference, staying up a tad past midnight means that we can get an early look on the headlines that will show up on subscribers' doorsteps five or six hours later. This of course includes sports headlines.
Both the Timesand P-I have run articles for their Tuesday editions alluding in some way to what the hell Bill Bavasi may or may not do at the GM meetings. The general consensus is that there'll be a lot he WON'T do.
John Hickey has the P-I piece, basically bringing up the Ichiro negotiations, and how Ichiro's agent Tony Attanasio (whose name I easily confuse with that of Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio) has been in Seattle trying to pound out a contract extension for Ichiro, all the while Billy Bavasi is in Phoenix and "[not] intimately involved in the Ichiro negotiations." Bavasi also said that he doesn't anticipate anything huge happening at the GM meetings, and that most of the big FAs that are available now will be available afterward. He also talked very vaguely about the CF position.
==
Bob Finnigan has the Times piece.
Bavasi on the big free agents: "With the big guys, you can take your time. They're still going to be out there."
Bavasi on first moves: "Right out of the chute, I prefer to go after a number of players who can help us win, rather than putting everything in one basket."
(the article then talks about the Mariners' "successful formula" used in 2000 and 2001 with the B-list signings of John Olerud, Stan Javier, Aaron Sele, Arthur Rhodes and Jeff Nelson.)
Bavasi on Cirillo: "How much you can do, it's tough to say. You can lay the groundwork. ... That's about as specific as I want to get."
Bavasi on the Mo Vaughn signing: "We were under orders to sign him. We wanted to get out in front, leave ourselves a little wriggle room, but scare off other teams."
Bavasi also acknowledges that Mo Vaughn is now "very available."
Well, Bavasi saying he was "under orders" to sign Mo Vaughn...those are some strong words there. Or at least that's how it struck me.
The general feel of the article toward the end is that the Mariners are going to play it fairly safe at first. It's the last sentence of the Finnigan article that still chaps my hide, though...
"Seattle's three-year statute of limitations on long-term contracts seems alive and well."
Okay, I've said this a bunch of times before. You know who they broke the 3-year statute of limitations on long-term contracts for?
Jeff Cirillo.
INSTEAD OF JASON SCHMIDT.
Both guys were available for "the hometown discount." Why is Schmidt not a Mariner? Good ol' Stand Pat wouldn't give Schmidt a fourth year on his deal. Buuuuut, he gives JEFF FRIGGING CIRILLO a 4th year.
End result: Jeff Cirillo at third instead of somebody else. Cirillo ends up crapping the bed. Instead of Jason Schmidt starting for the Mariners, the fill-the-void-left-by-Sele's-regular-season-numbers pitcher was JAMES BALDWIN.
Baldwin 2002: 7-10, 5.28 ERA, 150 IP
Schmidt 2002: 13-8, 3.45 ERA, 185 1/3 IP
So...the Mariners traded for the third baseman (for basically nothing) and then signed him to a four-year deal. He ended up being crap. The Mariners sign James Baldwin, whose shoulder was never back to speed (never totally healthy) and he had a little too much confidence in HIS 88-MPH FASTBALL THAT DIDN'T FOOL ANYONE. Jason Schmidt had come to SF in 2001 in a day-before-the-deadline deal and went a torrid 7-1 down the stretch. The guy pitches with heart, and his only fallacy this whole time was the small tarnish of injury-proneness. Schmidt pitched fairly well in 2002 (a hell of a lot better than Baldwin). If the 7-1 record down the stretch in 2001 didn't convince you of how badass he was/is, then take into account Schmidt's 17-5 year for 2003 with over 200 innings and a 2.34 ERA (2003 stats are NOW UP at Baseball-reference.com) and the fact that HE CARRIED THAT GIANT PITCHING STAFF. He had some considerable adversity with the death of his mother toward the first half of the season as well as the occasional reminders from his arm that something might be up. Anyway, Schmidt carried the staff in a year where they had lost Russ Ortiz (who would win 20 games in Atlanta) and where they would probably need a couple more complete games from the number one guy because of the absence of Robb Nen in the 9th (luckily Worrell stepped up). Schmidt threw 5 complete games last season.
Okay, so the lesson here is...the Mariners broke the unwritten 3-year law for Jeff Cirillo when they should have broken it for Jason Schmidt. They didn't, Cirillo ended up sucking (did anyone predict him sucking that badly?), but James Baldwin was brought in, which would have never happened if Schmidt was signed (like he would have been if I, David, were your Mariner GM at that point). If I'm not mistaken, the top FA pitchers that were available that offseason were Rick Helling, Ismael Valdes, Jason Schmidt, and James Baldwin. The sick irony is that the Mariners tried Baldwin, he sucked, and in the death throes of the season, they picked up Valdes, who did average, but average for the whole season would have been a lot better than the CRAP that James Baldwin was spewing out a little too regularly.
I'll stop this post while it's still half-coherent...
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Monday, November 10, 2003
I GET CRAZY SOMETIMES
Here's to hoping nobody including me gets annoyed with all the font and color changes I just did by messing with the HTML template of this blog. Hiyo!! To anyone wondering, the new post title font is called Denmark, a font which I never saw until I opened up Word and saw it in the scroll menu, and I swear my version of Word 2000 keeps picking up fonts along the way because I never remembered seeing that semi-obnoxious-but-somewhat-cool font ever before in my Word travails over the years.
AAAAAND I'd be remiss if I didn't link us all up to SOUTH KITSAP EATING IT. Sure, that stops the South state football playoff streak at 23 years. But it also means that for 23 years, South Kitsap never tasted the agony of defeat at any point before the state playoffs. Well, I got two words for the Wolves and the Wolves faithful: TASTE IT.
One thing I also never touched on in the last couple days is in the realm of the NHL; my-way-or-the-highway coach Mike Keenan got the ax at the hands of the Florida Panthers. You know, I never liked the guy one bit, and he even coached the Canucks at one point. Yikes. I think he's overrated too, but that's neither here nor there.
AAAAAND I'd be remiss if I didn't link us all up to SOUTH KITSAP EATING IT. Sure, that stops the South state football playoff streak at 23 years. But it also means that for 23 years, South Kitsap never tasted the agony of defeat at any point before the state playoffs. Well, I got two words for the Wolves and the Wolves faithful: TASTE IT.
One thing I also never touched on in the last couple days is in the realm of the NHL; my-way-or-the-highway coach Mike Keenan got the ax at the hands of the Florida Panthers. You know, I never liked the guy one bit, and he even coached the Canucks at one point. Yikes. I think he's overrated too, but that's neither here nor there.
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GET GLAD...GET VLAD DAMMIT
If I have to do a post like this every damn day this month, I'll do it.
Get glad, get Vladimir Guerrero.
Like the USS Mariner said, Seattle is a lowkey place for athletes. If Vlad really wants to play in a market that isn't too small, but not too big, Seattle is perfect for him. Talk about how good or bad of a sports town Seattle is, and I've done it myself. But no town in America supports its athletes more than Seattle when they are doing well.
If the Mariners sign Vlad Man, no doubt in my mind I'm spending the Fourth of July weekend in Busch Stadium to see the M's play the Cardinals. I'm probably going anyway.
But the signing of Guerrero will make it official.
BTW, on a musical note here, is there a better kick ass, fist pumping song out there right now than Sevendust's "Separate"? I swear, I think I've had that song playing every damn day since I've gotten Sevendust's current album, "Seasons".
Anyways, GET GLAD, GET VLAD DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!
Get glad, get Vladimir Guerrero.
Like the USS Mariner said, Seattle is a lowkey place for athletes. If Vlad really wants to play in a market that isn't too small, but not too big, Seattle is perfect for him. Talk about how good or bad of a sports town Seattle is, and I've done it myself. But no town in America supports its athletes more than Seattle when they are doing well.
If the Mariners sign Vlad Man, no doubt in my mind I'm spending the Fourth of July weekend in Busch Stadium to see the M's play the Cardinals. I'm probably going anyway.
But the signing of Guerrero will make it official.
BTW, on a musical note here, is there a better kick ass, fist pumping song out there right now than Sevendust's "Separate"? I swear, I think I've had that song playing every damn day since I've gotten Sevendust's current album, "Seasons".
Anyways, GET GLAD, GET VLAD DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!
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FIRE UP THAT FRIGGIN HOT STOVE
A few baseball notes here...
---Since Peter Gammons said it, Miguel Tejada will not be an Anaheim Angel. Trust me on that one.
---I can live with the Mariners giving Ichiro 10 mil a year. But 15 mil, like his agent is suggesting? That's money better spent on a player, like, say, Vladimir Guerrero?
---The M's need to do anything and everything they can to re-sign Arthur Rhodes. He's one of the best left handed relievers in the game, even if 2003 didn't show that. I'd hate to see him go to New York or Boston and stick it to Seattle for the next 2-3 years.
---If the Mariners sign Brian Jordan, like ESPN suggests, then it better be as a backup. Jordan is past his prime. And the M's don't need to get any older. If they get any older, they may have to institute Senior Saturdays into their marketing plans, in addition to the already-popular Senior Sundays at Safeco Field.
---Going back to Ichiro. I know first hand how much money the guy makes for the Mariners. I worked in the Mariners merchandising department for two seasons (2000 and 2002), and while I was there for just one season of Ichiro, the man is money. Ichiro shirts. Ichiro hats. Ichiro baseballs. Ichiro mini-bats. Ichiro pennants. It goes on and on. And I think that's the reason why the M's will re-sign Ichiro to a big contract, even if it is absurd.
Finally...
For all the first time visitors to Sports and Bremertonians, welcome. David and I started this blog in mid-August just for the hell of it. We're just one of the few Mariner blogs out there in blog space. We hit on other topics as well, including the Seahawks and the Vancouver Canucks. If you give a damn about our musical tastes, check out our music blog, Music and Bremertonians. It's the first link under "non-sports links."
Fire up that friggin Hot Stove, foos...
---Since Peter Gammons said it, Miguel Tejada will not be an Anaheim Angel. Trust me on that one.
---I can live with the Mariners giving Ichiro 10 mil a year. But 15 mil, like his agent is suggesting? That's money better spent on a player, like, say, Vladimir Guerrero?
---The M's need to do anything and everything they can to re-sign Arthur Rhodes. He's one of the best left handed relievers in the game, even if 2003 didn't show that. I'd hate to see him go to New York or Boston and stick it to Seattle for the next 2-3 years.
---If the Mariners sign Brian Jordan, like ESPN suggests, then it better be as a backup. Jordan is past his prime. And the M's don't need to get any older. If they get any older, they may have to institute Senior Saturdays into their marketing plans, in addition to the already-popular Senior Sundays at Safeco Field.
---Going back to Ichiro. I know first hand how much money the guy makes for the Mariners. I worked in the Mariners merchandising department for two seasons (2000 and 2002), and while I was there for just one season of Ichiro, the man is money. Ichiro shirts. Ichiro hats. Ichiro baseballs. Ichiro mini-bats. Ichiro pennants. It goes on and on. And I think that's the reason why the M's will re-sign Ichiro to a big contract, even if it is absurd.
Finally...
For all the first time visitors to Sports and Bremertonians, welcome. David and I started this blog in mid-August just for the hell of it. We're just one of the few Mariner blogs out there in blog space. We hit on other topics as well, including the Seahawks and the Vancouver Canucks. If you give a damn about our musical tastes, check out our music blog, Music and Bremertonians. It's the first link under "non-sports links."
Fire up that friggin Hot Stove, foos...
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THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN
I'd like to thank everyone out there in the blog world since our inception about two-and-a-half months ago who has linked us, and that number grew by two in the recent past -- one by Kevin at One Sixteen, who agreed wholeheartedly with my colleague Jeremy's assertion that Bill Bavasi looks like Peter Garrett of Midnight Oil...the second link was provided by the esteemed Derek Milhous Zumsteg (I'd pay to have the initials for DeMilitarized Zone) at the USS Mariner, who noted Jeremy's initial reaction to the Bavasi hire. And going back a couple weeks, we were once again linked by Gabriel at the Safest Blog about Jeremy's comments regarding the Mariners start next season in Japan.
Damn...none of these links are to any of my posts...I must really suck at this. But that's why Jeremy is going to school to be a journalist and I'm a damn geology major. I can tell you which one I like more...and it's not geology.
Thanks once again to all those who are contributing to us as well as everyone else involved in the Mariner blog revolution...grow and post forth, fellow bloggers!!!
Damn...none of these links are to any of my posts...I must really suck at this. But that's why Jeremy is going to school to be a journalist and I'm a damn geology major. I can tell you which one I like more...and it's not geology.
Thanks once again to all those who are contributing to us as well as everyone else involved in the Mariner blog revolution...grow and post forth, fellow bloggers!!!
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Sunday, November 09, 2003
MORE MEANINGLESS BLATHER FROM GAMMONS!
Ah, yes. Winter meetings means Peter Gammons gets to earn his money once again by spouting off rumors that barely ever end up true. Here's his latest rant.
In this, he discusses the possible unloadings of Tino Martinez to Tampa, Billy Koch to the Mets, Mike Piazza to Baltimore, David Wells to the Padres, etc.
The one thing that made me sick, though, had to be this sentence: "Anaheim has money for a Miguel Tejada or Kaz Matsui and a pitcher." I NEVER want to hear Tejada's name in the same sentence as the Anaheim Angels unless he yokes a 3-run dong for the Mariners in the bottom of the 9th to win a key game in late September to give the Mariners a 5-game lead (or more).
In this, he discusses the possible unloadings of Tino Martinez to Tampa, Billy Koch to the Mets, Mike Piazza to Baltimore, David Wells to the Padres, etc.
The one thing that made me sick, though, had to be this sentence: "Anaheim has money for a Miguel Tejada or Kaz Matsui and a pitcher." I NEVER want to hear Tejada's name in the same sentence as the Anaheim Angels unless he yokes a 3-run dong for the Mariners in the bottom of the 9th to win a key game in late September to give the Mariners a 5-game lead (or more).
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ABSOLUTE BULL$H!+
Okay. There's no way in hell the Seahawks should have lost that game. There's many directions in which to point the finger, not the only one of which is Darrell Jackson, but first...
Darrell Jackson. He muffed that last pass when Hass was doing a great job driving the Seahawks down the field with under two minutes left and after their three second-half timeouts were stupidly burned, including one just short of the two-minute warning in the 4th qtr. Jackson also dropped a pass earlier in the game.
Shawn Springs. I know I saw him get burned at least two or three times, but I can't name the instances in particular. Just trust me on this one, because a Seahawk bitch-fest is traveling through my mind right now. He's past his prime, and he better not be with the Seahawks next year.
Maurice Morris. Sure he had a couple decent kickoff returns, a couple nice runs...but to muff the opening kickoff? Absolutely frigging inexcusable. Sure, the Redskins only got three points off that turnover, but that's a horrible tone-setter for the game when you turn the ball over before you've even snapped it.
Damien Robinson. You've picked the damn ball. HOLD ON TO THE DAMN BALL!!! You're so deep into Redskin territory that you're probably going to get points anyway, so don't try to be fancy and get the TD there. The entire game turned on that damn play. The score right then was Hawks 14-3. Instead of Hawks 21-3, it was Hawks 14-10, almost as a direct result.
But I think possibly an even bigger play than the blown TD pick was...
The stupid-ass pass interference call later on that drive. On a THIRD-AND-7, Shawn Springs got the pick, but got nailed for pass interference, and that was basically the game. My first inclinations wanted me to blame the refs for this, so I'll stick with that for the moment and give Springs the benefit of the doubt until I get the chance to see the play again. [Just saw the photo link Jeremy posted...SHAWN SPRINGS SUCKS.]
One final thing I have to say about this bullcrap Seahawk loss though...
RAY RHODES IS OPEN TO CRITICISM. Hopefully all of you realize this. Sure, he was hailed as the cure-all to the woes of this defense and everything. I'm not saying there hasn't been improvement over last year, because there definitely has been improvement. But with this team, it seems like their play is great at times but horribly inopportune at others. There were multiple times in the game today where I thought the Seahawks D was gonna blow it on third down (and they did), and one of them was a 3rd-and-8 where Ramsay had somebody wide open. And oh yeah, how many times did you see Ramsay knocked on his ass today?? I think I MIGHT have seen that ONCE all day. This team puts no pressure on the quarterback, and I don't know how much the absence of Norman Hand has to do with that, but the guys on the field still have to pick it up.
In some ways, this is the same Seahawk team today that we've seen most of the year (maybe sans the Green Bay game). The only difference now is that the opposing teams seem like they're doing a lot better job of exposing the Seahawks weaknesses that were always there, but the Hawks could wriggle their way out of their mistakes. Now the mistakes are catching up to them.
And the sick thing is...instead of hearing about the 7-2 Seahawks and how they're in the drivers seat, we're gonna hear about Spurrier going for it on 4th-and-inches ALL FRIGGING WEEK from the national press. Daaaaammmmmmiiitttt!!!!
And Pat Ramsay wasn't sacked ONCE!!! He's led the league in being sacked!! That means THEIR OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKS!!! The Seahawks didn't sack him once today, which means THEIR DEFENSIVE LINE SUCKS!!!! Also, I saw a graphic where Matt Hasselbeck was 4th in the NFL in number of times being sacked.
There was also a graphic today in the game somewhere where they showed the average yardage-to-go that the teams had on third down. It basically said that the Redskins were getting a lot of 3rd-and-2s and 3rd-and-3s whereas the Seahawks were getting a steady stream of 3rd-and-8s. That tells us two things. The Hawks were probably running Shaun Alexander straight into the pile on first and second down, or running him in combination with an incomplete pass. The other thing it tells me is that THE HAWKS DEFENSE IS SUCKING ON FIRST AND SECOND DOWN TO THE POINT WHERE THEY DON'T EVEN GIVE THEMSELVES A CHANCE ON THIRD DOWN!!!!
The Seahawks and the Canucks are similar in at least one way this year...both teams suck on the road, but the Canucks usually win the games they should win on the road, and they seem to have less weaknesses, though that one weakness is the goalie. The Seahawks defense is tattered, and the offense never seems to use as many weapons as they should. Koren was barely catching any passes at all the last couple weeks, and that seems like something that should never be passed over. It always seems like something's missing, whether it's Koren, whether it's Mo Morris out of the backfield, or whether it's throwing short passes to Shaun Alexander, which seems like it would work.
Okay, my Seattle Seahawks bitchfest is over for the time being. Move along now, nothing to see here...
Darrell Jackson. He muffed that last pass when Hass was doing a great job driving the Seahawks down the field with under two minutes left and after their three second-half timeouts were stupidly burned, including one just short of the two-minute warning in the 4th qtr. Jackson also dropped a pass earlier in the game.
Shawn Springs. I know I saw him get burned at least two or three times, but I can't name the instances in particular. Just trust me on this one, because a Seahawk bitch-fest is traveling through my mind right now. He's past his prime, and he better not be with the Seahawks next year.
Maurice Morris. Sure he had a couple decent kickoff returns, a couple nice runs...but to muff the opening kickoff? Absolutely frigging inexcusable. Sure, the Redskins only got three points off that turnover, but that's a horrible tone-setter for the game when you turn the ball over before you've even snapped it.
Damien Robinson. You've picked the damn ball. HOLD ON TO THE DAMN BALL!!! You're so deep into Redskin territory that you're probably going to get points anyway, so don't try to be fancy and get the TD there. The entire game turned on that damn play. The score right then was Hawks 14-3. Instead of Hawks 21-3, it was Hawks 14-10, almost as a direct result.
But I think possibly an even bigger play than the blown TD pick was...
The stupid-ass pass interference call later on that drive. On a THIRD-AND-7, Shawn Springs got the pick, but got nailed for pass interference, and that was basically the game. My first inclinations wanted me to blame the refs for this, so I'll stick with that for the moment and give Springs the benefit of the doubt until I get the chance to see the play again. [Just saw the photo link Jeremy posted...SHAWN SPRINGS SUCKS.]
One final thing I have to say about this bullcrap Seahawk loss though...
RAY RHODES IS OPEN TO CRITICISM. Hopefully all of you realize this. Sure, he was hailed as the cure-all to the woes of this defense and everything. I'm not saying there hasn't been improvement over last year, because there definitely has been improvement. But with this team, it seems like their play is great at times but horribly inopportune at others. There were multiple times in the game today where I thought the Seahawks D was gonna blow it on third down (and they did), and one of them was a 3rd-and-8 where Ramsay had somebody wide open. And oh yeah, how many times did you see Ramsay knocked on his ass today?? I think I MIGHT have seen that ONCE all day. This team puts no pressure on the quarterback, and I don't know how much the absence of Norman Hand has to do with that, but the guys on the field still have to pick it up.
In some ways, this is the same Seahawk team today that we've seen most of the year (maybe sans the Green Bay game). The only difference now is that the opposing teams seem like they're doing a lot better job of exposing the Seahawks weaknesses that were always there, but the Hawks could wriggle their way out of their mistakes. Now the mistakes are catching up to them.
And the sick thing is...instead of hearing about the 7-2 Seahawks and how they're in the drivers seat, we're gonna hear about Spurrier going for it on 4th-and-inches ALL FRIGGING WEEK from the national press. Daaaaammmmmmiiitttt!!!!
And Pat Ramsay wasn't sacked ONCE!!! He's led the league in being sacked!! That means THEIR OFFENSIVE LINE SUCKS!!! The Seahawks didn't sack him once today, which means THEIR DEFENSIVE LINE SUCKS!!!! Also, I saw a graphic where Matt Hasselbeck was 4th in the NFL in number of times being sacked.
There was also a graphic today in the game somewhere where they showed the average yardage-to-go that the teams had on third down. It basically said that the Redskins were getting a lot of 3rd-and-2s and 3rd-and-3s whereas the Seahawks were getting a steady stream of 3rd-and-8s. That tells us two things. The Hawks were probably running Shaun Alexander straight into the pile on first and second down, or running him in combination with an incomplete pass. The other thing it tells me is that THE HAWKS DEFENSE IS SUCKING ON FIRST AND SECOND DOWN TO THE POINT WHERE THEY DON'T EVEN GIVE THEMSELVES A CHANCE ON THIRD DOWN!!!!
The Seahawks and the Canucks are similar in at least one way this year...both teams suck on the road, but the Canucks usually win the games they should win on the road, and they seem to have less weaknesses, though that one weakness is the goalie. The Seahawks defense is tattered, and the offense never seems to use as many weapons as they should. Koren was barely catching any passes at all the last couple weeks, and that seems like something that should never be passed over. It always seems like something's missing, whether it's Koren, whether it's Mo Morris out of the backfield, or whether it's throwing short passes to Shaun Alexander, which seems like it would work.
Okay, my Seattle Seahawks bitchfest is over for the time being. Move along now, nothing to see here...
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FRICK YOU, SHAWN SPRINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When this assclown came back from his little injuries, the Seahawks have not been the same football team.
Here's the evidence...
Rod Gardner TD when Springs interfered with him
It looks like Shawn's hanging on for dear life. I seriously can't wait until he's gone from Seattle.
Oh by the way, the Redskins beat the Seahawks 27-20. Seahawks fall to 6-3, and could be tied once again at the top of the NFC West if the Rams beat the Ravens later tonight.
As long as Shawn Springs is getting significant PT, this team is not a playoff contender. It's that simple.
Here's the evidence...
Rod Gardner TD when Springs interfered with him
It looks like Shawn's hanging on for dear life. I seriously can't wait until he's gone from Seattle.
Oh by the way, the Redskins beat the Seahawks 27-20. Seahawks fall to 6-3, and could be tied once again at the top of the NFC West if the Rams beat the Ravens later tonight.
As long as Shawn Springs is getting significant PT, this team is not a playoff contender. It's that simple.
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STATE OF MARINERALITY...ANGEL MOVES
Well, here's where I am with the Mariners right now. I'm on the fence about Billy Bavasi because obviously there's the two ways in which you can take his Angels GM tenure. I wish DePodesta, Antonetti, Ng, and others were interviewed, and when they weren't, I was quite displeased. When they came up with the final three of Avila, Looper, and Bavasi, I was somewhat incensed. I was even surprised that KJR's David Locke wasn't somehow pissed about all this (he was actually content with the final three candidates), because usually this is something he'd get worked up over. I think he's too wrapped up with the Sonics to really get into it, but who knows.
But I guess what I'm getting at here is that after four solid months of endless bitching about the Mariners and watching the ship sink, for just one moment, I want to not be pissed off. And until some moves are made, I'm just taking a tiny bit of respite from Mariner bitching, or at least bitching that has a lot of vitriol.
This was going to be the part where I was going to say I wasn't gonna bitch about Bavasi until he did something comparable to trading Jim Edmonds for Adam Kennedy and Kent Bottenfield (on the heels of a one-year wonder 18-7 season), but that was after Bavasi had fled the coop at the Big A.
So to kill some time here, I'm using the fairly-new Baseball-Reference.com transactions feature to look at some notable moves of 1994-1999, also known as the Bill Bavasi years in Anaheim.
Jan 31 1994: FA signing of Bo Jackson (Bo knows injuries)
Mar 28 1994: FA signing of Rex "Pot Fiend" Hudler
Jul 22 1994: claimed Bob Melvin off waivers, traded him to the White Sox for Jeff Schwarz
Oct 5 1994: cut loose Harold Reynolds, springboarding him to his future job on ESPN Baseball Tonight
Nov 20 1994: FA signing of Mitch Williams (still hadn't recovered from the Carter blast in the 1993 WS, never did)
Dec 14 1994: FA signing of Lee Smith (I bet they were thinking "two-headed closer monster" at this point)
--
Apr 13 1995: got Tony Phillips from the Tigers for Chad Curtis, effectively ending Chad Curtis' career (definitely the hype) as we knew it
Apr 16 1995: FA signing of (washed up) Rob Deer
Jun 1 1995: drafted Darin Erstad and Jarrod Washburn with their 1st- and 2nd-round picks (this one turned out okay)
Jun 19 1995: realized Mitch Williams and Rob Deer were washed up, released them
Jun 20 1995: amateur FA signing of Ramon Ortiz (this one turned out okay too)
Jul 27 1995: got Jim Abbott back and Tim Fortugno from the White Sox for McKay Christensen (#1 pick in the 1994 draft), John Snyder, Andrew Lorraine, and Bill Simas (none of these guys are in MLB anymore)
--
Jan 4 1996: FA re-sign of Chuck "Stabbed by Stilettos" Finley
Jan 9 1996: FA re-sign of Jim Abbott
Feb 15 1996: got Pep Harris and Jason Grimsley (still sucks) from the Indians for Brian Anderson (also still sucks)
May 27 1996: got Chuck McElroy from the Cubs for Lee Smith (do you realize that Greg McCarthy was the Mariners' version of Chuck McElroy?)
June 4 1996: drafted Scott Schoeneweis in the 3rd round (turned out somewhat okay, now a White Sock)
June 30 1996: FA signing of Vince Coleman (if you can't beat the Mariners, pluck someone from the 1995 team...)
Deadline day: got Greg Gohr from the Tigers for Damion Easley (also where Easley's career went to crap)
Nov 20 1996: FA signing of Dave Hollins (he'd lost his 1993 Phillies magic by this point)
Nov 26 1996: got Allen Watson and minor-leaguer Fausto Macey for JT Snow (all those Salmon/Snow/Edmonds baseball cards hailing the group were now all for naught)
Dec 5 1996: PTBNL deal; got Jim Leyritz from the Yanks for minor-leaguers Jeremy Blevins and Ryan Kane
Dec 18 1996: FA signing of Eddie Murray (who is NOT your new Orioles manager)
--
Jan 9 1997: FA signing of Shigetoshi Hasegawa (yeah, he turned out fairly well)
Mar 31 1997: cut Jim Abbott (he would still pitch with the White Sox and Brewers)
Apr 14 1997: PTBNL deal; traded minor-leaguer Travis Thurmond to the Giants for all-time Mariner great Rich DeLucia
May 18 1997: got Tony Phillips and Chad Kreuter from the White Sox for Chuck McElroy and Jorge Fabregas
Jun 3 1997: drafted Troy Glaus, Chone Figgins, Scot Shields (a contributor or three to your 2003 Mariner collapse)
Jul 29 1997: PTBNL deal; traded Jim Leyritz and minor-leaguer Rob Sasser to the Rangers for Ken Hill (Ken Hill, like so many of the players off the good early-90s Expos, SUCKED once he left Montreal)
Aug 13 1997: PTBNL deal; George Arias, Ryan Hancock, and minor-leaguer Stevenson Agosto to the Padres for Rickey Henderson
Aug 14 1997: Eddie Murray cut
Nov 15 1997: FA re-sign, Ken Hill (why?!!)
Dec 7 1997: FA re-sign, Rich DeLucia (he was still ML-calibre at this point?!)
Dec 11 1997: FA signing of Omar Olivares (I'd laugh here, but the Mariners had him at one point)
Dec 19 1997: FA signing of Cecil Fielder (yipe)
--
Feb 23 1998: FA signing of Steve Sparks (he's still playing, I'll give him that)
Feb 27 1998: FA signing of Jack McDowell
Apr 1 1998: cut Tony Phillips
Jun 25 1998: FA signing of Erik Hanson (deathly curveball with that 18-9 season for the ol' 1990 Mariners, but never pitched a game for the Angels)
July 30 1998: minor-leaguers Brian Tokarse and Jason Stocksill for Charlie O'Brien (this man brought the goalie-style catcher mask into baseball)
Aug 7 1998: waiver claim, Jeff Juden from the Brewers
Aug 10 1998: got Mike Fetters from Oakland, cut Cecil Fielder
Sep 24 1998: amateur FA signing, Francisco Rodriguez (your 2002 bending-the-rules late-season callup)
Nov 16 1998: cut Jeff Juden
Dec 11 1998: Mo Vaughn signing
Dec 23 1998: FA signing of Tim Belcher (this set up the bout with spinkicking Chan Ho Park)
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Mar 29 1999: traded Phil Nevin and minor-leaguer Keith Volkman to the Padres for Andy Sheets and minor-leaguer Gus Kennedy (someone once said on TV that Andy played like Sheets)
Mar 30 1999: Dave Hollins and cash to Toronto for Tomas Perez, finally cut Rich DeLucia
Jun 2 1999: drafted John Lackey and Alfredo Amezaga (once again, contributors to the 2003 demise of your Seattle Mariners)
Jul 29 1999: traded Omar Olivares and Randy Velarde to Oakland for Jeff Davanon and minor-leaguers Elvin Nina and Nathan Haynes
Aug 6 1999: cut Charlie O'Brien
Aug 9 1999: cut Jack McDowell (his contributions now appear at Yahoo Sports and on albums by his band Stickfigure)
Oct 1 1999: Bill Bavasi resigns as Angel GM
So there's the major moves that mean something from the Bavasi Angels era. I still wish I could pin the Bottenfield and Kennedy for Edmonds deal on him, but sadly, I can't.
But I guess what I'm getting at here is that after four solid months of endless bitching about the Mariners and watching the ship sink, for just one moment, I want to not be pissed off. And until some moves are made, I'm just taking a tiny bit of respite from Mariner bitching, or at least bitching that has a lot of vitriol.
This was going to be the part where I was going to say I wasn't gonna bitch about Bavasi until he did something comparable to trading Jim Edmonds for Adam Kennedy and Kent Bottenfield (on the heels of a one-year wonder 18-7 season), but that was after Bavasi had fled the coop at the Big A.
So to kill some time here, I'm using the fairly-new Baseball-Reference.com transactions feature to look at some notable moves of 1994-1999, also known as the Bill Bavasi years in Anaheim.
Jan 31 1994: FA signing of Bo Jackson (Bo knows injuries)
Mar 28 1994: FA signing of Rex "Pot Fiend" Hudler
Jul 22 1994: claimed Bob Melvin off waivers, traded him to the White Sox for Jeff Schwarz
Oct 5 1994: cut loose Harold Reynolds, springboarding him to his future job on ESPN Baseball Tonight
Nov 20 1994: FA signing of Mitch Williams (still hadn't recovered from the Carter blast in the 1993 WS, never did)
Dec 14 1994: FA signing of Lee Smith (I bet they were thinking "two-headed closer monster" at this point)
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Apr 13 1995: got Tony Phillips from the Tigers for Chad Curtis, effectively ending Chad Curtis' career (definitely the hype) as we knew it
Apr 16 1995: FA signing of (washed up) Rob Deer
Jun 1 1995: drafted Darin Erstad and Jarrod Washburn with their 1st- and 2nd-round picks (this one turned out okay)
Jun 19 1995: realized Mitch Williams and Rob Deer were washed up, released them
Jun 20 1995: amateur FA signing of Ramon Ortiz (this one turned out okay too)
Jul 27 1995: got Jim Abbott back and Tim Fortugno from the White Sox for McKay Christensen (#1 pick in the 1994 draft), John Snyder, Andrew Lorraine, and Bill Simas (none of these guys are in MLB anymore)
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Jan 4 1996: FA re-sign of Chuck "Stabbed by Stilettos" Finley
Jan 9 1996: FA re-sign of Jim Abbott
Feb 15 1996: got Pep Harris and Jason Grimsley (still sucks) from the Indians for Brian Anderson (also still sucks)
May 27 1996: got Chuck McElroy from the Cubs for Lee Smith (do you realize that Greg McCarthy was the Mariners' version of Chuck McElroy?)
June 4 1996: drafted Scott Schoeneweis in the 3rd round (turned out somewhat okay, now a White Sock)
June 30 1996: FA signing of Vince Coleman (if you can't beat the Mariners, pluck someone from the 1995 team...)
Deadline day: got Greg Gohr from the Tigers for Damion Easley (also where Easley's career went to crap)
Nov 20 1996: FA signing of Dave Hollins (he'd lost his 1993 Phillies magic by this point)
Nov 26 1996: got Allen Watson and minor-leaguer Fausto Macey for JT Snow (all those Salmon/Snow/Edmonds baseball cards hailing the group were now all for naught)
Dec 5 1996: PTBNL deal; got Jim Leyritz from the Yanks for minor-leaguers Jeremy Blevins and Ryan Kane
Dec 18 1996: FA signing of Eddie Murray (who is NOT your new Orioles manager)
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Jan 9 1997: FA signing of Shigetoshi Hasegawa (yeah, he turned out fairly well)
Mar 31 1997: cut Jim Abbott (he would still pitch with the White Sox and Brewers)
Apr 14 1997: PTBNL deal; traded minor-leaguer Travis Thurmond to the Giants for all-time Mariner great Rich DeLucia
May 18 1997: got Tony Phillips and Chad Kreuter from the White Sox for Chuck McElroy and Jorge Fabregas
Jun 3 1997: drafted Troy Glaus, Chone Figgins, Scot Shields (a contributor or three to your 2003 Mariner collapse)
Jul 29 1997: PTBNL deal; traded Jim Leyritz and minor-leaguer Rob Sasser to the Rangers for Ken Hill (Ken Hill, like so many of the players off the good early-90s Expos, SUCKED once he left Montreal)
Aug 13 1997: PTBNL deal; George Arias, Ryan Hancock, and minor-leaguer Stevenson Agosto to the Padres for Rickey Henderson
Aug 14 1997: Eddie Murray cut
Nov 15 1997: FA re-sign, Ken Hill (why?!!)
Dec 7 1997: FA re-sign, Rich DeLucia (he was still ML-calibre at this point?!)
Dec 11 1997: FA signing of Omar Olivares (I'd laugh here, but the Mariners had him at one point)
Dec 19 1997: FA signing of Cecil Fielder (yipe)
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Feb 23 1998: FA signing of Steve Sparks (he's still playing, I'll give him that)
Feb 27 1998: FA signing of Jack McDowell
Apr 1 1998: cut Tony Phillips
Jun 25 1998: FA signing of Erik Hanson (deathly curveball with that 18-9 season for the ol' 1990 Mariners, but never pitched a game for the Angels)
July 30 1998: minor-leaguers Brian Tokarse and Jason Stocksill for Charlie O'Brien (this man brought the goalie-style catcher mask into baseball)
Aug 7 1998: waiver claim, Jeff Juden from the Brewers
Aug 10 1998: got Mike Fetters from Oakland, cut Cecil Fielder
Sep 24 1998: amateur FA signing, Francisco Rodriguez (your 2002 bending-the-rules late-season callup)
Nov 16 1998: cut Jeff Juden
Dec 11 1998: Mo Vaughn signing
Dec 23 1998: FA signing of Tim Belcher (this set up the bout with spinkicking Chan Ho Park)
--
Mar 29 1999: traded Phil Nevin and minor-leaguer Keith Volkman to the Padres for Andy Sheets and minor-leaguer Gus Kennedy (someone once said on TV that Andy played like Sheets)
Mar 30 1999: Dave Hollins and cash to Toronto for Tomas Perez, finally cut Rich DeLucia
Jun 2 1999: drafted John Lackey and Alfredo Amezaga (once again, contributors to the 2003 demise of your Seattle Mariners)
Jul 29 1999: traded Omar Olivares and Randy Velarde to Oakland for Jeff Davanon and minor-leaguers Elvin Nina and Nathan Haynes
Aug 6 1999: cut Charlie O'Brien
Aug 9 1999: cut Jack McDowell (his contributions now appear at Yahoo Sports and on albums by his band Stickfigure)
Oct 1 1999: Bill Bavasi resigns as Angel GM
So there's the major moves that mean something from the Bavasi Angels era. I still wish I could pin the Bottenfield and Kennedy for Edmonds deal on him, but sadly, I can't.