Well, my offseason plan didn't exactly come into fruition, now did it? Of course, neither did Dave Cameron's plan, whose thoughts are more widely read, if not more respected. Heck, I don't know anyone who predicted that our offseason signings would include Jarrod Washburn, Matt Lawton, and Carl Everett (a lot of people indeed foresaw the Kenji Johjima signing). I had a hunch that Bavasi was going to go after Washburn, but I was plugging my ears in a Veda Sultenfuss manner, hoping it wouldn't come true. I certainly wouldn't mind a few more tweaks, but only if it involves people other than Jeremy Reed. Only way I'm OK with 'em trading Reed is if the last name Lester or Papelbon is headed to Seattle. I'd give this offseason, so far, a C- grade. Sans Johjima, though, it's probably a D- at best. I hope this team surprises us in a good way during 2006. I'm not expecting much.

Sammy Sosa, he of corked bat fame, and Rafael Palmeiro, he of one flunked steroids test (and several passed tests, both before and after the failed one), are both still available for the taking. Both are sliding quickly down that slope that takes shape in the mid-30's. It seems like only yesterday I was sifting through packs of 1987 baseball cards looking for Palmeiro, McGwire, Canseco, Mattingly, Boggs, Clemens, Will Clark and any other card that was worth more than 25 cents. What I ended up with, though, was more of the Larry Parrish, Kent Tekulve, Mookie Wilson and Rance Mulliniks variety. That was about the time I was really getting into baseball, having spent most of my youth as a Seahawks and Sonics fan. It was still a good eight years before that magical '95 season, and even four years before they had their first winning season. Now, those guys are retiring, and heck, even Will Clark, Walt Weiss, Albert Belle, Doc Gooden, Gregg Jeffries, Hal Morris, and Gary DiSarcina are on the HOF ballot for the first time (and Mattingly has been knocking for 6 years now). A few of 'em might receive a vote or two, but I would be very, very surprised to see any of 'em get in. I'd likely only vote for Mattingly, myself.

Other than that, it's pretty quiet around M'sville. Unless you load their freakin' home page and have your speakers on. That bugs me to this day!

Wow. A quick post on Sunday night before I hit the hay.

I'm still in shock at the direction that Bill Bavasi has taken the Mariners this winter. The Kenji Johjima signing, I'm convinced, is a great, great move. He wanted to come here, and we obliged. Certainly there's risk involved, but this is the kind of risk I'm willing to take. A great player making a switch, generally works out well. Aaaah. Progress...

Then there's those days that you wish you could go back and just redo until you get it right. Kind of like the movie Groundhog day. I'd like to expand that a bit, though, and just redo this whole week. With the impending addition of Jarrod Washburn, Deanna's fluttering heart aside, I think most M's bloggers, and even most non-blogging M's fans in general, are really scratching heads. Signing a 35-year-old veteran very much in the decline phase of his career? Giving a BOR starter, with declining peripheral stats (looking more and more like Ryan Franklin's), and questionable health a 4-year borderline ace's contract? It seems these moves are huge steps backwards.

I'm really starting to feel pessimistic about 2006 (and beyond). Someone, I'm sure, can find my comment something like this: Washburn + Old-ish LF = not-really-OK offseason; Washburn + Weaver + decent LF = OK offseason; Millwood + Weaver + decent LF = pretty good offseason. It's looking more and more like the not-really-OK offseason is what we're going to see.

Yikes.

I know it's not time to throw in the towel yet -- both Millwood and Weaver are still on the board. And, it's not like the M's are a poor club. They're just acting poor, and making poor decisions. If, as is supposed, the Reed-for-Arroyo rumors are true, well, then they really are not thinking clearly. Reed's bat disappointed me about as much as Beltre's. But both guys are too good to give up on so quickly. And both of them still have upside.

And, if Washburn is indeed on board, both of them will be tremendously more valuable in preventing runs defensively. If you're going to trade Reed, Bill, bring us Papelbon or Lester. That'd at least financially be a wash. You could then throw the extra 2.5-$3 million into the leftover pot and see if Weaver would take $7-8 million next year (and even more in 2007). Even if you had to throw in some cash to get rid of Pineiro (hopefully for a young power bat of some sort, preferrably in the OF), a rotation of Felix/Moyer/Washburn/Weaver/Papelbon (or Lester) would be pretty darn effective. Of course, we'd still have to find an outfielder or two on the cheap.

Yikes.

Considering how many posts we've seen here from someone other than me, I'm not sure if Corco and Citizen K are still around these parts, but I do know they're very much alive (click their names if you don't believe me). I'd like to hear CK's take on Everett's signing, since something tells me this isn't exactly the type of guy CK really wants on the team. I'd be very surprised if he even knows about it, though, with his succombing to the Seahawks' ideology and all -- for good reason, of course. But, then, I digress...

Corco and I had the pleasure of attending the last Rainiers game of the season, sitting smack dab behind home plate. It was Game 4 of the PCL title game, and although we got there in the 5th inning (due to Corco's plane landing in the middle of rush hour traffic -- er, um, I mean landing at Sea-Tac during the time in which I-5 traffic is, well, difficult), we nearly got our 9 innings in.

The Rainiers were down in the series 3-0 and needed the victory to avoid being swept. They were down in the game when PositivePaul's favorite current M's minor leaguer TJ Bohn tied the ball game with a double in the 7th. The Rainiers battled the Nashville Sounds, while the guy behind us kept shouting "Knox -- YER OUT!" to Ryan Knox (who was called out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch in th 5th -- just as Corco and Paul were arriving), and PositivePaul was acting Corco's age by serenading Corey Hart with "I Wear my Sunglasses At Night" and Steve Scarborough with the Simon & Garfunkel classic "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" every time both of them reached the on-deck circle. It really was a good duel, until the 13th.

Andrew Lorraine came in to relieve Sean Green. A-Cab's throwing error might've thrown Lorraine off, though it likely will surprise no one that he walked the next batter (Tony Zuniga). Of course, he could've just as easily been distracted by my yelling "Hey Lorraine -- Ya better get this guy out, 'cause Baek's warming up. Ya don't want Baek to finish it for ya!" Whatever the reason, there were now two on for the hottest hitter in the PCL, Nelson Cruz. Sure enough, Rohn (in a move that still baffles me to this day, but shouldn't be surprising with Rohn's interesting style of making sure he uses 4-5 pitchers in every game) brought in Baek.

I forget how many pitches it took, but (to borrow from Darth Sidious, aka Emporer Palpatine) everything proceeded exactly as I'd forseen. Baek gave up the 3-run HR that eventually cost the Rainiers the game. And the PCL title. And the season. I don't know if that was more fitting, though, than a bloated Bucky's pinch-hit strikeout to really end the game (with Justin Leone on).

As we stood up from our seats, we turned to each other and (I'm not sure who initiated it, but we both were thinking the same thing) said "Baek will be one of the first DFA's of the offseason". Well, we were wrong -- there were others that went first -- but still, to make a long story short, we both got our wish today. Baek has finally been DFA'd, to make room for Carl Everett.

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't want to be arrested for providing alcohol to a minor. Since I have neither the cash nor the vacation leave to fly to Germany (where the drinking age is more relaxed) when you finally turn 21, Corco, we will settle this mutual debt :-)

From the press release:

"Today, we achieved one of our offseason goals," Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said
...
"Having him in my lineup gives us some of the left-handed sock and run production we were looking for," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said.

Well, duh.

I mean, technically, Bavasi DID get us lefty sock. When you break things down statistically, Everett does bat left-handed (being a switch-hitter and all). Add that together with the fact that he most recently played for the White "Socks" -- which, as one member of that team, makes him a "sock."

(above originally posted over at the SportSpot M's forum)

My take on all of this?

Here's a couple of theories I've got floating around. These are based on several conversations I've had with other folks in blogs and forums, as well as pure speculation...

1) Howard Lincoln wanted to show the M's fans that he's OK with signing someone who is (in all fairness here) perceived as being a bad apple.

2) Mike Hargrove wanted him very, very, very badly. He was available, and didn't require a long-term commitment (unlike MarinersMorsels endorsed Lefty OF/DH Sock Jeromy Burnitz -- who reportedly disappeared off the M's radar the moment he demanded a multi-year deal). So, Bill obliged his field general.

3) There are many more moves on the horizon. Without spilling a ton of beans or opening a can of worms, (nor is it, really, that huge of a secret), Jeremy Reed is actually actively being shopped. His name is coming up in conversations, whether it's out of the other teams' mouths, or out of Bavasi's. It's very clear he's available. I've heard some buzzings of other potential moves, that if they go down, would actually likely pleasantly surprise most M's bloggers.

4) The absolute only way I can accept this as a positive is if Everett is a bench bat, replacing "lefty sweet swinger" Dobby the Bench Elf, with a few starts in LF/DH. But, even so, at $3 million, that's an expensive bench bat. And, of course, that's turning a blind eye towards the personality issues.

With a name like PositivePaul, I've been accused of being an optimist. I guess this post can be proof that even when I'm very, very, very frustrated, I can try to shed some positive light on things.

In the end, though, I really haven't seen anyone who is terribly excited about this signing. I've heard overwhelming frustration, and more people who are inclined to turn away from the M's rather than return to them. And I'm not just talking about from the blogs & forums. Absolutely none of my M's-loving coworkers had anything that you could construe as a positive response.

That's probably not quite the reaction you want to get out of your customers.

Well, it's taken me this long to throw together my thoughts on what the M's should do to build their 2006 club. Obviously my thoughts have changed quite a bit, mostly because of the actions that have already taken place, but also because of new discussions I've had around the blogs.

Without further adieu, I present my version of the 2006 M's. It includes what I believe is reasonable, as far as who the M's might actually be targeting, and at what cost.

I'll start with the offense:

Starters:
1) RF Ichiro Suzuki (signed)
2) CF Jeremy Reed (signed)
3) LF Jeremy Burnitz (1 year, $4 million, with 2nd year team option for $4.5 million, $500K buyout. Lefty sock, decent OF that won't kill us, and could even be above average.)
4) 1B Richie Sexson (Signed)
5) 2B Jose Lopez (signed)
6) SS Yuniesky Betancourt (signed)
7) 3B Adrian Beltre (signed)
8) C Kenji Johjima (3-year deal $16.5 million total, 2006 salary: $5.1 million + incentives to bring to max of $5.5 million)
9) DH Raul Ibanez (signed)

Bench:
10) Rene Rivera (signed)
11) Willie Bloomquist (signed through arbitration years: 2+ year $1.9-3.2 million total; $800 K in 2006; $1.1 million 2007; $1.3 million 2008 team option. His defensive ability in multiple positions and baserunning skills are indeed worth that much to me.)
12) Mike Morse (signed)
13) Shin-Soo Choo (signed)

Comments:
I expect heavy criticism for "coveting" Burnitz. I don't like him, per se, but I do like him better than Jones. His defense is very solid, and a 90 point righty/lefty split in OPS (favoring righties vs. lefties), is MUCH more tolerable than a 215 point split. Then there's that whole contract length thing. No way Jones takes anything less than 3 years. Burnitz would jump at an option year, even if there's very little chance the M's exercise it. That would make it $4.5 million total for 2006 (since the option would be declined in 2006, in the M's funky accounting stuff it would count towards the 2006 budget and not 2007's ;-). That's a 10% pay cut over what he got from Chicago, and probably max what he gets. Even though he's in decline, he still could hit 30+ homers with 1/2 his games in lefty-hitter-friendly Safeco. That'll be double what we got out of LF in 2005, and, quite frankly, still more than what Jacque Jones (and platoon mate) would give ya -- with only a slight loss in defense.

I also know the bench still doesn't have much in the way of pinch hitting. Since Grover is convinced he needs a 12-man pitching staff, I don't see the M's doing much different here. My wildcard is Choo, who, really, I'm taking a total stab with here. I can see the M's getting a bench guy for Torrealba (who I'm assuming is traded before the season starts, hence listing Rivera on the bench), so Choo's spot is written in the lightest of pencil marks. Personally, I'd prefer Bohn, but he likely needs a full season in AAA before that happens.

Finally, I know with Part 1, I pretty firmly inked Torrealba in as the starter, but that was weeks before I knew about KJ as even a possibility (nevermind that I started this list with 10% of the season remaining). I obviously was wrong with Ojeda being his backup, too, but it was, in my opinion, closer to the 50.00000001% part of the "More Likely than Not."

Noticibly absent: Greg Dobbs (Tacoma), Jamal Strong (leaves via minor league free agency). Bucky Jacobsen is already gone, and will not return. Please pray that he doesn't pull another David Arias on us (though at least we got something -- Dave Hollins -- for Arias).

Now on to the Pitching Staff

Starting Rotation (not in any order)
1) Felix Hernandez (signed)
2) Joel Pineiro (signed)
3) Jamie Moyer (1+ year deal; $3 million base, to reach $5 million with incentives; Team option 2nd year, same $5 million max, $500K buyout)
4) Kevin Millwood (4 years $45 million; 2006 salary: $8 million + $5 million signing bonus*; 2007-2009 salaries: $9, 11, 12 million team option, $1 million buyout)
5) Jeff Weaver (4 years, $32 million; 2006 salary: $5 million + $3 million signing bonus*; 2007-2009 salaries: $7, 8, 9 million team option, $750K buyout)

Bullpen (not in order)
6) Eddie Guardado (signed)
7) George Sherrill (signed)
8) Rafael Soriano (signed)
9) Jeff Harris (signed)
10) JJ Putz (signed)
11) Scott Atchison (signed)
12) Matt Thornton (signed)

Comments
AJ Burnett would be my first choice over Millwood. However, I see him getting 5+ years and at least $13 million per. The M's aren't going to spend that much on him. Considering Bavasi's amicable relationship with Boras, I see Boras sending two of his clients the M's way. Millwood, then, becomes the first target for the M's. It's not surprising at all to hear from Morosi, that indeed this is the case. I know the contracts are a little weird, and now to explain the signing bonuses (*). One thing that Lincoln has said is that the M's "close the books" from year to year. Money budgeted, but not spent, from one year does not, according to him, get carried into the next. However, he's also made it very clear that the M's owners do not pull profits out of the team -- that all the profits get poured back into the team. Interesting paradox, this is.

So, I'm throwing in some signing bonuses that could come out of 2006's budget, the leftovers of 2005 (since, if both of these guys sign in 2005, technically that's still 2005's budget, right?), or that secret "stash" of profits that they pull international signing fees and what have you out of. If you exclude the signing bonuses (yet include incentives, as the M's tend to do for public budgeting purposes), the total addition to payroll is $18 million for pitching and $9.1 for offense -- a total of ~$27 million.

Why Jeff Weaver? you ask... Well, I honestly believe Boras wants to give us two of his pitchers. I'm narrowing this down between Washburn and Weaver, and if given that choice, I'd take Weaver -- merely for durability's sake. Of course, if his client over in Japan does end up getting posted, for some unexpected reason, the M's will bid very, very highly for his services. Boras would know this, of course, at least as certainly as he can know it before picking out a nice pitcher from his portfolio. I'm about 90% confident, though, that Dice-K won't be posted this offseason. Maybe next year, when Moyer finally decides to hang 'em up...

As Choo is my 13th bat, and written in pencil, Matt Thornton is my 12th pitcher. He could be replaced several ways. Trade Gil Meche or Julio Mateo to Florida for Ron Villone, and have RV take Thornton's spot (Thornton, then, would be non-tendered/DFA'd).

Noticably Absent: Gil Meche (traded for prospects), Julio Mateo (traded for prospects); Ryan Franklin (Non-Tendered as quickly as you can say "Buh_" as in "Buh-Bye!"). These three moves probably whack close to $5 million off the budget (which would help defray the signing bonuses).

Final thought: I don't believe we'll make any major trades to bring in a starting pitcher or a LF/DH guy. We might pick up a bench bat, but are we really going to sacrifice a lot of our already-weakened farm system to pick up someone who might help for a year or two? I wouldn't. Nor do I think we should create holes (CF, 2B, 3B) by trading to fill another.

There. I'm done. Now it's your turn to slam these thoughts.

News today that Giles has re-signed with the Padres sent lots of armchair M's GMs scrambling. Certainly Brian Giles would be a good fit at that contract with the M's. I've believed all along, though, that no matter how much dough they threw at him, he'd never become a Mariner. He's had them in his no-trade clauses, and has repeated several times that he didn't want to join Seattle.

Earlier this week, too, Esteban Loaiza crossed over to the dark side and joined our AL West archrivals, the A's. That followed the trades of Thome and Delgado, two targets the M's reportedly were looking to trade for.

The free agents and trading targets get snatched up, and the anxiety level increases for M's fans everywhere. One of my heroes once said: "Be Not Afraid!" The pickin's aren't quite day-after-Thanksgiving slim. Yet.

As I convinced myself over at Dr. Detecto's laboratory, the M's would be best served to upgrade their rotation. In this year's FA market, it'd be easier to upgrade the runs prevented total than the runs scored -- and by that I'm talking about through pitching. Both Burnett and Millwood are still available for the taking. It's not time to panic until both of these guys are off the board, and neither of them come to the M's. I'm quite confident that Bavasi's positive relationship with Boras will keep us in the running for Millwood (and the other pitchers in his portfolio, who, while not really quite in Millwood's echelon would still be upgrades over our current rotation) until the end. Although Burnett would be my first pitching target, I'm confident he'll reel in a monster salary that would be too risky for me to be comfortable with. My stretched-to-the-limit-in-a-HUGELY-over-inflated-market maximum would be 5/$70 million for Burnett. I wouldn't like it, but if that's what it takes, that's as high as I'd go.

What if we were able to land both of them? We've got some chips to trade to pull in a regular left fielder. Jacque Jones will be too expensive, and isn't a good fit. Jeromy Burnitz is my first choice, but if we are somehow able to miraculously land both Millwood and Burnett, there wouldn't be room for the $3-4 million I'd throw at him for a year or two. I'm sure Bavasi could find a match in the trade market.

Seriously though, folks -- DON'T PANIC! There's lots of time left on the clock, and lots of options yet. It's not like January 2004, when most of the free agents had already signed, and Kazu decided to go back to Japan, leaving the M's with an extra $8.5 million to spend in a nearly-empty candy store. I trust Bavasi, who knows his job is under serious scrutiny, and even, to a certain extent, Howard Lincoln, who's a shrewd businessman, and knows he needs to improve the RIS* bottom line...

Edited 10:33 a.m. 12/1/05 to add:
According to Corey Brock, the M's are interested in reacquainting with Ron Villone. Now, if that happens, it may be time to panic. The M's have shown that they're not going to let Thornton go. I know that George just absolutely dominates lefties (okay, sample size here...), but he handles righties better than his 2.06 WHIP in 17 innings shows. Now, I'm sure he's probably fine with any role, as long as he's in the majors. But, folks, I'm telling you. He's got closers' stuff. He's much more valuable to the M's as a relief ace (i.e. setup guy/closer) than merely as a LOOGY.

So, if RV comes back, I'm a little bit nervous that they'll bump George back down to Tacoma (because he's still got options) instead of carrying 4 lefties in the 'pen. If they bring back RV to replace Nelson or Shiggy (or Mateo, if he's traded), then George is probably safe in Seattle (as a LOOGY). RV is probably the pitching equivalent of Mark Maclemore or Stan Javier, and I'd definitely rather have him back than Thornton, Nelson or Shiggy. But, if it means that George is sent to Tacoma, or (less so) continues to be relegated to the LOOGY role, then I'm either completely ticked or, at least, not so thrilled.

*Rumps In Seats

Now, I have no earthly idea what the exact translation of that means, nor do I even know how to spell it correctly. Maybe Deanna or someone else can help edit -- THANKS DEANNA! Indeed, it's spelled with an "r" at the end. I do know that it loosely means something along the lines of "I am crazy!" or "My Name is Really Silly!" At least that's what the Japanese exchange students I hung out with in college told me, and always giggled thoroughly whenever I said it -- especially when I'd walk up to their friends (who didn't know me yet) out of the blue. I'm certainly no expert in Japanese culture and, though I've studied linguistics a bit, Japanese language, but I have spent a lot of time with Japanese exchange students. So, I'm not completely naive, either.

The M's continue to show goodwill towards players in the NPB, and have signed Kenji Jo(h)jima to a 3-year contract. According to Art Thiel, in Out of Left Field, the majority Japanese owner (who since has transferred his personal shares of the team to the company he owns, Nintendo) never gets involved with the day-to-day operations of the team. The only time he wants to be involved in decision-making is with Japanese players. One can assume that he personally wanted the M's to add the 7-time NPB Gold Glove winner, 6-time NPB All Star to their fold. So, really, this move might be less of a Bavasi move than a Yamauchi move.

But the risk involved certainly is Bavasi-esque.

Being the first catcher to come over from Japan, there has been some concern about the language barrier that would throw some extra difficulty above and beyond the bigger hurdle of having to a) learn a pitching staff (that will undergo, hopefully, a huge turnover in the starting rotation) and how to get them back to pitching effectively, and b) learn the tendencies of the hitters in MLB, and how to get them out. Those two things require much more discussion, and are much more of a legitimate concern than the perceived language problem. I will say this, though -- we all respect Ichiro for being a heady, intelligent, serious, and focused baseball player. Our new catcher shares these qualities, from what I've heard, with Ichiro. I don't think this will be a huge problem.

Now, back to that perceived language barrier...

So, here's how we fix it. Over at ITP, I proposed that we teach our pitchers a few lines of Japanese:

So there's three words for fast ball; two words for curve ball; one or two words for slider; and one word for change up. Doing my quick math, that's like 6-7 total Japanese words our pitchers would have to learn. I know we're all anglo-centric and such, but that'd be easy enough. Heck, Jojima could practically yell out the Japanese terms to the pitcher (unless either Matsui's in the park, or Valentine comes back to manage in the U.S.) for a few games at least.

Taking this a bit further -- can you imagine Ryan Franklin's accent? Dude would struggle with the Nihongo, I'm sure ;-) I can just see the confused look on Matt Thornton's face when Jojima approaches the mound with a deep glare on his face (only partially hidden from his catcher's mask), yelling quite irately: Aredama! Aredama! It might actually help Matt to get some Japanese lessons. That's a word I'm sure he'll figure out rather quickly...

Still, joking aside, I'm certain his baseball English is good enough to say what he needs to say. And, I'm sure his fingers won't need a translator -- 1 still means "fastball" in Japan, right?

Let's take this a step further. We all know Jamie Moyer's going to be back with the M's in 2006, right? Good. We also all know that part of a catcher's job is to know when to go out to the mound to calm a pitcher down when he's struggling, right? Good. So, here's a potential future mound conversation between Jamie and KJ:

KJ: Dude. Ooh la LA!
JM: Cracks a big smile, and starts chuckling... Arigato(u), Jo(h)jima-san. I'll give 'im my fastball.
KJ: Ui!

Hey -- with all the Spanish-speaking folks around (including the pitching coach), why stop at English and Spanish?

Well, here it is almost exactly 2 months since I posted part 2a of what I expected out of the current M's in 2006 (starting with the offense). I finally got around to finishing my predictions of what the current M's pitchers will do in 2006. You can find it here.

I've included a few notes on what I think the M's need -- but this is based solely on my 2006 forecasts for the pitchers that are available as free agents. I have no clue whatsoever what the trade market might bring, so it'd be tough to speculate what might be available. I will say this, though: Unless we get both Millwood and Burnett (and, as is assumed here, keep Moyer around), the 2006 M's pitching staff will still be quite shaky.

Marc W mentioned this first in the USSM Comments, and after thinking about it, this seems like a great choice as an NRI or even a cheap 1 year deal. Marrero said he would be willing to catch some when BAL picked him up last year, although he never appeared behind the plate. If his defense is even serviceable back there, he would make an awesome vs LHP half of a platoon behind the plate, and on other days, he'd be the super duper versatile Lefty Masher a la Greg Colbrunn (plus versatility) who can come in vs some other teams LOOGY and strike fear into the hearts of opposing hitters, while also being able to play the outfield and 1st base. If Marrero is willing to catch, and if his defense is half-OK back there, and I have no reason to believe that it isn't, except for his reluctance the last couple of years to catch, I think Seattle would be a great place for him to get his career as a useful bench player back on track. The team would have better bench use, as they probably wouldn't have to carry a "true" backup catcher, if they had Marrero, which would be really cool, essentially opening another bench spot. I'm a big fan of the Eli Marrero/Robert Fick type catcher who can do more than just catch. Andy Dominique could be another bargain option for an NRI bench bat/offensive minded backup C.

As many of you know, my favorite NL team is the Cardinals. And, as you should know, semi-historic Busch Stadium is being demolished soon. The Cardinals have several items up for auction from Busch. Now, there are many, many things I'd love to bid on, but one in particular stands out.

Imagine the stories you could tell, being the proud owner of this item:



Ooh -- new idea for game-used baseball card? Albert Pujols game-peed urinal!

I'm so buying this!

(or not)

Edit: I can't believe this thing sold for $2,173.82. That's a lot of coinage for a place to pee. Even if Albert Pujols peed there...

Wow, I'm really having a hard time completing things at home. I'm finishing up my blogging app and my thoughts on what the M's can, should, and will do this offseason about as fast as I've completed that post on why I believed Richie Sexson was a better signing for the M's than Carlos Delgado. And, I just noticed that it's darn near been 2 weeks since I posted anything on this blog.

So, while I have flooded the typical blogs with my comments (and even added a few thoughts on the Seahawks, who finally totally rock this year), I still have many other thoughts that need to be down.

One thing I still can't get out of my head, even a week later, is that the M's jettisoned Bobby Madritsch. What a stupid, stupid move!

Back in 2002, Bobby Madritsch and George Sherrill were teammates on the Northern (Independent) League's Winnipeg Goldeneyes. Lead by Bobby's Northern League record-breaking strikeouts (and recepient of Baseball America's IL Player of the Year award), and George's 38 appearances, the Goldeneyes darn near won the Northern League championship! Brilliant scout Charlie Kerfield (now with the Padres) signed both Bobby and George to come pitch for the M's. It's no secret that Bobby and George are really good friends.

I realize that I'm probably a little biased, considering the connection between George and Bobby (and my general fandom for George in particular), but I'm still really disappointed in the M's for letting Bobby go. I'm sure there's more to the story than I'll ever know, but it doesn't entirely appear that Bavasi was merely trying to slip Bobby through the waiver radar.

Does this move mean that Bavasi didn't believe Bobby would ever pitch again, in any capacity? I'm not a fly inside the walls of Bavasi's skull, so I can't answer that. But, still, Bobby had scheduled surgery this offseason, and was in line to be rehabbed enough to give it a go in Spring Training. Certainly his injury concerns are quite high. He's battled injury forever, causing two MLB clubs now to give up on him, in spite of being an awesome pitcher when healthy.

I'm still perplexed as to why Bavasi saw the risk of waiving Bobby (to clear a 40-man spot) higher than:

• waiving a sucky, yet healthy, Matt Thornton, when Bobby clearly could've taken Thornton's innings as a more effective lefty reliever.
  
• waiving a totally sucky, suspiciously "healthy" Cha Seung Baek, when Baek's best hope is to become a poor man's Ryan Franklin.
• waiving an older, ineffective Masao Kida, when you've got a glut of righty relievers who can take his place.
• waiving an easily-replacable Ramon Santiago, who's slipped several times through the waiver wires already.

There are other alternatives, of course, but any one of these four moves would've been a much better idea, and an easier idea, than waiving an effective-when-healthy Bobby Madritsch. I would totally be shocked to see Bobby Madritsch throw 160+ innings in 3 consecutive years as a starting pitcher, even in Kansas City. But that's not the point. If you have concerns about Bobby's health, then move him into the bullpen.

I generally like Bill Bavasi as the GM for the Mariners. In this case, though, I want some answers to my disappointment.

I've decided to re-name this blog's a.k.a. "Free George Sherrill!" This is for two reasons (in order):

1) It's not a total given that George will remain with the club for the entire 2006 season. For some strange reason, the M's seem content with keeping Matt Thornton on the roster. I can partially justify this -- they've spent tons of money on him, he doesn't have any options left, and other than George, there aren't any lefty relievers in the M's farm system that he's really blocking. It doesn't excuse the fact that he's just not a very good pitcher, and likely won't become one. He may suck, but at least he doesn't pretend he doesn't and whine and moan about it like the delusional Ryan "Flyball" Franklin does.

However, there's no excuse for George Sherrill to be held back in 2006. Okay, so his ERA was a little high. He can be forgiven for giving up a few runs without making an out on the last game of the season, when half of the team was already in the clubhouse packing up their stuff. And, Jeff Nelson still owes George a steak dinner for bloating his ERA by giving up a grand slam with a few of George's runners aboard...

2) I've decided to give some money to one of my favorite baseball sites. Baseball-Reference.com is a wonderful free site that I use all the time. There are other sites I use, too, but I find myself loading them most frequently. When I saw George Sherrill's page available for sponsorship, I figured, hey -- there's a good use of $5! The fact that it only cost me $5 to sponsor his page, when it (currently) costs $60 to sponsor Felix's, shows just how underrated George truly is. Here's to hoping it costs $20 next season.

Granted, that only brings it up to Rich Aurillia, Mario Mendoza, Christian Guzman, and Matt Lecroy territory -- but hey, Jason Isringhausen and Mike Jackson, not to mention HOF'ers Heine Manush, Jim Bottomley and Earl "Pride of Snohomish" are also $20 pages. And that's a step above the $15 level, which gives you Scott Spiezio, Jarrod "Blue Eyes" Washburn (hint, hint, Deanna!), Kevin "Greek God of Walks" Youkalis, and B.J. "Hey, PositivePaul Drafted Me in the Third Round of the Seattle PI Blog Yahoo Fantasy Baseball League -- and Still Won The Title!" Upton.

So, hey! Visit George's page a ton, so it gets popular. And pray that George stays healthy, and can stick in Seattle next season.

I just want to take a quick commercial break between my thoughts on what the M's have, need, and where to find it. I want to give a quick shout out to three totally sweet blogs that I've started reading on a more consistent basis. Of course, since this blog is basically crumbs on the floor of the M's blogosphere, you're probably already aware of them, but in case you haven't read them (or even if you have), I'd like to give them my full endorsement. All of these places are most excellent diversions from the Seattle dailies, especially while Finnegan, Kelley, Moore and Levesque are still writing about M's baseball.

Seattle Marinerds
Deanna has totally established herself as the M's version of Batgirl. You'll find a wide variety of things to entertain you, including Song Parodies, In-depth Game Reports (from someone who was actually there most of the time!) , and even pictures. We'll forgive her for being a Phillies fan (not that there's really anything wrong with that -- though my favorite NL team is the Cardinals), but it's totally cool having the male-dominated M's blogosphere represented from the female perspective, and from a self-professed Nerd (of which I totally can relate).

Nice Guys Finish Third
Paul's been a-bloggin for a long time, and he updates his site very frequently with excellent, well-thought-out ideas. Nevermind that he slightly rips off his blog name from one of my all time favorite people in baseball, ever: Leo Durocher. I'm completely sold on that idea, and I always have been. Like my mateys over at Sports & Bremertonians, he's also a HUGE Almost Live! fan. Did I mention his cool first name ;-)

Detect-O-Vision
Two words: Brilliance! (okay, so that's just one word -- that blog, and Dr. Detecto doesn't need another)

--------------------------------

With that said, I'm still collecting info, formulating thoughts, and looking for time (especially since I've been flying solo all week, throwing my schedule completely out of whack) to finish my discussion here. I'll try to wrap things up shortly. Grrr.

Okay, so I've taken a stab at what players I believe will still be around next season, and the likelihood of them remaining with the team. For Part 2, I'd like to take a stab at what I believe will happen with these players -- looking only at those players who I believe are more likely than not to stay with the team. Part 2a, here first, will address the offense.

For the offense, I'll use some counting stats and some rate stats. I'm not smart enough to get into VORP or other stuff, so I'll just look at the stuff that most everyday, ESPN-reading-level baseball fans can relate to. The last column is an overall rating with the player in comparison with their 2005 season.

Edit: I've spent several hours trying to format this to work in Blogger, but it's not working. Ugh. I HATE, HATE, HATE Blogger! Please forgive this mess below. I really wanted to get this out in a timely fashion -- normally I'd not put something so sloppy out, but I'm losing my cohesive thoughtfulness, and I'd rather get that down and put that out, than spend many more hours fighting Blogger. I'll try to get this out soon either in PDF or a link to another HTML page that I have much more control over...

Well, I've cleaned this up a little bit, and saved it to a REAL HTML file, which can be found here (turn off, temporarily, pop-up blockers if it doesn't open).

Okay, so the 2005 M's are officially losers, and I now officially owe my coworker 10 bucks¹. So, with that in mind, and with 16 games left, it's time to get a head start on the Hot Stove League.

I'm opening up the discussion, then, on what to do for next season. I want to first look at what we know we'll have, and what can be expected from them, before we look at what we need and where to find it.

The following list is what we have already have⁵, and the likelihood each player in every category will remain with the team in 2006, and start the season on the 25-man roster. It does not include guys who are currently injured and may join the team later in the season (even if that means a few weeks later)².

Offense

---

Most definitely on the team next year (90-95% probability)
The other 5% -- knock on wood, stroke a lucky rabbit's foot, avoid ladders & black cats -- leaves the door open for unmentionable stuff that could happen between now and the start of next season, and because nothing is for certain in baseball. Other than that, though, these guys are definitely guaranteed roster spots, and there's virtually no chance these guys are traded.

1) Ichiro, RF
2) Sexson, 1B

Most likely on the team (75-90% probability)
Guys that aren't sure locks for a roster spot, but could be traded (however unlikely it is), non-tendered, or otherwise. It's highly unlikely they'll be traded, non-tendered, or otherwise, mind you, but it's certainly not totally unreasonable to believe there's a chance. Of course, the extra 5% from above applies here (and in all of the subsequent categories).

3) Torrealba, C
4) Adrian Beltre, 3B
5) Raul Ibanez, LF/DH
6) Jeremy Reed, CF
7) Jose Lopez, 2B
8) Yuniesky Betancourt, SS

More likely than not, they're on the team (50-75%)
These guys would be hard to get rid of: either they have a guaranteed contract, or they may have strong advocates somewhere in the front office. Doesn't mean they should be with the team, mind you, but it's more likely than not that they will.

9) Willie Bloomquist, UTIL
10) Mike Morse, LF/DH
11) Miguel Ojeda, C

Possibly on the team, depending on other moves (Below 50%)
Guys that haven't shown much, but could fill in the bench, and have strong advocates in the front office. In other words, it's not completely certain they're gone.

12) Greg Dobbs, UTIL

Pitching

---

Most definitely on the team
1) Felix, SP

Most likely on the team
2) Eddie Guardado, CL
3) Jamie Moyer, SP
4) Joel Pineiro, SP
5) George Sherrill, RP
6) JJ Putz, RP
7) Julio Mateo, RP

More likely than not on the team
8) Rafael Soriano, RP
9) Scott Atchison, RP
10) Jeff Harris, Long RP
11) Gil Meche, SP

Possibly on the team
11) Matt Thornton, RP
12) Ryan Franklin, SP, Long RP

Summary

---

Only three guys are totally inked in for next season: Ichiro, Sexson, and King Felix. These are the only three that I would bet my house on³ starting the season next year with Seattle, and feel confident in making that bet (praying, of course, against major injury, which is always a factor for everyone).

Including all the "Definitelys" and "Most Likelys,"⁴ there are 15 roster spots that are either locked in, or most likely locked in. That really leaves about 10 roster spots open for serious discussion.

NEXT POST:

What numbers I expect out of these guys.



----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes:

1. I bet him back in May that the M's offense would pick up, and carry the team to .500; I obviously was wrong. I guess it's safe to say that Ichiro's quest for .400 this year isn't happening either...

2. I'm really not sure what to do about Bobby Madritsch and Bucky Jacobsen. Both of them, if truly healthy, would be sure-fire locks for "More Likely than Not" with the team. But since of them are nursing major owies, I cannot see them in any of these lists. Madritsch moreso than Bucky, but still, it's realistic to believe that neither of them are healthy enough to start the season in Seattle.

3. I'm not betting my house on ANYTHING! I'm just giving an example of my confidence.

4. Apostrophe-"s" ( 's ) is never plural. In this case, I'm making an exception to the Plural y => 'ies' generality in English spelling. Sorry. One of my biggest pet peeves is using 's to denote plurality.

5. I know, I know. Footnote 2 comes after footnote 1, not footnote 5. I thought of another note to add here, and I didn't want to take the hard task of changing numbers on all the footnotes in this post in the HTML text entry box in Blogger. I may fix this eventually, but for now, deal with it!. Oh, yeah. The note. This list comes from the current 40-man roster, including those who are on the 25-man team now who wouldn't necessarily be there if it weren't for September callups.

The real question now is "Who's in Left?"

Current candidates with Seattle:

• Raul Ibanez
• Greg Dobbs

Yep. That's it, folks. Jamal Strong is the latest casualty. Winn was traded, Morse is suspended, and pretty much everyone else (Snelling, Willie Dynamite) is on the DL. Will they call someone up? Not likely, since my favorite Minor League team pulled a '95 Mariners and took the last 3 from the AAA Yankees (a.k.a. Oakland's Sacramento affiliate), and are going to face Nashville for the PCL title. The only outfielder left in Tacoma on the 40-man is Choo, although I could argue that we need to find a 40-man spot for Abraham Nunez.

We do have one outfielder on the 40-man roster who's neither injured nor playing for a championship. A certain 21-year-old put up some decent numbers for High-A Inland Empire. What can it hurt? I'd rather give him a look-see for a few weeks than have to deal with Ibanez in left (and Dobbs as DH). The kid's got some power, with 38 doubles and 25 HRs in 123 games. Problem is, he strikes out too much, and I'm not sure about his defense.

Update: 9/13/05 -- According to the P-I, it looks as if Wladimir Balentien may be coming up after all.

Update 9/13/05 -- 4:00 p.m. Again, according to the P-I, it looks like Jaime Bubela is taking Jamal Strong's spot on the 40-man and is being called up. Bubela's a lefty, though a little weak in the power department. I'm a little surprised by this move, although being 27 in AA isn't a good thing, and they probably are more inclined to move cautiously with Wlad.

So, scour the waiver wire, folks, and find us a scrub that we can add to the 40-man for a week or so.

Who says the Hot Stove League has to start in October?

I must say that I fully endorse the new false Identity of MM "Hot Stove League Head Start"

This season is over and that's why I haven't really been posting. I get excited about two things in baseball (in order):

1. Transactions
2. Winning

With that said...Ramon Santiago has been called up! Boy, I suremissed Ramon Santiago. He of overrated defense. Some said that Pokey was a dumb contract because we had his clone in Ramon Santiago. Yeah right. But dude, guy can hit the stitches off the ball, belting 10 Home Runs this year! For what it's worth, our starting shortstops have hit 3 Home Runs this year, all off the bat of Mike Morse. So this MUST be an offensive upgrade, right? Actually...it might be. Except knowing Hargrove...he won't play. At least he'll be better than Valdez.

Of course, this is like Scott Spiezio (circa 2004). Just because he's better than Jeff Cirillo doesn't make him good.

The 9th player was just suspended under MLB's steroids policy, and it just so happens to be Michael Morse. When you add Ryan Franklin and Jamal Strong into that mix, that adds up to 3/9ths of the list of players being on the M's.

That's a .333 average we don't want to have.

It may appear in this case, though, that the suspension could be considered unjust. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports certainly thinks so. Go read the facts he presents and make your own conclusions.

A sad way to celebrate the day of the decade that has passed since another tall SS broke an unbreakable record.

This problem, both the steroids problem and the testing/suspension problem, needs to be fixed.

No one has answered my question yet, though. Can a player on the DL be tested, and, subsequently, suspended for violating the policy?

Well, the epic battle is over. The wise old warrior defeated the up-and-coming king. If only the king had the batallion of troops behind him that the wise old warrior had, the battle would've been much more close. The king held his own, and singlehandedly fought valiantly, but two major flesh wounds, one inflicted by a barbarian war mongrel known for his destructive saber, caused the king to fall and die a slow death in this battle. With no successor willing to step up, the battle was lost.

This bard will continue to play all the pianos throughout the world from the bard in Crescent. Good man Corco has spent 10,000 Gil on the Life 2/Arise White Magic Potion, and used it to revive The King for his next battle in 4 days. Citizen K keeps dancing the Wonderwaltz and the Jitterbug.

http://tinyurl.com/ey4zl

Likely to make up for the totally lame commercials this year, the M's have archived all of their hit commercials going back to 1994. Like Deanna from Marinerds implied, an hour spent reliving these brief segments of glory is much, much more entertaining than watching the M's. Okay, maybe aside from tonight's Luke vs. Darth duel.

Yes, indeed. "Norm Norm" still sounds pretty cool. My soon-to-be-4-year-old still referrs to his Norm Charlton autographed toddler glove as his "Norm Norm" glove. And he had to wait in line for 90 minutes (as a 2-year-old) to get that autograph...

It will be written about, talked about and debated in blogs...

So writes Mariners Morsels-endorsed P-I reporter John Hickey in this morning's P-I. The subject of the article? Whether or not Bill Bavasi will be the M's GM beyond this season.

Hickey tries to poke around M's CEO Howard Lincoln's brain to see what he's thinking about keeping Bavasi around. His response? Not surprising:

"I'm simply not going to talk about that," Lincoln said politely but firmly. "Not at all."

Now, since Billy Beane has been given partial ownership in the Oakland A's and isn't leaving his position any time soon, I'm not so sure there's a better fit for GM with this team. Is Bavasi perfect? Absolutely not! Spiezio, Guillen, Aurilia, keeping Thornton and Franklin, are all moves that were undebatably bad. Some of the tougher moves, though, like trading Cirillo and DFA'ing Boone and Olerud, were definitely harder to pull off for him, and could be considered admirable moves.

Overall, I'd give Bavasi a B- for his performance. Slightly above average, about what I expected. I honestly don't think Bavasi is a huge source of the problems of this team. Even though I've softened a bit on my stance (due to the signings of Sexson and Beltre), I still think the problems hinge mostly on Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong. Closer to the field, too, I'm not at all impressed with Hargrove, and believe he's doing more harm than good. Bavasi, on the other hand, is willing to take risks and shake things up when they're stagnant. Is he the greatest judge of talent? I'm not convinced. Does he have good people around him who are, and who can help him make good decisions? I believe so.

Bottom line: Love Bavasi, leave Lincoln, Armstrong, and Hargrove.

Well, it's obvious to me that the M's have totally given up on salvaging this season. Add into that mix that Hargrove is willing to stretch Felix out to over 120 pitches a game, causing DMZ and a few others to flip out, it's time to officially throw in the towel.

I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted. I'm tired of this team being their opponent's Pep Pills. Isn't it nice to know that we can be the stress relief victim for Texas and any other team coming off a bad road trip or a bad losing streak in general? We're now officially the Seattle Mariners Opponents' Stress Relief Chicken:




























Since we can't face Kansas City every series, and can't seem to beat anyone else, I'm done. Done trying to find something positive to concentrate on. Done trying to focus on how this team might actually have some semblence of hope for the future.

Sorry, King Felix, but you're on a sucky team. You're going to have to be more than a king to help this team find success -- you'll have to be its messiah. In my book, there's only one messiah, so it's pretty unlikely that will happen.

Thank goodness the season's almost over. Even were we to completely regenerate a pitching rotation, and add one or two more thundersticks to the lineup, I wouldn't have much hope for next season.

Mariners Morsels endorsed P-I writer John Hickey has picked up the torch for the Take Out Texas crusade. Of course, in this situation, as Hickey points out, it's a battle for who can suck less moreso than a battle to get back into contention. It's really only a battle because Texas has fallen, not because Seattle has risen. However, if the M's make it their goal to step over Texas by the end of the season, that would be a step in the right direction, and the signs would point up for the long-term mission of this team.

Moyer, Franklin and then Harris face Chris Young, Juan Dominguez, and Joaquin Benoit. We can pretty much concede tomorrow's game, even though Dominiguez isn't much to write home about. Ryan Roiding Flyball Franklin pitching in Texas is never, ever a good thing, although we can be thankful that Jeff Harris is taking the hill on Thursday instead of Gil Meche, and his 14.50 ERA in Texas over the last three years.

Still, there are more important things than to Take Out Texas. I won't go into the other more important things than baseball, because that's pretty much a given. But within baseball, and within the M's situation specifically, I agree with the Lookout Landing poll that it's absolutely critical to keep Felix healthy and confident. I'm unequivocally opposed to extending a Felix outing for the mere sake of getting a win to boost our chances of overtaking Texas. We've got George Sherrill to help hold the lead, or as was the case last time Felix pitched, keep us tied. The hits are up, sure, and the other numbers aren't really that close (thanks, Jeff Nelson, for bolstering the ERA). But George actually does have a higher K/9 than Felix. Even if his fastball is just barely faster than a King Felix Curve.

Say it with me:

TAKE OUT TEXAS!!!!!

Everyone except Larry Poncino truly believes that your first and only pitch, upon your return to the majors yesterday, was not intentionally thrown to hit Lew Ford, or even to brush him back. It's entirely reasonable to believe you, and to think that Poncino is a total jackass for throwing you out.

Here's to hoping your next pitch hits him.

Now back to your regularly scheduled blogging...

Join with me. Band together. Let everyone you know in on it. Now that George Sherrill has been freed (at least for now), we need another campaign to embark upon.

Introducing:

Take Out Texas!!!!
As of right now, the Mariners are only 5 games behind Texas for 3rd place in the AL West. As I mentioned before, it's over. We're not going to the playoffs. We're probably not going to make it back to .500, either. That doesn't mean it's time to completely throw in the towel.

In Art Thiel's telling of the story of how the M's climbed out of obscurity (nevermind complete sucktitude), he shares with us Jay Buhner's total bewilderment for having a "Hey, we just won the World Series!" type party, after the 81st victory in 1991. The whole thing centers around how Buhner just didn't quite understand how big of a moment that was in M's history. It meant, for the first time ever, the M's would shed their monkey of "Loser!"

Imagine the momentum it would build for the fans, long term, if the M's pull out of the cellar this season. That would be huge! Sure the season was lost, in that we didn't make the playoffs, and we were'nt even a winning team. But not completely. Were they to reach that goal, it would be one step in the right direction -- it, by default, would make this team competitive.

In order to be a playoff team, they have to be comptetitive. "Put one foot in front of the other..." is how the song goes when Winter Warlock turns into just "Winter" in the claymation Christmas classic "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." The mean ol' Warlock (who my 3-year-old still has nightmares about and fears to this day -- to the point of not even being able to watch the movie) turns into a good guy. If he can do it, then so can the M's.

This is a very reasonable goal. This team has the talent to do it. Sure, it would be at the expense, perhaps, of a top-10 draft pick (maybe not). It also depends upon Franklin, Meche and even Moyer to keep the ball in the park in Arlington -- with Meche's ERA hanging at 14.29 over the last three years in Arlington. Yikes. Even with the weaknesses and complete holes, the M's have the leadership to get things going, my only concern being with Hargrove.

Should the team set that as a goal, I don't see how they couldn't acheive it. Say it with me, though:

TAKE OUT TEXAS!!!!!!

After spending an hour or so building my new blog, I decided to make some tweaks to The Morsels since I was doing them for the other blog anyway.

After much debate, I've finally decided to create a "Links" section. I added links to other blogs we author, and Corco and CK can add any others I'm unaware of. I also added an "Editors' Picks" section for M's blog links I look at every day. Of course Corco and CK are free to edit the template to add their own. I don't want to go into a "Hey, can you link us!" thing, since that can get really hard to manage. Besides, it's not like this site gets a lot of traffic, and I seriously doubt it's anyone's first tab in Firefox. If it is, and you're really into M's baseball, you should be like me and have your first tab point to LookoutLanding. As long as you're linked somewhere up in the M's blogosphere chain (USS Mariner, LookoutLanding, PI M's Blog), you should be just fine with traffic. Add your link to your comments, too. As Dave and Derek so graciously pounded in me when I evidently hijacked comment threads at USSM -- if you have something really cool to say and people want to read more, they'll click the link on your name. It's a bit more difficult with Blogger, but I do it all the time myself.

Not sure when I'll get around to launching my home-brewed blogging app. I'm soon to be three versions behind in Dreamweaver at home now, so it's really getting hard to build cool stuff with tools that are rusty and dull. And then there's that whole time thing. And the money for hosting on a new server. I've got cheap hosting available that could handle the traffic, so that's really not too much of an issue. I could launch a new domain for this blog for under $100 for the first year, and then $49 a year beyond that. But dealing with the pains of Blogger right now are worth the extra $100 in my pocket for now. I'm still tempted, though, to have a Mariners Morsels basket auction (oooh -- Greg Dobbs/Matt Thornton autographed baseball), with proceeds dedicated to paying for non-Blogger hosting.

Anyway, I'm hoping Corco and CK take a little time to add their personal touch to this blog.

Sorta...

Inspired by the reminiscing of Almost Live! at Sports & Bremertonians, and the general lameness of the 2005 M's, I've created yet another blog.

Enter TheLameList.blogspot.com

Don't worry, I'm not abandoning ship here. Yet. It shouldn't be that hard to come up with things to throw at that blog. Especially since it's not just limited to the Mariners, or even sports.

(comments taken across the blog street)

Exactly one month ago today, I wrote an article on Dreaming the Impossible Dream. So what has happened in one month to affect that dream? Here's a brief list:

• Randy Winn, Ron Villone, Miguel Olivo, Pat Borders and Aaron Sele have all left the team. Winn, Villone, and Olivo were traded, and Borders and Sele were released.
  
• Ichiro's goal of going 70-6 the rest of the way is no longer a possibility. The M's have gone 10-16 since the All Star break (and my first post on this topic), and remain in last place.
• The King has arrived, as has this Blog's adopted M, George Sherrill. We've also welcomed newcomers Yuniesky Betancourt, Yorvit Torrealba, and Jeff Harris. Chris Snelling, Wiki Gonzales, and Jorge Campillo have all returned from stints in the minors. Of course, Campillo's elbow proved to be demolished, and he's preparing for Tommy John surgery.
• Ryan Franklin blew a steroids test, and will return from that vacation on Saturday.
  
• Eddie Guardado, with extra special thanks to Willie Bloomquist, blew his first save in a long, long time.
  

What does all this mean for the dream? Well, it means that they haven't quite caught on. Really, only the appearance of Felix has awoken this team from its slumber. It's a little boost of confidence, rewarded by two good performances (in spite of the first one actually adding a tally in the "L" column), not unlike the infusion of a few blasts off of Bucky's bat in the dog days of last season's power shortage.

As P-I reporter Jon Paul Morosi tells us today, ticket sales are down, but they're still on pace to sell well over their forecasted 2.5 million tickets, and the team might actually turn a profit this season. Whether or not there will actually be 2.5 million butts in Safeco, of course, remains to be seen, but I bet there are fewer no-shows this year than last (in spite of Ichiro's chase of Sisler, and the dawn of Edgar's career). There were fewer expectations going into this year than going into 2004, and people have started to catch on that the M's just aren't a very good team.

So what's to be done about this?

Well, for starters, I think it's pretty clear that the impossible dream of making the post season is officially dead. As the USSM folks point out, the M's technically still have a 0.00128% chance of making the playoffs. But you and I both know that it ain't happ'nin' this year. With the non-waiver trading deadline having come and gone, the youth movement is already well under way. Tacoma's roster is pretty thin in close-to-major-league-ready talent these days, and their subsequent impending freefall in the standings should come as no surprise.

About two months ago, I responded to David Locke's P-I column about how it was a mistake to throw in the towel so early. The argument I actually agreed with is that the youngsters need to develop a winning attitude. However, his reasoning and understanding for the argument still seem to me to be totally flawed. I mentioned, and still believe, that the youngsters we had down in T-Town were as good, if not better, than the players they'd be replacing. They could help the M's win as much as, if not more than, the existing players at the time could. Felix will carry the rotation the rest of the way. He's already inspired a decent outing for Joel Pineiro.

In order for this team to reach the playoffs again, it indeed needs to develop a winning attitude, and an aura of confidence. I'm confident I'm not the only one that saw this appear during the first two games of the Minnesota series, the second of which brought on by the Safeco debut of King Felix, el Cartelua. With the imminent return of Bucky's bat to the fold, nevermind his Paul Bunyan-esque attitude, several pieces are in place.

My recommendation is to forget the playoffs. Focus on a simpler goal that's a lot more in their control. Even .500 might not meet that "simple-to-accomplish" parameter for their latest goal. In the remaining 49 games, they'd have to win 33 to make it back to .500 -- a winning percentage of over 67%. That'd be the impossible dream from here on out. I don't think they're quite there yet.

However, in looking up just a little bit in the standings, and down from the impossible dream, I do see one more realistic possibility. Since the All Star Break, Texas is 10-18, and in spite of getting Kenny Rogers back a little bit early from his suspension and having swapped "The Ho" -- Chan Ho Park -- for Phil Nevin, the Rangers are not a very good team either. Yes, they've got one of the most potent offenses, especially at home. But it's not like they're a team built to go on a hot streak and rattle off 12-15 game win streaks like Anaheim and Oakland. Replacing Ho with Aaron Sele, especially in Arlington, is bad news for Texas.

So, here's my recommended goal for the M's. Go after Texas. Don't concede last place. We've got better talent than we had before, even if the youth evaluation period has begun. Start building a winning attitude in these guys, so we can grab a few more necessary parts and make a run at the playoffs in the next couple seasons. Set a goal and accomplish it.

Let the new era begin!

...says 1000 words.















(Thanks, Yahoo)

Mariners fans can be joyful for the future. And that future started, really, yesterday.

Wow. Just. Wow.

---

In spite of the lack of need to spell out 1000 words with the aforementioned picture above, here are some quotes on yesterday's performance that merit mentioning:

Can you imagine what it must be like to be Felix Hernandez's mom? Just think about the conversations she must have with other mothers.

"Your son got an A- on his geometry test? That's pretty great. Mine shut out the Minnesota Twins."
--Jeff Sullivan, Lookout Landing

Poise? I don’t think we’re talking about poise here... I think we’re talking about a 97 mph fastball with a curveball from hell.
--Twins Manager, Ron Gardenhire, courtesy of The News Tribune

What’s that, the game—oh the _Game_! : 69 strikes, 25 balls, 8 innings, 5 H, 5 K, 0 W, 0 R, one 1-0 W for a 1-1 record: that’s how ‘Hernandez’ is spelt in these parts, sez I.
--Bela Txadux, USSM Commentor

Having seen thousands upon thousands of pitchers in person over the years, it's great to see one who throws a pitch that makes you say 'What the heck was that?!'
--Jonah Keri, Baseball Prospectus

By the way, still didn't make the front page of ESPN.com. Also unbelievable. News flash, idiots. The Yankees and Red Sox don't need to be on the front page every *&$#-ing day.
--Colin Hesse, Crushed Optimists

Will he win 300 games in his career? Who knows? Will he throw out his arm in two years and win 15 games in his career? Who knows? But excitement about a rookie pitcher doesn't come along this often on a big league scale. Sure, when Francisco Liriano finally moves up and makes his big league debut, there will be incredible excitement, but primarily in Minnesota. Hernandez's call up is the talk of the entire league and the subject of many articles and much debate.
--SethSpeaks, Minnesota Twins blogger
(except, as Colin points out above, on ESPN.com)

Hernandez signed on the Fourth of July, 2002, not even three months past his 16th birthday. At the end of a spirited bidding war, the Mariners gave him an extraordinary signing bonus of $710,000 -- and Hernandez said Seattle was not even the highest bidder.
--David Andriesen, Seattle PI, July 29, 2004

I just wanted to write a little note to say how cool my wife is. Last week, she got to fly out to Buffalo for one of her two annual conferences (last year she flew out on our anniversary). Although she's not as huge of a baseball freak as I am, she still likes to watch the game, and, like me, has a special affinity for minor league baseball.

Last Monday she called me. From the Buffalo Bisons game. Evidently she'd sampled a little too much "Ballpark Red" (the wine that didn't have a label, and so it ended up with that moniker) with her fellow companions, as she was a little bit giggly. What she didn't tell me, though, was that she picked me up a special gift. Half awake on Sunday morning (she came home Saturday night), I struggled to get my crusty eyes open as she walked into the room and said "I forgot to give you something last night." I tried even further to wipe away Mr. Sandman's abundant blessings, and when I finally was able to chisel out enough room with my fingernail for one eyeball to open, she handed me this box. It contained something that I'm quite certain no one else in the M's blogosphere has.

Evidently, August 1st was Ernie Young bobblehead night. Whoever Ernie Young is, I'm not exactly sure. From what I've read, though, Ernie Young bobblehead night is probably not unlike Pat Borders bobblehead night, although Ernie Young hasn't ever been the World Series MVP, isn't quite 42 (not too far, though), and isn't a catcher. It sure would've been sweet if it were a Jhonny Peralta or a Grady Sizemore bobblehead. But she couldn't exactly be picky.

Besides, it's the whole thought that she loves me enough to remember how she was leaving me 50,000 miles or so away with our 3-year-old, and partaking in a baseball game not held in the greater Seattle/Tacoma vicinity that I find pretty cool. She was given the opportunity to go elsewhere, and thought it would be fun to go to that game. Especially since they were giving away Ernie Young bobbleheads.

I love you, dear!

Is it just me, or:

• Does it seem like Mike Hargrove is asleep in the dugout before, during, and after all M's games? It's highly unlikely, of course, but still, I cannot shake that feeling, with all the lineup and pitching decisions he's made lately.
  
• Did the King's first appearance go nearly completely as expected? He struggled early, wriggled out of it with minimal damage (1 run), and dominated pretty much the rest of his outing. It so reminds me of guys like Clemens, RJ, Ryan and Pedro. You really have to get to guys like them early if you're to have any hope of winning at all. Give Felix a league-average to above-league-average offense that actually scores some runs, and his win-loss ratio will be staggering.
• Are you torn on how to feel about the Moyer 10-5 veto thing. On the one hand, Jamie's a cornerstone both to the community and to the team, and he's definitely earned the right to stay if he so chooses. On the other, the package of prospects (rumored to be Burke and/or Nieve, two of the Astros top 10 prospects according to Baseball America) would've made this trade perhaps only a notch below the trade we made with Houston exactly 7 years earlier. In all interviews I've heard and read with Bavasi discussing the trading deadline, he appears frustrated that this deal wasn't consummated, in spite of ultimately deflecting all the direct questions.
  
  Sure, the Ryan 'Roiding Flyball Franklin suspension and impending TJ surgery for Campillo exacerbate the need for Moyer to eat innings for the remainder of this futile mission, called the 2005 season. I'm sad that Jamie won't pitch in a World Series -- he's not a part of the M's long-term future, even if he does pitch into his 50's. He'd have to pitch into his 70's in order to see the playoffs with the M's. It would've been nice to have the package of prospects Houston was offering for Moyer and Winn or Villone. In that sense, then I'm a little bit frustrated with Moyer. However, I can't blame him for not wanting to go to another team, let alone a different league, when his home-road splits clearly show a huge gap.

Postscript added 4:00 p.m. Can anyone tell me if MLB can test and subsequently suspend a positively-tested player on the DL under the steroids testing policy? No matter what the answer, is it just me or is it fishy that Barry Bonds hasn't hastened his return to baseball?!? Sure his injury is quite serious, but is there any reason not suspect that he's taking an extra long hiatus to purge his body from certain substances?

Well, call me a cheap-o, call me a lame brain, I don't care. I've never been really into games, so investing any dough whatsoever never really crossed my mind.

Until now.

Just yesterday I got the Sony Playstation (PS-1) I bought off eBay for $25, which included the likes of Tiger Woods golf, Star Wars Rebel Assault II, Spec Ops Elite, Nascar 2001, and Sammy Sosa baseball 2001. I went with the PS-1 because my roommate had one back in college, and I was hooked on Wipeout and Extreme Games (both of which I bought on Sunday at a pawn shop for $5 a piece, also adding NBA Live 2000). I also wanted a system that I could actually save my games (I have a few retro plug-the-joystick-into-the-TV games, including Pac-man and Ms. Pac-man -- two of my favorite games). And then there's this whole challenge of wanting to shelter my kid enough so that he grows up normally, yet allowing him to experience life in the modern US culture. He's already got good hand-eye coordination, so video games will help him enhance that talent. And I'm not too worried about getting him hooked, because I don't see anything standing in the way of his lust for playing the drums and reading books. I was looking for something that he and I could do together other than watching Disney/Pixar/Dreamworks/Wiggles/Veggie Tales/Superman videos.

I could've shelled out $200 for a game system with the latest graphics and incredible games, but the thought of how much dough that would take really set me back, let alone my wife. Plus, any games I'd want to buy would cost upwards of $20 a piece, even more for the latest and greatest. So, I checked out prices for used systems, and found a good deal on eBay for the PS-1. $25, Buy-It-Now, including 5 games, a memory card, and two rumble controllers. Under $10 to ship (a lot of sellers wanted $12-15 to ship!). Throw in the $15 I spent on three additional games, and $50 is a much more palatable amount than the $150 for the PS-2 (or other similar systems) without any games. And, not being a huge gamer, the PS-1 is plenty cool enough for me.

The first game to get opened by my 3-year-old (as I was plugging everything in) was, of course, Star Wars. He hasn't seen any of the movies yet, but he's already a huge fan. So, after finally getting everything plugged in, he wanted to play, of course, but I made him wait so I could check out the game. It was fun, but not one I think he's ready for.

I loaded a few of the other games, and found Extreme Games to be one that we could play together. After fumbling through the menus, fighting him with the controller, we started the game. It was perfect! He was laughing his little heart out while crashing into the barrels and trying to figure out how to move. That 5 minutes of laughter was worth every dollar I paid for the system. I cannot wait to play that one with him again.

Okay, so now I've taken up 1000 words explaining myself a little without getting to the baseball-related point. Sorry. I have a tendency to ramble.

I loaded Sammy Sosa High Heat 2001, having read some reviews on it. Of course, the first thing my son wanted to do was to find Ichiro. I had to explain that he wasn't on that game. Darn -- maybe I'll have to try and create Ichiro for him, since you can create players on that game (yay memory card!). However, if a much more experienced gamer has a hack to add him (or recommendations for a newer baseball game for PS-1 that has Ichiro), then I'm all ears.

Wanting to do something easy, I loaded the home run derby. I used Buhner, then Edgar, then Boone, and finally Bonds, trying out a few different stadiums in the process. I was surprised to see both the Kingdome and Safeco Field on the game, as well as a few historic parks and what-not. The graphics are, of course, cheesy, but still. The whole thought of Buhner cranking one out in the Polo Grounds is quite intriguing. And I used Bonds in Modesto.

So after giving it a few rounds myself, I decided to let my son have a go. I asked him who he wanted to be, and he said "Ichiro!" Of course. Well, since I still haven't created him, I asked him for someone else. He said "Ra-UUUUUUUUUUUUL!" I thought -- perfect, that looks promising. Since the game includes the rosters for 2000, I thought he might be on there. I scrolled through the M's, and didn't see him, and went over to KC. Of course, he joined KC in 2001, so he wasn't there either. I'll have to research this a bit more. So, after throwing him a fastball down the middle (no Ichiro) and a curveball (no Raul), I asked him for another player. Know what he said?

Jeremy Reed.

AAAarrrrghhh!

So, finally, I scrolled through my brain trying to think of what player on another team (he doesn't know Griffey, and I'd already played Edgar and Boone) he'd want to play. I scrolled through the Dodgers and found my favorite M's third baseman, Adrian Beltre.

Perfect.

So, I gave him a quick intro to the controller, and told him to hit the "x" button to swing. Of course, he pushed it obsessively for the first 6-7 swings, and didn't make contact until I told him to wait until the ball came. Next pitch -- "Swung on and Beltre'd, deep to center field." No, it wasn't quite a home run, but at least he made contact. In the remaining 12 swings, he hit 2 home runs and 3-4 balls in the outfield. Not bad for a 3-year-old (not to mention that he beat my score for Boone in Ebbets field).

I asked him one more time who he wanted to be next, and the words out of his mouth made me roll over in laughter.

Spiezio!

Sure enough, I found him on Anaheim's roster, and let my son have a go. The final result? I'm not sure if it's my son's skills with the Playstation, or if Spiezio's to blame.

Spiezio didn't even make contact.

Spotted in the bullpen today at Safeco: George Sherrill! No confirmation on anything official yet, but with Villone being traded, it's entirely likely that George is taking Villone's spot.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

Edit by Corco: Rotoworld Reports that Sherrill has been recalled and is available for today's game! Woot!

Edit by PositivePaul:
Judging by the box score, I'd say it's official. Two innings, 3Ks 1BB, 0 H, 0 ER. As Napoleon would say:

Yessssssssssss!

Introducing a new feature on the Morsels -- the "Reliever's Homer Chase"

I'll try and abuse my limited graphic editing skills and come up with something fun to illustrate the situation in the bullpen. Here's my first offering:
(no -- this isn't a Gap commercial. I cannot for the life of me figure out why the huge gap below exists)
(My God. Tried fixing it myself, but nothing makes that gap go away. And running the script standalone without blogger eliminates the gap. Blech. --Corco)

Okay, so I've killed this whole graphics in a table in Blogger idea, and have dusted off my "Flash" skills. My goodness, Blogger is WORSE than Front Page! --PositivePaul

http://www.acuitydesign.com/Mariners/HomerContest.htm

Is it just me, or:

• Does the thought of trading for Manny Ramirez, under the right circumstances, intrigue you? Sure, it'd be very tough to assume all of that contract, but man can he hit. He's arguably the best righty hitter in the game, and definitely in the top-5. I'm not sure how badly he wants to play the field, but I'd rather have him as DH than Ibanez -- 12 days a week.
  
  Yes, he was placed on irrevocable waivers before 2004 so we could've had him for "free", and he has some clubhouse issues. But this team needs some more power (even if Beltre has another year closer to 2004), and it's hard to find power and productivity like Manny's. This team still desperately lacks offensive punch and without any power in the minors, that's not going to change.
  
  Money really shouldn't be the issue. The payroll for this season isn't even as high as what was budgeted for. The M's definitely have some payroll flexibility in the coming years, and some of that pot should go towards a proven, hyper-productive hitter. I really don't want Manny in the outfield, though, so if he demands playing there, then I don't want him.
  
  Sure, there are all kinds of reasons ($57 million for a 33/34/35 year old slugger?) why we might not want him, but there are also all kinds of reasons why it's intriguing...
  
  
• Would it really be cool to hang out around section 128 tonight? I mean, those of us who watched the game on TV yesterday were graced for a few minutes by the presence of a pinchable-cheeks cute Bloomquist family member, Lisa, pulling the ketchup (catsup?) bottle out of the basket she put together in her husband's name to auction off for the sake of military families everywhere. I mean, I'm really curious how much someone is going to pay for a basket full of Willie Bloomquist autographed items, a "Meet The Parents" DVD, coyote call, and Ketchup.
  
  I bet that the basket with the autographed Ichiro t-shirt/ball goes for $10,000. I'm not kidding. I literally mean $10,000. While walking around the stadium last season taking pictures during Edgar's retirement party, I stopped off at the M's wives auction table, and watched a lady write an $8,000 check for an autographed Ichiro jersey. Sandra Beltre's a smart lady -- this auction should raise a lot of money for military families. Of course, if you want in on the action, you need a ticket to tonight's game and a whole lot of money. I'd like to know, too, which basket will have a Napoleon Dynamite DVD in it.
  

Hey -- maybe we could steal that idea! Corco, CK and I could collectively put together a basket of our favorite M's memorabilia, and some personal favorite items, and come up with a worthy charity (or use the proceeds to pay for some real web hosting so I can launch my custom-made blogging app and not be forced to rely on the perils of Blogger). I'm sure I've got a basket, and I know we all have stuff we could get rid of. What do you say, guys?

Okay, so I'm going to try and redirect this whole "What the F**K?!?!" thing a little. Instead, I'll approach it from a slightly different perspective. Introducing the "Is it Just Me?!?" discussion. Without further adieu...

Is it Just Me, or:

• Should reporters stop asking Jamie Moyer, in a nutshell, if he's OK with being traded to a potential World Series contender? Yes -- he wants to play in the World Series. Name one player who doesn't. Even if he has given his super-secret, double-pinky-swear approval to Bill Bavasi to trade him to a list of teams, that info will not and should not be divulged. Just leave Jamie alone about the whole trade thing.
  
• Does the whole Scott Spiezio situation make you want to take some Prozac? He lost his wife, he (essentially) lost his job, he lost his gig. I'm sure Scott's a decent dude. Just because Bavasi gave him a few more million than he probably deserved isn't reason enough for him to have a total collapse. Did he sell his soul to Elizabeth Hurley to get that hit in the 2002 World Series?
• Do the current Everett Aquasox uniforms look sweet? Especially with Jeff "no, I'm not Jason Bateman" Clement in them? I'm glad we got him signed, and I'm happy he got a hit in his first pro at-bat. He's got skills. And I'm not talking about sweet bikes, moustaches, and the ability to hook up with chicks.
  
• Added 10:30 a.m. Has any concern about Richie Sexson's shoulder (knock on wood, stroke a lucky rabbit's foot, avoid black cats and ladders) completely disappeared? Not trying to jinx it, but had I not just thought about that, I might've otherwise completely forgotten. I still don't like the contract, nor am I a huge Richie Sexson fan, but it's still nice to finally have some legitimate power in the lineup.
  

Today's What the F**K!?! is brought to you by Winston Churchill:

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.

• Willie Bloomquist back in the lineup. I thought I heard the Fox guy saying on Saturday that his hitting streak reached 12 games. Initially, I thought, "What the F**K -- didn't he have an 0'fer day on Friday?" But looking back at the box score, he came in for Spiezio as a defensive replacement, and didn't get an at-bat. However, he went hitless on Sunday, and has officially come back down to earth. What the F**K?!?
• Mike Morse made yet another error that ended up costing the game. First we have a black hole in the offense, now we have a black hole in the defense. Can't we get someone in there who's at least average. What the F**K!?!?!?
• Our good friend Bob Finnegan, throws out a W.A.G. that the Yankees would send over Carl Pavano for Randy Winn. Nevermind that Pavano is soon to come off the DL, I've never been very excited about him. Sure, it'd be nice to have another arm in the rotation, and I do belive that Pavano would pitch better in Safeco than in Yankee Stadium. However, we need a staff ace, and Pavano is a #3-4 at absolute best. However, considering Randy Winn's averageness (and expendability), if this deal can be done, and it means we rid ourselves of Ryan Franklin next year, I say What the F**K!!!?!
  

Something tells me I know what the highlight of WTF will be. PositivePaul, you can take it from here.

Edit: PositivePaul 7/21/05 8:23 a.m.

Actually, Corco, it's a toss-up:

• Scott F. Spiezio got his 2nd hit of the year. A home run. His first in nearly 11 months. It also doubled his batting average. What the F**K?!?
  
• Ryan "F***ing Flyball" Franklin gave up two home runs. Evidently he was also trying to share his feelings about a lack of run support with Orlando Hudson during the game. Or was he waxing poetic about stealing signs... What the F**K?!?
• Wonderboy Mike Morse showed his defensive vulnerability, with three errors last night. More fuel for Franklin's fire? Still, he didn't let it affect his bat. He had more hits last night than Wilson "Exxon/Mr. Coffee" Valdez would've had in a week. And more extra-base hits than WV would've had in a month. What the F**K?!?
• Oh, and I almost forgot one. JJ Putz and Matt Thornton must be having a side bet to see who can lead the relief corps in HRs. Currently, Thornton's ahead 9-7. Uh, guys -- you're pitchers. You're not supposed to GIVE UP HRs. What the F**K?!?