Mariners Morsels - aka "Free Adam Moore and Rich Poythress! (George Sherrill is FREE!)"

I know they'll never do it. I know the blog-o-sphere has overstated this. I'm still going to say it.

Now, more than ever before, the Mariners need a bat. They need some attention. They need a guy who can distract them from spiraling completely out of control. Yes, it's cold outside and it's still spring (and the kids are still in school) -- but that's only a minor reason why attendance is plummeting.

Apathy, I'd say, is probably the biggest reason.

To cure this apathy they could a) start winning; b) get someone in there to draw some attention in or c) do something drastic (and stupid) by clearing house completely. Since a) isn't about to happen, and c) isn't about to happen, that leaves us with b) -- however remote THAT even is.

A lot of talk lately has centered around bringing Griffey home. Yeah, that might be interesting. But considering that Griffey is on the downhill slide of his career arc, and would require giving up talent, he shouldn't be the first option. I just don't trust Bavasi with his trading track record.

So, really, that leaves us with Barry Bonds as the next logical option. Yes, he too is on the downhill slide of his career.

But.

Barry Bonds at age 44 is a better hitter than Griffey at age 38. Yeah, yeah -- PEDs and all that crap. I discussed this nearly two years ago. There's news that the union is looking into possible collusion, with how Barry Bonds has been treated in free agency.

I hate Barry a metric ton. I don't care, though -- I love the Mariners more than I hate Barry. This team needs a kick in the ass. Barry's about the only guy around who can do it.

To a lot of people, Howard Lincoln doesn't have a soul to sell. Well, it's time for him to sell whatever's left of it to make room for one of the best hitters of all time, even if he skirted unspoken rules (PEs, of course, not being banned by MLB during the time Barry Bonds was likely to have taken them).

This is getting absolutely ridiculous.

I really am starting to hate this team.

Labels: Barry Bonds, Howard Lincoln, Needs more Bonds, roster building, woeful offense

As of 9 a.m. on Wednesday the 8th of August, I still have yet to watch Barry's 756th home run. If I refuse to turn on the TV, does that mean that HR will never have existed? If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it still make a sound?

While I even took space on this here blog to advocate the Mariners signing Barry Bonds before the 2007 season, I wasn't thrilled with the idea. I just tried to play devil's advocate for a minute to see if there was any logical reason why the M's would consider signing Bonds -- and why he might consider playing in Seattle.

How many other players, historically, have had their career average stats improve THIS much after age 35 (omitting, of course, his 2005 season where he missed basically the entire season, but including 2007 thus far):

OPS - 275 points
OBP - 121 points
SLG - 153 points
BA - 36 points
BB/Season - 61
HR/Season - 10

Even if you filter out the extra 30-ish HRs he hit in 2001, changing the 73 to, say, 45, there's certainly no decline there. And that's why Barry Bonds record will always be tainted in my mind. Just a quick run through the numbers, adding 6x his career average prior to 2001 to his stats from 2000, and I come up with roughly 700 HRs. In my mind, he's still got 56 to go.

I agree with Churchill. It should've been Junior.

Hank Aaron will always be better than Barry Bonds.

Labels: Barry Bonds, Booooooo, Cheating, Hank Aaron, Home Run Record, Steroids