Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Me, Dustin, and Hiro have moved to Bleeding Blue and Teal

We are in the works of improving upon that site and we are looking to go private withing the next couple months. Cya There!

Miguel Cairo: WHY?

So, Bill Bavasi goes out and picks up veteran IF Miguel Cairo. This was reported all around the Mariner blogosphere and stuff a few days ago, but this is a different sort of venting.

Now, maybe I'm missing something. Is Cairo freed up to HGH or something?

Okay, okay, I know. It IS a move, and we've all been pushing for SOMETHING. This is really random though. He's pretty much a tool to make Jose Lopez and Willie work for their time. This said, this isn't something you just go out and do. This just seems like something you'd do for your Kindergartners. Bring in a smart kid to make the other kids show off.

Now, it's not all bad. He's cheap. There's low expectations. Nothing at stake or anything.

I'll just sit on my criticisms for now.

I'll also throw in some Dustin bit...

*Presses post, and proceeds to dream about the all the reports "just kidding" about the Bedard trade for George, Triunfel, and Adam*

Outlook

We are currently in the process of making some major changes so the posting may fall off a bit over the next month or two.

Poll Results: Opening Day Ace

Who Will Be #1 In The Rotation On Opening Day?

Erik Bedard: 8 votes (19%)

Felix Hernandez: 32 votes (78%)

Johan Santana: 1 vote (2%)

Other: 0 votes (0%)


Pole closed on 12/24/07

41 votes in only 8 days. I like.

Christmas Wish Lists

As has been done by other blogs, I feel the Mariners players have certain christmas gifts that must be given. Sorry for belating it, guys. Let's start from the top...

Ichiro - Year supply of turtlenecks and GQ subscription.

Jose Vidro - Hometown Buffet $50 gift card, Star Wars Episode VI (sentimental value.)

Richie Sexson - New amendment demoting Mendoza line to .100.

Raul Ibanez - '06 memories.

Yuni - The imminent croaking of Fidel Castro.

Kenji - Extra-protective gear, which covers every square inch of his body which has any chance in hell of taking a hit.

Jamie Burke - Fountain of youth, career HR #2.

Ho - Surgically removed left arm, likely to be replaced by something useful.

JJ - Angus Young outfit introduced as "Throwback-Alternate Uniforms."

Jose Lopez - Lower, more realistic expectations.

Adrian - Eternal love of Red (how coincidental, his last 4 christmas presents as well!)

Willie Ballgame - Love/hate relationship with all Mariners fans. Emphasis on the slash which seperates the values.

King Felix - Ben Broussard traded to prevent freakish yet harmful injuries to team as whole.

Jeremy Reed - ... is still on our team?

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

Chappy Channuka everyone!

Movie Monday: Merry Christmas!

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas. I hope you all have a great day, filled with joy of spending time with loved ones. The best Christmas present for me would be Johan Santana being traded to the Mariners, but some of Christmas is just wishful thinking right?

So on behalf of Patrick, Quinn, Hiro, Andy, Brian and I (Dustin), I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

Trying to Make Sense...

I'm still trying to figure out all this trade rumors crap. To be honest I have no clue what is going on. So I'll list out the sources and what the say about the trade rumors, who should be dealt and why or why it won't work. How does that sound? Me telling you what I believe does you guys no good. Me telling you what the FO says helps a little more (except for the fact that we have good ole' Bill running the team still).

ProSportsDaily (on Bedard) - Only 3 days ago we were reported to be in the lead for Bedard, along with the Reds, but yesterday and today have both opened eyes. Apparently, the Orioles are looking to hang onto Bedard, and it is likely that he won't be dealt and will be the Orioles ace on opening day 2008. It is reported that the GM and the whole FO thinks that Bedard is worth more than just Adam Jones and Brandon Morrow. Both Jones are Morrow are Mariners' FO favorites, and only a couple of days ago the FO has said they won't trade Morrow. Bedard seems out of the question now.

ProSportsDaily (on Santana) - Apparently the Mariners are still in the hunt for landing Johan Santana. A source inside the Mariners organization has said that the Mariners are still very involved and alive in landing Johan Santana. Once again, Morrow and Jones would be in the deal, for sure. I just said that Morrow wouldn't be traded, but to me, this deal makes all the sense in the world. REFER HERE for my past blog on why Morrow, Jones and Clement all make sense for Johan Santana. So blogged today on PSD, the Mariners are still very much alive for Johan Santana.

MLBTradeRumors (on Bedard) - Just another article on Bedard being kept by the Orioles.

MLBTradeRumors (on Santana) - The Yankees are pretty much done with Santana. They (The Twins) are asking for something the Yankees said they wouldn't trade (too many key pitching prospects). If traded, I think Johan is a Red Sox pitcher. However, I'll go along with Peter Gammons and say that Johan Santana isn't traded. I'm not putting any money on that, but I would venture to say that a player of Johan's caliber and asking price is just too high. He'll be a free agent after the season, where he can cash in more money. Signing Silva to 4 years for $48 million didn't help the Mariners cause on Santana when the Twins only offered 3 years and 18 million. If Silva is worth $48 million, what in the hell is Santana worth!? I'll tell you. GOLD. DIAMOND. RUBY. (Insert precious metal or mineral). Santana has a value too extreme for the MLB if Silva is worth $48 million.


This is just the latest. I'll be updating it with every ounce of info I can dig up.
Patrick will post here too if he finds stuff I'm unable to get to.

Morrow

According to MLBTradeRumors...

Brandon Morrow - it is highly unlikely that the Mariners are going to trade the young right handed pitcher. It is reported that the worst we will do with him is put him in the starting role in AAA, but it is most likely that he will end up with the Mariners in their bullpen throughout most of the first half.

The trades he was linked to were for Johan Santana, which has nothing going for it now, and for Erik Bedard, which we are supposedly in the lead for.

Thursday Quote: Joys and Sorrows

This week's quote, from deceased writer/artist Kahlil Gibran, is short and sweet:

"We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them."

Isn't that the truth! Any decision you make has the potential to either live up to the good expectations that influenced your decision in the first place or to end up as a miserable failure. Mariner Nation seems to be split right now over the decision to sign Carlos Silva to a 4-year deal worth $48 million, and I can't say I blame either side. This is is not one of those signings where much can be said about the player's potential as Carlos Silva is not a guy who seems to have the potential to be a dominant starter. He goes out there, puts up average but consistent numbers, and that's that. Of course we all hope that Safeco Field, an extremely pitcher-friendly park, will allow Silva to improve his numbers slightly, but we just don't know if the decision that has been made will turn out to be a joy, like Miguel Batista last year, or a sorrow like Jeff Weaver and Horacio Ramirez.

Silva and Gold

UPDATE: THE MARINERS HAVE SIGNED PITCHER CARLOS SILVA TO A 4 YEAR CONTRACT WORTH $48 MILLION.

MLB.com reports that the Mariners have agreed to terms with starting pitcher Carlos Silva on what is expected to be a 4-year contract worth approximately $44 million. Negotiations seemed to have gone rather quickly, which to me shows that management knows that something had to be done before there was no one left. I have no problems with this contract; the market is thin and we need a decent #4 guy. Silva fits the bill in my opinion.

Silva On The Radar

The Mariners are close to bolstering their weak, but steady rotation.

Carlos Silva, 28, is mulling over his contract offer by the Mariners; the contract is reported to be 4 years worth $44 million. Over the past 3 seasons he has a 2-1 record at Safeco Field, and has won 3 of his 4 career decisions against the Angels. In the past 4 seasons he is 47-45.

In 2007 he was 13-14 with a 4.19 ERA.

The man can also log the innings; he has pitched in at least 180 innings in each of the last 4 years.

This potential signing would not hinder our talks with Bedard, and we are still pursueing Bedard as far as we all know.

I am 100% okay with this, seeing how we don't lose any prospects, and just use the Kuroda money on Silva. This is really a low risk move as far as I can tell.

If you don't see eye-to-eye with me, feel free to leave a comment.

Movie Monday: Fairweather Fans

Mariners' Looking To Further Weaken A's

Buster Olney has reported, according to MLB Trade Rumors, that the Mariners' are currently in a bidding war for the Oakland A's right handed starter Joe Blanton.

Olney believes that Adam Jones would have to be thrown into the mix in order for the A's to part ways with Blanton. Personally, I have a problem throwing Jones' potential around for a guy with a career 4.10 ERA and a K/9 that is under 6, at 5.24. But, once again, I'm not Bavasi.

The only reason I'm for going for him is our obvious need for pitching, and he'll cost significantly less than Bedard or Santana.

Other teams that may be looking at him include the Cincinnati Reds and the New York Mets.

This is fairly recent so I expect to hear more as time goes on.

Filling 1st Base

With Ben Broussard gone, sadly, because of a worthless deal, we don't have a back-up for when Sexson folds in May or gets traded to a contender who needs potential power. I have a solution. Tony Clark.

Clark is an imposing figure, standing 6'7" and weighing in at 245 pounds. The guy is a swith-hitting power bat who has more power success from the left side of the plate. A pull, power hitter is what Seattle has always lacked in Safeco. The fact that he's a switch hitter makes him all the more appealing because once Sexson hits the wall, Clark can fill in full time, hitting against both lefties and righties. When given playing time, Clark has been a successful power bat. Every year that he's played more than 130 games, he's hit more than 30 home runs. I won't lie, the guy strikes out quite a bit, about 1/4 of the time, but not like we haven't seen that in Sexson. Honestly, he can't do worse than Sexson did last year.

With a career slugging percentage of about .500, an on-base percentage of about .350 and batting average of about .265, he's not a huge risk because he won't command Sexson like money for a 2-year deal. He's made just over 1 million in each of the last two years. With his age, 35, he won't be able to ask for much more than that, if at all. I say we take the chance after losing our back-up, Broussard.

I learned today that the Diamondbacks have pulled their two-year offer off the table because of the Chris Burke pick-up in the Jose Valverde trade.

Thoughts?

The Rotation: How it could be used Different.

I have an idea.

As we all know, your ace is the first man in your team's rotation. The second man should be the second best pitcher you have in your rotation. The third is, of course, a middle of the road SP, and so on.

But I've been thinking... about an experiment with a different combination of numbers. Think about this...

ACE-4-2-3-5

This is a rotation experiment. Your best pitcher could win the first game of your series (i.e. a 3 game series.) That is a near-guaranteed game 1 win, if your ace is as good as he should be. He is followed by a 4 guy. The 4 guy, of course, is not that good. Chances are he loses, and the series is tied. If he wins, you win the series, good for you. Anyway, so the series is tied. Next up, your 2 guy. He's probably just a peg under your best pitcher, if your 2 guy is how he should be. Chances are, your 2 guy beats their 3 guy.

You win the series, if not sweep (which shouldn't happen with your 4 guy, but miracles do happen.)

Next series, it's your 3 guy, your 5 guy, then your ACE. That's a series that could go one way or another, but may I remind you, it's your 3 guy versus their 4 guy this time around, then your 5 v. their 5 (big offense game), and your ACE v. their ACE.

Of course, these matchups would change from series to series, but you would still have this different type of pattern over and over again, which could be an advantage. The most important aspect is that it would prevent losing streaks, and, while it limits winning streaks, you could still win many series, which is the big thing in a 162 game season. winning 2/3 of these games makes it worthwhile.

Two More Options to Help the Rotation

We all knew going into the offseason that the pickings would be slim this year when it came to acquiring starting pitching. Short of pulling off a blockbuster trade for Santana or Bedard, we all knew that there wasn't a great chance of the Mariners improving their rotation much past mediocre. That being said there are still some free agent pitchers available that could be viable options as 4 or 5 starters for the Mariners next year. After losing out on Kuroda and trade talks seemingly going nowhere right now the Mariners should persue two of the few healthy free agent starters left, Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse.

While neither of these guys is likely to come to the Mariners and turn them into instant contenders I think they could be more viable options than fixing our problems from within.

Here's a look at both pitchers:

Carlos Silva:
55-46, 4.31 ERA, 102 ERA +, 1.36 WHIP, 259 G, 125 GS, 5 CG, 945 IP, 1122 H, 489 R, 171 BB, 395 SO

While those numbers aren't absolutely stunning they aren't bad either. An above .500 career record, sub 5.00 ERA and ERA + of just over 100 are pretty good traits for a potential 4/5 starter. The worst thing about Silva is most likely going to be the price tag. Right now he's one of the best healthy free agents pitchers available in a slim market with lots of suitors. This will no doubt drive the price of Silva up. The potential of another Weaver disaster is there with Silva but I think that at this point the Mariners could have no choice but to aggresively pursue him.

Kyle Lohse:
63-74, 4.57 ERA, 95 ERA +, 1.443 WHIP, 218 G, 195 GS, 6 CG, 1164 IP, 1302 H, 664 R, 365 BB, 734 SO

These number are clearly inferior to Silva's. A sub .500 win percentage, sub 100 ERA+ and 1.443 WHIP are far from great. The risk is even greater for the Mariners in signing Lohse. I can see Jeff Weaver written all over Lohse. Lohse would be my second choice behind Silva. Hopefully Lohse would come cheaper than Silva but in this years free agent market it probably wouldn't be much cheaper.

These are two more options for the Mariners that would keep them from having to go with some combination of Morrow, Baek, RRS and Dickey as the 4 and 5 starters. Of course the Mariners could always go really risky and high price and persue Bartolo Colon or Livan Hernandez...

Prior would only be a thorn in our side

Talk of the possibility of signing Mark Prior after he was not tendered a contract earlier this week has heated up now that Kuroda has signed a 3-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Many seem to think that signing Prior would be one of those low risk, high reward types of scenarios when, in fact, it is moderate risk with minimal or no reward. The Kane County Chronicle out of Illinois reports that "Prior, still recovering from mid-April arthroscopic shoulder surgery, will likely miss some, if not all, of the 2008 season – forced the Cubs’ decision."

This claim is backed up by Rotoworld who says, "Prior was non-tendered by the Cubs earlier this week and likely won't be ready to pitch until several months into the season following shoulder surgery."

I'm not sure about this, but my gut tells me that the Mariner fans who are pushing for Prior are not privy to these details. If they are indeed aware of the extent of Prior's injuries, I'm baffled as to why they would still call upon management to sign him...

What are we supposed to think if the M's inked Prior? If we signed him, does that mean we expect him to be in our rotation? Would we lose our vigor (if we have any) in pursuing other options?

The bottom line is that we have two rotation spots that we need to fill so that we don't have to call upon Ho, Dickey, and Feierabend Associates. If we signed Prior, we would STILL have two rotation spots that we would need to fill! There is absolutely no sense in pursuing a pitcher who may not even pitch next season. To show you just how hopeless he is for next season, you need not look any farther than the fact that the Cubs declined to offer him salary arbitration where he would have made about $3 million. Even the Cubs, who considered Prior to be the future of the organization, cut ties with him.

This prior has fallen off the rosebush. We are best to let it lay upon the ground and be trampled by the busy footsteps of general managers frantically looking for pitchers...

Kuroda to L.A. for $36-40?

>Update: The Dodgers have announced a press conference for noon pacific time tomorrow to announce that they have signed Hiroki Kuroda to a 3-year contract worth$35.3 million.

The newest report from the Los Angeles Daily News indicates that Hiroki Kuroda is currently working on finalizing a three year deal with the Dodgers after completing his physical earlier today. This information is pretty damning evidence of what Mariner fans have been fretting about over the last few days, especially since the report even states the hospital where Kuroda was examined; Centinela Hospital. Surprisingly, the deal is said to be worth more money than expected though still only for three years; $36-40 million, which means $12-13.3 million a year.

It's pretty amazing that Kuroda has chosen the Dodgers over the Mariners. Think about this... He is going to a place where there is really no Japanese influence in the community and no prominent Japanese players on the team. Furthermore, he apparently believes that the Dodgers have a better chance to win than the Mariners even though the Mariners won 6 more games than L.A. in 2007! In addition, we sent an envoy inlcuding Bavasi and McLaren to Japan to meet with Kuroda; something I don't believe any other team has done. All things considered, I wonder if Kuroda is just that impressed by L.A. or if our front office just really did a poor job. So what if we may have had to add another $1-2 million bucks a year! I don't think there is another team in baseball with no viable 4th or 5th starter!

By the way, here is what MLB.com says about the Dodgers: "The fifth starter will come from a group of candidates that includes Jason Schmidt and Esteban Loaiza." Wow, what an awesome dilemma to have...

AL West gets a little bit easier

Today, the Oakland A's and Billy Beane sent 2007 Cy Young hopeful Dan Haren to the Arizona Diamondbacks. The only big name in the deal was Dan Haren; the rest were either spot starters, minor leagues or people with little MLB experience. I love that this happened. But then again, Beane always finds ways of putting a team on the field that can compete.

Here's a look at the entire deal:

Oakland To Receive From Arizona:
Brett Anderson - LHP
Dana Eveland - LHP
Greg Smith - LHP
Chris Carter - INF
Aaron Cunningham - OF
Carlos Gonzalez - OF

Arizona To Receive From Oakland:
Dan Harn - RHP
Connor Robertson - RHP

Arizona To Receive From Houston:
Chad Qualls - RP
Chris Burke - INF
Juan Guttierez - RHP

Houston To Receive From Arizona:
Jose Valverde


This trade, as it would to any staff, completely destroys the front of the rotation. With shotty end of the rotation pitchers, the A's have to deal with Joe Blanton's inconsistencies and Rich Harden's yearly injury at the front of the rotation.

It's a good day to be a Mariners fan.

Could this weekend get any better?

**Dreams of waking up to find out that Johan Santana has become a Mariner and Adam Jones was traded away so he can become a bust with the Twins**

One Man's Push for Mark Prior

Mark Prior is now a free agent after being non-tendered by the Cubs and I would be ecstatic if the Mariners signed him. What do the Mariners need right now? Starting pitching. What is Mark Prior? A starting pitcher once billed as the best thing since Rodger Clemens. First we’ll look at our own rotation and then at Mark Prior and why he fits.

Our rotation, at this point, is essentially 3 men deep with Felix, Washburn, and Batista leaving two spots open. Of the guys looking for the last two spots none impress me all that much. Cha Baek, Ryan Feierabend, Brandon Morrow, Horacio Ramirez and R.A. Dickey come to mind as the guys that will fill those last two spots. Cha Beak and Dickey would be an alright bottom of the rotation starters but the other three should not be in the majors at this point. Morrow has been pitching well in his winter instructional league but that is mostly AA guys and I believe he should probably start out the season in AAA and work his way up to the majors where he will be installed in the rotation. Feierabend is a guy who is fine to have around in AAA in case of injury on the big league club that necessitates a starter to be called up, but he should not be part of your rotation permanently at this point in his career, maybe later. Ho is horrible, the Mariners say that Stottlemyre can work with him and make him better but when the pitching coach has nothing to work with he can’t do much for you. I mean seriously, the guys has a career ERA+ of 93 where 100 is average, the guy is bad. I can see R.A. Dickey doing fairly well in Safeco field with that knuckleball of his that forces most to beat the ball into the ground and the players who can elevate the knuckler will probably be disappointed as Safeco’s outfield gobbles them up. Looking at Dickey’s AAA stats, as a starter, from last year(22 starts, 146.1 IP, 3 CG, 1.73 GO/AO, 99 K’s, 58 BB’s) he looks like he could translate into our 4th/5th starter. So if we look completely within the organization to fill our rotation it will look something like this, Felix, Washburn, Batista, with some combo of Baek, HoRam, and Dickey filling out the last three spots(Baek and Dickey would be my personal choices) with Morrow and Feierabend in AAA.

Mark Prior. He’s had some injury problems but most of them are flukes. One injury came after a collision with Marcus Giles, another came after a line drive off of the bat of Brad Hawpe, but the most serious injury was back at the beginning of 2006 when he had ‘strained’ his shoulder. Its is believed that the Cubs had misdiagnosed this injury, which also landed Prior on the DL later that year and was called shoulder tendinitis this time around, while there was actual structural damage to his shoulder that was repaired by Dr. James Andrews. If we assume that Prior’s shoulder has healed and he can now pitch I see no reason he couldn’t go out there and put up and ERA of about 3.50, which would be a great addition to a pitching staff looking for quality arms to go in the front of the rotation. With Prior the M’s staff now looks like something that might be able to compete with Felix, Prior, Washburn, Batista, and Dickey/HoRam/Baek(With Dickey being my first choice).

The Mariners are in desperate need of quality starting pitchers and Mark Prior will fill that need. Prior’s addition to the rotation would rid us of HoRam, it would allow Morrow to get experience starting in the minors before returning to the big show as a permanent fixture, and it would add a possibly dominating pitcher to the front of our rotation without giving up our prospects. Mark Prior has my stamp of approval.