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!

Movie Monday: Fairweather Fans

Kevin Mench DFA'ed

Today, the Milwaukee Brewers designated 29 year old outfielder Kevin Mench for assignment in preparation to sign pitcher Salomon Torres. It is likely that the Brewers will non-tender Mench on Wednesday making him a free agent. How is this relevant to the Mariners, you ask? Well, call me crazy, but I don't think it would be such a bad idea to sign a guy like Kevin Mench after cutting ties with Jose Guillen. It doesn't seem like the Mariners will be making any big splashes this offseason, and if they do, it will more than likely involve sending Adam Jones and/or Wlad Balentien to Baltimore for Erik Bedard or to Minnesota for Johan Santana. Let's go through the possible scenarios to see how Kevin Mench could play an important role on this team.

1) Jones and Balentien are both traded: This would leave us with a severely depleted outfield consisting of Raul Ibanez in left (by all indications) and Ichiro in center. So who plays right? The answer is simple: Kevin Mench.

2) Jones is traded, Balentien retained: Again, this could possibly open up a spot for another outfielder. I'm not sure how management views the possibility of Balentien starting somewhere in the outfield in 2008, but for all intensive purposes let's say he would start in right-field or in center with Ichiro in right for this scenario. Mench would STILL be a huge asset to this club as he would be able to be platooned in left with Ibanez. Ibanez would get the starts vs. right-handed pitchers and Mench would be in vs. the southpaws. This would make for a pretty efficient platoon based on each of their career stats when the matchup favors them.

Ibanez vs. righties: .293 AVG .355 OBP .497 SLG .852 OPS
Mench vs. lefties: .305 AVG .361 OBP .563 SLG .924 OPS

3) Jones is retained and starts in right: Mench could still platoon with Ibanez in left not to mention some time at DH if Vidro gets hurt or his average slips.

Signing Mench would be a low-risk, high reward type of thing since it wouldn't cost us all that much to sign him. Last year, he made $3.4 million although he did not quite live up to expectations, hitting .267 in only 101 games for the Brew Crew. This is just my opinion; don't expect Bavasi to make this happen.

Movie Monday: Sweet Lou Piniella-ella-ella

If anyone can record a song related to the Mariners, you rock!