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.

Thursday Quote: Odd Silence

This week, I take a quote from Australian poet Pam Brown who once wrote:

"Odd how much it hurts when a friend moves away - and leaves behind only silence."

If you think about it, this really sums up this offseason so far; one of our main guys (Jose Guillen), who I would even say was our team leader last year, is now a member of the Kansas City Royals after the Mariners refused to offer him salary arbitration. Since then, granted, the old and reliable rumor mill has been crankin' out some juicy stuff, but the transaction front for the Mariners has been about as quiet as Dolphin Stadium during a Marlins home game. Jose Guillen has left behind a strange and unwelcome silence in that regard that is only being amplified by the noise around baseball.

Mariner fans have been waiting patiently this offseason for management to make some changes that would allow us to compete for the playoffs in 2008. What's worse than watching our team stand idly by is doing so while our competitors have been fine-tuning their rosters (Red Sox, Yankees, Indians) and even landing huge players (Angels, Tigers). Take a look at the moves some of our competitors have made in the last two months and then take a look at what we've done at the bottom.

New York Yankees
11/2/07: Exercised 2008 club option on OF Bobby Abreu
11/15/07: Agreed on the framework of a deal that would pay Alex Rodriguez up to $305 mil. over 10 years
11/16/07: Signed RHP Scott Patterson as a free agent
11/29/07: Re-signed free agent C Jorge Posada to a four-year contract
12/3/07: Signed C Jose Molina to a two-year contract
12/12/07: Signed LHP Andy Pettitte to a one-year contract

Boston Red Sox
11/2/07: Red Sox exercised the 2008 contract options on RHP Julian Tavarez and RHP Tim Wakefield
11/6/07: Signed RHP Curt Schilling to a one-year contract
11/20/07: Re-signed 3B Mike Lowell to a three-year contract
12/7/07: Re-signed free agent RHP Mike Timlin to a one-year contract

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
11/19/07: Acquired RHP Jon Garland from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for SS Orlando Cabrera and cash.
11/21/07: Signed free agent OF Torii Hunter to a five-year contract

Detroit Tigers
11/11/07: Signed SS Ramon Santiago to a a one-year contract
11/12/07: Acquired OF Jacque Jones from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for INF Omar Infante
11/30/07: Re-signed LHP Kenny Rogers to a one-year contract; Signed RHP Francisco Cruceta to a one-year contract
12/4/07: Acquired RHP Denny Bautista from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for RHP Jose Capellan
12/5/07: Acquired LHP Dontrelle Willis and 3B Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins in exchange for RHP Burke Badenhop, RHP Eulogio De La Cruz, RHP Dallas Trahern, LHP Andrew Miller, C Mike Rabelo and OF Cameron Maybin; Acquired OF Freddy Guzman from the Rangers for 1B Chris Shelton

Cleveland Indians
11/20/07: Signed RHP Masahide Kobayashi, who had been with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the JPL, to a two-year contract with a club option for 2010
12/8/07: Acquired INF Jamey Carroll from the Rockies for a player to be named

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Seattle Mariners
12/6/07: Selected RHP R.A. Dickey from the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft
12/12/07: Acquired minor leaguer Tim Hulett from Texas for 1B Ben Broussard

Thursday Quote: Good to be a Pessimist

I'm pretty thrilled about this week's quote from George Will; a conservative journalist and news paper columnist.

"The nice part about being a pessimist is that you are constantly being either proven right or pleasantly surprised."

This week's annual Winter Meetings for baseball general managers in Nashville, Tennessee just ended today and the Mariners, like many teams, are coming home empty handed. I began the week advising Mariner fans to "brace yourselves for nothing to happen." I gave this advice because over the last few years, we have been disappointed time after time with bad trades, no trades, bad free agent signings, and no free agent signings to the point where I've come to expect this type of thing from our front office. Now that I'm at the point of pessimism, I have experienced one of its two sides; I've been proven right. When given the choice, I would rather be pleasantly surprised ten times out of ten; but that's not how surprises work. That said, I'm not at all surprised that we came away from the Winter Meetings with the same players we went in with and I hope that Bavasi and Co. will "pleasantly surprise" me before the season begins. Until that happens, I guess I will continue to be a pessimist and use the front office's track record as a means of predicting the future only to more than likely be proved right.

Thursday Quote: Creating a Better Future

This week, I'm drawing from the wisdom of futurist John Renesch.

"There's no reason people who work have to be resigned to situations and endure circumstances when we all possess the power to create better futures."

As Dustin mentioned earlier, there has been a lot of discussion about what exactly the future of the Mariners should be. Do we keep our top prospects with the hopes that they live up to our expectations or do we let them go and guarantee that we'll have the best pitcher in baseball for the next four or five years. To be honest with you, I'm not really sure. There are definitely some pro's and con's to each option that must be weighed before making a judgement. Whatever decision management makes in the end, there are going to be a great deal of fans who disagree. The good thing about the situation right now is that we are atleast involved in the Johan Santana talks. If anything, it shows initative and recognition of the fact that we have a gaping hole that we need to fill. As Renesch said, we all have the ability to brighten our future. We all have the ability to decide what we have in store for the future instead of succumbing to what the future has in store for us. Let's just hope that what ever decision is made, it is made for the right reasons...

Thursday Quote: Thanksgiving

I take todays quote from a 20th century American humorist by the name of Erma Bombeck.

"Thanksgiving dinners take eighteen hours to prepare. They are consumed in twelve minutes. Half-times take twelve minutes. This is not coincidence."

So even though this is a blog about baseball, I want everyone to realize the importance of Thanksgiving and what you must do today. There are three things:

1-Give thanks: Share the love people! If you're thankful for someone or something, say so.

2-Eat a ridiculously large amount of food: The laws of supply and demand say that if there is a lot of something available, TAKE IT! Well, they don't actually say that but it is a good concept.

3-Watch football: As Erma Bombeck said, football and thanksgiving are meant to go together. So today, don't worry about our division rival signing one of the best available free agents to a huge contract, just relax and watch some good ole' football.

*Note: Numbers 2 and 3 are best when done simultaneously!

Green Bay Packers (9-1) @ Detroit Lions (6-4) -- 12:30 pm EST / 9:30 pm WST -- I'm takin' the Packers 31-21

New York Jets (2-8) @ Dallas Cowboys (9-1) -- 4:15 pm EST / 1:15 pm WST -- I'm takin' the 'Boys 28-13

Indianapolis Colts (8-2) @ Atlanta Falcons (3-8) -- 8:15 pm EST / 5:15 pm WST -- I'm takin' the Colts 34-10

Thursday Quote: Enthusiasm

I was ecstatic when I found this weeks quote because I think it fits in perfectly for what some of us may be experiencing. It is from the great world leader and former Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill. He said:

"Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm."

Does this quote reflect some of your feelings towards the Mariner right now? It definitely describes what I've been thinking perfectly. During the extended losing streaks in what has been a roller-coaster year for this ballclub, I have found myself losing enthusiasm for the rest of the season even though we remain in the playoff chase. It almost seems like every losing streak is the beginning of the end, like the ship is sinking and there is no way to stop it. As soon as we started winning again, my enthusiasm came back and kept rising until the next losing streak. I'm going to try a different approach this time and I think it's something we all should do. Stay enthused. Don't let this losing streak quell your excitement for the fact that we've exceeded expectations and we are in the thick of the playoff hunt. Making the playoffs IS NOT supposed to be easy! You've just got to grind it out and hang with the big boys. We shouldn't start to worry until we're three or four games back in the wildcard and we should NEVER lose enthusiasm. So let's walk with the same swagger that we do after winning some games and not hang our heads in defeat. The Angels series is over, and we're sort of in that eerie phase right after the storm has passed. It's a new day and we play a new team so have hope and stay excited. Even if we lose tonight against the Indians, it's not the end of the world, it's just a slight extension of a losing streak. Don't lose enthusiasm!

Thursday Quote: Pathway to the Future

The American writer and cultural anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson once said:

"The past empowers the present, and the sweeping footsteps leading to this present mark the pathways to the future."

This season, the Mariners have tread along a surprising path of success which most thought we wouldn't be on for a couple more years. Some have questioned whether this team can continue their winning ways for the rest of this season and possibly into the playoffs, and many have cited the next twenty games on the schedule as a roadblock. Is there a tough road ahead? Most certainly. But can we succeed? There's no doubt in my mind. We've not only proven this season that we can fight an up-hill battle, but we've shown that once we get near the top of the hill, we keep clawing and grinding our way to the top. We have a head of steam that is fully capable of propelling us through the roadblock ahead of us and into the promise land; and like Mary Bates said, the past empowers the future.

Thursday Quote: Mental Edge

The great tennis superstar and civil rights leader Arthur Ashe once stressed the importance of attitude when you're behind when he said this:

"Regardless of how you feel inside, always try to look like a winner. Even if you are behind, a sustained look of control and confidence can give you a mental edge that results in victory."

I'm gonna keep thing one short and sweet. The 2007 Mariners have really exemplified Ashe's quote this season. Despite the occassional game where we've been out of the game physically and mentally, which has happened a couple times this season, we have been one of the better teams in the majors at coming from behind to win ballgames. We have shown tremendous perserverance and determination in the face of adversity. We have heard that we aren't good enough all season long from critics and bloggers and ESPN personalities. But we ARE good enough and we have shown that we can compete for the playoffs. When we go down in ballgames, we play hard and we play to win. The mental edge that Arthur Ashe talked about is something that has helped us win all season and has gotten us to this point despite not scoring many more runs than our opponents. If we can keep the mental edge over our opponents, there is no telling what we are capable of the rest of the season but I will tell you one thing; I have confidence that we WILL continue to play hard and fight until the last out of every game.

Thursday Quote: Leadership is Contagious

"Leaders don't create followers, they create more leaders." ~Tom Peters

That quote sums up what Ibanez has done (or hasn't done) this year. He hasn't come up in the big situations and hasn't put up big numbers. His season is just now starting, and I believe it's way too late for him to have a decent shot at keeping his spot next year. He is aging. Adam Jones is here. The youth in this organization is taking over. A few players come to mind...

Meet Yuniesky Betancourt, age 25. He is absolutely tearing the cover off the ball as of late. He's hitting a sizzling hot .349 since the All-Star break. His career line shows he's a 2nd half hitter too. Batting average is an overrated stat though. His RISP, RISP <2> against the Angels the young man is hitting .364, which is what we need when we go in playing the team whose occupying the division lead by 3.5 games.

Meet Adrian Beltre, age 28. For the first time in his Mariners career, he might hit above his career average. For the first time in his Mariner career he might reach 100+ RBIs. For the 2nd time in his career he might hit above 25 HRs (don't cross fingers for 48 unless you want steroid talks to pop up in Seattle). No, he doesn't have the RISP or men on base average stats that Yuni has got going for him, but he's got the RBIs that Yuni can't get. 44 of his 67 RBIs have come with men on base, and 24 of those 44 have come with 2-men out. His offense, yes has been a bust in Seattle, and that should have been expected. However, he is definitley worth the price tag for his stellar defense. I've heard grumblings during Fox Saturday Baseball Game of the Week numberous times this year that Eric Chavez is no longer the glove standard at 3rd base, Adrian Beltre is.

Meet the Mariner bullpen, average age (of the selected players, who were required to be on the ESPN Roster and active when checked) is 25. I don't think I can praise them enough. The easiest player by far to talk about would be J.J. Putz. He's the best closer in baseball, and his name is still going throughout the ball world and through Cy Young talks. However, Sean Green, George Sherrill and Eric O'Flaherty are the real heroes of this bullpen. They are the ones who get the ball to Putz in order to make us "Thunderstruck" and give us the win.

Thursday Quote: Dangerous Decisions

The quote this week comes from American economist and political writer Thomas Sowell. He once said:

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong."

Lately, the in-game decisions made by Mariner's manager John McLaren have come under close scrutiny and have drawn criticism from the Mariner faithful. But this week, John McLaren has made an even more crucial and controversial decision to bring Adam Jones up from Triple-A Tacoma tomorrow after saying that he doesn't want Adam Jones up with the big club until there is a place for him to play everyday. Speculation is that Jones will be used in a utility role, playing all of the outfield positions when players need rests or pinch hitting later in games. However, this would contradict what John McLaren said before about only promoting him when there is a starting spot open for him. Thinking that McLaren wouldn't intentionally contradict himself, it is obvious that McLaren is being pressured by the front office to bring Jones up, and it seems like he has folded under the pressure and yielded to the front office. To add to the confusion, McLaren has also stated the old adage that "if it ain't broke [the team], don't fix it." But it seems like the front office has went against that wisdom and will bring Jones up for a quick fix.

Several players, including Jose Guillen, have made it clear that the team chemistry right now is very good and the morale is high. Not surprisingly, the rumblings in the clubhouse seem to be that the team is not all in favor of the Jones promotion as they feel it will disrupt the chemistry. A valid argument indeed and one that Bill Bavasi should realize. In the scheme of things it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to bring a rookie up in the middle of a playoff hunt. It would most certainly mean that guys like Jose Vidro and Raul Ibanez, solid veteran players who prove their worth consistently, will be forced to yield at bats to Jones, and in Ibanez's case, duties in the field as well. That is precisely why the move is going to hurt team chemistry, guys are going to arrive at the ballpark wondering if they will be playing that day, and if they're not, trying to figure out how to stay sharp for when they are called upon next. That uncertainty is not something that should be floating around in the club house at this point in the season.

Now we will see how the Jones promotion will pan out. Obviously I'd like to see it work but I can't say I'd be surprised if it contributes to missing the playoffs. I wish the front office and John McLaren would get on the same page with this, but it doesn't seem likely. When you step back and look at the situation, McLaren has to protect his job by satisfying the people above him, the front office and Bill Bavasi. Bill Bavasi has to protect his job by satisfying the owners and the fans. When nearly the entire fan-base is screaming their lungs out to bring Jones up and when the management and ownership above him wants the same thing, he's going to appease them in a heartbeat. Whether the move ends up being a positive one or a negative one, Bavasi can't be criticized for the decision since an overwhelming majority of people want the move to be made. In other words, he won't pay a price for being wrong. And as Thomas Sowell tells us, that way of decision-making, practiced by people who can't be blamed if something turns out poorly, is the most dangerous way to make a decision.

Thursday Quote: Detour

This week’s quote comes from the late American businesswoman and founder of Mary Kay cosmetics; Mary Kay Ash. She once said:

“For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour.”

Currently, the Mariners are knee-deep in a six game losing streak and have just been swept by the division dwelling Texas Rangers in a four game series. I think part of the blame for this losing streak, besides the hitting, falls on John McLaren. Since the All-Star break, the Mariners are 5 and 9 and McLaren has taken some heat for throwing out the same old lineup every night despite who was on the mound. I believe that the criticisms have been just since it is those little things, the intangibles, which can kick any ballclub up a notch or two. Sure there have been little lineup tweaks, like moving Vidro to the five spot which I personally don’t understand. Why Johjima still hits seventh is a mystery to me. I believe that if this team is to succeed, McLaren needs to find an alternative course of action sooner rather than later.

Another thing that has to be mentioned in accordance with this quote is the front office. There is no doubt that our front office is under more pressure now than ever before to make a move before the July 31st deadline. Management has to come to terms with reality; that this team, as it stands right now, is not going to make the playoffs. Say what you will or argue that it isn’t true, but it is. This losing streak has proved that we desperately need either one more solid pitcher or one more solid hitter to give us a shot at making the playoffs. One thing that we seriously lack right now is positive momentum, and that’s because winning or losing streaks and momentum go hand in hand. Looking back at the last six games, five of those losses have been by one run. That means that if we had another good hitter that was able to drive in one or two more runs, we would have probably won a few of those games. The same thing could be said if we had one more solid pitcher. Instead of stopping the negative momentum of a losing streak, we continue to lose and drop deeper and deeper into the abyss. One win can totally reverse the trend. Bavasi has got to make a move. He needs to find the one piece that can reverse the trend, the one piece that can win us the close games, the one piece to get passed the roadblock of a mid-season crisis.

Thursday Quote: Ability

Being in a very pensive mood today, I thought I would introduce the Thursday Quote; a weekly entry where I will use a great quote from history to talk about the Mariners. Today's quote will be from the accomplished American author of detective fiction, Martha Grimes, who earned a bachelor's degree and a masters degree at the University of Maryland (GO TERPS!), just about 45 minutes from where I live. She said:

"We don't know who we are until we see what we can do."

At the end of last season, Mariner fans everywhere were distraught with the fact that a third straight losing season had concluded, and left us in the basement of the AL West as it had done in the two years prior. Some of us were glad that it was finally over, some of us were melancholy going into the long winter's nap without Mariners baseball. But from either perspective, distraught definitely applied. After the initial depression faded, we looked to the one man that could change things, the one man that could give us hope in 2007. That man: Bill Bavasi. We anticipated that "big signing" throughout the entire off-season. We were positive that we would land a studly starting pitcher to bring the Mariner rotation to a new level; you know, like a Zito or a Schmidt. Agonizing days passed and no starting pitcher. Schmidt went to the Dodgers, Zito, to the Giants, and soon enough, the free agent market for pitchers was dwindling down to a few have-beens, who were in for hefty payoffs simply because they were all that was left. On December 7th, Bavasi traded away the injury-prone fireballer Rafael Soriano for left-handed starter Horacio Ramirez; a move that many Mariner fans were outraged over, including myself. Just a week later on December 14th we signed Miguel Batista, a versatile pitcher who we knew wasn't what we wanted or needed, but we were just happy to see something get done that didn't involve giving up prospects. To round off the pitcher acquisitions, we signed the inconsistent Jeff Weaver to a grossly expensive contract on January 29th, 2007. Surely this was one holiday season that Mariner fans wanted to forget. Bill Bavasi was considered the Grinch who stole Christmas from the M's, or maybe even an evil Santa who left only coal in our stockings. Mariner Nation was now convinced that the 07 season was lost for good.

Winter has long since left, and the summer heat has burned away the doubt and depression that was the Seattle Mariners. To everyone's surprise, we've managed to bring a winning record into mid-July. Not hovering above and below the .500 line, not a few games over, but 14 games over. The hope that was lost has now been found, and we are feeding off of our newly-found energy and enthusiasm. We are in a position that we never thought we would be in, just 1.5 games behind the Angels in the division and just a game out of the wildcard. Just as the Ancient Mariner did in Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner", we have cast the dead albatross from our neck and moved onto the brighter side of life. Winning has opened up a channel for us to see the true character of a team that we thought was dead in the water. Regardless of what happens the rest of the way, Mariner fans should come out of this season with a new perspective. We should never pre-judge our team based on statistics or what ESPN says about us. More than anything, the character our team has displayed is responsible for the way we are playing. This 2007 season so far is just a microcosm, a single example in the scheme of things, based on the simple idea that "we don't know who we are until we see what we can do."