Cubs Interested in Ibanez?

Chicago Cubs GM Jim Hendry has made his apirations to acquire a left-handed bat quite clear this offseason and the name Raul Ibanez has been tossed around as a potential candidate. It's hard to gauge where management stands on Raul Ibanez and if they consider Wladamir Balentien to be ready for a full-time job in the big leagues. The Cubs have also toyed with the idea of trading Mark Prior before they have to tender him a contract for the 2008 season in about a week. If the Mariners are willing to take a risk on Mark Prior and hope that he can get healthy and then stay healthy, I wouldn't be completely surprised if the two teams struck a deal involving Prior and Ibanez.

Santana Makes Ultimatum

According to the Providence Journal, Johan Santana has told the Twins that he would not only use his no trade clause to block any trade during the season, but that he would use it in the coming week on any deal involving a team not named the Yankees or the Red Sox. This effectively puts an end to any hope Mariner fans had of acquiring the All Star southpaw this offseason.

Meanwhile, the Mariners contingent arrived in Nashville the other day for the annual Winter Meetings that are set to begin today and continue through Wednesday. Keep checking back with Mariner Nation for news and analysis of the Winter Meetings.

Mariners Decline Arbitration on Guillen, Others

Rotoworld reported early this morning that the Mariners declined to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen, Jeff Weaver, Arthur Rhodes, and Chris Retisma. Obviously the big news here is Jose Guillen and the fact that the Mariners did not want to take a chance on him accepting arbitration according to Rotoworld. While many fans seem to be emotionally distraught with his departure, it does paint a clearer picture of what may be in the immediate future. I expect Adam Jones to assume the vacancy in right field and Raul Ibanez to continue patrolling left, though most fans cringe when they picture Ibanez in the outfield. The idea of putting Ibanez at designated hitter is certainly intriguing, but it would cause a chain reaction of questions that would have to be answered regarding the roles of Ben Broussard, Jose Vidro, and Wladamir Balentien (assuming he would get playing time in left).

It's going to be interesting to see what goes down at the Winter Meetings in the next couple of days. I would feel a lot more comfortable if most of the offseason questions are addressed this week; including the rotation. All the advice I can give Mariner fans is pray for terrible things not to happen, brace yourselves for nothing to happen, and hope that something good happens.

And another thing: DING-DONG JEFF WEAVER'S GONE!

Hot Stove: 12/1/07

• Updating previous reports, the Mariners are still waiting for Japanese ace Hiroki Kuroda to make a decision. It has been reported that the Mariners have made the most aggressive offer that would lock him down for four years.

• mlbtraderumors.com reports that the Mariners have been in talks with Jeremy Affeldt's agent. Affeldt, a left-handed pitcher, used to start games for the Kansas City Royals when he came up in 2002 until mid-2004 (and then 9 games in 2006) when he was converted to a reliever. For his career, he has a career ERA of 4.74 and a record of 25-27. Last season was by far his best year on record as he went 4-3 with a 3.51 era in 75 games for the Colorado Rockies. However, those numbers could be misleading because in those 75 games, he only pitched 59 innings which means that he was probably used a lot against left-handed batters. This would make sense since his ERA against those lefty hitters last year was 3.27. When push comes to shove, I don't think that Affeldt would be a good fit for Seattle, mainly because he has had limited success as a starter in the big leagues and has only started nine games in the last three years.

• mlbtraderumors.com also points out that Bavasi doesn't seem to be content with Jose Lopez at second base and may look for other alternatives like Tadahito Iguchi, David Eckstein, and Marcus Giles. They even mentioned a possible trade with the San Francisco Giants where Richie Sexson would be shipped to San Fran in return for washed up second baseman Ray Durham. In regards to that trade, I see no logic behind replacing the up-and-coming Jose Lopez with 36-year old Ray Durham who has never hit over .300 and hit a mere .218 last year. As for signing one of the other free agent second baseman, I am completely against it. I don't understand why management has all of a suddent lost hope in Jose Lopez. He and Yunieski Betancourt are the best double play tandem in the majors and to lose that would be devastating. Sure Lopez has struggled in the second half of the season in his first two years in the bigs, but give him a break! He has already proven to everyone that he can hit, so let's atleast see how he begins the season. Oh by the way, Yung Chi Chen is waiting in the wings and many believe he would be a viable option should Lopez fall on his face.

• The Mariners have the option of offering Jose Guillen an arbitration salary. If Guillen agrees to accept what the Mariners want to pay him, he will be signed through 2008. If he rejects the arbitration offer, he will become an unrestricted free agent. The likely scenario is the latter.

Igawa's Name Surfacing Again

mlbtraderumors.com has listed the Mariners as a team who may have interest in trading for the disgruntled Yankee. Should Kuroda sign elsewhere, the Mariners may look to deal for Igawa since he is extremely inexpensive as far as contracts go (owed 4 mil a year thru 2011) and will probably not cost a lot on the market due to his struggles thus far in the states coupled with the fact that the Yankees don't have a rotation spot available for him. If he is unsuccessful, we can simply do what the Yankees did, demote him to the minors. Four million dollars a year is miniscule compared to what other guys are making and he could potentially be a diamond in the rough who just hasn't been in the right situation to thrive in New York. The chances of the Mariners having two Japanese starters in the rotation next year are slim, so I expect a deal would only be considered if Kuroda signs elsewhere.

Speaking of Kuroda, he recently said that he has not made a decision yet and has to carefully think about his future.

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...

Why Clement, Jones and Morrow are Tradeable

People are putting a price on winning. "We are trading away too much and his contract is too heavy to afford." That is all I've heard.

I can't believe you people are willing to just give up on the best pitcher on the planet. Simple as that. We cannot win with our rotation. Jones is still a work in progress, and I still don't see him becoming a full-fledged superstar, Morrow is another HUGE work in progress and Clement is stuck in a spot where his playing time will be limited. I'll summarize my point once again.

Morrow - Morrow does not have what it takes to be a starter, yet. It will take time. He pitched 3, 4 innings max in a game this year, and he started to get hit hard later it seemed. He was totally inconsistent throughout the year. If we push him to start, he's going to get shelled early and often. All he is, is a pitcher who throws hard. Worst, he's right handed. A right handed guy who can only throw his fastball is worthless in the rotation. If we move him to the bullpen, he won't be as effective. He could, in theory be a dominant closer in the future. He only needs to throw his fastball, change-up and occasional breaking ball. He has the making of a DOMINANT closer. Problem? We have Putz. We don't need Morrow.

Clement - He is stuck. He won't get much playing time. Johjima is going to be the starting catcher. His CS% was the highest among regular, full time catchers and he is a gold glove caliber catcher. You could argue that he should have won it this year. Clement won't get time at DH since we have the ever-consistent Vidro at DH anchoring the line-up with a .300 average all year. He can't be moved to first since we are stuck with that lard 1st baseman Sexson. As of now, Sexson isn't being put out on the market, so for now, 1st base is his. So Clement will see sporatic playing time between catching Johjima in the days off, assuming Burke is still with the team. He won't get time at 1st because we still have Broussard who needs more playing time, and will get it when Sexson has his days off. DH won't be Clements because we have Ibanez and Vidro as the top two cantidates starting in the DH slot, most likely in a platoon.

Jones - I'm stuck here. I want to see him live out his potential and his hype, but he just isn't impressive. His career average, as of the last game of the season, is only a mere .230. That is nothing, at all. He has 3 home runes and only 12 RBIs in 73 games. 32 hits in a total of 73 games. He is just not impressive. He has also made 5 errors in his 73 games. That is about 12 or 13 errors a year, in a 162 game season. That is pathetic.

We don't need this. There is nothing that jumps out at me saying, "Hey, Bavasi, don't trade our future!" We could use Johan, who is still 28, a lot more than we can use our undeveloped and unfulfilled "future" and hype.

Pursuit of Johan Santana

Introduction:
So as we should all know, the Mariners are still in the running for landing Johan Santana. Now, let's get past the obvious, it is going to cost some serious money. However, let's think about this. The Mariners are in desperate need of an upgrade in their rotation, and what better way to start than by getting the best pitcher on the planet?

Numbers:
Santana is a winner. In his 4 full seasons as a starter Santana is 70-32, with an average ERA in those 4 season that is an astounding 2.89. Those are unheard of. Let's delve further into the stats. His total strikeouts in that 4 year run total 983, compared to just 198 walks. People, that is almost a 5 K/BB ratio. For a power pitcher, that is rediculous. We haven't seen numbers like those since Pedro Martinez's run with the Boston Red Sox. His years there, he was Cy Young. Johan Santana has won 2 of the last 4 Cy Young Awards. In the crunch, he is even better. In the last 4 season he has a Post-All Star record of 36-14. Coincidence: The Mariners fold in the 2nd half every team our name has a playoff lable on it!

Intangibles:
Safeco Field would be the perfect fit for Santana. Safeco Field favors the left handed pitcher, well, even pitchers in general. However, the left hander is dominant in Safeco. Johan, is a dominant left handed pitcher. Love? Next, and maybe less of Santana and more of his catcher, but in his 4 years as starter, Santana has allowed 20 stolen bases, and 22 men have been caught stealing. Yes, over 50% of base runners have been caught during his full time starting tenure. One less man on base is one less runner and one less potential run. Next, Santana is a workhorse. In those 4 years as the starter in Minnesota, Santana has logged 912.1 innings, or 228 innings per year. That averages out at about 7 innings per game, also. The sooner we can get the ball from Santana to Putz, the better chance we have at winning.

The Price:
It is reported that he is seeking 5 years and $126 million. Yeah, I won't lie, that is a lot of money. However, let us think about this. The numbers have already shown you what he can do. Here is the real question: How badly to the Mariners want to win and what is the price of winning? To me, the price of winning is $126 million. Yes, Johan Santana is worth every penny. He has been the most dominant pitcher in the last 4 years, and you can argue 5 (he began starting about half way through 2003, but didn't hold onto a full time spot until 2004.) Santana is a once in a decade, one in a career (front office career) type offer.

The price isn't limited to money. The Twins have outlined that they would like Adam Jones, Brandon Morrow and Jeff Clement. To some people, this may seem like too much to trade away. I however, say it is would be worth it. Let's look at this: None of them are nowhere as proven in the MLB as Santana.

Adam Jones has struggled in his two stints with the big club, and struggled mightily. He has been extremely unsuccessful at the plate, showing little discipline, and has struggled to use his power. In the field, I don't know what is going on. He's supposed to be great, but he's been making routine plays seem like highlight reel catches. He has been compared to the greatest Mariner ever, Ken Griffey Jr. That is setting him up for failure. Not to mention, Torri Hunter just left the Twins, so center is wide open for Adam Jones to take over.

Brandon Morrow has seen time, has been demoted, promoted, and anything in between. He has struggled with his control, and is about as streaky as they come. I don't know what they would do with Morrow, meaning, I don't know if they would keep him in the bullpen or convert him to the starting rotation, but either way, they gain an electric arm.

Jeff Clement has never really rubbed me right until his September callup. When McLaren went nuts with playing the Rainiers against the MLB I thought he was stupid. I saw Clement's numbers [in AAA] and thought he would die. He proved me wrong. I saw both of his home runs at Safeco, and he looked extremely impressive. With the possibility of Joe Mauer being moved to an every day spot to save his knees, Clement would fit in perfect in Minnesota.

Outside Sources:
Buster Olney (of ESPN) posted a blog (Insider: Free, recently made "unfree") saying that a Santana trade seems impossible. The impossible factor was the money. Nobody is sure whether or not the Twins will be able to resign Santana. If resigned then traded, that will save money. (IE - Carlos Zambrano, who could command more money than Santana.) If not resigned by Santana, that is where it gets insanely disgusting. He could run up the table more. His $126 million was his Twins counter-offer. On an open market, he's free game.

Larry Larue (of The Tacoma News Tribune) posted a article on the money aspect of free agency and trades. He referenced Santana and the money he commanded. He said, "The Mariners and a half-dozen other teams still have interest in trading for Santana, but each of them took a large gulp after hearing that figure. Now, to obtain Santana it will take a package of ready-for-prime-time talent – and $126 million." The Mariners fit every checkmark. First, we have been mentioned in the running. Second, we have ready-for-prime time talent. All three guys have seen time in the MLB. Finally, the money. Okay, don't get me wrong, it will cost us. But, is there a price on winning? We are owned by Nintendo, so, if we are ever short on money, we can take a loan from the only gaming system currently making money. Coincidence? I only hope.

Finale:
Now, here is what I really mean. I want Johan Santana. I want somebody to teach Felix how to pitch, and a Johan/Felix 1-2 punch would be a top-of-the-line rotation. I am in love with the guy on the mound. He is putting on one of the most dominant runs in baseball in the last 30 years. He has been lights out and consistent, about as good as it comes.

My Summary
I want Johan Santana.

Another Opinion; (An Opposition To Johan):
Fellow learned blogger, Jon:
http://theseattlemariners.blogspot.com/2007/11/cost-of-johan-santana.html

Sources:
Johan Santana stats:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?playerId=4280
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/splits?playerId=4280

Tacoma News Tribune:
http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/mariners/story/212490.html

Miscellaneous:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=3121887

Hot Stove: 11/25/07

-Randy Wolf, possibly one of the better free agent pitchers out there, has received a contract offer from the Philadelphia Phillies. Wolf pitched for the Phillies before signing a contract for his favorite team growing up, the Dodgers, in a injury plagued season in 2007. Delaware Online reports that Wolf often watched Phillies games while with the Dodgers, kept in contact with Phillies players and the "Wolf pack" who cheered him on from the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park. In my opinion, all signs point to him rejoining the Phillies so cross Wolf off the Mariners list (if he was there in the first place).

-Delaware Online has also reported that the Phillies have offered Hiroki Kuroda a contract. They do recognize that it is a long shot and that Seattle is probably the top contender for his services. Something I didn't know, Kuroda's agent, Joe Urbon, is based in Seattle.

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071125/SPORTS01/711250386/1021

Kuroda Film

Tonight, I decided to take a look at some film of the much-talked-about future (hopefully) Mariner Hiroki Kuroda pitching for the Hiroshima Carp. There have been some rumors that his fastball can hit 96 mph but I'm not believing them after the film I've watched. I watched him throw about fifteen pitches and here is what I saw:

• An average fastball that ranged from 89 to 92
• An average to good slider that ranged from 76 to 81
• An average to good forkball that was consistently around 86
• Good control, good composure
• A slightly staggered but not so funky windup

He's everything I thought he'd be. Hopefully his meetings with Bavasi and McLaren went well

A couple videos of Kuroda pitching:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r6QhfHMxWPA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZycHPwbcuHQ

Fred Claus

As the hot stove continues to burn away, general managers will surely focus first on getting a nice Christmas gift in the form of a starting pitcher for their respective teams. While the offseason seas are relatively quiet with only a couple marquee players being reeled in, the inevitable frenzy is bound to have general managers scrambling around like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Jingle All the Way. One of the big starting pitcher prizes this year is former Mariner Freddy Garcia who finished out a three year contract as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies last year. His season was a short one due to a shoulder injury that required surgery on his labrum and rotator cuff. Garcia's agent, Peter Greenberg, said that the Mets have shown "considerable interest" in Garcia as well as some other teams. The Mets just missed out on Freddy Garcia last year when the White Sox sent him to the Phillies for highly touted pitching prospects Gavin Floyd and Gio Gonzalez.

Many Mariner fans are wondering about the possibility of the Mariners bringing back Garcia, a fan-favorite during his years in Seattle. Will it happen this offseason? Probably not, thankfully. According to the New York Daily News, Garcia "should be ready to pitch by midseason, perhaps as early as June." Garcia's agent confirmed that diagnosis and discussed the alternative of Garcia not signing a contract until he's healthy;

"If something is right at the winter meetings, maybe he'll sign or maybe he'll wait and maybe make more money. He'd be a guy for the second half. Contenders are looking for pitching around that time and you wouldn't have to trade for it then. If we did a showcase and we reached a deal, we'd let a team do a physical and do a Roger Clemens, a prorated deal for that season plus any extra years."

In my opinion, the only way the Mariners should pursue Garcia is if he remains a free agent into the middle of the season and if the Mariners' fate is still in their hands at that time. Signing a starting pitcher in the dark while his health is uncertain and his ability is jeopardized by his injury is extremely risky, especially for a player of his caliber. So when it comes down to it, I'd rather see a lump of coal under the Christmas tree than Freddy Garcia; atleast you can use the coal. He could make a nice graduation present though...

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2007/11/24/2007-11-24_mets_interested_in_freddy_garcia.html

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

Angels Feast on Prime Free Agent

On a day where the theme is giving, the Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) have gotten into the spirit by giving stud free agent centerfielder Torri "Highlight Reel" Hunter the gravy in the form of a fat 5 year contract estimated to be anywhere from 80 to 90 mil. This is certainly the biggest splash of the offseason so far, especially since nobody saw it coming. Hunter said that even he was surprised to learn just a few days ago that the Angels were interested.

So what does this deal mean? Well, it means that the Angels are by far the best team in the AL West after adding Jon Garland and now Torri Hunter, both in the last week. It means that they're team is now better than they were last year when they won the division. Even if the Angels stop making moves now and go into next season with what they have, they will be extremely tough to beat. But if you think new GM Tony Reagins is about to go cold turkey, think again. The offseason has just begun and already there are rumors that the Angels excess talent will allow them to make a trade with the Marlins for superstar third baseman Miguel Cabrera. Names like Juan Rivera, Reggie Willits, and Casey Kotchman may come up in the coming weeks as likely candidates to be shipped off to hell, I mean Florida, if a Cabrera deal gains momentum.

So the Angels have made the first move. If it would have been the Yankees, the Redsox would be next to land a marquee name. Seattle GM Bill Bavasi needs to, has to, MUST do something soon. We can't wait until the end of the offseason to pick on everyone's leftovers. I don't know what Bavasi is brewing up, but I do know this: If the Angels trade for Miguel Cabrera, hopes of the Mariners being AL West champs in 2008 are as good as gone.

Hiroki Kuroda

According to the Tacoma News Tribune, Seattle is actively pursueing Hiroki Kuroda, a 32 year old starter from Japan. In his 11 year career he has amassed 103 wins and 89 losses. His last 3 seasons have been far more successful, posting a 40 win - 26 loss record. He is reported to have a mid-90s fastball, a forkball and a slider (all above-average).

Since he has been playing professional for over 10 years he does not require a posting fee. This is very nice for us since we will not be wasting plenty of money on the posting fee alone.

It is reported that he is leaning towards a west coast team, and perfers west coast teams. The Mariners have a huge advantage having Ichiro and Johjima to sway him towards the Mariners.

Other teams interested in Kuroda are the Cubs, Phillies, Dodgers and the Rangers.


Source: http://seattlemariners.com

Free Agent SP Rankings

Dustin and I have compiled this list of starting pitchers who will be free agents in the offseason and have ranked who we think are the top 13.

1. Freddy Garcia

P: Though 05 and 06 for Garcia in Chicago were only mediocre, he has still shown to be a very consistent pitcher throughout his career. In the eight seasons prior to 2007, Garcia's era hasn't been over 4.53 in 2006 and has been as low as 3.05 in the M's magical year of 2001. His career K:BB ratio is 2.23 : 1, a very solid mark. Though he has been hurt for most of this season, I expect this 31 year-old to have a 2008 that falls in line with his consistent track record.

D: I loved Freddy when he was with Seattle. He logged 76 wins to 50 losses. A career 4.07 ERA, which would most likely be lower had he stayed with the Mariners, instead of moving to hitter friendly US Cellular Field in Chicago where his ERA was above 4.50 for most of his time there. Now, its at an unhealthy 5.90. I am all for Freddy, and I believe he'll be fairly cheap.

2. Livan Hernandez

P: There is something about Livan Hernandez that has always told me to either draft him in fantasy leagues as a sleeper or to pick him up in free agency. At 32 years-old, he is a tremendous workhorse and will always rack up a ton of innings. With a winning ballclub, that means a lot of wins. His K's to walks have never really been impressive, and it is a slight concern. At the end of the day, he gets the job done.

D: An innings eater. He led the NL in innings pitched from 2003-2005. He also has an amazing glove for a pitcher, only committing 11 errors in his long, long career. He would eat innings and shave the innings pitched by the bullpen, which is something like 3rd most in the AL. I've wanted him for quite some time, and I believe he will come cheap due to age.

3. Randy Wolf

P: Wolf is well-past his two short glory years with the Phillies in 01 and 02; the only two seasons where his era ended at under 4.00. He is an injury risk, but when healthy he can be a decent number 4 guy.

D: Incredible risk. He could command money, and he might also be worth it, if he can stay healthy. That is a HUGE if though. He hasn't started more than 23 games in the last 4 years, and this year won't break that trend. With a career 4.26 ERA he looks like a "get 'em if he's still there" guy, but he's only had 3 full MLB years since coming up in 1999. I'd pass on him except for the the little stat of G/F. He's an extreme fly ball pitcher. His career mark is .89, compared to Washburn's .78. They aren't vastly different.

4. Carlos Silva

5. Kenny Rogers

6. Paul Byrd

7. Odalis Perez

8. Bartolo Colon

9. Joel Pineiro

10 Wade Miller

11. Jon Lieber

12. Matt Clement

13. Kris Benson


Did dot make top 13: Shawn Chacon, Scott Elarton, Josh Fogg, Casey Fossum, Jason Jennings, Brian Lawrence, Kyle Lohse, Rodrigo Lopez, Eric Milton, Julian Tavarez, Brett Tomko, Kip Wells, Jaret Wright, Victor Zambrano

Stottlemyre and Charlton Among New Mariners Coaches Named Monday

McLaren officially named his new coaching staff on Monday and I have to say I'm a fan of the moves that he has made. The headliners of the new staff are Mel Stottlemyre as the pitching coach and Norm Charlton as the bullpen coach. Jim Riggleman takes post at Bench Coach and Eddie Rodriguez is the 1st Base Coach. Larry Bowa has been offered the 3rd base coach job. Jeff Pentland is the only holdover from Hargrove's staff.

Heres a quick synopsis of each new coach:

Mel Stottlemyre:
I really like this move by the Mariners. Not only is Stottlemyre a former successful big league pitcher (three time 20 game winner) and father of two former big league pitchers but he was also the mind behind the pitching staff of the New York Yankees during their 4 World Series Championships of the Torre era. Plain and simple the guy knows what he's going when it comes to coaching pitchers. I can't wait to see what he can do with Felix, Morrow and some of the other young guys out in the pen. Hopefully Stottlemyre will be able to influence McLaren into making better decisions when it comes to handling the bullpen.

Norm Charlton:
I like this move probably as much if not more than hiring Stottlemyre. I was always a fan of Charlton even if he did sometimes about give me a heart attack when he took the mound. Charlton is not only a former Mariner but was a very good relief pitcher for many years in the big leagues. He knows what it takes to come out of the pen and perform in just about every relief situation. Hopefully he'll be able to convey this knowledge to our young guys out in the pen.

Jim Riggleman:
I've said before that I think that Bench Coach is an irrelevant position but that may just be me speaking out of ignorance. Riggleman is a former major league manager and has a lot of experience as a coach. If anything hopefully he'll be able to help McLaren make better choices in key situations because gods knows Jonny Mac could use the help.

Larry Bowa:
I really hope that Bowa accepts the offer to become 3rd base coach. He's another former big league manager that hopefully can help McLaren mature into a manager who makes the correct decision more often than not.

In general I think McLaren did a very very good job choosing his staff. He's surrounded himself with guys who have many years of experience both playing and coaching in the big leagues. Hopefully the coaching staff's experience will go a long ways towards him making better decisions in critical situations. And I really really can't wait to see what Stottlemyre can do with our young pitchers...

Potential Offseason Moves: Free Agent Starting Pitchers

While there are many moves that could be made this off season to improve the Mariners this off season, starting pitching is the most glaring need. I'll address free agents moves for starting pitching, trades for starting pitching and other general roster moves. For this post I'm sticking with moves the Mariners could make on the slim free agent market for starting pitching.

We made two terrible off season moves last year to try and improve our starting pitching by signing Jeff "Nightmare" Weaver to an 8.3 million dollar one year deal and trading potential star reliever Rafael Soriano for Horacio "Oh No!" Ramirez. These two combined to be perhaps one of the worst 4 and 5 starting combos in Major League history. They obviously won't be back next season but they do need to be replaced somehow. Some people would say ANYONE WOULD BE BETTER THAN WEAVER AND RAMIREZ. However, that was essentially the thinking that got us those two nightmares on our team last off season so lets try and get out of that mindset.

This year's free agent pool for pitchers is slim at best. Which means that anybody that has had anything revealing some sort of success at the major league level won't be cheap (this is exactly the same reason why we gave Weaver so much money last off season). The best of who could be in the free agent pool (some of these players have options for next year) are: Freddy Garcia, Greg Maddux, Curt Schilling, Carlos Silva, Paul Byrd, Bartolo Colon, Randy Wolf and Jon Lieber.

I'll toss out the old guys who I really don't think would be a viable choice for the Mariners, so you can throw out Maddux, Schilling, Byrd and Lieber from this list. Although it could be viable to sign Maddux or Schilling for one year to help groom Morrow as a starter, I just don't think it's worth the money either of those guys will be demanding (assuming neither of them retire). Any of these older guys could be a solution until we can develop a couple of the young guys in our farm system, however, I think the younger four guys are a much more viable solution for the Mariners. So those four aside leaves us Freddy Garcia, Carlos Silva, Bartolo Colon and Randy Wolf. Slim pickings really considering there are 29 other MLB teams to compete with. I'll take a look at each of these guys stats in depth.

FREDDY GARCIA:

He's my personal pick for who we should go after the hardest. He had season ending shoulder surgery in August. While there is a risk he could never be the same pitcher after the surgery, I like him for two reasons. He is an 31 year old 8 year veteran, two time all-star and has won a WS with the White Sox. He is a former Mariner fan favorite when he started his career in Seattle. While he won't be exactly cheap I think he'll be well worth the money coming to the Mariners as the potential #1 or strong #2 behind Felix. His 2007 stats are anything but stunning but his career numbers are solid and I think he can come back from the surgery strong and be one of the solid starters the Mariners are in dire need of, not to mention a great mentor for Felix. Look for him to want more than the 3 year $27 million contract that just expired for him, probably somewhere between 10 and 12 million a year.

Here are his stats:

2007: 1-5, 5.90 ERA, 1.60 WHIP, 11 G, 58 IP, 74 H, 39 R, 12 HR, 19 BB, 50 K, 95.2 P/GS, .318 BAA

Career: 117-76, 4.07 ERA, 1.296 WHIP, 263 G, 12 CG, 4 SHO, 1701.2 IP, 1658 H, 814 R, 770 ER, 203 HR, 548 BB, 1252 SO

CARLOS SILVA:

Another viable option for the Mariners. He had pretty good stats this year on a very mediocre Twins team. He's a 5 year veteran and 28 years old. While he's never had any great seasons he is a solid candidate to be anywhere from the Mariners 3 to 5 starter next year. 36 walks in 202 innings and a 1.312 WHIP would be a giant improvement over Weaver or Ramirez. He'd probably be a little bit cheaper than Garcia but will still get a premium in this year's thin market. He'll be looking to get more than the $8.3 million we gave Weaver last year.

Here are his stats:

2007: 13-14, 4.19 ERA, 1.312 WHIP, 33 G, 33 GS, 2 CG, 1 SHO, 202 IP, 229 H, 99 R, 94 ER, 20 HR, 36 BB, 89 SO

Career: 55-46, 4.31 ERA, 1.368 WHIP, 259 G, 125 GS, 5 CG, 2 SHO, 2 SV, 945 IP, 1122 H, 489 R, 453 ER, 117 HR, 171 BB, 395 SO

BARTOLO COLON:

Colon is a 34 year old, 11 year veteran and former Cy Young winner. Colon has proven to be a viable pitcher in the Major Leagues. He does come with risk because he's been hampered by injuries the last two seasons but his last full season was a stellar one for the Angels when he won the AL Cy Young. Colon would probably be the biggest risk the Mariners could take but could come with the biggest reward if Colon can get back to his Cy Young form of 2005. By signing Colon we would be betting that he can successfully come back after struggling to come back this year from a torn rotator cuff. He also may be the most expensive option for the Mariners. Colon made $14 million in his injury shortened 2007 campaign. He would also be a great mentor for Felix. He could essentially show him what it means to be an effective power pitcher.

Here are his stats:

2007: 6-8, 6.34, 1.621 WHIP, 19 G, 18 GS, 99.3 IP, 132 H, 74 R, 70 ER, 15 HR, 29 BB, 76 SO

Career: 146-95, 309 G, 306 GS, 31 CG, 8 SHO, 1975.3 IP, 1955 H, 966 R, 899 ER, 238 HR, 679 BB, 1542 SO

RANDY WOLF:

This is the guy who is the biggest unknown for me. He is a 31 year old, 9 year veteran and one time all-star. Minus one season where he went 16-10 in 2003 he is a .500 pitcher for the most part. He as a decent career ERA and WHIP but his numbers really are nothing to brag about. Since I've never seen him pitch I don't really know anything about Wolf but he seems like the biggest risk that the Mariners could go after. He just seems to remind me too much of Ramirez or Weaver. I might be completely wrong with that but that is the feeling I get. Wolf also is the only one of these four guys I've mentioned that has a club option on his contract for $9 million for 2008. The Dodger very well may exercise that option. So Wolf may not even be a possibility for the Mariners. I'm guessing he'd be better than Ramirez or Weaver but who knows.

Here are his stats:

2007: 9-6, 4.73 ERA, 4.53 WHIP, 18 G, 18 GS, 102.7 IP, 110 H, 55 R, 54 ER, 10 HR, 39 BB, 94 SO

Career: 78-66, 4.34 ERA, 1.342 WHIP, 212 G, 208 GS, 11 CG, 7 SHO, 1277.7 IP, 1239 H, 642 R, 604 ER, 167 HR, 476 BB, 1065 SO

The pickings for the Mariners are certainly slim. There just aren't many quality free agent starting pitchers available. Personally I think that we should go after Garcia and Silva as hard as possible. We should also get into the bidding for Colon and Wolf (if the Dodgers don't exercise his option). If we pursue all of them hopefully we'll sign at least one of them. If we sign two of them it'd be even better because then we wouldn't have to rely on one of the young guys next year. I won't lie, I want us to get Garcia real bad and hope to see him in a Mariners uniform next year. I think he could be just the #1/#2 starter the Mariners need to be a real competitor next year. Not only would he be a great mentor for Felix, he would give him some competition at the top and hopefully push Felix to his full potential.

Nightcap: 09/28/07 vs. Texas

And the Mariners are in the win column for the 86th time this year thanks to more late inning heroics. For the second time this week rookie Jeff Clement hit a HR in the ninth inning, this time it was a two-run walkoff to give the Mariners a 6-4 victory. This is coming only two nights after Clement hit a game tying HR in the ninth inning of the nightcap of a double header, which helped the Mariners take that game 3-2.

The Mariners went down early when Jeff Weaver gave up 2 runs in the 3rd. The Mariners battled back by scoring 3 runs in the 6th to take a short-lived lead. The Rangers shot back in the 7th on a two run Travis Metcalf HR. The Mariners then tied the game in the 8th thanks to a clutch pinch-hit RBI single by Jose "Turbo" Vidro.

JJ Putz came in to shut down the Rangers in the 9th to set up Clements 9th inning heroics and up his record to an impressive 6-1. Which is great considering he only has two blown saves in 41 opportunities. Weaver had a decent outing tonight that keep the Mariners in the game, going 8 innings and giving up 4 earned runs on 9 hits with 0 walks.

Lets hope this late inning excitement continues in the Mariner's favor for the next two games. If anything it will give us reason to watch the games and enable us to see the end to a suprising season for the Mariners.

Winning Pitcher: JJ Putz (6-1) Losing Pitcher: Mike Wood (3-2)

Tomorrows starters: Miguel Batista (15-11, 4.43) vs. Kevin Millwood (10-13, 5.16)

Attendance: 31,954

Game Time: 3:08

GameZone 9/28/2007 @ Safeco

Texas Rangers (75-84) @ Seattle Mariners (85-74)

Starters: Jeff "Soon to be Just a Dream" Weaver (7-13, 6.30) vs. Edinson Volquez (2-1, 4.40)

Lineups:

SEA
Ichiro CF
Beltre 3B
Ibanez LF
Guillen RF
Clement DH
Johjima C
Morse 1B
Lopez 2B
Bloomquist SS

TEX
Frank Catalanotto 1B
Ian Kinsler 2B
Micheal Young SS
Marlon Byrd CF
Hank Blaylock DH
Jason Botts LF
David Murphy RF
Jarrod Saltalamacchia C
Travis Metcalf 3B

Lets see if we can close out the season with a sweep of the last place Rangers, who were at the forefront of our slide from contention. A season record of 88-74 doesn't look too bad to me.

McLaren and Bavasi Coming Back for 2008

Well if you haven't already heard it was announced before last night's win that McLaren and Bavasi will be back to give it another go in 2008. I agree with bringing Bavasi back. As much as the entire Mariner Nation has criticized some of the bad decisions he has made, he has made enough good decisions to put a winning team on the field this year. Let's face it, no Mariner fan who follows the team closely expected this team to have 85 wins heading into the final series of the year. Yeah, we're not going to make the playoffs but we've improved our record for the third straight season under Bavasi and have a solid core of players coming back next year that should keep us in the playoff hunt again. While Bavasi hasn't made all the right decisions, he's certainly done well enough to earn himself another year to try and put a team on the field that will make the playoffs.

Now, as far a bringing McLaren back, I gotta wholeheartedly disagree with this move. Yes, McLaren was put in a tough situation when Hargrove "retired" suddenly in the middle of the season. He even kept us in realistic contention through August. You really can't complain about a 40-41 record from a first time manager who took over unexpectedly. However, you can complain about how McLaren has repeatedly proven over the last 81 games that he lacks the ability to make competent decisions in critical game situations. I think Jeff over at Lookout Landing may have put it best when he said that managers rarely get fired for the decisions they make from the dugout, instead it's when they can't run the clubhouse when they get the boot most often. McLaren keeps the clubhouse and Ichiro happy, which is about as good as it seems to get in the Mariner's eyes.

While I understand why McLaren is getting a chance to come back, that isn't going to stop me from complaining about why it is a bad move. McLaren is a 56 year old rookie manager and I think he has shown why he has never gotten a shot to run the show until now. He simply cannot do the little things that keeps a team in contention by helping them win ballgames in critical situations.

He fails to take advantage of lefty vs. righty situations by pinch-hitting late in games claiming that he "doesn't buy too much into whole lefty vs. righty thing". However, on the otherside of the ball he repeatedly takes advantage of lefty vs. lefty (and vice versa) matchups by making far too many bullpen moves. You simply don't need to change pitchers every other batter to match up lefty vs lefty and righty vs. righty at all times. It'll wear your bullpen down, and it certainly wore the Mariner's bullpen out (our starting pitching is partly to blame for this but if McLaren didn't use 7 pitchers every game our great bullpen wouldn't look so ragged right now).

McLaren also seems to be a HUGE believer in toeing the line when it comes to toying with team chemistry. He seems to think our veterans have no backbone at all to stand upon and fails to toy with lineups because of this. Rather than putting the lineup that matches up the best and gives us the best chance to win McLaren would run out the same lineup game after game after game so our "chemistry" wasn't affected. This hurt us for two reasons. The first being that he stuck with Richie Sexson entirely too long this season. Richie was doing terrible, yet, as a veteran, McLaren marched him out there everyday in hopes that he would snap out of it, all the while Broussard sat on the bench rotting away after repeatedly proving he could perform this year.

The second reason this hurt us is because McLaren failed to take advantage of all the young players, including Adam Jones, who came up in late in the season. It was questionable bringing all these guys up, and most of them probably won't have a regular spot on the Mariner roster anytime soon, but if anything they weren't going to do any worse than the regulars during our late season struggles.

First of all Adam Jones could've been worked into the lineup atleast 4 to 5 days a week without drastically cutting into anyone's playing time. It's called giving guys regular rests and most teams do it. There is no reason why Ibanez and Guillen couldn't have gotten a rest about once a week to give Jones a chance to play. Work in DHing Ibanez twice a week (with Vidro starting at 2B one of the games and resting the other) and you get 4 starts a week for Jones and all the veterans should be fresh and happy. The situation with Adam Jones just wasn't as hard as McLaren made it seem. Most of the last two months was wasted for AJ and his great season at AAA seemed to go by the wayside. By the way, take note of the above scenario for next year McLaren, it'll do wonders if you are faced with the same situation for AN ENTIRE YEAR.

Second of all we haven't realistically been in the playoff race for the last two weeks, and playing the young guys more isn't going to hurt anything (not even the team chemistry, if the vets can't deal with the young guys playing late in the season than they shouldn't be on a major league roster). If playing the young guys more would have done anything it would have gave them a chance to showcase their talents to other teams for potential trades. Let's face it, a majority of the young guys who are up with the big club right now don't fit into the big picture too well and the best value they are to the Mariners is as trade bait. If players like Jeff Clement, Jeremy Reed, Wladimir Balentien and Mike Morse would've got a little more time on the field late in the season they may have become more attractive to a team who might be willing to send us a quality starting pitcher. I'm not saying play all of them every day but three of them every game for the last three weeks of the season would've utilized them much better and might've brought better value for these players in any potential trades this offseason.

I'm a big believer that any person can learn and become better at things with time. Hopefully McLaren has learned alot in his 84 games this year as a MLB manager and will take what he has learned into next year. If he does, he might not be as bad a manager as I percieve him at this moment. However, if he doesn't learn from the mistakes that he has made this season, I may die of blunt force trauma to the head by the All-Star break from banging my head repeatedly into the wall watching McLaren make decisions on-par with those that a volunteer little league manager would make.