Sunday, October 03, 2004
the mariners are done. the season is over, 99 losses later. i didn't expect great things. i was hopeful they would pull something out of their ass. they tanked, they blew it, they just sucked this season. it was painful, a full 6 months that should have been devoted to baseball excitement was wasted on these boobs.
what went wrong this season?
no one wanted to take the blame. everyone pointed fingers, and so everyone just kept sucking. so who was to blame?
bob melvin? sure. kind of. a lot of people are to blame above him, but he didn't get the job done. he thought he was walking into a really cushy job. the team was setting win total records, and had kept its core veterans and a proven core of young pitching. there weren't any problem players, everyone was very professional. he wanted to sit back and let the kids play and win on their own. he did, for a season. he even got 93 wins, but he missed the playoffs with the better team. he is waiting for everyone else to do their jobs, but they aren't. he's new, so he doesn't quite have that motivating quality built through years of experience. he's a corporate manager who does great if he has the right personnel, but when things get hairy, he doesn't know what to do.
i just don't know. he has one year left on his contract? two years? i think a youth infusion will be good for him. get some enthusiastic young kids to build some momentum. this staff was built to maintain momentum, there was no one to start it. we have a unique opportunity right now to build a very talented young team. he's a very smart guy, a good baseball guy or whatever. i know he knows how the hit and run works, he just needs to get the hang of being the one who makes the calls. he's paralyzed in fear, so scared of losing his job. he's not playing his own game, and he's out of his element. i'd like to see someone else, but lets see if he can pull something off with some kids. he's a kid now, as managers go. how is he going to tell a group of established veterans what to do, especially since he has never won like they had been with anyone. i was really excited when we got him, but a season like this will leave anyone with doubts.
the real problem? too many people have to be involved in every personnel change. everyone has to ok it, in triplicate, blah blah. corporate beauracracy literally has killed this team. we have a gm who can't sign players, a manager who can't build the roster he wants. we have owners with a history of bungling trying to have their hands in everything. they are worried too much about money to realize what the real currency in sports is, the athletes. you couldn't put a price tag on what griffey had. they tried too, and he left. he was a spoiled little dick, but in the end we were too worried about overpaying to get a deal done. same with a-rod. we should have offered him a contract before he went to free agency and someone REALLY overpaid him. now, we have the money. we are overpaying mediocre players instead. we have no talent, none of that spark that makes sports so exciting. we have a great supporting cast, but everyone is depressed because no one could play the lead, even if they wanted too.
bill bavasi came in too late to do anything but bow to the tight fists in the owners box last season. i'm annoyed at that, but its hard to blame him. i think that freddy garcia trade was an absolute steal. we got two really young talented starters at two positions we desperately needed to fill and lost an unhappy player in an area we are overflowing with - pitching. we weren't going to keep him at the end of the year, because he was unhappy and he would have been too expensive. he'll be back, just you wait. we'll see freddy in a mariners uniform again. can bill keep things going? does he have the balls to swing with the big boys and try to haggle with the most evil man in sports history: the agent known as scott boras? i think i heard they have had dealings before, have some sort of repore. will boras take advantage of a weak market and give us a few reasonable deals very early in free agency? will the ownership finally realize that the choice is between overpaying a little now or overpaying a lot in the future? if bavasi doesn't make a huge splash early and ownership doesn't give him the go ahead for at least one 5 year contract, he's gone. and so are the mariners chances of doing something special.
because oh man do we have a chance right now.
so yeah, we need to find out what we need. in order to do that, we need to find out what we've got. lets not even deal with pitching right now, because that will take longer and it will be more difficult. lets get our lineup and defense set up. what do we have? it took them a while, but management finally gave up and gave up the season to testing young talent. it gave us a look at who we should plan on having on the team next season. it also gave all of them the most important thing they could get as young as possible, major league experience.
here is who i would keep for next season.
outfield:
this one too mean should be the easiest part. if we wanted too, we could keep the 3 starters we have now and have a pretty good outfield. Ichiro is a no brainer. i really hope Jeremy Reed has proven that he deserves a shot at a starting role. he hit .400 for the season on his first trip to the big leagues. apparently the kid has some power also, who knew. he looked sketch in center to begin with, but he got much, much better in each game he played. he almost had a beautiful catch out in safeco against the wall straight away center. i was worried about his range, but he finally looks a little more accustomed to the hugeness that is safeco. he's no mike cameron as far as gloves are concerned, but if his bat is as potentially huge as it looks, i'll keep him. i think he deserves his shot in center, if not, then in left. i don't mind ibanez in left if we can pick up enough talent in the infield to make up for him in the outfield. ibanez is ok, but he pretty much needs to be one of the worst starters you have. don't get me wrong, he's a great worst starter to have on your team. i love the guy. i was happy we resigned him. i hope we keep him. but if we don't fill the holes in the lineup with infielders like we should, we'll need to do it in the outfield and that means definitely no winn and also no ibanez. luckily ibanez also plays first, so he gets to stay on the team no matter what. bench doesn't matter now. ibanez-reed-ichiro, or if things go terribly terribly wrong, then our only hope is something crazy like reed-beltran-ichiro or drew-reed-ichiro. otherwise it means that management has screwed us again, so we will probably end up with ibanez-winn-ichiro again and we are sunk.
infield:
our infield died, and killed our team with it. we are dumb. we went with the aging defensive, slow, with no offense approach. oops..... what do we have? jose lopes at 20 years old flashing some fancy leather. booyah, answer at short, with some experience (we hope). i liked him. he's young enough that he shouldn't be getting any hits, but he still hit 5 dingers. and he looked confident at short. he deserves a shot, even if he hits .250 next year. he'll be good eventually, and the more experience he has by then, the better he'll be. give him the shot, and if not, we are STACKED with shortstops in the minors. we should not be signing shortstops. i'm afraid we are going too though. we don't need a renteria. we wouldn't get him though, he's too good. i'm afraid of omar visquel. i'm afraid he'll be back, clogging up our minor league system of amazing shorstops. give lopez his shot for a while, he'll come around. second, boone has a big contract. its really the last one we have that is big. and he still is one of the best second basemen in the league, offensively and defensively. he'll be 36 though, so he's really only got a few seasons. no more 40 year olds please. i don't think he can handle being leading man, but he'd be great with some more talent around him, especially considering the alternatives at second base. so, we have a hole at first and a hole at third. we have people who can play both, but not people who should be starting at both. leone and dobbs are good for minor leaguers, but they aren't what we need. ibanez shouldn't be our answer at first, no way no how. bucky isn't either, i'm afraid, we need to let him worry about hitting so he doesn't tear his knee again. luckily there are some huge names at both positions this year.
so, we need a first baseman, a third baseman, and maybe an outfielder.
our lineup so far (what it should be based on our potential payroll)
ichiro
reed
3b
1b
ibanez/of
bucky
boone
olivo
lopez
as you can see, we just need the 3-4-5 hitters in our lineup :P and people wonder why we lost every game this season, jeesh. it seems so obvious now, we are missing our 3 most important hitters. the great thing? that lineup is much younger than the beginning of last year, and already its twice as fast :P its already got some decent veteran leadership. you have boone, the all american guy, fun loving, passionate. you have ichiro, silent but awe inspiring. he doesn't have to say anything to be a leader. he just needs to be there as an example. ibanez is the perfect example of patience paying off. bucky should be a hero to all other young guys, if he gets his shot at his spot in the lineup. every lineup needs someone like him in the bottom half. some huge ass dude who can hit a pitch out of the entire stadium any where any time. you get lazy because you just had to deal with the top of the lineup, you wing a fastball in there that catches a little too much of the inside corner? gone. its on the parking garage across the street 550 feet from homeplate straightaway center. some scary hitter that strikes out, flies out, grounds out into double plays, but can hit it a freaking mile. jay buhner kind of guy. well, we've got bucky who's a bigger jay buhner with more power, more patience, and more pure hitting ability. he'll be 29, but thats 5 years at dh easy for very cheap. so what if he only hits .275. hell, so what if he only hits .260. as long as we get the talent in elsewhere, cough 1st and 3rd. more important, young talent. young hungry talent who can keep up with our other young hungry players.
who should we get you say? oh please do tell us your opinions on the matter!
first thing we should do out of the gate if we get the chance is talk to scott boras about overpaying for adrian beltre. we really really need a 3rd baseman. really really really. we have for a long long time. there are some veterans out there this season like always who i don't want to get. the only true talent is beltre. he had one of the greatest offensive years by a third baseman in history this last season. in a pitchers ballpark. injured. and he's 25. did i mention he's gifted defensively? i say we sign him with no expectations of a repeat performance, but every expectation of filling a glaring hole with a very talented young prodigy. how often do you get to do that? its going to cost a lot. we should take the risk though. 3rd base filled. but, we won't get him. the one thing we have going for us is that the yankees won't be going for him. or the cardinals. but the red sox probably will. a lot of teams probably will. none of them have the money to burn that we do though. we should go in hard and fast and get this one done early, it would leave us with a lot more leeway in how we tackle the rest of the offseason. but no, while everyone else is bidding hard and fast for beltre, we are going to go hard and fast after corey koskie, who is going to turn cirillo on us because he sucks, just like all our other third baseman.
first base, sexson. he's injured. he will have a bad season next year. he needs to do some major work on his swing so he doesn't hurt himself again. he's a former brewer, who better to help him than molitor? they probably already know eachother. he's another big risk considering the injury, but we may be able get him over here. all the first baseman out there are risks. Delgado. will cost a ton. but he's left handed. and he's really good. but he sucks defensively. dh? leaving bucky and ibanez platooning at first? hell all three of them splitting 2 positions so none of them get injured? i'd like sexson though, who is actually a good first baseman. i mean, i'd really like to steal texiera from texas for some young pitching, but they would have to be really really stupid to get rid of him. maybe they could get adrian gonzalez from the rangers or that howard guy from philly. more risks, more rookies who haven't proven themselves. we've got those... we need people to produce now. if we got sexson or delgado, i would almost be able to forgive not getting beltre iffffff.....
we got some help in the outfield to replace raul ibanez.
outfield:
no, randy winn is not the answer. to any question. if all else fails, our only hope is beltran. and we'll never get him. he's going to the yankees. they need a new centerfielder, he's going to get the millions we would never ever ever ever ever pony up. jd drew has had one year out a bunch of other ones with injury, but he's a really good player. is he out of his funk? if we got sexson or delgado and drew, i could almost forgive not getting beltre or beltran.
we won't get any of them though. watch, this season we'll pick up corey koskie and mike sweeney. it will be a repeat of this season, especially since spezio will be their backup, and probably outperform both of them. it will be disaster again.
mariners free agent hitlist
1. beltre 3b
2. beltran cf
3. delgado 1b
4. sexson 1b
5. drew lf
if we don't get one of these guys, then its going to take a miracle. they are the 5 best players in the free agent pool. we want to be a top 5 team. we have the revenue, which means we should have the payroll. we don't have the balls.
otherwise, its lowell, hidalgo, and a whole host of other players who we shouldn't see, but who we will all wish we saw because the alternative is even worse. ugh, i'm so tired of watching the mariners make no moves. step up and be a real team!!!!! you have to make some changes when you start LOSING HORRIBLY
what went wrong this season?
no one wanted to take the blame. everyone pointed fingers, and so everyone just kept sucking. so who was to blame?
bob melvin? sure. kind of. a lot of people are to blame above him, but he didn't get the job done. he thought he was walking into a really cushy job. the team was setting win total records, and had kept its core veterans and a proven core of young pitching. there weren't any problem players, everyone was very professional. he wanted to sit back and let the kids play and win on their own. he did, for a season. he even got 93 wins, but he missed the playoffs with the better team. he is waiting for everyone else to do their jobs, but they aren't. he's new, so he doesn't quite have that motivating quality built through years of experience. he's a corporate manager who does great if he has the right personnel, but when things get hairy, he doesn't know what to do.
i just don't know. he has one year left on his contract? two years? i think a youth infusion will be good for him. get some enthusiastic young kids to build some momentum. this staff was built to maintain momentum, there was no one to start it. we have a unique opportunity right now to build a very talented young team. he's a very smart guy, a good baseball guy or whatever. i know he knows how the hit and run works, he just needs to get the hang of being the one who makes the calls. he's paralyzed in fear, so scared of losing his job. he's not playing his own game, and he's out of his element. i'd like to see someone else, but lets see if he can pull something off with some kids. he's a kid now, as managers go. how is he going to tell a group of established veterans what to do, especially since he has never won like they had been with anyone. i was really excited when we got him, but a season like this will leave anyone with doubts.
the real problem? too many people have to be involved in every personnel change. everyone has to ok it, in triplicate, blah blah. corporate beauracracy literally has killed this team. we have a gm who can't sign players, a manager who can't build the roster he wants. we have owners with a history of bungling trying to have their hands in everything. they are worried too much about money to realize what the real currency in sports is, the athletes. you couldn't put a price tag on what griffey had. they tried too, and he left. he was a spoiled little dick, but in the end we were too worried about overpaying to get a deal done. same with a-rod. we should have offered him a contract before he went to free agency and someone REALLY overpaid him. now, we have the money. we are overpaying mediocre players instead. we have no talent, none of that spark that makes sports so exciting. we have a great supporting cast, but everyone is depressed because no one could play the lead, even if they wanted too.
bill bavasi came in too late to do anything but bow to the tight fists in the owners box last season. i'm annoyed at that, but its hard to blame him. i think that freddy garcia trade was an absolute steal. we got two really young talented starters at two positions we desperately needed to fill and lost an unhappy player in an area we are overflowing with - pitching. we weren't going to keep him at the end of the year, because he was unhappy and he would have been too expensive. he'll be back, just you wait. we'll see freddy in a mariners uniform again. can bill keep things going? does he have the balls to swing with the big boys and try to haggle with the most evil man in sports history: the agent known as scott boras? i think i heard they have had dealings before, have some sort of repore. will boras take advantage of a weak market and give us a few reasonable deals very early in free agency? will the ownership finally realize that the choice is between overpaying a little now or overpaying a lot in the future? if bavasi doesn't make a huge splash early and ownership doesn't give him the go ahead for at least one 5 year contract, he's gone. and so are the mariners chances of doing something special.
because oh man do we have a chance right now.
so yeah, we need to find out what we need. in order to do that, we need to find out what we've got. lets not even deal with pitching right now, because that will take longer and it will be more difficult. lets get our lineup and defense set up. what do we have? it took them a while, but management finally gave up and gave up the season to testing young talent. it gave us a look at who we should plan on having on the team next season. it also gave all of them the most important thing they could get as young as possible, major league experience.
here is who i would keep for next season.
outfield:
this one too mean should be the easiest part. if we wanted too, we could keep the 3 starters we have now and have a pretty good outfield. Ichiro is a no brainer. i really hope Jeremy Reed has proven that he deserves a shot at a starting role. he hit .400 for the season on his first trip to the big leagues. apparently the kid has some power also, who knew. he looked sketch in center to begin with, but he got much, much better in each game he played. he almost had a beautiful catch out in safeco against the wall straight away center. i was worried about his range, but he finally looks a little more accustomed to the hugeness that is safeco. he's no mike cameron as far as gloves are concerned, but if his bat is as potentially huge as it looks, i'll keep him. i think he deserves his shot in center, if not, then in left. i don't mind ibanez in left if we can pick up enough talent in the infield to make up for him in the outfield. ibanez is ok, but he pretty much needs to be one of the worst starters you have. don't get me wrong, he's a great worst starter to have on your team. i love the guy. i was happy we resigned him. i hope we keep him. but if we don't fill the holes in the lineup with infielders like we should, we'll need to do it in the outfield and that means definitely no winn and also no ibanez. luckily ibanez also plays first, so he gets to stay on the team no matter what. bench doesn't matter now. ibanez-reed-ichiro, or if things go terribly terribly wrong, then our only hope is something crazy like reed-beltran-ichiro or drew-reed-ichiro. otherwise it means that management has screwed us again, so we will probably end up with ibanez-winn-ichiro again and we are sunk.
infield:
our infield died, and killed our team with it. we are dumb. we went with the aging defensive, slow, with no offense approach. oops..... what do we have? jose lopes at 20 years old flashing some fancy leather. booyah, answer at short, with some experience (we hope). i liked him. he's young enough that he shouldn't be getting any hits, but he still hit 5 dingers. and he looked confident at short. he deserves a shot, even if he hits .250 next year. he'll be good eventually, and the more experience he has by then, the better he'll be. give him the shot, and if not, we are STACKED with shortstops in the minors. we should not be signing shortstops. i'm afraid we are going too though. we don't need a renteria. we wouldn't get him though, he's too good. i'm afraid of omar visquel. i'm afraid he'll be back, clogging up our minor league system of amazing shorstops. give lopez his shot for a while, he'll come around. second, boone has a big contract. its really the last one we have that is big. and he still is one of the best second basemen in the league, offensively and defensively. he'll be 36 though, so he's really only got a few seasons. no more 40 year olds please. i don't think he can handle being leading man, but he'd be great with some more talent around him, especially considering the alternatives at second base. so, we have a hole at first and a hole at third. we have people who can play both, but not people who should be starting at both. leone and dobbs are good for minor leaguers, but they aren't what we need. ibanez shouldn't be our answer at first, no way no how. bucky isn't either, i'm afraid, we need to let him worry about hitting so he doesn't tear his knee again. luckily there are some huge names at both positions this year.
so, we need a first baseman, a third baseman, and maybe an outfielder.
our lineup so far (what it should be based on our potential payroll)
ichiro
reed
3b
1b
ibanez/of
bucky
boone
olivo
lopez
as you can see, we just need the 3-4-5 hitters in our lineup :P and people wonder why we lost every game this season, jeesh. it seems so obvious now, we are missing our 3 most important hitters. the great thing? that lineup is much younger than the beginning of last year, and already its twice as fast :P its already got some decent veteran leadership. you have boone, the all american guy, fun loving, passionate. you have ichiro, silent but awe inspiring. he doesn't have to say anything to be a leader. he just needs to be there as an example. ibanez is the perfect example of patience paying off. bucky should be a hero to all other young guys, if he gets his shot at his spot in the lineup. every lineup needs someone like him in the bottom half. some huge ass dude who can hit a pitch out of the entire stadium any where any time. you get lazy because you just had to deal with the top of the lineup, you wing a fastball in there that catches a little too much of the inside corner? gone. its on the parking garage across the street 550 feet from homeplate straightaway center. some scary hitter that strikes out, flies out, grounds out into double plays, but can hit it a freaking mile. jay buhner kind of guy. well, we've got bucky who's a bigger jay buhner with more power, more patience, and more pure hitting ability. he'll be 29, but thats 5 years at dh easy for very cheap. so what if he only hits .275. hell, so what if he only hits .260. as long as we get the talent in elsewhere, cough 1st and 3rd. more important, young talent. young hungry talent who can keep up with our other young hungry players.
who should we get you say? oh please do tell us your opinions on the matter!
first thing we should do out of the gate if we get the chance is talk to scott boras about overpaying for adrian beltre. we really really need a 3rd baseman. really really really. we have for a long long time. there are some veterans out there this season like always who i don't want to get. the only true talent is beltre. he had one of the greatest offensive years by a third baseman in history this last season. in a pitchers ballpark. injured. and he's 25. did i mention he's gifted defensively? i say we sign him with no expectations of a repeat performance, but every expectation of filling a glaring hole with a very talented young prodigy. how often do you get to do that? its going to cost a lot. we should take the risk though. 3rd base filled. but, we won't get him. the one thing we have going for us is that the yankees won't be going for him. or the cardinals. but the red sox probably will. a lot of teams probably will. none of them have the money to burn that we do though. we should go in hard and fast and get this one done early, it would leave us with a lot more leeway in how we tackle the rest of the offseason. but no, while everyone else is bidding hard and fast for beltre, we are going to go hard and fast after corey koskie, who is going to turn cirillo on us because he sucks, just like all our other third baseman.
first base, sexson. he's injured. he will have a bad season next year. he needs to do some major work on his swing so he doesn't hurt himself again. he's a former brewer, who better to help him than molitor? they probably already know eachother. he's another big risk considering the injury, but we may be able get him over here. all the first baseman out there are risks. Delgado. will cost a ton. but he's left handed. and he's really good. but he sucks defensively. dh? leaving bucky and ibanez platooning at first? hell all three of them splitting 2 positions so none of them get injured? i'd like sexson though, who is actually a good first baseman. i mean, i'd really like to steal texiera from texas for some young pitching, but they would have to be really really stupid to get rid of him. maybe they could get adrian gonzalez from the rangers or that howard guy from philly. more risks, more rookies who haven't proven themselves. we've got those... we need people to produce now. if we got sexson or delgado, i would almost be able to forgive not getting beltre iffffff.....
we got some help in the outfield to replace raul ibanez.
outfield:
no, randy winn is not the answer. to any question. if all else fails, our only hope is beltran. and we'll never get him. he's going to the yankees. they need a new centerfielder, he's going to get the millions we would never ever ever ever ever pony up. jd drew has had one year out a bunch of other ones with injury, but he's a really good player. is he out of his funk? if we got sexson or delgado and drew, i could almost forgive not getting beltre or beltran.
we won't get any of them though. watch, this season we'll pick up corey koskie and mike sweeney. it will be a repeat of this season, especially since spezio will be their backup, and probably outperform both of them. it will be disaster again.
mariners free agent hitlist
1. beltre 3b
2. beltran cf
3. delgado 1b
4. sexson 1b
5. drew lf
if we don't get one of these guys, then its going to take a miracle. they are the 5 best players in the free agent pool. we want to be a top 5 team. we have the revenue, which means we should have the payroll. we don't have the balls.
otherwise, its lowell, hidalgo, and a whole host of other players who we shouldn't see, but who we will all wish we saw because the alternative is even worse. ugh, i'm so tired of watching the mariners make no moves. step up and be a real team!!!!! you have to make some changes when you start LOSING HORRIBLY
