Oh please oh please oh please — MLB.com’s front page has a headline that reads “Vizquel to Mariners Nixed” but it links to the same pro-trade Jim Street article. I only hope the headline got updated in front of the article.
More rats climbing onto the sinking ship:
Sodo Oh No
Mariners Weekly which offered the M’s off-season an “A-” on December 13th. Ummm.. not so much no.
In fact, if anyone could email us if they can think of a contending team that had as bad or worse of an off-season as the Mariners, we’d love to hear from you. Even the Steve Phillips Mets teams didn’t go downhill this fast.
But to quote Supernintendo Chalmers, “It’s a hell of a toboggon ride.”
Jason’s projected opening day 2004 batting order:
RF Ichiro
SS Vizquel
2B Boone
DH Martinez
1B Olerud
LF Ibanez
CF Winn
3B Spiezio
C Wilson
Ewwwww…
Oh, and not to harp too much on the awful Ibanez signing, but similar players keep signing better deals:
Ibanez — $13.25M over 3 years, 32-34
Carl Everett — $7.5M over 2 years, 33-34
Reggie Sanders — $6M over 2 years, 36-37
Rondell White — $6M over 2 years, 32-23
Jose Cruz Jr. — $6M over 2 years, 30-31
Juan Encarnacion — $8M over 2 years, 28-29
Those numbers are the end are the players’ age during the contract.
Things just keep getting better.
According to the Times, a deal for Cleveland’s Omar Vizquel is all but done. Carlos Guillen is likely to be involved in the trade, as Vizquel and Scott Spiezio (I hate typing his name) will fill the left side of the infield, making Guillen expendable.
I’m no big Guillen fan, though I do think the deal they just signed him to is quite reasonable for his services — I wouldn’t want to be paying him, say, $5M a season, but that $2.5M number looks pretty good. Vizquel, on the other hand, will cost a minimum of $7M ($6M for next season, $1M buyout for 2005) and possibly more (in addition to the 2005 option at some cost I can’t find, he has a $1M “personal services” contract for next season which may or may not come with him). There’s also the fact that he can’t hit, making this a bum deal.
What’s amusing, though, is that this is likely to be a good PR move for the M’s. Vizquel was extremely popular during his time in Seattle (remember that “Older Women for Omar” sign at the Kingdome?), whereas Guillen has a reputation (deserved or not) for always being hurt (as well as driving too fast, but that’s another issue). For the most part, people seem disappointed with the likes of McCracken and Spiezio… I hope they don’t get suckered by this Vizquel deal, though.
Perhaps the M’s will pick up a prospect in the deal (which they should be able to justify, given the salaries of the players involved), in which case it wouldn’t totally suck. In that case, Vizquel is a one-year place holder for Jose Lopez. While expensive, especially considering Rey Sanchez could have done the same thing at 1/6th the cost, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.
Ah, who am I kidding? This is going to suck.
Good times. According to the New York Post, the M’s and Mets are talking about a Jeff Cirillo for Roger Cedeno trade. I’m not sure how I feel about this, though right now I’m leaning towards, “simply releasing Cirillo would be better than trading him for Cedeno.”
Yet another new blog — MFan4Life_24’s Blog, otherwise known as the Greg Colbrunn-inspired blog with the really long URL. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s pretty cool that so many M’s blogs have popped up in the last couple of months. When we started doing this in April, there were what, two or three M’s blogs? Now there are a dozen.
New Big Board… just in case you needed yet another reminder that Quinton McCracken and Scott Spiezio will be members of the 2004 Seattle Mariners.
Players chosen by the M’s in the minor league portion of the Rule 5:
1st Round: RHP Darwin Soto, Boston
2nd Round: C Omar Falcon, San Diego
3rd Round: LHP Chris Key, Florida
Unfortunately, I can’t remember what the stipulations of the minor league portion are, but there you go.
Update: Dave informs me that the stipulations are few. It costs $12K for a AAA player and $4K for a AA player, you can assign said player wherever you want, and don’t have to offer them back. It’s just a way for clubs to swap organizational, non-prospect types.
I’m reminded today of a book by Walter Jon Williams (“City on Fire“). In it, one of the characters tells the story of his grandfather, who when under criticism for his leadership, steps aside to let others take control. The result, as he knew it would be, is a disaster, and soon he is welcomed back, given free reign to do as he pleases, and lives happily ever after.
Gillick chose Bavasi. This off-season’s moves range from known Gillick move Ibanez on down to likely-Bavasi moves (Spiezio?) and they’re all pretty much bad after Edgar signed, each worse than the last.
I wonder if this isn’t Gillick burning down the house, telling us all “you thought I sucked? Well check this out.” Bavasi gets blamed for everything, and Gillick gets revenge, keeps his reputation as one of the best GMs ever, and if he wants to take it, the city will be begging for him to return at any price as soon as next year.
What other explanation is there for this winter?
Possibly this is a stunning vindication of the Buddhist belief that desire creates suffering, in that in my frustration with the Mariners and my burning hope for a great Mariners team, I will be broken and humbled for dreaming.
Or, to quote Yoda: “Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”