U.S.S. Mariner

Randy Winn during June, pre-tonight (so this is slightly low):
.290/.385/.470, 100 AB, 11 XBH, 14 BB, 15 K, 4 SB
There may be a chance we get out of that contract just yet. He’s one of the guys the M’s should be actively trying to move, taking just about anything in return. There are [...]

On the game, at 8:30 — I totally support the abolition of the balk rule, followed by a limitation on the number of times a pitcher can throw to a base before delivering a pitch. Trickery and stealing bases are fun. Throwing to first 9,000 times when someone fast is on first is fricking boring.

Is there any real reason Clint Nageotte is still in the majors? He was pretty obviously not ready when they called him up, and he hasn’t done anything to show that he deserves to stay. He’s burning service time and development opportunities. Send him back to Tacoma and let him continue to work [...]

Yes! Exactly! That’s what I should have said after I got all mad there: carried the argument in a worthwhile and interesting direction.
Also, here’s the other issue: maybe the M’s demographic is as skewed as it is because they *make it that way* by marketing and shaping the experience to that demographic.

Just my quick $0.02 on the female fan issue. I don’t think there is any disputing that, as a group, female fans view the game differently than males. Just like they view everything else on earth differently than we do. Even the women who have written us who were upset by Thiel’s [...]

Art Thiel’s column “Sentiment blurs Mariners’ vision” is one of the more disturbing columns you’ll read this year.
Bavasi’s not trading Dan-Edgar-Jamie because the fans have a connection with them.
“There’s absolutely no question that the nature of this market is different than nearly every other in baseball,” team president Chuck Armstrong said.
His strongest evidence is consistent [...]

Trying to stave off a few emails here, because this is apparently a topic for discussion on some message boards somewhere.
Michael Morse is a shortstop in the same way that Wil Cordero (probably the best comp. I can come up with for Morse, overall), Gary Sheffield, Julio Franco and Chipper Jones came up [...]

Shameless self-promotion two:
I’ll be on the air tonight with Pat Dillon during the Everett Aquasox pregame show. You can listen live via their internet site, or old fashioned radio at 90.7 on the FM dial.
And, if you’re looking for a reason to go watch the Aquasox this year, how about Casey Craig, [...]

Shameless self-promotion: Today’s free article at Baseball Prospectus is my column on whether Edgar should retire. Free means even those of you who have suffered head trauma of some kind or have another reason not to subscribe to BP Premium can read this and see what you’re missing.

If you were a little leery about getting too excited about an A ball prospect, it is now okay to bust out the word phenom. King Felix has been promoted to Double-A San Antonio at the ripe age of 18, after the hitter-happy California League poised little challenge. During his time in San [...]