U.S.S. Mariner

I’m not picky about these things. I went as a baseball player year after year. And I think it’s important to teach kids that they can satisfy their sugar craving through implied blackmail.
But this year, in my new digs, we’ve seen a lot more trick-or-treaters of the “sullen teen with jeans and backwards-cap” costume.
If you’re [...]

Many people have commented that the Mariners won’t pay Meche more than, say, $3m next year. Whether or not that’s true, Meche heads into arbitration with a 2004 salary of $2m. Now, normally that can’t go down by more than 20% — it’s in the CBA — except that I found a rule that [...]

Ahhhh, just when you might be getting excited about the team picking up some good young players… not so much! Bob Finnigan (dubbed “Pocket Lint” previously for other articles of this sort) breaks the exclusive news, as he does frequently, that the Mariners don’t have as much money as you’d think! No, really! Like $13m. [...]

I’ve still got a ways to go on my short articles on each important free agent on the market, but now that the offseason is actually upon us, I’d like to take a quick break and post what I’m expecting to occur this winter. Now, like any prognostication, odds are that most of these [...]

So the fat rumor today is that after Bob Watson turned down a chance to take the Expos job, Pat Gillick is now the leading candidate. It seems weird that instead of leaving a barren wasteland of a franchise, he’d be taking one over, but maybe guilt over his work with Toronto, Baltimore, et cetera [...]

This year’s minor leauge free agents posted at Baseball America.
As predicted by Dave, AJ Zapp’s off to greener pastures.
One of the ways good teams build their rosters is through minor league free agents: the A’s, for example, spend quality time building a roster in Sacramento that can help the major league roster if things go [...]

Congratulations to the 2004 World Champion Boston Red Sox.

Mike Hargrove has retained Bryan Price as pitching coach for the 2005 season, choosing the organization’s recommendation over his friend, Mark Wiley. However, Price is entering the final year of his contract, and I’d imagine that this is probably his last season as Mariner pitching coach. If the team’s pitching struggles, Hargrove will [...]

At the beginning of the 2004 season, you could have given me 30 or 40 chances to name the most coveted free agent starter on the upcoming market, and I’m still not sure I would have gotten around to mentioning Carl Pavano. A prized Red Sox prospect coming up through the farm system [...]

According to reports in both the PI and Times, Edgar will win the 2004 Roberto Clemente Award, which recognizes “the player who best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual’s contribution to his team.” (from MLB.com)
If that’s the case, we should see a pre-game ceremony before tonight’s Game 3 of the [...]