Raining on the parade
Dave · December 10, 2004 at 11:42 pm · Filed Under Mariners
You know whats cool about multi-author blogs? You can get conflicting rumors from the same site…
I love Jason and D, but this one doesn’t have legs. Beltre to the M’s is not a done deal. I’m guessing Derek’s source got a little jumpy. It doesn’t look like Beltre will sign at the meetings.
Comments
29 Responses to “Raining on the parade”
You know what’s cool about blogs that allow comments? The masses can run off the bloggers who report bad news.
-well, that, or the blogger can suspend all the readers’ posting privileges.
Forget it. At least now I can sleep.
Buzzkill.
Well someone just pinched me, and I woke up from the dream. Still could happen, but after all, this IS Marinerland.
so much for that eh
Jim Bowden. Justin Spiro. Derek Zumsteg’s source? Let’s hope for his sake he isn’t lumped into the same group as Bowden and Spiro.
In the meantime, crank up the Pantera.
RIP, Dimebag.
OH well, they still might sign him. I hope to get some good rumors tomorrow. These patches with no news are driving me nuts.
seattle fan here:
thats why i don`t believe anything till i hear a press confrence
All right, then… back to “patience mode” for another few weeks….
After scouring the phone lines tonight, I can tell you that the offer the Mariners made to Beltre is far and away the best offer anyone else has made, and even negtotiated to yet.
Maybe this is why the source jumped the gun a bit.
That’s why they need to auction off players who are free-agents, rather than have them negotiate contracts…think of the ratings!!!
re #9
If that’s true…that’s encouraging. But that’s only half the way there…they need to go all the way.
Actually, the fact they have Beltre in their plans gives me more hope than anything the FO did last winter. Hope is a great thing to have!
Meanwhile back east, the Red Sox have signed David Wells (!) to a 2yr/$8m deal with up to $10m in incentives, according to an article to run in tomorrow’s Boston Globe. (http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/redsox/articles/2004/12/11/sox_sign_wells/)
Perhaps they figure that they (and the M’s, too) are losers in the Pavano Sweepstakes. NY Post reports that the Yankees have offered 4/$42m, and I wonder if the M’s will come anywhere close to that offer. (http://www.nypost.com/sports/yankees/32658.htm)
Post also reports: “As for Hudson, it’s believed the right-hander will be dealt before Monday. According to a source, the Red Sox ‘are being very aggressive’ in trying to secure a third team to get into the fray that already has eight clubs jockeying to land the 29-year-old who was 12-6 with a 3.53 ERA last season.â€
I’m just happy to see the M’s FO actually serious about signing a big-time free agent FOR ONCE.
Rumors abound that there was a five year deal offered to Pavano by the M’s. And maybe Beltran is in reach, too.
Patience, I know.
well that was fun for a second… I was imagining the mood of happpy delirium that would have pervaded the pizza feed…
From todays papers it seems like the Dodgers have offered Beltre a 7 year deal. If that’s the case I can’t imagine he will not resign with them. Where else do we go? If their offer is 7yrs/$10M does 7yrs/$12M land him for us? I doubt it.
Just go crazy on Beltre. 7yr/15mil. It fills our biggest need (calculated risk) and sends a message to all FA and teams that M’s mean business. Accomplishes FO’s goal of getting fans back in seats.
Then get JD Drew for 5yr/12mil with a large part being incentive driven, performance levels. I’d prefer him over what it would cost for Carlos.
Compared to what some of these 2 tier and high risk guys signed for, it’s like I alwasy say, when you go shopping, better to buy 1 armani suit than 3 from the men’s warehouse, not that there’s anything wrong with the men’s warehouse mind you. 😛
not happening…this is the legacy of Howard’s remarks about
operating for profits, not pennants…as long as he’s around
if a player has choices they will take the alternatives to the
Ms. Overpay or sign em early.
“We thought we put a good offer our there. We got to our edge. But they said they had a something big out there. And they weren’t lying to us. The numbers were there.” – Bill Bavasi
That’s from this time last year and it’s about Tejada, but expect this to be slightly re-worded and applied to
oops – got cut off. Meant to say slightly re-worded and applied to: (insert Beltre, Povano, Delgado or any other free agent that ANY other team with some money to spend will outbid the M’s for)
Don’t forget that BB wasn’t in full control of even the GM position when the Tejada deal went down. This doesn’t feel the same.
JP- I really hope you’re right. However, with the recent history of this organization I’ll believe things are different when they actually do something different. My glass is half empty for now.
Seems like a Poker Tournament at least M’s are at the big table with more chips than almost all other players ( NY..Boston).
But Boras holds the cards & can control the pace. Soon he will have to sign one of his guys as the Teams are not going to put their plans on hold. Like Angels signing Finley. All this appears to be in M’s favor. M’s just need an over the top offer take or leave now
This is how it is in the free agent period: we all have so little to go on, and there are so many rumors flying around, that we bounce around in a manic-depressive cycle of elation and depression. Last night we were thiiiiissss close to Beltre and Pavano; this morning the reports are that Pavano’s all but locked up by the Yankees, and the rumored seven-year offer to Beltre is from the Dodgers, not the Ms (or perhaps the Dodgers went to seven years to counter the Ms’ offer).
As for Beltran, the only way I can make sense of the Angels’ signing of Finley is they went to Boras and asked, “What will it take to sign Beltran?” And his answer sent them back to the drawing board. A salary demand that frightens and discourages Arte Moreno must be very big indeed. Meanwhile, Peter Gammons — the biggest rumor-monger of them all — says that Yankees officials are saying Steinbrenner is “obsessed” with the idea of signing Beltran.
Could we come away empty-handed? Kind of seems like it. The Orioles have yet to make their big splash, and neither have the Cubs (who are almost certainly not done after the signing of Nomar). Detroit is apparently serious about upping their payroll, so count them in for a monster contract, too. In the current inflated market, if the Ms’ idea is to stay smart, keep an eye on the long term, and avoid bad contracts, we might end up looking at 2005 as no more than a chance to give some kids a chance at the bigs.
That’s the gamble. As bad as the signings for 2004 seem now, come next year, it could well be that they look like bargains. All more indications that recent market corrections were more organized (collusion?) than owners have disclaimed.
Still, just as Ichiro brings tremendous revenue that more than justify his contract, the lvlariners HAVE to sign one or more top FAs even if they have to overpay considering the recent decline in attendance and BB’s job security.
I’m optimistic that we’ll get our man/men. Beltre come up north.
Beltre would be nice and I hope it happens but when talking about the M’s, hell would have to freeze over. Be ready for a 3/20m deal on Koskie and a 3/21m deal on Burnitz. The M’s will be left signing craptastic players again…Oh don’t forget Derek Lowe for 5/25m.
It seems to me, contrary to assumptions, that Bora$ has every reason to let Beltre sign with the M’s–indeed, to push him to do so, if they have the highest bid–because if the M’s are truly seen as a credible place for top FAs to sign, with the necessary money (which they have) and the willingness to spend it (which is yet to be publicly demonstrated), then Seattle becomes one more franchise he can use to bid contracts up.
All this Beltre talk is nice, and it looks like the M’s are one of the front-runners for him. But what has happened to J.D. Drew, there has been very little talk about him and he might be the best OF available behind Beltran. Do you guys think he can stay healthy, because if he does he WILL hit damn good, especially if he comes to Safeco.
Echoing on the early plans put out here on the USS, I think that a combo signing of Beltre/Drew will be the best thing the M’s can do at this point. Ibanez and Bucky can share 1b/dh duties. Reed can then cover the corner OF position he was meant to. You can trade Winn, and if you can’t he can be a very good/expensive 4th OF. Then put Ichiro in CF.
short arms, no lead in the pencil, pick your descriptor…
The accumulation of talent that led to the 95-01 run was not done
by any of these people. Edgar, Junior, ARod, Buhner, Randy,
Omar…all from the villified Woody Woodward era.
This group of people with far more money are non-players. I wish
the stadium authority had some leverage to sue for breach of
promise. What a joke.