I sorta agree and sorta disagree with your point. If you look at Hasegawa’s stats over the past few seasons, going back to before he came to the M’s, he used to be a solid, mid-3 ERA reliever. Then, he had his stupid 2003 season, which was definitely a fluke for him. Then, he had his worst season ever last year, which was probably a fluke as well. Hopefully, he will be able to achieve a happy medium or better next year. At the end of the season, he was pitching a lot better. I highly doubt that he will bounce back to his 2003 stats, but if he pitches like he did from 2000-2002, he will be a useful reliever for the M’s, and perhaps be someone the M’s could trade at the deadline. Relievers tend to have about 5 times as much value at the trade deadline as they do otherwise, so he could be a valuable commodity then.

Although the bullpen wasn’t too good last year, the M’s have a lot of guys who could come in. Villone, Shiggy, Putz, Guardado, and Sherrill are all pretty much locks if they are healthy, and hopefully another starter will push Franklin into the pen as well. The M’s also have Mateo, Atchison, Thornton, and perhaps Nageotte who could come in and help. I don’t know much about Rick Guttormson, but perhaps he can be this year’s Indy league find. All in all, I think that guys like Shiggy, Villone, and perhaps Franklin – guys on the last years of their contracts who could be solid relievers – should be prime candidates for mid-season trades if the M’s are not contending. I was disappointed that the M’s didn’t take the opportunity to move Villone last offseason, and hopefully he will pitch well enough to garner some interest from other teams. Since the M’s are rebuilding, a strong bullpen is not a huge need. I would rather see the M’s move some payroll, pick up some prospects or cheap players, and leave constructing a bullpen for next offseason. Obviously, you don’t want the team to continually blow games when they get to the bullpen, but the M’s seem to have a lot of ‘adequate’ relievers that are probably too old to be in AAA (like Mateo, Atchison, Thornton).

I am surprised that you are getting that much negative feedback. Reading your stuff on this site, and comparing it with the two PI articles, I thought that you were pretty diplomatic in the PI. Saying negative stuff about the local team is going to get you negative responses, but I thought that, overall, you were very kind in your criticisms and concerns. The articles come off more as a realistic and reasoned evaluation of the club than pessimism.

I must admit that, when I read really critical appraisals of my favorite team – like the discussion of the changes in the M’s after last offseason in Baseball Prospectus in the 2004 book – my initial reaction was defensive. In hindsight, most of the criticisms raised were dead on. However, in your articles in the PI, I thought that you raised issues without taking the same hyper-critical tone. I am not sure if this is to suit the article to a more mainstream audience, because the signings this offseason have been better, or a combination of the two.

You are always going to get BS from people, no matter what you say. But I think that it reflects well on the PI that they are willing to incorporate a more skeptical and critical analysis of the M’s moves and the teams chances for 2005. We already have the company yes-men in the media right now, so a different perspective is nice. The last thing that this world needs is more Finnigans.

Don’t let the chumps out there bother you. Your insights are much needed in the media, and I think that it is great that the type of discussions from this site are making it into the PI.

—If you respond, you automatically enhance the krank’s status, even if no one but the two of you know that you responded.

I have mixed feelings about this. Sometimes a reasonable reply gets an apologetic response (”There’s a human on the other side? Yipes!”) and sometimes it seems to make people even crazier. I’ve never been sure what to do about it, so it varies.

What I don’t do is flame back much… having seen writers get into it with readers like that on other things, I don’t want to be that guy.

More thoughts…

Remember that your readers here greater admire and appreciate your efforts. keep up the good work regardless of a few negative responses. And remember, this is typical in our current “Rome is burning” age, with the aggressive voice of sports radio. He was probably a frequent caller that forgot it was email and thought he had to write that way otherwise you’d hang up on him.

Like many others, I understand your misgivings completely. Being a teacher, I’ve always tried hard to connect with all my students, but occasionally I have kids that no matter how much effort I put out, are bound and determined to dislike me. It used to really bother me, and still does to some extent.

But i came across a quote from the goofy ex-yank Mickey Rivers that helps keep me balanced:
“Ain’t no use worryin’ ’bout things you got control over, ’cause if you got control over ‘em, ain’t no use worryin’. And ain’t no use worryin’ ’bout things you got no control over, ’cause if you got no control over ‘em, ain’t no use worryin’.

OTOH, there’s a lesson to be learned for all of us. See how the attck makes Derek feel? So think twice before dumping nuclear-strength insults on a writer. And I’m talking to Derek, Dave and Jason, as well as all the readers here.