To-do list
Hey, I’m back from Australia. Coming up soon, so you fine readers don’t have to reconstruct it in every thread, I’m going to try and update the Mariner contract sheet with the latest information for at-a-glance payroll and status information (and Finnigan refutation).
And a bit on Howard Lincoln, Chuck Armstrong, and why the business side of the team does and doesn’t matter.
I’ve also been thinking about doing a couple Attrition War updates, adding data and trying to make it available in a format that would help people do follow-up research. We’ll see how that goes. That project’s a huge time sink, which unfortunately means thoughts of keeping it current/ongoing/etc are impractical, and also has kept me from some of the follow-ups I wanted to do.
Other than that, I’m going to try and reset the body clock and see how that goes.
Comments
36 Responses to “To-do list”
Welcome back.
You haven’t missed much.
If I might lobby for something:
I thought the post you did last year evaluating Dave’s previous-season plan, and comparing it against the Mariners’ actual post-season activity, was terrific.
I’m also looking forward to Dave’s post-season plan. The last couple years of that have been some of the USS Mariner’s best work.
didja bring any beer back?
How did Matt LeCroy get outrighted without us putting in a waiver claim?
Giambi? What’s up with that? Does that make sense?
Something tells me DMZ doesn’t want to get started on Giambi winning CYPY.
But with that said, I think it’s ridiculous and sends an awful message out. Alan Grant’s article on the subject reinforces that thought for me. I mean…how ridiculous is this quote: “The journey from superhuman to regular guy, when round-trip, is worthy of an award.”
Superhuman presumeably meaning steroid user in context.
Yay! Derek’s back! Welcome home! You missed… um… hmm… well, uh, we missed you, at least.
Off topic, but I’m listening to the Red Sox announcing team call the game today. They just discussed how Freddy Garcia landed with the White Sox via the trade with the Ms. What was impressive was that they also went on to discuss the trade that brought Freddy, Halama, and Guillen to the Ms from the Astros.
I just found it startling to hear radio announcers so familiar with baseball that they knew the details of a long ago trade that didn’t involve their team, and then were able to detail the implications of that trade for those teams.
I really wish Neihaus had some peers in the booth who could push him. And by extension could help educate Ms fans on baseball.
#5 re: LeCroy:
I was thinking the same thing at first but if the M’s put in a waiver claim he’d be arbitration eligible this winter and they’d be looking at paying him betweeen $2 and $3 million based on the year he had (his numbers calculate to 30+ HR’s over a full season of AB’s).
Considering they don’t have a starting spot for him (and he hits RH) that’d be a lot to pay for a bat off the bench and a backup 1B (I guess he could be a platoon DH too). He rarely catches anymore (1 inning behind the plate this year). If he could still catch he’d be a great fit as the M’s starting catcher, but there’s a reason aside from Joe Mauer why LeCroy never caught much in Minnesota.
If the M’s want him they could still pick him up in the Rule 5 draft in December and they’d pay him a lot less with a lot less risk (and by that point in tme they should have a much better idea if they’re going to be able to acquire a better DH type than LeCroy). We should have the 5th pick in the Rule 5 draft…
I really like the regular Red Sox commentators. Remmy and that other guy have a lot of fun up there. They’re probably my favourite broadcast team (and yet I don’t know their names).
Still not as good as Dan Schulman and Ken Singleton when they worked for the Expos, though.
Oh, and did you bring back any floræ or faunæ? Maybe a wombat?
Welcome back, DMZ, I will celebrate your return by adding to the LeCroy discussion that’s managed to crop up here.
LeCroy’s line this year against LHP: .306/.404/.621. That’s the 12th highest OPS in the league vs. LHP with a minimum of 100 PA. Is it a fluke? His line against LHP for 2002-2004: .307/.382/.554 (345 PA). His catching skills are very, very limited, but even if he’s just a DH against LHP, or a pinch-hitter in late innings, he’s a useful guy to have around.
The Twins had the perfect ingredients for a knockout platoon with LeCroy and Jacque Jones once you add Ford to man RF when LeCroy’s DH’ing, but didn’t have the cajones to put Jones in a platoon role. Considering how little offense the Twins mustered this year, they are mad if they start next year with LeCroy in AAA.
The M’s made a bad move in not claiming LeCroy. Jon makes two good points about arbitration and Rule 5. But as a first-year arbitration eligible, part-time player without a defensive position, LeCroy may only be in line for a salary in the $1.5-$2 million range (and the M’s could afford a little more than that). LeCroy also likely would be gone before the M’s picked in the Rule 5 draft, which unlike the amateur draft, allows teams to trade their picks immediately. If the Royals or Rays do not want him, the A’s or another smart team probably can work a deal with the Pirates or Rockies. The M’s could trade up for him, but at that point, any money saved on salary is offset by the talent given up to acquire him.
#11 –
That would be Don Orsillo. Isn’t it fun to listen to guys who know how to talk baseball, instead of just knowing how to tell stories from Ye Olden Playing Days?
Can LeCroy refuse his assignment and become a free agent?
#14 — LeCroy isn’t a first year arbitration eligible player. He was eligible last winter for the first time and made $750,000 in ’05.
Wow, a GREAT game today in Fenway.
And yeah, it kills me to think that Ortiz, Varitek, and Olerud used to be Ms. Too bad Lowe isn’t still with the Sox, then we could have had Lowe pitching against Garcia at Fenway, with Randy Johnson starting on the same day at Yankee Stadium.
And yeah, I just love watching ARod throw the ball to Tino Martinez at 1st.
Boy did we squandered those late 90s teams. Oh well, know use crying over spilt milk.
According to the article at the Twins’ official site, LeCroy will be a free agent.
Then I’d go ahead and offer him a 1 yr, 1 mill deal with a 1.5 mill club option for the second or 250 K buyout.
Jon, you are right — he would have been second-year eligible. His eligibility to elect free agency explains the pass on the waiver claim.
As long as we’re talking former M’s, the Twins also declined their option on RHP Joe Mays today…
22: That may go down as the biggest surprise of the off season [/sarcasm]
#20 wrote “Then I’d go ahead and offer him a 1 yr, 1 mill deal with a 1.5 mill club option for the second or 250 K buyout.”
LeCroy isn’t likely to sign with the M’s as a free agent unless he’s offered a starting position. I’d expect him to get $1.5 mil to $2 mil in free agency. Also, keep in mind that his agent is Scott Boras…
Anyone still think Manager Guillen is a bad manager? I don’t think so.
Speaking of guys who hit lefties, Dustan Mohr is now a free agent. Not as much “sock” as LeCroy, but he plays a position where the M’s could use a right-handed reserve or platoon partner.
Guillen is a great manager of bullpens.
As an in-game tactician, I still don’t think much of him. He routinely adopted sub-optimal offensive strategies. That horrible steal percentage, for example. Given how reliant his team was an the homerun to score, giving away outs on the bases was dumb.
Welcome back, Derek.
Adding to Jon’s (and other’s) excellent explanation of why there would be no claim on LeCroy, remember too that the Mariners (like all teams) have their own 40-man crunch to worry about in the next several weeks…. This isn’t the time of year you see a lot of claims.
Welcome back DMZ. Now the threads will be civil. Have you tried Arragant Bastard Beer? Abit bitter and have no clue why I tried it.
Enough of nothing.
Any Tim-Tams??? Arrogant Bastard Beer is awesome, but from outside San Diego, not down under. It’s really, realy good though.
One nice thing about not being overloaded with talented players or prospects is that the roster crunch isn’t so daunting. I’d like to think that Bavasi won’t hold off on making a claim for that reason alone.
I’d think Lecroy might consider the M’s. He might just win the full-time DH job if he were here…
I suspect Ozzie is a charming, motivating, straight talking guy, who is completely steeped in the conventional wisdom acquired during his own career and doesn’t care to think too much about the wisdom of running so much with such a low success rate.
I thought Arrogant Bastard was a Rogue beer, which means it is from somewhere around Newport, Oregon. And, despite being a certifiably great beer, it doesn’t hold a candle to just about anything Elysian makes.
How about this
vs Righties
Jones in LF
Ibanez at DH
Lecroy on the bench
vs Lefties
Ibanez in LF
Lecroy at DH
Jones on the bench
I like that a lot, good solid platoon getting Lecroy and Jacque Jones in against pitching they hit well. Also vastly improving the bench for late inning pinch hitting spots.
Oh and welcome home Derek!
#9: I assume you were listening to the Sox radio feed of the game (since ESPN had the only TV). The announcers are Joe Castiglione and Jerry Trupiano. Neither is an ex-ballplayer.
On NESN (TV), the announcers are Don Orsillo (vanilla play-by-play) and Jerry Remy (ex-ballplayer analyst). Orsillo replaced Sean McDonough a few years ago, probably because McDonough’s price got too high due to his national network experience. Many Red Sox fans miss him and consider him better than Orsillo.
I don’t think there’s a better TV analyst today than Remy, although he misses the way the game was played in his day. I remember his line from when a runner got on base a few weeks into the season last year: “The next hit and run we see from the Red Sox will be the first hit and run of the season.”
None of the announcers are shy about blasting the Sox when the occasion arises, which is light years away from the happy talk you get from the M’s broadcasters.
Welcome back DMZ!