Today’s depressing news roundup
The PI offers this update on the impending Everett fiasco:
The Mariners have offered a contract to free agent Carl Everett, according to one source with knowledge of the negotiations. If it is to his liking, the switch-hitting outfielder/designated hitter could sign with Seattle before the end of the week.
The Seattle Times, which has pretty consistently written that the process is further along than other sources, continues:
Sources say they can be expected to announce later this week they have reached agreement with outfielder/designated hitter Carl Everett on a contract for either one year, or one year plus a club option for 2007.
Ugh. Everett’s a horrible player and he’s done a lot of bad things. But I’ve gone on about this repeatedly, and I don’t see much point in repeating all those arguments here.
More from the Times:
As for filling their significant pitching needs, the Mariners have talked with agent Scott Boras about right-hander Kevin Millwood and left-hander Jarrod Washburn, but it seems unlikely they will meet Boras’ expectations of five years for Millwood or three or four years for Washburn.
Scott Elarton’s also a possibility.
Man, this off-season’s getting depressing.
Comments
157 Responses to “Today’s depressing news roundup”
#138 huskyturnedcoug said:
December 14th, 2005 at 4:00 am
Peter,
If we were talking about, say, a guy like Everett who had stats like Vlad – would you still be talking about jumping ship?
Just curious…
Wow, that’s a tough one. The thing is, with Everett on board, it doesn’t seem like the Mariners anymore. Maybe if beer prices came down a bit…
P.S. Is your last name King by chance? 😉
My last name is Fries. I’m a videogame artist from Kirkland.
And that’s pronounced to rhyme with ‘Peace’ and not ‘Pies’, right?
Pronounced like “freeze”…
Silly Jojo. When I say ‘random minor league talent’ I mean -random-. As in minor league free agents, players who are non-tendered, etc. Jacobsen in 2004, for example. Remember the definition of ‘replacement level’ is “the level of a a typical bench player or Quadruple-A journeyman” (quoted from BP 2004, beg pardon if they’ve since changed the definition to ‘random dude in your own minor league system’).
#154 Silkly Graham 😛 I know…but show me a replacement level minor leaguer who can step into safeco and hit 20 hr and 80 rbis next year… especially show me one in the M’s organization…..
And alas poor Bucky doesnt qualify….
Silkly? I know I’m smooth, but not that smooth.
Home run totals are irrelevant, really, RBIs even more so. Case in point: remember Tony Batista, ex-Oriole/Expo, and the fact that he sucked despite hitting 30 homers a season? He was an out more often then not, which is what Everett and his declining OBP (and without an absurd slugging to make up for it) will be. I’d be much, much happier with someone who can aspire to a league average batting line.
Journeymen are also cheaper. And they don’t need to be in our system, they’re journeymen. Freely available talent isn’t hard to find.
I don’t know which makes me crazier: the assertion that a repeated unsupported claim has been definitively proven, or the simple repetition of the numbers “20 home runs and 80 rbis.”
In the first place, citing rbis out of context like it’s something a player can bring with his bat on his own is silly. Everett played for the White Sox; if he played for the Mariners last year, his rbi total would be nowhere near what it was.
In the second place, in the last five years, Everett has reached 20 home runs and 80 rbis exactly twice. He has averaged 17 home runs and 67 rbis over those five seasons. He is at an age where players can be expected to decline. Why do you keep repeating 20 home runs and 80 rbis like it’s a reasonable expectation, rather than probably the best expectation?
In the third place, who cares? What are 20 home runs and 80 rbis by themselves? Everett had a .311 onbase and .435 slugging last year — which is a much better indicator of what we can expect from him than just his home run and rbi totals — and he’s a lousy defender. How about the other side of the rbi equation, runs socred: Everett had 58 of them, in the middle of the White Sox offense. That’s the .311 onbase: he’s an out machine. Of course the Mariners can do better than that, and cheaper.