Mariners make millions, Bucky signs with White Sox
The big story: the Mariners reported an $8m profit in 2005 to the Public Facilities District. [Seattle Times.]
Also, Bucky signed a minor league contract with the White Sox. [Seattle Times
The Times also reported that Ibanez’s contract will be finalized after they get the results of “a blood draw”. What could come back in that would wreck this deal — blood parasites? The PI, meanwhile, reports that the two sides are closing in on a contract.
Best quote from the Times article was Hargrove on yelling at minor leaguers messing up a drill:
“When you tell them, then critique the first two when they don’t do it right, and then they keep doing it wrong … ” Hargrove said. “Then, you got a little tired of it. Sometimes when a cow won’t let you milk her, you have to snap her on the head with a 2 by 4.”
Yeah, as a fan I feel like going down to Dunn Lumber and picking out a nice, solid 2×4 myself sometimes.
The best bit from the PI notebook:
Manager Mike Hargrove said he pulled Willie Bloomquist aside the other day for a discussion about his versatility — he can play any infield or outfield position.
“I talked to him and told him he was both cursed and blessed by that,” Hargrove said.
Also versatile: a 2×4.
The best Hargrove quote of all, though, comes from the Tacoma News-Tribune:
“We all should have a bit of Willie Bloomquist in us.â€Â
yup
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Just to prove he bleeds Mariner Blue.
[pah-rum-pah!!!]
I suppose it could be because yesterday’s part of the physicals was blood draw day “For the first time all week, there was no early work. Why not? “Our players had blood tests this morning, and I didn’t want any of them passing out on the infield,†coach Carlos Garcia said.”
the line of the day for me was also Hargrove: “Third baseman/outfielder Greg Dobbs was hit in the head by a line drive off the bat of teammate Matt Lawton during Saturday morning drills at the
Mariners’ complex … “He came out of it OK,” manager Mike Hargrove said. ”I told him that’s
the hardest he’s hit anything all spring.”
no, wait, THIS was the quote of the day!
“I just did it my way. I’m not a martyr, and I’m not a do-gooder. I just want to go out and rock. And man, I rocked here” — Bode Miller.
What’s with Hargrove and hitting people on the head? Didn’t he have a quote last week about how the Mariners kept getting hit on the head with a hammer last year? Perhaps Lawton was aiming for Hargrove and missed.
Sounds like Grover is Willie’s biggest fan.
@#!$!$!!@#$! !#$!%!$!^!$@.
No way. This is my favorite quote: BY FAR.
“Bloomquist is in the mix to become the starting second baseman with Jose Lopez and Fernando Vina.
‘Of the three guys we have there, Willie’s probably No. 3,’ Hargrove said, ‘and it’s because of (his versatility).’ “
What I want to see that wasn’t IN the 8 million dollar story is the breakdown on season ticket sales. the story says they sold 17,100 in 2005 and expect to decrease in 2006. but i’m remembering they were up in the neighborhood of 21K back in 2004, and i think it’d be also pretty interesting to see how many of those folks that stayed switched into a cheaper (like a 16 game) package.
8 million doesnt seem like much profit for a mlb team in a good market. Just as a comparison, the Bengals (small market football) sold about 40 million dollars in apparel alone in ’05. How much can any number like that released by a baseball team be trusted?
I love Larry Stone. From this morning’s Times piece on the various former M’s in camp with the Cards & Marlins: “In various recent interviews, Spiezio has had the gall to intimate that his pathetic two-year stint with the Mariners was the fault of: a) stick-in-the-mud teammates who broke his spirit; and b) management that didn’t give him a fair shot; rather than c) an abject inability to perform.”
Slowly, but surely, Willie Bloomquist is nearing his destiny and fate in life: to become the Greatest Second Baseman in Mariner History.
Some day we will all look back at this Spring training and nod knowingly at the prophetic nature of Mike Hargrove’s comments about Willie.
fwiw, Hargrove isn’t saying anything about Bloomquist that Melvin, various generations of coaches and the guys in the front office haven’t said. Willie has a mysterious hypnotic effect on baseball people.
“We all should have a bit of Willie Bloomquist in us.â€Â
I’m seeing some t-shirt sale possibilities here.
They’re stealing Willie Bloomquist’s best pickup line.
For what it’s worth, it seems to me like Hargrove and others are trying to make Willie feel really good about himself while also preparing him for his actual job this year: not starting 2B, but utility guy.
The Bloomquist saga is going to become a non-issue IMO being that his utility role will be needed for the Mariners to function as a team in general. They can’t afford to cast aside his ‘versatility’ and give him the 2B job.
So that leaves Lopez to fight out the job with Valdez, oops I mean Vina.
“I’m seeing some t-shirt sale possibilities here. ”
–Now made with 3% more Willie Bloomquist!
Is this a roundabout way of broaching the rumor that Bloomquist is about to be traded to a Uruguayan rugby team?
13. Nice. Winner.
No one has said anything about Bucky yet.
What’s to say? Frank Thomas’ spot in the buffet line was open.