U.S.S. Mariner

I wanted to talk a little about what I’m happy about as a fan. No caveats - no “ignoring his contract…” - just what I see as the strong positives in the team this year.
Player-wise
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Adrian Beltre: His .266/.327/.456 line was the best non-2004 year of his career (unless you want 2000, when he played many [...]

For the second time, Happy Last Felix Day!
Hernandez vs Millwood, 1:05 pm.
Felix is on a 6 inning limit, and since he knows it, I’d expect we’ll see him going balls to the wall from the first pitch. I’m guessing we’re going to see Max Effort Felix today, with lots of 98s and 99s. Of [...]

Padilla v Feireabend. The Mariners are playing for a shot at .488, the Rangers would love to continue beating up the M’s to finish above the break-even mark themselves.
What crazy lineup will the newly-emboldened Hargrove come up with? What wacky hijinks will he get up to?
Unfortunately, it looks like he wasn’t feeling particularly adventurous.
CF-L Ichiro
3B-R [...]

His PI column today
Which argues, pretty much, that firing Bavasi & Hargrove wouldn’t have helped
Unless it can be established that a manager/GM is incompetent or lazy, sports-franchise firings usually, but not always, are PR stunts for hapless organizations (that would include at one time the Yankees, who went without playoffs from 1981 to 1995 and [...]

With commentary. Short version: Lincoln/Armstrong says “Bill Bavasi will continue to lead our baseball operations and Mike Hargrove will continue to manage the team.”
The full letter, with extra snarky comments, after the break.

The Mark Mulder for Dan Haren trade probably stands as Billy Beane’s most recent heist of talent, where he turned an expensive, aging, and injured star into a cheap, healthy, and more effective hurler, and got the Cardinals to chip in their best prospect and a quality reliever to boot. Dan Haren has been [...]

A few interesting columns in the local papers today. First, in the P-I, Rafael Soriano voices his desire to convert back into being a starting pitcher.
“I’ve seen him as a starter, and I’ve seen him very good as a starter,” said pitching coach Rafael Chaves, who coached Soriano in the minors. “But [...]

And down the stretch we come.
RHP Jason Windsor (who?) vs. RHP Gil Meche, 7:05pm.
SeattleMariners.com headline: “Meche to start perhaps last game with Mariners.” I’m willing to overlook the mediocre quality of said headline if it can be true. Please, let it be true.
CF Ichiro!
3B Beltre
C Johjima
LF Ibanez
1B Sexson
DH Broussard
SS Lopez
RF Snelling
SS Betancourt
Meanwhile, Oakland runs out [...]

Cover your eyes, folks, becuase the first of the Suggested Offseason Moves columns has shown up in the P-I today. David Andriesen bats leadoff with his piece today. There will be more coming, surely.
For those who hate following the links, the key paragraphs:
The Nationals will try everything in their power [...]

Rich Harden v Jake Woods.
Soooo wait, I thought the A’s were happy they’d be able to celebrate in front of their home fans. And then they dropped two to the Angels and one to the M’s. Two more and they’ll be forced to try and do it against the Angels again. Go team! Stick [...]