Similarly, it was said earlier, but Raul is a nice player having a late run, but he’s just not that good and to confer some kind of blessing upon him is a measure of how bad the management of the team has slid. Woody Woodward would be an upgrade. At least he knew what a player looked like and where in his lifecyle he stood.

No, I think the management has always been this way. And Bavasi has been aware of that (there have been comments about difficulties early in his tenure about cutting fan favoriates and marketing driving personnel decisions; obviously, the lessons haven’t sunk in as they should).

Anyway, I would acknowledge that Baker was more of a FB pitcher in the past – he was under 40% GB in 2006 and he’s closing in on 50% in 2007. So again, which Baker are we getting? that’s why you have scouts, of course.

You’re certainly aware then that both Randy Johnson and Ken Griffey Jr. were traded and Rodriguez was let go and Ichiro is nowhere near the player any of those three were when they departed.

So I’m sure they could get their ducks in a row to do a deal with Ichiro as the principal portion. Similarly, it was said earlier, but Raul is a nice player having a late run, but he’s just not that good and to confer some kind of blessing upon him is a measure of how bad the management of the team has slid. Woody Woodward would be an upgrade. At least he knew what a player looked like and where in his lifecyle he stood.

Livingston was a 4th rounder – is the difference in success rate btwn the 2nd and 4th rounds gigantic? I thought BP’s Rany Jazayerli looked into this last year (when I had an account) – there wasn’t much of a difference. Could be wrong.

I acknowledge that Livingston is

And Baker isn’t at all like Livingston. He was a 2nd round pick, routinely hits 92 on the gun, and is not a no-stuff guy. He’s more like Gil Meche than Bobby Livingston.

I think the team needs slugging, especially with Ibanez and Sexson on the decline. Power is also the most overvalued commodity on the FA market.
I think Wlad could actually get a shot if Guillen leaves, either at the deadline or in the offseason, as a platoon partner for Broussard. Especially given the org’s interest in trying Broussard in the corner OF spots. Wlad doesn’t have big platoon splits, but it looks like another big stride he’s made this year is killing lefties (SSA, of course, but he SHOULD kill ‘em, as a righty). Seems like a good way to ease him into the rotation. Now, that doesn’t address the larger question of trade him or not, but I think it points to a *possible* way for him to earn a job with Seattle.
I just think that if he’s around .300-.320/.380/.540 around the break, you have to find a place for him next year. Whether that’s Guillen, or whether that’s Ibanez-to-first-or-DH, I don’t care. At this point, it can’t be pinned on an increase in singles (his May BABIP is under .300 and he’s still hitting .304/.407/.565 – this is NOT a case of an inordinate amount of singles falling in) – at least not entirely.

And beyond that, I worry that the org is now so infatuated with GB pitchers that they’d buy high on a borderline ’spect who threw grounders, like a Bobby Livingston type. And speaking of Livingston, I’d want to know that Baker had a much higher upside; they both don’t walk anyone, but Baker’s K rate seems suspiciously high this year. Not saying that Livingston = Baker, but I’d want to know that my scouts all agreed that there was considerable distance btwn the two. And then I’d go talk to the scouts who advised me to not protect Livingston.