Comments on: Game 115, Mariners at White Sox

By: Karen

Karen — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 14:08:45 +0000

Jay Buhner should bust into the clubhouse and remind the Mariners of what he said back in ‘95, “When you start thinking about a wild card, you’re selling yourself short. That’s setting your sights too low.”

If the Angels lost a few more games and the Mariners won at the same time…and if they could keep a lead through September…

Who’d thunk, ‘way back in April?

By: gwangung

gwangung — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:25:08 +0000

Guys, McLaren and Bavasi are SYMPTOMS of what we complain about, not causes.

That mentality we complain about? It permeates the organization, top, bottom and middle. Wanna get rid of it? Well you gotta get rid of a majority of the organization…

(And the really stupid thing is that their approach DOES work…but it’s neither the most efficient or most optimal approach….and you’ll never get the most you can out of the personnel and conditions you have. THAT’S why a lot of people around here are dissatisfied–it’s like using Mo Morris for running back when you have a healthy Shaun Alexander on the bench).

By: darrylzero

darrylzero — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 09:04:57 +0000

Yeah, sorry to start all that again. I got a little tipsy and it all seemed interesting for a second. Anyway, I don’t disagree about the indefensible-ness of it, I was just interested that the effort (the extremely flawed effort) was kinda sorta in the direction we might have wanted in each case. We’d obviously be better without making those trades, I’m not disputing that.

By: Jeff Nye

Jeff Nye — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 08:01:36 +0000

Actually, the fact that there was freely available talent out there, that we wouldn’t have needed to give up ANY players to obtain, that could reasonably be expected to outperform Vidro and HoRam HAS been discussed on this site in great detail.

Snelling, Fruto, and Soriano still have upside to various degrees that we didn’t need to give up to get the level of performance we’ve gotten out of Vidro and HoRam.

They were both bad trades at the time, and they’re still bad trades.

By: davepaisley

davepaisley — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:53:09 +0000

337 “Boy, we sure have never discussed the Vidro trade before.”

And surely, with 4+ months down the road and Bavasi’s job performance under review and the potential for his being back next year, it’s not unreasonable to review how things have gone so far with all the participants.

Gee, Doyle isn’t an MVP candidate, Soriano isn’t holding up well and Fruto can’t be seen with a telescope. I haven’t seen those developments see major discussion here at all.

By: earinc

earinc — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:34:36 +0000

The M’s have the third-best record in MLB. Yet they’re fighting for their lives in spite of themselves with an underqualified manager at the helm. It’s going to be an agonizing yet totally awesome seven weeks.

By: CaptainPoopy

CaptainPoopy — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:29:53 +0000

337

You are correct! This is THE first time that I’ve ever seen Bavasi’s offseason moves rehashed on this blog.

By: Jeff Nye

Jeff Nye — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:16:32 +0000

Boy, we sure have never discussed the Vidro trade before.

By: thefin190

thefin190 — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 07:04:57 +0000

I agree. HoRam needs to be demoted. Whether minors or bull pen. He is like this year’s Joel Pinerio (and am i glad we got rid of him).

Jeff Weaver is starting to look pretty good, fulfilling the 8 million they are throwing at him. (4-4 if you take away the starts before hitting the dl.)

Its good Vidro hits for average, but not in DH position. If Raul started the year as DH then he probably wouldn’t of have had as bad of a year, considering playing outfield causes more wear and tear to the body than DH.

335 is right, so far the guys we have traded away haven’t been playing to their potential either.

It seemed like Bavasi was signing proven veterans with histories of injuries or just sucking. Its like casting a movie full of washups and hoping that they become stars again. Fortunately Batista and Guillen have worked out, and Jeff Weaver isn’t so horrible since coming off the DL, that probably saved Bavasi’s behind.

By: davepaisley

davepaisley — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 06:46:09 +0000

While HoRam and Vidro have sucked, let’s not lose sight of the fact that:

1)Fruto has yet to see the majors this year
2) Soriano has started the second half poorly after being worked heavily
3) Doyle has been on the 60 day DL since May after putting up some fairly so-so numbers

All of those things were within the range of foreseeable circumstances in the off season.

Again, it still doesn’t excuse the Vidro extension or the insane sticking with HoRam but as darrylzero notes there was perhaps some method to the madness in terms of who we gave up and why,