I question whether Bavasi would consider trading Jones….who would we have in right field without him? Balentien? I just can’t imagine that Bavasi would be counting on that working out….

And I’ll bet those two never even mention that to each other these days, either.

Now, no offense whatsoever is intended to those fans who root for a franchise – if it adds to your enjoyment, however masochistic for spells (or in the case of the Cubs or Royals, decades), I am not even mildly surprised by your choice – there are plenty of BASEBALL fans who really love the game and hold a different perspective.
Fans like myself love the game (at any level) on the field, the history that sets up each game, particular players and personalities (as people and “legends”), and the teams that create and develop the narrative of the sport. The money-talk and the front office are almost never important to maintaining my interest, except out of necessity – the “business” of baseball as it is today is more and more the main obstacle to my enjoying the professional game.
I am interested in the shape a particular team takes much more than in winning and losing (though winning is more fun, in moderation, while losing has very limited charm for this fan) and therefore I simply have lost my taste for the current Mariners, though having my most favorite player Ichiro, as well as Johjima, and Beltre means I will be shadowing the team more closely than, say, the Diamondbacks or Marlins.
The current team is not much fun to watch (on TV at least), win or lose, and the apparant idiocy of the FO, and the succession of sickeningly awful managers, who actually interfere with what I see as the team’s “organi form” mean I finally gave up my “Mariners’ fan” status – not that anyine should care.
To say it more simply, I don’t give a flying f— about the publiser, I want to be able to enjoy the book.

May the Mariners find themselves, and find themselves under good management as well, in 2008!

Ellis Carver: Hey we’re friendly folks. Good luck to your O’s next season. If you want to throw in Brian Roberts and get back Sexson/Lopez I’d definitely have to give it a much longer look.. still not sure I’d take it if it involved both Jones and Morrow going away.

There’s a reason I finally dropped our season tickets this year after 6 years. I have zero confidence this team is going to sniff the playoffs anytime soon with this management group.