Comments on: What in the world is going on?

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:46:51 +0000

Oddly, the current HACKING MASS leader has no Mariners at all. It’s a bit of an odd competition. I note that Johjima is the #1 catcher, but of course hardly anyone picked him; Kendall was the overwhelming favorite. Vidro is the #1 first baseman, tied for 7th overall. Sexson is only a surprising 8th on the 1B list. Lopez is 11th at 2B; Bloomie is an impressive 17th, not bad for a part-timer. Yuni is #9 at SS. Ichiro is 13th at CF (Adam Jones just two points back). Balentien is still our top RF, in 10th. For pitchers, Batista is tenth and Silva is 12th. Cairo is listed as a 3B, where he is 10th, despite limited playing time (Beltre is 20th).

All told, if you were allowed to cheat a couple of positions you could come up with a roster like this:

C Johjima 58
1B Sexson 30
2B Lopez 28
3B Cairo 22
SS Betancourt 44
LF Vidro 60 (that’s my cheat; Ibanez only 6)
CF Ichiro 29
RF Balentien 22
P1 Batista 44
P2 Silva 41

For a total of 378. That would put you just outside the top ten. That’s the lineup we’re sending out there, more or less every night. Whoo hoo!

There are plenty of other players worse than ours on an individual basis — the top five are Freddy Sanchez (PIT 2B), Michael Bourn (HOU CF), Tony Pena (KC SS), Khalil Greene (SD SS), and Omar Vizquel (SF SS) — but you will notice that they don’t all play for the same team, and they all play critical defensive positions. The top-ranked non-SS, non-2B, non-CF is … Jose Vidro, who plays NOTHING, then a couple of terrible pitchers, another CF, then … Kenji.

By: BlazerD

BlazerD — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:52:11 +0000

These comments are awesome.

I’ll admit I was shocked and mortified they expected Vidro to still be playing every day after last year. It is now with sick amusement that I watch him continually trotting out onto the field. This can only last so long, right?

How pissed will the next GM be if Vidro’s option is allowed to vest?

By: NBarnes

NBarnes — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:58:33 +0000

Steve makes a good point: Somewhere there’s an As fan with Vidro, Bloomquist, Cairo, and Sexson all on his HACKING MASS team and laughing hysterically.

By: mln

mln — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:52:38 +0000

Why all the Debbie Downers here?

Willie’s Streak continues!

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:45:56 +0000

When was the last time a team finished the year with no players over .800 OPS (the HACKING MASS cutoff)? We currently have none.

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:41:56 +0000

There isn’t a team in MLB that doesn’t have a big fat file on Vidro, full of completely black pages like the one in Tristram Shandy. He could hit four home runs tomorrow and Pelekoudas’s phone wouldn’t ring.

By: wlad

wlad — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:37:00 +0000

I’m pretty sure they’re tanking. They are tanking right?

By: DKJ

DKJ — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:31:42 +0000

Any chance the FO is hoping Vidro, et al. will rip off a couple of XBHs, like Richie’s anomaly last night, and get some drunken and/or deluded team to give TWO bags of balls for one of these guys?

Season lost, AAA kids really not screaming to get to the bigs (a la AJ last season), why not trot them out until the trade deadline hoping for a miracle, THEN release them? Other than, you know, this might cause USSM correspondents’ heads to explode.

By: msb

msb — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:21:08 +0000

The “delicious pheromone” theory scares me.

hmm. I used to have a highly risible mail-order ad for something called Liquid Magnet ….

By: Steve T

Steve T — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 06:17:43 +0000

PS: question for new GM: “do you know what a sunk cost is?”

I think they play Vidro because they pay Vidro. It’s as simple as that. Same reason Sexson isn’t shopping for recliners right now.