Do you have an audio link to that?

it should be this. I haven’t listened to what is linked here, as I have a feeble machine at home. we can also see how he phrases it when he gets round to that subject in the series.

I heard something a hell of a lot different than you did. In fact, there was a whole side discussion about “Why Johjima, and not any of the Japanese players that didn’t start out on the Mariners like Nomo/Irabu/etc.”

Mitch asked that (citing Matsusaka and Igawa) and Baker pointed out that you could only address the players that the Ms had under contract

Did you listen to the whole thing? IMO, Baker clearly believes that the ownership would do extra to keep Johjima and Ichiro around.

which is what I paraphrased — that Baker believes that Yamauchi wanted Joh to have a contract that would ‘take care of him’ if Yamauchi was to sell the team.

A bad player has to worry about his job security. A bad player will get second-guessed. Who cares what a .220 hitter or a guy with a 6-plus ERA thinks about the team’s best player?

I’m not saying, mind you, that the anonymous source can’t be a good player. Just that it’s more likely to be a bad player.

Wasn’t Richie taken care of all last year? What about Willie Boom-Boom and Miguel Cairo? Can you honestly say they haven’t been favored by ownership and management above and beyond the call? Vidro? Julio Mateo? Didn’t they get their fare share?

Really, the only guy on the team who can say that he wasn’t really adequately handled, I think, is Bedard.

mariners2009 on September 25th, 2008 6:51 pm Seriously. Is it impossible to have an abstract argument about a conditional here?

OOOO!!!!! I want to make something up to argue about now!

Can you just please come up with anything factual about how Ichiro has hurt the team this year? I am getting tired of this. It’s just silly now. In fact, I am realizing that I am being silly by even continuing this arguement. Your wrong, and you are making yourself look dumb to everyone that is reading your coments. To you I say good day.

What the hell are you talking about? I never said Ichiro was hurting the team.

I didn’t “make something up” to talk about. Read the original post – it’s about a potential “clubhouse-versus-Ichiro” situation.

I’ve also said repeatedly that I’m not taking sides on whether the Mariners are treating anyone differently. Because I don’t know. I have no idea. I’m not an insider.

mariners2009 on September 25th, 2008 6:39 pm Maybe you should go sell redundant insurance policies door-to-door in a senior citizen community? You could probably get some suckers to fall for it. Hey, it’s “good business”, right?

You make it sound like someone is being taken advantage of. Who is that? Thats just dumb.

Don’t be obtuse. You suggested that (hypothetically) paying Ichiro more money would be “good business” because it would have a positive ROI. My counterpoint is that just because something has a good ROI doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

msb on September 25th, 2008 6:49 pm Did you hear Baker on KJR?

Baker was careful to say he did not know the reason for Joh’s contract, and that no one had specifically told him why (Lincoln said that Nero came to them with the extension request, and that Armstrong did the negotiations, not Bavasi) and that he would be writing about it in a later installment in the series.

He said that his belief is that Mr Yamauchi may be getting ready to sell his share in the team, and that perhaps by giving Joh his extension, he was making sure that he would be taken care of.

Do you have an audio link to that? If not, we’re going to have to agree to disagree. I heard something a hell of a lot different than you did. In fact, there was a whole side discussion about “Why Johjima, and not any of the Japanese players that didn’t start out on the Mariners like Nomo/Irabu/etc.” Did you listen to the whole thing? IMO, Baker clearly believes that the ownership would do extra to keep Johjima and Ichiro around.

NOTE: THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT _I_ BELIEVE OWNERSHIP WOULD DO IT. IT IS _BAKER_ THAT BELIEVES THIS.

Seriously, how do you interpret “taking care of”? Why “take care of” Johjima and not other Mariners? That’s special treatment, if it’s true.

Until said player identifies himself and gives a coherent, detailed explanation for his beliefs then what evidence we do have (if true) points to a childish, pathetic and insane human being. That’s it.

What I’m saying is that if the other Mariners think that there is preferential treatment based on race, they are going to be pissed off about it.

so someone just needs to smack them upside the head and say, it’s because he is The Star

Seriously. Is it impossible to have an abstract argument about a conditional here?

OOOO!!!!! I want to make something up to argue about now!

Can you just please come up with anything factual about how Ichiro has hurt the team this year? I am getting tired of this. It’s just silly now. In fact, I am realizing that I am being silly by even continuing this arguement. Your wrong, and you are making yourself look dumb to everyone that is reading your coments. To you I say good day.

Did you hear Baker on KJR?

Baker was careful to say he did not know the reason for Joh’s contract, and that no one had specifically told him why (Lincoln said that Nero came to them with the extension request, and that Armstrong did the negotiations, not Bavasi) and that he would be writing about it in a later installment in the series.

He said that his belief is that Mr Yamauchi may be getting ready to sell his share in the team, and that perhaps by giving Joh his extension, he was making sure that he would be taken care of.