Game 52, Orioles at Mariners
Hill vs Washburn, 7:10 pm.
So, as you probably know, the Orioles have this center fielder who is having a pretty good season. Unless he falls apart in June, there’s a pretty decent chance that Adam Jones will make his first All-Star team this summer at the ripe old age of 23. He’s one of the core pieces of the Orioles rebuilding process, and if the M’s wanted to get him back, they probably couldn’t, even if they offered up the entire farm system and the deed to Mt. Rainier. He’s that valuable. And, but for some really terrible decision making, he could have been ours.
But you know what? I’m happy for Adam Jones, but I’ve moved on. The people responsible for making the worst trade in franchise history got fired, and the team brought in the front office we’ve always wanted. The people who publicly supported the deal have basically all issued mea culpas, and the most prominent of them has become a supporter of the value of defense. The folks who were oh so wrong about that move have either lost their jobs or learned their lesson.
So, to everyone who wants to use Jones’ return as an opportunity to rub it in and play “I told you so”, please don’t. There’s no point. The deal is done and the lessons have been learned. Let’s all just be happy for Adam that he’s on his way to a terrific major league career, root for Zduriencik to fleece some other GM when we move Bedard this summer, and stop acting like there are still battle lines being drawn here.
Besides, if you really want to judge the trade by the results since it went down (not that you should), then you might want to consider that the Bedard deal was basically the final nail in the coffin of the Bavasi era. It sucks that it took a soul crusher of a trade to provide the impetus for the necessary organizational changes, but it did, and those changes took place.
I guess what I’m saying is that I’m happier as a Mariner fan with Jack Zduriencik and my GM and Franklin Gutierrez as my center fielder than I would be with Bill Bavasi as my GM and Adam Jones as my center fielder. Trying to pretend there’s a mythical world where we could have had both is not going to do anyone any good. I’ll root for Jones to play well, but not when he’s playing the Mariners. Tonight, I hope Jarrod Washburn makes him look stupid.
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!#$* this offense.
At least it was quick.
Our offense is more anemic than all the patients at Schick Shadel combined.
This whole game was so fitting.
Quick, $100 to anyone who can explain to me from a standpoint of winning/losing why we don’t just release Jr/Sweeney and replace them with Clement and Shelton. Both are killing AAA pitching and have no place there while Griffey/Sweeney are done–plain and simple. If we like them in the clubhouse why don’t we just hire them as coaches/mentors for the rest of the year?
On the plus side: Ichiro extends hitting streak. Wash continues to be awesome. Jak looked great. Bullpen more or less got a night off. The Mariners lose, thus increasing the odds of JZ getting to make the moves he needs to make.
If Wash can keep this up, he’ll actually be a valuable trade piece too. The M’s are very close to having a stocked farm system between the draft with someone who knows what he’s doing and the extra 2 picks, and of course trading Beltre, Bedard, Wash, and maybe Branyan and a reliever or two.
Sims going on about the Oriole pitching. Hey Dave, they’re not that good. We ARE that bad
Griffey sells tickets / Sweeney keeps the clubhouse loose. In the latter case, I’d guess Sweeney will be packaged in one of the trades coming up.
I wouldn’t mind seeing ‘Gar back too… I think that some of these vets can get some of these young’uns (with the exception of Mr. DFA aka Yuni) into shape…
there is no way anyone will take Sweeney as part of a trade, he has zero skills left now and can only physically play about 2 times a week. It’s fine if the M’s don’t like Clement as a catcher but he has nothing left to prove in Tacoma. While they’re at it I hope we can flip Endy soon so Saunders and come up and platoon with Balentien.
After the prospects develop the Bedard trade may yet turn out to be the worst in franchise history, but the reigning champion of self-destructive Mariner trades must still be Varitek and Lowe for Slocumb. With the benefit of hindsight, giving up two good-but-not-great future players for a completely fungible relief pitcher was quite, quite awful. Getting hosed by the organization that traded Bagwell for two months of Larry Andersen earns extra style points.
Anyone else notice the contrast between how the Baltimore manager and Wakamatsu dealt with the following situation:
Baltimore sixth inning. Jones leads off with a double. Subsequent Baltimore hitters….all hit away and the Orioles score the winning run.
In the Angels series, in both game 1 and game 3, the M’s led off an inning with a double in both games, and the M’s gave up an out by sacrificing the runner to third. Stupid! The M’s scored a run in only one of the two times they gave up an out.
And the pantheon of Oriole pitching legends grows by one tonight: Palmer…McNally…Cuellar… Mussina…Rich Hill…
Oh, wait.
I was thinking the same thing — and wondering how many years it’s gonna take this organization to finally exorcise all of Bavasi’s stupid moves.
If this level of suckitude by the M’s keeps up, we may all be headed for Schick Shadel by the end of the summer.
I’m so glad someone else noticed that. It might’ve been just the way the camera caught him for that instant, but it totally had the vibe of
“Perhaps you forgot I was out here. Perhaps you forgot about The Throw, or just think my arm is no longer what it was. Well… say hello to my little friend.”