On bringing back the Bus
Ah, remember the good old days when we were putting out sales pitches for Jarrod Washburn, hoping some dumb team would bite? Good times.
Well, now there’s talk he might return to Seattle. And his knee? You won’t believe this — couldn’t be better. “It feels great now, almost like I didn’t even have a surgery. So, I don’t see it being a problem for me in the future.”
As if he was going to say something else. “It feels kind of weak and doesn’t quite support my leg, so who knows what’ll happen when I get on a mound. I’d offer me a minor league contract and a spring training invite, maybe.”
Anyway, Kenji’s gone, so I’m sure he’s already thinking it’d be even better this time. But really, if I’m going to set that whole thing aside, he is pretty well-suited for Safeco as a flyball lefty. The knee thing’s a risk, but I’m sure the M’s will do their homework on that.
The thing is… the M’s need more for their money. A lot more. If they brought Washburn back on a one-year, $6m deal, there’s some upside there. But even with Kenji out, the team’s going to be trying to squeeze wins and one of their largest constraints is going to be the payroll budget the business side gives them. If Washburn wants $10m again, the team’s better off gambling on some reclamation projects with lower price tags and riskier profiles. They can’t break even on free agent acquisitions by paying $4-5m per win this year.
nathaniel dawson, nothing inherently wrong with an innings eater 5th starter but why would you want to waste budget on a guy who you already have on your roster. RRS, Snell, Vargas, Fister, and French all fill the 4-5 roll. The M’s need to get lucky with money spent in free agency on pitching and the Bus is what he is. League average in the 2-3 slot isn’t going to make this team a serious contender unless “Z” can keep the defense REALLY good and get the Cards to give them Pujols or the Twins to give him Mauer for free…..
I agree with what I assume this point to be. Which is; wait and see. Z has already shown us that he’s more than capable of making good baseball decisions. Let’s see what he does and make our judgements then.
Yes, please.
Exactly. I have faith in the direction the team is going now. You should too. Second guessing should be saved for if/when it fails to give a positive result. (which hasn’t happened yet actually)
While I agree with your first point, I don’t really see Z making trades/signings that make our team worse even if the defense doesn’t end up being quite as good. He has already shown us that defense is a priority and I seriously doubt that has changed.
He actually seems to be rather good at re-loading as opposed to re-building. Again, let’s wait and see.
Since DMZ brought up the topic of “hoping some dumb team will bite”, I just heard [nope!]
We have too many pieces that are slotted at #4 and #5 starting pitcher as it is- French, Fister, Petit, Vargas and maybe Ryan Feierabend. To a degree, Ryan Rowland-Smith, too.
They need starts and time played to figure out if any of them are going to be long-term solutions or more than what they are now.
I give cred to Washburn for being as good as what he was in 2009 for us. But, to me? He doesn’t make sense to be on our team in 2010- not with this many options to possibly provide the same value already on board.
And I don’t even wanna hear about “veteran grit” on this one…
To paraphrase the general repling to Col. Blake in M*A*S*H (the movie),
“Bus” Washburn? Screw him!
Just give me a feckin’ break and don’t bring up that backstabbing piece of filth here again.
Thank you.
but … Jon Heyman tells me that “Knee issues hurt him in Detroit, but he starred in Seattle before that. His great rapport with Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair make them a natural reunion.”
I’d be okay with giving Washburn a one-year $6 million deal but no more than that and definitely not a multi-year deal. Besides Felix, RRS is the only one that really looked like he earned a spot in the 2010 rotation. It’s a crapshoot predicting what we’re going to get out of Morrow, Snell, French, etc.
What else would Heyman say? Isn’t it Heyman’s job to shill for Boras?
I wouldn’t want to. I’m not sure where you got the idea that I did, as I never said anything like that.
As long as it’s in vogue to do so, offer him a one year, incentive laden contract including an incentive to earn more by being the poster boy for clubhouse unity. 🙂
I gotta say, I’m with the thanks but no thanks crowd here. I agree Washburn is a serviceable left handed starter that is at or slightly above MLB average. Really, the team doesn’t need any more of those, Z spent most of last season picking that type of player up on the cheap. For the M’s to improve they need to invest their payroll in players that provide the chance at above average MLB production. I think the roster as it stands now is about a 80 to 84 win team (assuming Beltre leaves, and Guiti comes down to earth a little). In my opinion Washburn does not improve the team enough to warrant his expenditure. His salary is better spent elsewhere, even at 3 to 4 mil.
I’m thinking Dave’s head would explode if they brought back Washburn. From what I know about Dave, Washburn’s pretty much not one of his favorite players. I specifically remember some after dinner conversation I had with Dave about Washburn, and I tried to argue that Washburn wasn’t entirely useless (though admitting he’s nothing special), and Dave & I agreed to disagree…
I’m not a Washburn fan, but he might be useful under certain circumstances. Hopefully it’s like plan “Q” or later…
I’m just soooo glad we don’t have to deal with the infamous “Plan B’s” of Bavasi (i.e. when his main target isn’t available, he takes the same offer to someone else – See Ramirez, Horacio; Silva, Carlos et al.).
Pardon me, but didn’t he come in a trade?
You have no way of knowing that this is how his mind functions.
Pardon me, but didn’t he come in a trade?
Right. It was a trade he made after ones he wanted to make didn’t pan out, and when other Free Agents didn’t want his money.
You have no way of knowing that this is how his mind functions.
I won’t claim to know how his mind functions, but I did directly ask him (at FanFest) what the hell he was thinking. He admitted (off the mike) it wasn’t his first choice, so…