I (heart) Willie

DMZ · March 2, 2005 at 1:37 pm · Filed Under Mariners 

Many, many column-inches on the wonder of Mr. Bloomquist and his new family.

Update! As long as we’re talking about generic spring training stories, check out one of my old BP articles offering a spring training update.

Tags:

Comments

44 Responses to “I (heart) Willie”

  1. Basebliman on March 2nd, 2005 1:41 pm

    Typical Pocket Lint pro-Willie propaganda piece.

  2. Jeff on March 2nd, 2005 1:41 pm

    My favorite part of the story is this:

    “I hope Mike (Hargrove) knows about me, knows what I can do,” Bloomquist said.

    I hope so too, Willie. I hope so, too.

  3. jj on March 2nd, 2005 1:56 pm

    lol. Jeff, you are killing me. From sportspot: “Bloomquist Willie does nothing to hurt himself, but stands out nowhere except in the all important brown nose category. He needs to be careful or he will pull something laughing so hard at all the coaches jokes. He is now trying to improve his utility presence by mastering the outfield as well”.

    Does that sound like ass kissing or what>

  4. David J Corcoran on March 2nd, 2005 2:06 pm

    I hope he gets released just for those comments.

  5. David J Corcoran on March 2nd, 2005 2:07 pm

    Also, does anybody have a box score for the game today?

  6. Andy James on March 2nd, 2005 2:09 pm

    This kills me in that old familiar way:

    …he again has to show the reality of his reputation for doing the little things to help a team win.

    And oh, what very little things they are.

  7. jj on March 2nd, 2005 2:20 pm

    Here is the story I found for today’s game.
    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/aplocal_story.asp?category=6420&slug=BBA%20Mariners%20Padres%20B

  8. Steve Thornton on March 2nd, 2005 2:25 pm

    Sexson, Beltre, and Dan Wilson homered. The World Series is a lock.

  9. Xteve X on March 2nd, 2005 2:30 pm

    Can’t we just cut him already? Jeez.

  10. msb on March 2nd, 2005 2:40 pm

    “Sexson, Beltre, and Dan Wilson homered. The World Series is a lock.”–Comment by Steve Thornton — 3/2/2005 @ 2:25 pm

    according to Boone, Wilson’s homerun negated Sexson’s & Beltre’s…

  11. David M on March 2nd, 2005 2:44 pm

    Enough with the Bloomquist-bashing, eh? It’s actually a pretty interesting read, if you can get past your blinding hatred for a not-so-productive 25th man. The stuff about his Dad pushing him when he was younger (“he wanted us to be better than we wanted”), and now the fact that the Dad can’t even remember seeing Willie hustle his buns off…it’s actually one of the better player-interest stories I’ve read in awhile. It doesn’t change the fact that Willie is really a AAAA player, but so freakin’ what? Give the guy a break. Your 24th and 25th men don’t make or break your season. Think of all those years the Yankees won everyone with leftover cardboard on their bench. Might as well have a local boy.

  12. giuseppe on March 2nd, 2005 2:45 pm

    Expect big production from Mr. Bloomquist this year. He just hasn’t been trying:

    “Now I know I’ve got to make a living. There can’t be any better motivation.”

  13. troy on March 2nd, 2005 2:48 pm

    Who started at short today? Game recap says Pokey missed the game(gasp!)with a sore ankle.

  14. Milorad V on March 2nd, 2005 2:49 pm

    Sometime last season somone over at BBProspectus wrote a very droll little piece on how to become a team’s plucky, ineffectual fan-favorite player…was that you DMZ? Can somebody link it up…
    I think of it everytime I hear the Bloom’s name mentioned.

  15. eponymous coward on March 2nd, 2005 2:56 pm

    Hmm, a spring training cliche article. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz….. huh, what, did I fall asleep?

    Coming up next- an article on Aaron Sele, grizzled veteran, trying to make the squad… eponymous coward on March 2nd, 2005 2:57 pm

    Oh, that link should be:

    http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/apwire/articles/6420bba_mariners_sele.asp?searchpagefrom=1&searchdiff=2

    Wake me up when they get to the Surprising Minor Leaguer Who May Make The Roster You Haven’t Heard About…

  16. JenV on March 2nd, 2005 3:00 pm

    Oh Lord, there will be no getting rid of him now. If he was a tug-at-the-hearstrings favorite before, this article just multiplied it by 10.

    All we need now is for his kid to get sick and that will put the last nail in the “never getting rid of Willie Bloomquist” coffin.

  17. jm on March 2nd, 2005 3:06 pm

    “the Mariners’ eternal utility man”

    eternal?

    this is worse than I thought.

  18. eponymous coward on March 2nd, 2005 3:11 pm

    Oh, while we’re critiquing local press coverage:

    http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/story/4640699p-4306342c.html

    Franklin will turn 32 on Saturday, and has four seasons in the majors, two as a starting pitcher. He has never come to camp with a job guaranteed.

    “I think I could be the No. 3 starter here, but I’ve had to prove myself every step of my career,” he said. “I’ve never been comfortable, and that’s not a bad thing for me.

    “I want to start here, and I’m competing for a spot in the rotation. I consider myself a starting pitcher, and I think I’ve proven that’s my best role.

    “If I pitch good and go to the bullpen, I’ll be upset.

    “If I pitch bad and go to the bullpen, I’ll be upset.”

    Franklin’s career ERA, starting: 4.17
    Franklin’s career ERA, relieving: 3.88

    Uhhhhh…

  19. TheChange44 on March 2nd, 2005 3:18 pm

    I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sick of the whole “local guy” thing. It seems as the M’s have been too much about “the local guy” in the past (Blowers, Willie, Ole, Sele, etc). The only reason Willie is still with the club is that he is a local guy. Lets just prey the new one who wears #44 doesn’t follow the same trend.

  20. jj on March 2nd, 2005 3:22 pm

    #19, thanks for the article.

    Franklin a number 3? At Tacoma?

  21. Change on March 2nd, 2005 3:27 pm

    Hey, lay off Blowers. That man rocked. I was trying to figure out who our bench scrubs will be. You figure 8 position players, 12 pitchers and 1 DH. That leaves 4 spots open for scrubs. We’ve got Spezio (Mr. Low fat), and presumably Willie (Mr. No-tool, Mr. Feel-good) and then who else? We’ve got to carry at least one more outfielder, and then maybe Bucky? Am I forgetting someone here?

  22. DMZ on March 2nd, 2005 3:35 pm

    Sometime last season somone over at BBProspectus wrote a very droll little piece on how to become a team’s plucky, ineffectual fan-favorite player…was that you DMZ? Can somebody link it up…

    Here

    Also you can search for “fan favorite” in BP’s engine and it’s the first result.

  23. AK1984 on March 2nd, 2005 3:36 pm

    I didn’t know Germans (e.g.: Mike Blowers) were considered to be local to Seattle? Oh well, it doesn’t really matter…or does it?

    Anyways, I don’t think y’all should be dwelling on Willie Bloomquist — along with Aaron Sele and Ryan Franklin, for that matter — ’cause it is a waste of time. In addition, havin’ y’all whine ’bout him possibly bein’ on the team isn’t goin’ to do a single person any good, either, as none of you (at least that I am aware of) are in the position to make personnel decisions on behalf of the franchise.

    As it is, Bloomquist is obviously an untalented individual — when compared to the average Major League Baseball (MLB) player — but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a human being—jus’ like the rest of us! Sure, he may be fond of kissing ass; nonetheless, who is to say that kissing up is no worse a [negative] quality than whining? ‘xactly, none of us have the ability to decipher nominal traits, such as kissing up and whining.

    But yeah, the main point here is this: “Don’t whine, for it’s a waste of time!”

  24. Jay R on March 2nd, 2005 3:43 pm

    “That leaves 4 spots open for scrubs. We’ve got Spezio (Mr. Low fat), and presumably Willie (Mr. No-tool, Mr. Feel-good) and then who else? We’ve got to carry at least one more outfielder, and then maybe Bucky? Am I forgetting someone here?”

    One of those 4 spots goes to the other half of the Wilson/Olivo combo, meaning there is even LESS room for local guys who only bring intangibles to the roster.

  25. troy on March 2nd, 2005 4:10 pm

    I’d much much rather keep Leone than Bloomquist. With Ibanez pencilled in as DH, I suppose we could do without a 4th OF if need be, especially if we kept Leone, who is more athletic than Bloomy and wouldn’t kill with the bat. That would open a spot for Bucky, making it my optimal bench, given what’s available:

    Corner infield – Spiezio
    Utility – Leone
    Catcher – Wilson
    Masher – Bucky

    The big problem is none of those guys can really play SS (Leone a little) and you know Pokey’s going to miss alot of games, but we don’t really have anybody who can play short and bring any kind of bat off the bench, besides Lopez, and we don’t want to waste him on the bench. Santiago’s bat is as bad as Pokey’s and his glove is nowhere near. Leone seems the best choice to me. Thoughts?

  26. Change on March 2nd, 2005 4:21 pm

    Crap, ok, so we have 8 position players, 1 dh, 1 backup catcher and 12 pitchers. I don’t think there’s even the slightest chance that they’ll go with an 11 man pitching staff. That makes 22 Regulars and 3 backups. I’m still fairly sure that Spezio and Bloomquist will be two of them, and since Ibanez doubles as an outfielder and so do Bloomquist and Spezio to a degree, that makes me wonder if they’d take a chance on Bucky or keep some kind of quick style middle infielder for when Pokey gets (more) hurt (again).

  27. PositivePaul on March 2nd, 2005 4:29 pm

    As long as Pokey doesn’t get hurt on the road (and Seattle’s home schedule seems to relatively coincide with Tacoma’s home schedule), we can call a SS up from Tacoma. Does Willie still have an option left? Not that it really matters, though, because if we DFA’d him, there’d only likely be one guy (BoMel) who’d even consider taking him away from Seattle.

    Even though he’s more expensive, I’d rather have Spiezio on the bench than Bloomquist. But is Bloomquist THAT much better a defensive SS than Leone or even Spiezio? Hmmm…

  28. Change on March 2nd, 2005 4:32 pm

    Troy, they’re going to keep Willie for the backup shortstop. Either that or when Pokey goes down they’ll move Lopez up. Just get used to the idea of Willie being at least one of our options for SS. It sucks, but it’s either that or carry two scrappy semi-fast guys instead of one and a masher.

  29. PositivePaul on March 2nd, 2005 4:33 pm

    And, DMZ, in regards to your ST story, I read somewhere that any movie can be broken down enough to fall under one of only 7 basic plots.

    Same basic principles apply to baseball, whither Spring Training or regular season, I suppose…

  30. wabbles on March 2nd, 2005 4:42 pm

    I saw the article on today’s game, but does anyone have a BOX SCORE? I need my fix! Also, how/where do we get spring training box scores and statistics?

  31. Gregor on March 2nd, 2005 4:48 pm

    #24: Mike Blowers was born in Germany (I believe his father was in the military), which doesn’t make him German. He did, however, grow up near Tacoma and graduated from the University of Washington.

  32. giuseppe on March 2nd, 2005 5:05 pm

    #31

    Most of the boxscores for ST games will be on the major sports sites, i.e. ESPN, SI, Sporting News, as well as the network sites. Look for the scoreboard link. There should be a boxscore link under each score. The MLB site will have boxscores as well and each team’s site will likely list boxscores.

    Today’s game was a charity game (played because of the heated rivalry between the Padres and our Mariners), so it’s a little harder to find. I haven’t found it anywhere.

    Any help???

  33. Dave on March 2nd, 2005 5:12 pm

    The M’s and Padres used something like 44 players today. You won’t see a box score. It was more of a sandlot game.

    The AP story got the high points. Meche cruised, M’s played long ball.

  34. wabbles on March 2nd, 2005 5:58 pm

    Okay, thanks.

  35. Jeff Sullivan on March 2nd, 2005 7:42 pm

    Regarding Derek’s Spring Training article, I think the “Bad Player Looks Good” headline could be interpreted in another way:

    A bad player who struggled through last season looks to turn it around this year.

    “He’s really impressed me with his determination,” said the manager. “His swing looks just like it did a few years ago, and he looks happier out there this time around.

    “Last year, he was trying to overcome the pressure of playing in a new town. Now that pressure’s off, and I think he’s going to be swinging a lot more freely.”

    The bad player agreed with his manager’s sentiments. “I feel more comfortable now than I did last summer,” he said. “The hitting coach noticed a little kink in my swing that we worked out, and things seem smoother.”

    The manager said that he’s already penciled the bad player into the lineup. “We’re looking for him to drive in some runs this year.”

  36. jim on March 2nd, 2005 8:35 pm

    WFB is starting to grow on me as an underdog in the true American spirit where sucking up and hustle once in a while makes a difference in a world of massively talented malcontents like Dodger Milton Bradley or Ex-Viking Randy Moss. WFB haters are the same transplants who’ve left their overcrowded ruined polluted Northeast and Midwest to come out here and complain about Northwest traditions like Seafair and a local boy made good.

  37. eponymous coward on March 2nd, 2005 9:29 pm

    Anyways, I don’t think y’all should be dwelling on Willie Bloomquist – along with Aaron Sele and Ryan Franklin, for that matter – ‘cause it is a waste of time.

    You mean like posting in a comments section of a blog?

  38. Matt Williams on March 3rd, 2005 12:21 am

    jim I’ve lived in the northwest my whole life (Idaho) and I dislike keeping a roster spot for Bloomquist, although it’s probably an unpleasant necessity this year.

    Personally, if I was going to pick a role/bench player I would much rather have an incredibly talented psycho like Bradley than a guy with no talent working his ass off like Bloomquist. Get Bradley to focus and suddenly you have a great player, he screws around and you have a mediocre player. Bloomquist has a good year and he’s a mediocre player, he has a bad year and he’s slightly more useful than a potted plant. Of course, those two probably aren’t a fair comparison at all and I wouldn’t have brought them up, considering one has a career OPS 100 points higher and has put up an all-star season.

    Or, as one of the best message board posts ever went…

    Subject: One of these days…
    Body: The ball is going to throw David Eckstein to first.

  39. petec on March 3rd, 2005 7:22 am

    The vitriol for Willie isn’t directed at Willie pe se. It’s because his presence on the roster symbolizes everything that has been frustrating a certain segment of M’s fans for a few years:

    – Over-reliance on small sample sizes
    – Local boy/good guy bias trumps talent
    – Overvaluing versatility
    – Organizational loyalty carried to a point beyond reason (also see Wilson, Dan)

    Rarely do you see anyone who personifies all that went wrong in 2004 as well as Willie does.

  40. Brian Thornton on March 3rd, 2005 9:56 am

    Re: #37

    I am a northwesterner born and raised, and although I can’t fault anyone who actually makes it to the major leagues, let alone is able to stick, I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s the potential for an HBO or Showtime original series here, wherein a Machiavellian utility player talks alot in asides to the audience (a la Iago in OTHELLO), gloating over how he’s able to work the system to his advantage, including using those naked pics of Piniella he swiped out of Bobby Ayala’s room while the erstwhile closer was off somewhere on a drunken binge, carrying Franklin’s golf bag on off days, offering to shave Bavasi’s head for free, etc.

    All this while he’s secretly doing things like adding glycerine to Speizio’s pizza and beer at every turn, calling Cirillo’s house and hanging up when he answers, anything to shatter those third basemen’s confidence/concentration/ability, and so forth. Think of the ratings!

    Seriously though, this local boy thing is stretching it. Bloomquist grew up on the Penninsula, but he’s an Arizona resident now, went to college there, makes his off-season home there, and just like Edgar became “one of us” by moving here, Wee Willie’s moved on in the opposite direction. Also, I am sorry as the next guy to hear about his father, but that’s got nothing to do with how well (or in this case how terribly) he plays. That goes double for the story about his daughter being born.

    Maybe this was just a case of the ultimate journalistic suck-up (Finnigan, with apologies to Rick Riszz) sucking up to the ultimate M’s suck-up, in hopes of getting some more access in the club-house, because he’s been as frozen out of the Bavasi front office as he was wired in to the Woodhead/Gillick ones.

  41. Xteve X on March 3rd, 2005 10:07 am

    #37 — classic example of NW provincial closemindedness there, man. Way to represent. Care to hate on those stinkin’ Californians next? You need to pull your head out of the sand and get out of town more.

  42. Joel on March 3rd, 2005 3:16 pm

    The photo in the story looks like Hargrove is showing Willie the door.

  43. eponymous coward on March 4th, 2005 12:46 am

    Willie Watch update:

    http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2002196417_marinotes04.html

    Manager Mike Hargrove’s first impression of Bloomquist was strongly positive.

    “He’s a nice player, I like him,” Hargrove said. “He’s fundamentally sound; one of the guys the more you see him, the more you like him.”

    (insert your own joke here)