You’re Not Even Trying
Dave · June 1, 2008 at 8:39 pm · Filed Under Mariners
The Mariners can claim that they haven’t given up on this season all they want, but let’s be honest, when you give Miguel Cairo five consecutive starts at first base, you’re not trying to win anymore.
Offensive Production from 1B, 2008 American League. Mariners: .204/.276/.374, last in league
Offensive Production from DH, 2008 American League. Mariners: .216/.284/.322, last in league
Can we just release Sexson, Cairo, and Vidro already? The season’s over and the organization has to be going another direction unless they’re just attempting to drag out the embarrassment.
From what Kelley was saying in the Times this morning, it sounds like Sexson’s benching could just be a case of not wanting fans at home to boo him every time he strikes out. Although the same article states that Cairo is becoming a clubhouse leader, so there’s little chance of the team releasing him now.
Kelley’s baseball writing should be immediately tossed into the nearest recycling receptacle, or used to line nearby bird cages, etc.
Given where they are in the standings and the role that Cairo would play, I’m not convinced there’s much of a reason to release him anymore.
They should have released him instead of Norton earlier in the season but seeing where they are now, bringing in someone else to play the same part time utility role just seems like throwing good money after bad.
Sorry — fish-wrapping is also acceptable.
House-training puppies.
He’s still way better than Finnigan.
“way” better? Geoff Baker is way better. Kelley is…[bleep] Dave Samson.
If history is any indication, we’re stuck with these guys for another six weeks or more. Notable mid-season release or trade dates:
Julio Mateo, July 31, 2007 (traded)
Jamie Moyer, August 19, 2006 (traded)
Carl Everett: July 26, 2006 (released)
Eddie Guardado: July 6, 2006 (traded)
Bret Boone: July 11, 2005 (traded)
Randy Winn, July 30, 2005 (traded)
Aaron Sele, July 31, 2005 (released)
Scott Spiezio, August 19, 2005 (released)
Freddy Garcia and Ben Davis, June 27, 2004 (traded)
Rich Aurelia, July 19, 2004 (traded)
John Olerud, July 27, 2004 (released)
We get a Beane disciple….maybe even someone with ZERO GM experience (just like Theo Epstein was a few yrs ago). Someone who can look at some stat metrics and find guys under a rock that no one else is looking at. What is Beane’s former right-hand man Paul DePodesta doing these days? What about former Twins Terry Ryan?
Well after watching these three this season, I seriously doubt anyone would miss Cairo, Sexson or Vidro if they vanished tomorrow.
But on the way home from the game yesterday – with JJ flaming out – we listened to the various rants from fans on the post-game radio show. And it occurred to us that the ONE THING that has changed radically this season from last is the almost complete makeup of a new coaches roster. We have to wonder, given that many of the core players that were on the 2007 team also, how much things have changed for the worse with the new coaching staff? Perhaps this is an area that needs to be looked at more closely………….
For the sake of that argument, let’s just pretend we snap our fingers and there’s an opening for a new GM. Exactly how do we go about filling it? What kind of background do we want? Where’s the pool of available candidates? As far as I know, there’s no grad school for baseball GMs…I can’t even imagine how an executive search firm would go about filtering candidates.
So…assuming Billy Beane is too smart to even consider this mess…what do we do?
We’ve been having this discussion for years now. (Antonetti isn’t the only possible candidate, but that’s the most obvious of several threads on the subject of replacing Bavasi). There are other candidates, and they tend to be assistant GMs at other clubs. There may not be a grad school for GMs, but the ivy league schools seem to be doing the job. That or family connections to get the foot in the door, followed by job experience in other front offices, seem to be the standard modern career arc. Bavasi is an example of family connections; Epstein {Yale), Shapiro (Princeton), DePodesta (Harvard), etc are the ivy league contingent. I’ll leave it you to judge which path is the more reliable.
Beane actually came up as a ballplayer, but he’s an exception in a lot of ways. He also has an ownership stake in the A’s. He’s not going anywhere.
And it occurred to us that the ONE THING that has changed radically this season from last is the almost complete makeup of a new coaches roster. We have to wonder, given that many of the core players that were on the 2007 team also, how much things have changed for the worse with the new coaching staff?
The effect of coaches isn’t going to be enough in itself to explain the situation, though given McLaren’s, uh, talents in every other respect I’m sure there is an opportunity for improvement there. But the reality is that the 2007 team overachieved, and its record last year was a bit of a mirage. A lot of people who actually analyzed the team (as opposed to the squint-and-guess-and-listen-to-what-everybody-else-is-saying that the conventional media used in the pre-season) projected them to be no better than .500 even with the addition of Bedard. Given the early injuries, the slow start for Ichiro and Johjima, the hole in RF, the ineptness of McLaren, and the (surprising) early strength of opponents like Baltimore, Oakland, and Texas, their current record isn’t surprising (and a .500 finish is still distantly possible, although unlikey; though they probably will end at better than the .368 they’re currently at).
Just because the AL has the DH doesn’t mean the M’s have to use it. Let the pitchers bat!!!! Can’t be any worse, except for the decisions then required of MacLaren during games. But, maybe that will also work in our favor, if he gets to show he can’t manage every day, he might be gone sooner!
In the links Dave references, what is tOPS and sOPS?
I think Clement’s going to be playing 1B here within a week or two. Just a hunch. I actually don’t hate the idea if they give him lots of work at catcher too — catchers don’t play every day.
Getting rid of Bavasi means getting someone even worse than Bavasi to replace him. Face facts.
Seems like a good time for one of my favorite quotes on Cot’s blog:
“If we’re gonna win, the players gotta play better,
the coaches gotta coach better, the manager gotta manage better, and the owners gotta own better.”
– Brewers first baseman George Scott, to the club chairman
Jesus will reappear as a hot dog vendor at Safeco before the M’s hire Paul Podesta or any other even slightly stat-oriented GM. He’s the exact opposite of Bavasi, and the M’s love Bavasi’s style.
While I still think there needs to be a major house cleaning instead of just dusting the knick-knacks while the septic system backs up, I don’t think that’s likely.
They’re more likely to work from the bottom up. Some of the players may be gone within the next few weeks. When that doesn’t produce the kind of tangible results that are desired (probably because none of the new guys will be “clubhouse leaders”) McLaren will be next.
They’ll give him a laurel and a hearty handshake and praise his accomplishments. The new guy will have the same type of roster to work with and we’ll all be here again on the same topic.
The very fact that they might not be able to get a tray of garlic fries in trade for our starting DH or our once or current starting 1B is amazing to me.
I think Clement’s going to be playing 1B here within a week or two. Just a hunch.
If that was the case you’d think they’d be giving him some time at 1B down in Tacoma. AFAIK he has yet to field there in a game at any level. Having him learn to do so in front of tens of thousands of people in a game that matters in the standings wouldn’t the dumbest thing this organization has done, but it still sounds unlikely.
I actually don’t hate the idea if they give him lots of work at catcher too — catchers don’t play every day.
Except that Burke is the designated catcher for two of the starting rotation already. Kind of hard to fight Clement in there. Though of course you could get rid of Vidro and rotate Clement and Joh through the DH spot (McLaren wouldn’t even have to get over his fear of losing the DH if the catcher gets hurt, because he would still have Burke on the bench).
Bucky Jacobson is watching the Mariners:
http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/mariners/2008/06/santana_strings_em_up.html