http://ussmariner.com Seattle Mariners and general baseball discussion with David Cameron and Derek Zumsteg Sat, 07 Nov 2009 00:38:48 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Joe Posnanski on the frustration of the Yankees, a topic that leads people like me to only half -jokingly propose they be forced to eat other teams' bad contracts. Check it out. http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/06/recommended-reading/ You can officially cross J.J. Hardy off the list of possible options this winter. He was traded to the Minnesota Twins for Carlos Gomez. Heck of a move for the Twins. http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/06/hardy-to-minnesota/ To add something to Dave's post on why the M's approach this off-season will look different as involves different trade-offs, there's something we should briefly touch on: What just happened with the team is not common or easy. If we remember back to the start of this off-season, it's obvious: all ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/06/getting-to-five-hundred-was-hard-too/ C. Trent Rosecrans, longtime sports writer in Cincinnati, passed along this story, where he basically just says that he talked to Brian Goldberg, Griffey's agent, and he expects an announcement in a week or so. Rosecrans probably has the best relationship with Junior of any member of the media, ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/05/griffey-decision-not-going-to-drag-out/ For your discussion. They have to declare for FA in the next 15 days. RP-R Miguel Batista SP-L Erik Bedard 3B-R Adrian Beltre 1B-L Russ Branyan OF-L Endy Chavez DH-L Ken Griffey Jr. DH-R Mike Sweeney SS-R Jack Wilson So expect extensions or FA announcements for all of those guys. Pravda doesn't list Wilson, presumably because the M's could ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/05/the-ms-potential-free-agents/ One of the greatest advantages the Yankees have is that they’re able to blithely make mistakes and move on from them. Their market advantage is so huge that they can afford to pay their players to play against them on other teams just so they can put someone even better ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/05/the-mistake-lottery/ The M's continue to collect moderately interesting, low upside pitching without expending any resources. This time, they've claimed Yusmeiro Petit off waivers from the Diamondbacks. Petit is a Cha Seung Baek kind of pitcher - throws a lot of low velocity junk in the strike zone, gives up ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/04/ms-claim-yusmeiro-petit/ So, I've laid out my case for why I think the M's need to pursue a different kind of undervalued player this winter if they want to contend in 2010. They need to be on the right side of a few coin flips, but what coins should they be ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/04/the-upside-and-risk-guys/ On Saturday, the Arizona Fall League will host its version of an All-Star Game, pitting the best prospects in the league up against each other. The M's will be represented by Dustin Ackley, Phillippe Aumont, and Josh Fields, so if you want to watch them play, you can tune ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/04/afl-rising-stars-game-on-mlb-network/ For years, we've been banging the drum of marginal value as tenet of roster construction, using metrics like Wins Above Replacement to show the impact a player will actually have on the team and the associated cost that the team should be willing to pay for that performance. This ... http://ussmariner.com/2009/11/03/when-a-good-deal-stops-being-one/