Sunday, November 30, 2003
TURN BACK THE CLOCK...
Just 347 days ago (Dec 18 2002), David Locke wrote a story for the Seattle P-I with the headline of "M's aren't playing like big-money club."
Though the Mariners don't have the exact payroll scheme as last year (Locke will take care of that later in this post), I have a feeling this article may be an old standby for the next three or four offseasons, or for as long as Howard Lincoln is at the helm for this team.
Now here's some jewels from the article, with some hopefully witty comments by me after the excerpts --
Did the Mariners, the No. 2 revenue team in all of baseball, really just go to the winter meetings without any room left in their budget?
It doesn't seem to make any sense. Isn't the world of baseball all about the haves and have-nots?
Somebody needs to remind the Mariners they are the haves. Maybe someone needs to explain to the Mariners how the haves play the game. The haves don't have trades blown away by the Rule 5 draft.
-- Let me tell you, I friggin HATED HATED HATED Pat Gillick's hard-on for Rule V players. Couch-surfing Luis Ugueto for the entire 2002 season basically meant that Lou Piniella had to manage that year with a 24-man roster. I firmly believe that team wins two more games with anyone else as that 25th man. Oh yeah, I think last winter was the last of many winters in which I wanted the Mariners to acquire Erubiel Durazo because he was a left-handed hitter off the bench with pop. Yes, the names change, but the crappy acquisitions and the unfilled needs stay the same.
-- [later edit: I never got started about Matt White, another Rule V hack]
The re-signing of their four free agents -- John Olerud, Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer and Edgar Martinez -- is a wonderful story. The Mariners have done a superior job of connecting their franchise to the community in an era of professional sports disconnections. These four players are a major reason why. It shouldn't be overlooked that all of them wanted to return and made little effort to go to another club.
However, if it meant no money available for the winter meetings and the rest of the off-season, it may have been bad baseball.
Rolling the same team out next year with the addition of Randy Winn is not the answer. Everyone refers to last year's club as a 93-win team, but let me remind you they were just a notch above .500 for the second half of the season.
Playing .500 isn't going to get it done. This team needs to add pieces.
-- I've said it before, but here it comes again. If B-Town Dave is your Mariner GM in the offseason following the 2002 season, Dan Wilson walks. Why? He's an offensive black hole who can't hit for power worth a damn. That and (whatever Ben Davis' speed is notwithstanding) Dan is friggin slow, something you don't need in a lineup already having Edgar and Olerud. Oh yeah, if you cut Wilson before 2002 (or maybe even earlier), you don't miss out on any offense, and for 2002 you would have saved $4.5M. Anyway, I would have cut Wilson loose when his contract was up, and that right there would have gotten me $3.5M to mess around with, and Ben Davis would have been my starting C. One last thing about Davis...if Trot Nixon doesn't catch that ball at the wall in Fenway off Davis' bat, I think Mariner fans would have held on to their "playoff hopes" for at least more week. One last thing about Wilson...if anyone knows how to pull up AL league leader stats (2002 and 2003) for the good-ol' stat of GIDP, or even reverse rank stats of RISP w/2 outs (I have the feeling these stats would be damning for Wilson), let me know.
What doesn't add up is why they aren't acting like a major revenue team. Could they possibly have an off-season game plan that includes being a non-player at the winter meetings?
-- Looks once again like that's a "yes." I have a feeling Raul Ibanez is the last major move of the offseason. If this is the case, I've wondered a few times to myself whether I should even spend as much time as I do watching and putting forth my thoughts about Mariners games for the upcoming year. I've thought about it -- is it really going to be worth my time to spend my time watching and holding out hope for a team whose fate I already know before the first pitch is even thrown on Opening Day? A Tejada move or a Guerrero move to me is merely keeping up with the Joneses. The Red Sox swept the damn Mariners last year down the stretch and they caught fire and got the Wild Card. In the offseason since, the Mariners have tried to turn back the tide by signing Raul friggin Ibanez. The Red Sox traded for and signed Curt Schilling to an extension. Pedro. Schilling. I'll give Schilling a line of 19-6 for next year, and that's being conservative because he'll probably nail down a 21-5 or something crazy like that. Raul Ibanez...what do I expect from Raul Ibanez? How about .260 with 14 bombs and 70 RBI? Anyone like the sound of that? I think it's completely within the realm of possibility.
Oh yeah, I'll still follow the Mariners because dammit, I love the Mariners, even if their ownership is inept, and even if this team has no chance in hell of making the World Series (which they haven't since Bernie went yard off Rhodes in ALCS Game 4 back in 2001).
And you know what the sad thing is? They could keep the same team they have right now, and they could blast out of the gate with a 42-19 start like last year, and you know what? Everyone who lived and died with this team (or those who know better) for 2003 and/or 2002 isn't going to give a damn about the start. The brass will try to sell everyone on it, but no one's gonna give a crap thanks to the pathetically putrid second halves we've seen each of the past two years. The bottom frigging line here is to get to the playoffs and go from there. Remember, the damn Marlins beat the friggin GIANTS last year! Remember how good the Giants were? Teams can sneak up on other teams in the first round. Mathematically and figuratively, all a team needs in the first round to stumble are three bad games and that's it. And one thing that will always irk me about 2002 and 2003...THE ANGELS AND THE MARLINS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!! The Mariners made no moves at the deadline in either year and in 2001 they just friggin blew it (116...SO WHAT!!!!!!). If you told me after the 2000 season that the Yankees would not win the World Series for the next three years (the Mariners had just taken them to Game 6 of the ALCS), you damn well better believe I thought the Mariners better win at least one of those World Series.
AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!!!!
Though the Mariners don't have the exact payroll scheme as last year (Locke will take care of that later in this post), I have a feeling this article may be an old standby for the next three or four offseasons, or for as long as Howard Lincoln is at the helm for this team.
Now here's some jewels from the article, with some hopefully witty comments by me after the excerpts --
Did the Mariners, the No. 2 revenue team in all of baseball, really just go to the winter meetings without any room left in their budget?
It doesn't seem to make any sense. Isn't the world of baseball all about the haves and have-nots?
Somebody needs to remind the Mariners they are the haves. Maybe someone needs to explain to the Mariners how the haves play the game. The haves don't have trades blown away by the Rule 5 draft.
-- Let me tell you, I friggin HATED HATED HATED Pat Gillick's hard-on for Rule V players. Couch-surfing Luis Ugueto for the entire 2002 season basically meant that Lou Piniella had to manage that year with a 24-man roster. I firmly believe that team wins two more games with anyone else as that 25th man. Oh yeah, I think last winter was the last of many winters in which I wanted the Mariners to acquire Erubiel Durazo because he was a left-handed hitter off the bench with pop. Yes, the names change, but the crappy acquisitions and the unfilled needs stay the same.
-- [later edit: I never got started about Matt White, another Rule V hack]
The re-signing of their four free agents -- John Olerud, Dan Wilson, Jamie Moyer and Edgar Martinez -- is a wonderful story. The Mariners have done a superior job of connecting their franchise to the community in an era of professional sports disconnections. These four players are a major reason why. It shouldn't be overlooked that all of them wanted to return and made little effort to go to another club.
However, if it meant no money available for the winter meetings and the rest of the off-season, it may have been bad baseball.
Rolling the same team out next year with the addition of Randy Winn is not the answer. Everyone refers to last year's club as a 93-win team, but let me remind you they were just a notch above .500 for the second half of the season.
Playing .500 isn't going to get it done. This team needs to add pieces.
-- I've said it before, but here it comes again. If B-Town Dave is your Mariner GM in the offseason following the 2002 season, Dan Wilson walks. Why? He's an offensive black hole who can't hit for power worth a damn. That and (whatever Ben Davis' speed is notwithstanding) Dan is friggin slow, something you don't need in a lineup already having Edgar and Olerud. Oh yeah, if you cut Wilson before 2002 (or maybe even earlier), you don't miss out on any offense, and for 2002 you would have saved $4.5M. Anyway, I would have cut Wilson loose when his contract was up, and that right there would have gotten me $3.5M to mess around with, and Ben Davis would have been my starting C. One last thing about Davis...if Trot Nixon doesn't catch that ball at the wall in Fenway off Davis' bat, I think Mariner fans would have held on to their "playoff hopes" for at least more week. One last thing about Wilson...if anyone knows how to pull up AL league leader stats (2002 and 2003) for the good-ol' stat of GIDP, or even reverse rank stats of RISP w/2 outs (I have the feeling these stats would be damning for Wilson), let me know.
What doesn't add up is why they aren't acting like a major revenue team. Could they possibly have an off-season game plan that includes being a non-player at the winter meetings?
-- Looks once again like that's a "yes." I have a feeling Raul Ibanez is the last major move of the offseason. If this is the case, I've wondered a few times to myself whether I should even spend as much time as I do watching and putting forth my thoughts about Mariners games for the upcoming year. I've thought about it -- is it really going to be worth my time to spend my time watching and holding out hope for a team whose fate I already know before the first pitch is even thrown on Opening Day? A Tejada move or a Guerrero move to me is merely keeping up with the Joneses. The Red Sox swept the damn Mariners last year down the stretch and they caught fire and got the Wild Card. In the offseason since, the Mariners have tried to turn back the tide by signing Raul friggin Ibanez. The Red Sox traded for and signed Curt Schilling to an extension. Pedro. Schilling. I'll give Schilling a line of 19-6 for next year, and that's being conservative because he'll probably nail down a 21-5 or something crazy like that. Raul Ibanez...what do I expect from Raul Ibanez? How about .260 with 14 bombs and 70 RBI? Anyone like the sound of that? I think it's completely within the realm of possibility.
Oh yeah, I'll still follow the Mariners because dammit, I love the Mariners, even if their ownership is inept, and even if this team has no chance in hell of making the World Series (which they haven't since Bernie went yard off Rhodes in ALCS Game 4 back in 2001).
And you know what the sad thing is? They could keep the same team they have right now, and they could blast out of the gate with a 42-19 start like last year, and you know what? Everyone who lived and died with this team (or those who know better) for 2003 and/or 2002 isn't going to give a damn about the start. The brass will try to sell everyone on it, but no one's gonna give a crap thanks to the pathetically putrid second halves we've seen each of the past two years. The bottom frigging line here is to get to the playoffs and go from there. Remember, the damn Marlins beat the friggin GIANTS last year! Remember how good the Giants were? Teams can sneak up on other teams in the first round. Mathematically and figuratively, all a team needs in the first round to stumble are three bad games and that's it. And one thing that will always irk me about 2002 and 2003...THE ANGELS AND THE MARLINS WON THE WORLD SERIES!!! The Mariners made no moves at the deadline in either year and in 2001 they just friggin blew it (116...SO WHAT!!!!!!). If you told me after the 2000 season that the Yankees would not win the World Series for the next three years (the Mariners had just taken them to Game 6 of the ALCS), you damn well better believe I thought the Mariners better win at least one of those World Series.
AAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHH!!!!
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