Saturday, December 20, 2003
MORE FREDDY RE-SIGNING STUFF
Updated AP story
``As of today, he'd be in the rotation and an important part of the rotation, but I'm not afraid to move anybody to improve the club,'' general manager Bill Bavasi said. ``By our signing, this signals that this guy is pretty darn important.''
"As of today"
And judging by his track record so far in Seattle, Bavasi isn't afraid to move anybody. Hell, he traded the best bat on the M's bench for a guy who's literally one of the worst players in the game of baseball, so believe me, anything can happen here.
The Mariners also offered contracts to several others, including right-handers Gil Meche and Joel Piniero and catcher Ben Davis.
``All of our players are reserved in one way or another,'' Bavasi said.
A no-brainer here. Even Bavasi couldn't screw this up.
Teams indicated to the Mariners they preferred to wait and see if they could land Garcia as a free agent, should be not receive a contract offer.
``The ability to trade him was destroyed by that, but that's OK,'' Bavasi said. ``I don't say that with a complaint.''
No, it is not OK, Bavasi. You were the one who went public and said that Freddy would be non-tendered. So you should feel lucky that Garcia won't get away from Seattle for nothing.
Agent Peter Greenberg, who represents Garcia, said it was clear during negotiations what direction the Mariners were going.
``They told us they weren't going to pay the same salary,'' he said. ``We said we wouldn't take a pay cut and were looking for a modest increase.''
Bavasi said Garcia showed little interest in multiyear offers, planning instead on having a good season and then testing his value as a free agent.
Bavasi said the front office considered making Garcia a non-tender and then trying to negotiate with him as a free agent, but team officials weren't confident they could bring a player of Garcia's caliber back.
Nor did they believe any of their minor-league pitchers could replace him immediately.
``We just kept coming back to same spot, which was, `We're better off letting these kids develop further. We're better off keeping our horse,''' Bavasi said.
All fair points, no doubt about it.
Garcia's 2003 season was not worthy of receiving a huge raise. And what's funny about his 2004 contract is that it is the same amount he made in 2003, when he won his arbitration case.
And as good as these pitching prospects on the farm may be, it is better to let them develop for another year. But this could all change if Garcia is traded.
``When you talk about erratic, it's not that one night he's got stuff and another night he doesn't,'' Bavasi said. ``He's always got stuff. It's just a matter of getting a handle on it.''
Bavasi said team officials think highly of pitching coach Bryan Price and believe he can help Garcia.
``We're going to bet that this kid will bounce back and do what he is capable of doing,'' Bavasi said.
Well, Price was very frustrated with Freddy over the course of the 2003 season and wasn't sure what to do with him. But I just have this feeling that Freddy, if he is a Mariner in 2004, will be back to his normal self again.
Because let's be honest, this ballclub is going to need their pitching staff to be very good in 2004, since the offense is still in a state of same ol' situationitis.
Again, let's hope that our idiot of a general manager doesn't trade Garcia for a bag of dog turd and James Baldwin's Preparation H collection.
"KILL" BILL: PAT BORDERS HAS A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH FREDDY
``As of today, he'd be in the rotation and an important part of the rotation, but I'm not afraid to move anybody to improve the club,'' general manager Bill Bavasi said. ``By our signing, this signals that this guy is pretty darn important.''
"As of today"
And judging by his track record so far in Seattle, Bavasi isn't afraid to move anybody. Hell, he traded the best bat on the M's bench for a guy who's literally one of the worst players in the game of baseball, so believe me, anything can happen here.
The Mariners also offered contracts to several others, including right-handers Gil Meche and Joel Piniero and catcher Ben Davis.
``All of our players are reserved in one way or another,'' Bavasi said.
A no-brainer here. Even Bavasi couldn't screw this up.
Teams indicated to the Mariners they preferred to wait and see if they could land Garcia as a free agent, should be not receive a contract offer.
``The ability to trade him was destroyed by that, but that's OK,'' Bavasi said. ``I don't say that with a complaint.''
No, it is not OK, Bavasi. You were the one who went public and said that Freddy would be non-tendered. So you should feel lucky that Garcia won't get away from Seattle for nothing.
Agent Peter Greenberg, who represents Garcia, said it was clear during negotiations what direction the Mariners were going.
``They told us they weren't going to pay the same salary,'' he said. ``We said we wouldn't take a pay cut and were looking for a modest increase.''
Bavasi said Garcia showed little interest in multiyear offers, planning instead on having a good season and then testing his value as a free agent.
Bavasi said the front office considered making Garcia a non-tender and then trying to negotiate with him as a free agent, but team officials weren't confident they could bring a player of Garcia's caliber back.
Nor did they believe any of their minor-league pitchers could replace him immediately.
``We just kept coming back to same spot, which was, `We're better off letting these kids develop further. We're better off keeping our horse,''' Bavasi said.
All fair points, no doubt about it.
Garcia's 2003 season was not worthy of receiving a huge raise. And what's funny about his 2004 contract is that it is the same amount he made in 2003, when he won his arbitration case.
And as good as these pitching prospects on the farm may be, it is better to let them develop for another year. But this could all change if Garcia is traded.
``When you talk about erratic, it's not that one night he's got stuff and another night he doesn't,'' Bavasi said. ``He's always got stuff. It's just a matter of getting a handle on it.''
Bavasi said team officials think highly of pitching coach Bryan Price and believe he can help Garcia.
``We're going to bet that this kid will bounce back and do what he is capable of doing,'' Bavasi said.
Well, Price was very frustrated with Freddy over the course of the 2003 season and wasn't sure what to do with him. But I just have this feeling that Freddy, if he is a Mariner in 2004, will be back to his normal self again.
Because let's be honest, this ballclub is going to need their pitching staff to be very good in 2004, since the offense is still in a state of same ol' situationitis.
Again, let's hope that our idiot of a general manager doesn't trade Garcia for a bag of dog turd and James Baldwin's Preparation H collection.
"KILL" BILL: PAT BORDERS HAS A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH FREDDY
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