Wednesday, January 07, 2004
TWO-MONTH BINGE
Today is the 7th of January. On the 8th of November, the Mariners hired Bill Bavasi as their general manager. Almost two months have passed. Let's see the players he's signed or traded:
20 Nov -- Raul Ibanez signed
8 Dec -- Shigetoshi Hasegawa re-signed
10 Dec -- Eddie Guardado signed
12 Dec -- Randy Winn and Ryan Franklin re-signed
15 Dec -- Carlos Guillen re-signed
16 Dec -- Greg Colbrunn for Quinton McCracken
19 Dec -- Ichiro's contract extended
21 Dec -- Freddy Garcia signed to avoid arbitration
6 Jan -- Jeff Cirillo, Brian Sweeney, and cash for Kevin Jarvis, Wiki Gonzalez, Dave Hansen, and Vince Faison
Near future -- Rich Aurilia to be signed
not listed in ESPN.com's Mariner transaction page for some reason -- Scott Spiezio signed
It just occurred to me that I probably have missed some moves because if the Spiezio move isn't on ESPN's list, then other stuff is probably missing too. But the core of it is here...
Here's the moves with some opinion attached:
-- Raul Ibanez signing: INDEFENSIBLE. Grossly overpaid for a guy whose stats will sink like a rock at the Safe next year, and whose defense is less than stellar. Another guy who would have been nice to overpay and has less than stellar defense: Miguel Tejada. Tejada got 6 years and $72M from Baltimore. Jeremy would have given him 4 years and $50M. Avg Baltimore pay: $12M/yr. Avg Jeremy pay: $12.5M/yr. In this context, Jeremy's offer seems reasonable. But if Tejada was just after years, then it's moot. Truth be told, the Mariners' offer was blown out of the water, and I don't think it's the best offer they could have put out on the table.
-- Shigetoshi Hasegawa re-signed: semi-defensible. He pitched out of his mind last year, but in all likelihood should be solid. Though there are tons of minor-league arms chomping at the bit to have this role, we can agree that there is at least a rational explanation as to why they made this move.
-- Eddie Guardado signed: defensible. Again, the role could have easily gone to a cheaper minor-leaguer, but no one can argue with Guardado's track record. Everyone can argue with Ibanez' track record and his park-inflated hitting stats.
-- Randy Winn and Ryan Franklin re-signed: both of these moves are defensible in some way. Franklin pitched some quality innings last year and got no run support, but proved that he could handle a Major League workload of innings. Detractors point out it was probably his peak year and with Cameron gone he will suffer. I don't like the Winn signing, but one can say it's defensible, I guess, considering Cameron ended up fleeing the coop. That said, I would have found some way to get rid of Winn and assuming I didn't overpay or sign Ibanez at all, I would have gotten Jose Cruz Jr. Then Ichiro would have been in CF. Blablabla, I've said it before. At the time of the Winn signing, it was somewhat understood that there was a possibility that the Mariners were going to trade him.
-- Carlos Guillen re-signed: after Tejada was out of the mix and the Mariners brass realized Rey Sanchez was a Scott Boras client, this seemed somewhat logical. The contract was fairly cheap, and Carlos can hit fairly well. Defensible move, given that Tejada was gone.
-- Greg Colbrunn for Quinton McCracken: NOT EVEN REMOTELY DEFENSIBLE. Trading away the only potent bat off the bench for an absolute hack is brutally indefensible. Taking on money in the deal is EVEN MORE INDEFENSIBLE.
-- Ichiro's contract extended: defensible. At the time leading up to it, I wanted the Mariners to let Ichiro take a hike if he wanted more than $10M/yr. He didn't blow that figure out of the water, so the deal isn't too brutal. Though when I wanted the Mariners to have Ichiro hike if he took more than $10M/yr, I wanted the Mariners to throw the money at Vladimir Guerrero, who of course provides more bang for the buck, though the Mariners would probably take it in the pants in the "Japanese tourist and businessmen at the gate" department.
-- Freddy Garcia re-signed to avoid arbitration: defensible. There may be a glimmer of hope in Freddy Garcia, and the guy doesn't out-and-out suck. He had value. The Mariners weren't going to let him walk for nothing.
-- Cirillo, Sweeney, and cash for Jarvis, Gonzalez, Hansen, and Faison: INDEFENSIBLE. There's hugely worthy minor-leaguers who would give their right eyes to have the roster spots that are going to be clogged up by what the Mariners are getting back in this trade. Getting nothing back would have been better than this. Hansen is the only thing coming back in this trade that has remote value, but it's not enough to justify the trade taking place
-- Aurilia to sign: a guy with one decent year who hit behind Barry Bonds. A guy over 30. A guy declining in his career. A guy who will be more expensive than a serviceable Carlos Guillen. INDEFENSIBLE.
-- signing Scott Spiezio: INDEFENSIBLE. They grossly overpaid him and he hasn't played a full season at third base in his life and Bavasi said in his own words that he expects Spiezio to play 150 games and produce as an everyday third baseman. Bill Bavasi is on crack. Justin Leone would also really like to play third, but the Mariners just showed him a big huge middle finger just like the Yankees showed Drew Henson after they picked up Aaron Boone.
What I didn't include for the most part were the moves that Bavasi didn't make, which probably will be part of a vitriolic post to come in the near future. Basically all the moves that Bavasi has made that involve players from other teams (sans the Guardado signing) have all been utterly indefensible and crappy moves.
The sad thing is, two of the Mariners' best and most sensible moves of the offseason happened before the Bavasi hire: Edgar re-signing for another year (I'd walk the day before the Mariners headed north from spring training if I were him and I would laugh and bow down to him if he did) and John Mabry getting bought out of his contract.
I have yet to determine with detail the amount to which Bill Bavasi has wrecked the Mariner franchise. Has he wrecked what the Mariners have had going for them since 2001? 2000? Wrecked everything that has gone right since Safeco Field was built? Wrecked everything since 1995? I'll probably get into this sometime before spring training.
The truth is, the only two moves this offseason where I've said "oh, thank God" afterward have been the Guardado signing and the Mabry buyout.
Life isn't fair.
20 Nov -- Raul Ibanez signed
8 Dec -- Shigetoshi Hasegawa re-signed
10 Dec -- Eddie Guardado signed
12 Dec -- Randy Winn and Ryan Franklin re-signed
15 Dec -- Carlos Guillen re-signed
16 Dec -- Greg Colbrunn for Quinton McCracken
19 Dec -- Ichiro's contract extended
21 Dec -- Freddy Garcia signed to avoid arbitration
6 Jan -- Jeff Cirillo, Brian Sweeney, and cash for Kevin Jarvis, Wiki Gonzalez, Dave Hansen, and Vince Faison
Near future -- Rich Aurilia to be signed
not listed in ESPN.com's Mariner transaction page for some reason -- Scott Spiezio signed
It just occurred to me that I probably have missed some moves because if the Spiezio move isn't on ESPN's list, then other stuff is probably missing too. But the core of it is here...
Here's the moves with some opinion attached:
-- Raul Ibanez signing: INDEFENSIBLE. Grossly overpaid for a guy whose stats will sink like a rock at the Safe next year, and whose defense is less than stellar. Another guy who would have been nice to overpay and has less than stellar defense: Miguel Tejada. Tejada got 6 years and $72M from Baltimore. Jeremy would have given him 4 years and $50M. Avg Baltimore pay: $12M/yr. Avg Jeremy pay: $12.5M/yr. In this context, Jeremy's offer seems reasonable. But if Tejada was just after years, then it's moot. Truth be told, the Mariners' offer was blown out of the water, and I don't think it's the best offer they could have put out on the table.
-- Shigetoshi Hasegawa re-signed: semi-defensible. He pitched out of his mind last year, but in all likelihood should be solid. Though there are tons of minor-league arms chomping at the bit to have this role, we can agree that there is at least a rational explanation as to why they made this move.
-- Eddie Guardado signed: defensible. Again, the role could have easily gone to a cheaper minor-leaguer, but no one can argue with Guardado's track record. Everyone can argue with Ibanez' track record and his park-inflated hitting stats.
-- Randy Winn and Ryan Franklin re-signed: both of these moves are defensible in some way. Franklin pitched some quality innings last year and got no run support, but proved that he could handle a Major League workload of innings. Detractors point out it was probably his peak year and with Cameron gone he will suffer. I don't like the Winn signing, but one can say it's defensible, I guess, considering Cameron ended up fleeing the coop. That said, I would have found some way to get rid of Winn and assuming I didn't overpay or sign Ibanez at all, I would have gotten Jose Cruz Jr. Then Ichiro would have been in CF. Blablabla, I've said it before. At the time of the Winn signing, it was somewhat understood that there was a possibility that the Mariners were going to trade him.
-- Carlos Guillen re-signed: after Tejada was out of the mix and the Mariners brass realized Rey Sanchez was a Scott Boras client, this seemed somewhat logical. The contract was fairly cheap, and Carlos can hit fairly well. Defensible move, given that Tejada was gone.
-- Greg Colbrunn for Quinton McCracken: NOT EVEN REMOTELY DEFENSIBLE. Trading away the only potent bat off the bench for an absolute hack is brutally indefensible. Taking on money in the deal is EVEN MORE INDEFENSIBLE.
-- Ichiro's contract extended: defensible. At the time leading up to it, I wanted the Mariners to let Ichiro take a hike if he wanted more than $10M/yr. He didn't blow that figure out of the water, so the deal isn't too brutal. Though when I wanted the Mariners to have Ichiro hike if he took more than $10M/yr, I wanted the Mariners to throw the money at Vladimir Guerrero, who of course provides more bang for the buck, though the Mariners would probably take it in the pants in the "Japanese tourist and businessmen at the gate" department.
-- Freddy Garcia re-signed to avoid arbitration: defensible. There may be a glimmer of hope in Freddy Garcia, and the guy doesn't out-and-out suck. He had value. The Mariners weren't going to let him walk for nothing.
-- Cirillo, Sweeney, and cash for Jarvis, Gonzalez, Hansen, and Faison: INDEFENSIBLE. There's hugely worthy minor-leaguers who would give their right eyes to have the roster spots that are going to be clogged up by what the Mariners are getting back in this trade. Getting nothing back would have been better than this. Hansen is the only thing coming back in this trade that has remote value, but it's not enough to justify the trade taking place
-- Aurilia to sign: a guy with one decent year who hit behind Barry Bonds. A guy over 30. A guy declining in his career. A guy who will be more expensive than a serviceable Carlos Guillen. INDEFENSIBLE.
-- signing Scott Spiezio: INDEFENSIBLE. They grossly overpaid him and he hasn't played a full season at third base in his life and Bavasi said in his own words that he expects Spiezio to play 150 games and produce as an everyday third baseman. Bill Bavasi is on crack. Justin Leone would also really like to play third, but the Mariners just showed him a big huge middle finger just like the Yankees showed Drew Henson after they picked up Aaron Boone.
What I didn't include for the most part were the moves that Bavasi didn't make, which probably will be part of a vitriolic post to come in the near future. Basically all the moves that Bavasi has made that involve players from other teams (sans the Guardado signing) have all been utterly indefensible and crappy moves.
The sad thing is, two of the Mariners' best and most sensible moves of the offseason happened before the Bavasi hire: Edgar re-signing for another year (I'd walk the day before the Mariners headed north from spring training if I were him and I would laugh and bow down to him if he did) and John Mabry getting bought out of his contract.
I have yet to determine with detail the amount to which Bill Bavasi has wrecked the Mariner franchise. Has he wrecked what the Mariners have had going for them since 2001? 2000? Wrecked everything that has gone right since Safeco Field was built? Wrecked everything since 1995? I'll probably get into this sometime before spring training.
The truth is, the only two moves this offseason where I've said "oh, thank God" afterward have been the Guardado signing and the Mabry buyout.
Life isn't fair.
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