True story: today I had a late dinner with my wife. Afterwards:
Her: “You want to watch the game?”
Me: “I don’t know. Freddy’s pitching, he’s probably given up four runs already.” (turn on TV, score is 4-0)
Okay, I’m going to try to speak for the team and stem the torrent of email. As a group, we believe:
– The potential trade for Aaron Boone was insane and should never have been on the table
– It was good the team did not make that trade, but you get no credit for being saved from your own stupidity
– While there was little movement of the kind of players the M’s needed, there are always deals available and the Mariners as in past years were greatly limited by thier own lack of creativity and team philosophy when it came time to improve the team
– With Edgar retiring, this was the last good chance for the team to take some risks, and trade potential major-leaguers for impact players, and make a run for the Championship
As Jeff Woods, frequent emailer from France, points out, one stumbling block to a deal for Ventura might have been the Yankees’ reluctance to improve a possible playoff competitor.
And Dave’s right about the team — Theo Epstein had an IV drip of coffee set up in his office. Paul DePodesta was so delirious from working the phones without sleep he called me up at 4am on Wedesnday and wanted to know if I had any left-handed pitching prospects he could throw into a deal with Kaiser Wilhelm in return for which I would receive a set of Tom Brunansky baseball cards. Gillick was moving. What kind of moron schedules a move at the trade deadline? That’d be like Neal Armstrong scheduling a dentist appointment at the same time as the Apollo lift-off. “Sorry guys, I didn’t think anything important would happen, and I haven’t had a cleaning in six months.”
Derek’s not the only one who will be coming through your speakers this weekend. You can cruise on over to to the Aquasox broadcast tonight (and every Friday) and listen to me jabber with Pat Dillon on the pregame show tonight. Unlike Derek, I come on the air when reasonable people are still awake (6:45 pm pacific time). Then, you can stick around and listen to the game, as Pat brings you short season ball in all its glory. Go Frogs Go.
Mark your calendars, tie a loop around your finger, you can listen to a rare radio appearance by me on Baseball Prospectus Radio this week. Unfortunately, it’s 9am Eastern, which if I do my time conversion right means that it’s way too fricking early for us. Folks, if you thought the Mariners gave Ken Griffey Jr. both barrells as he left town, you haven’t heard anything yet. I intend to give Pat Gillick *hundreds of barrells*. Yes, I don’t know how I’m going to pull this off, but I think it involves standing at the top of a construction platform with a hostage of some sort and throwing them down at him. There’s no way Gillick will be able to ascend the various tilted levels and ladders while I toss barrells at — well, now, here’s the problem with writing down the road from Nintendo’s lawyers, they’re only a minute or two away… Oh well.
I wanted Robin Ventura! He bats left-handed and hits, he’s good defensively, he’s expensive but I don’t care. He’s hugely better suited for Safeco than Aaron Boone. And the bounty on him wasn’t that high at all — Crosby and a 28-yr old reliever.
It’s the morning after, we just swept the Tigers, Joel Pineiro hasn’t allowed a run since sometime last year, and I’m moving on.
Well, almost. If the reports in the P-I and Tribune about the M’s offer for Aaron Boone (Freddy Garcia, Rett Johnson, and $1.25 million in cash) are true, then we all owe George Steinbrenner more than we can ever repay. That deal has Varitek/Lowe for Slocumb potential. That is a ridiculous offer, and there is no justification for giving up that much for as mediocre of a player as Aaron Boone.
Okay, now I’m moving on. We’re still better than Oakland. We’re just as good as New York. And the Red Sox still play in Boston.
Go M’s.