Early contender for most comical trade suggestion of the off-season: Freddy Garcia and John Olerud for Alfonso Soriano and Nick Johnson. Uh, yeah, the Yankees would go for that one.
Wait — Finnigan has something nearly as comical in the very same article. “If the Phillies discuss a deal for [Freddy] Garcia, former Seattle favorite David Bell’s name could come up. Passion like Bell’s was sorely missed by the Mariners the past two years.”
I couldn’t make this stuff up if I tried.
Dear readers, if you’re like me, you’ve often thought to yourself “where can I get a baseball card of that one guy we thought would be okay or good but never amounted to anything….” and then you think of what, ten, fifteen different guys off the top of your head, and one of them is Marc Newfield, right?
Well, someone out there thinks $9.99 is a good starting point for bidding on a Marc Newfield rookie card.
You’ll note, of course, that they haven’t gotten any bids. For one-tenth the price, you can get a Russ Davis autograph. At least Russ Davis had some value to the Mariners at some point.
Also, I know this isn’t going to change anyone’s methods, but I have never looked at an item listed with a description like “Seattle Mariners MLB *WOW* L@@K L@@K Nice”
I mean really, come on. Do I look like some country bumpkin, easily duped into looking at items with vague descriptions and come-ons? If I wanted to be treated like that, I’d hang out at the county fairgrounds.
A couple readers have emailed us to say that Melvin hinted at an M’s event that there was a pleasant surprise in store for M’s fans w/r/t shortstop.
What’s that mean?
a) M’s are trading for someone… but who’s available out there they’d get? This seems unlikely.
b) M’s are signing someone… but who? Matsui seems the obvious big candidate, not a serious Guillen upgrade. Sanchez did well by the team, though that hollow average is cause for concern, and we should rightly worry the team saw something there that would lead them to offer a bad contract. Tejeda’s going to want more money and years than the M’s will offer. That leaves… well, some ugly options, none of which are pleasant surprises. My deepest fear is that Melvin’s gotten the team to bring on another ex-Diamondback, free agent Tony Womack, who for years has at once been one of the worst offensive and defensive shortstops in the major leagues. Royce Clayton? Jose Hernandez? Rich Aurilia?
The best option here is Matsui (well, it’s Tejeda, but the best realistic and probably best-for-the-team’s-health option is Matsui). So here’s hoping.