Return of Villone
Dave · December 20, 2004 at 9:30 am · Filed Under Mariners
As expected, Ron Villone accepted arbitration last night, making him a signed player. His presence now brings the 40 man roster to 42. We should get announcements today about the two players being designated for assignment to clear room on the 40-man.
In other news, the Washington Times reports that the Mariners have offered a better deal to Odalis Perez than the 3 year, $18 million contract that the Nationals were hoping to sign him to.
The M’s don’t have $6 million left in the budget for 2005, so if this is true, expect other moves to be made to fit Perez into the payroll.
Comments
27 Responses to “Return of Villone”
They actually made an offer? Encouraging…and if they get outbid for him, I guess their excuse really does hold water this time….
I assume either Winn or Ibañez would be gone for minor leaguers, then?
Can’t fit 6 million?
Everyone should know that the M’s have enough revenues to easily tab a 120 million dollar budget instead of the sham 93.2 or whatever they self impose.
Oh, wait, I forgot they have a tight fisted GM-by-committee scheme.
I want to dream. If M’s get Perez and Washington loses out, then maybe they want a pitcher. In my dream I would love to trade Franklin and something else for Nick Johnson.
That is a very nice dream – though I don’t know if we even need Nick Johnson anymore, since our 1B slot is filled well. Does he play outfield well?
You can give the Expos Bucky… Nick’s LHedness fits better at the Safe anyways. 😛
Nick Johnson is an oft injured 1st baseman. Since we’ve got 1st covered Nick would be DH on the M’s. He’s got a great career OBP and he’s been highly touted for years. His big problem is that he’s unable to stay healthy for even 40 games stretches. He’d supplant Bucky at DH. If he could stay healthy he’d be a great LHB on the team. However, when do you just pull the plug on a player as a full time contributor if he’s never managed to play an entire season and his games played have been 23, 129,96 and 73?
40 man roster question. With Soriano likely out for most of this coming year (didn’t he have TJ surgery?) could they put him on the 60 day DL and free up a spot on the 40 man roster that way. I guess what I’m really asking is can you make that sort of roster move (using the DL) during the off-season.
This is kind of out of place, but congratulations, from a Red Sox fan, on signing Beltre away from the Sox. According to Gammons, the Sox went hard after him but Adrian didn’t want to leave the west coast. Good for you guys.
“Can’t fit 6 million?
Everyone should know that the M’s have enough revenues to easily tab a 120 million dollar budget instead of the sham 93.2 or whatever they self impose.”
Excellent point in #3. The Mariners have as much money as they want to have. I think that the GM-by committee group is just starting to realize that winning is what brought them all this money and income that made them the most profitable franchise in MLB. They crave that, and need that, so they finally decided to spend some money. If Bavasi went to them and said, “Hey, our lineup is set, but we still REALLY need another starter,” then they are listening and they are going to pony up the dough this year. Not every year, but this year, yes. The Seattle baseball franchise cannot withstand another year out of the playoffs and definitely not another 99-loss season. Also, my prediction is that if the Mariner’s miss the playoffs and have another high-loss season, the Bavasi is gone for sure. (I know that that’s not exactly a real risky statement, but I felt like saying it anyway.) 🙂
Word from Detroit is that the Tigers also offered Beltre more money and more years than did the Mariners.
Tigers big bid can’t land Beltre
David Cameron posted a response to an earlier comment of mine that Beltre’s signing with the Mariners, like most free agent deals, was entirely mercenary.
Was it?
Well, it is Detroit. Does anyone willingly move to Detroit?
Believe that it has been written that Beltre & Perez are best fiends;therefore M’s perhaps have reasonable chance to sign him.
A lefty would help neuatralize lefty power at M’s park..Let’s hope
Most of the losing bids for Beltre involved more years for the same or sometimes less money. Beltre/Boras made the calculation that taking a five year deal now means a bigger payday when he’s 30. The Detroit offer may have been more money per year, it’s impossible to say (how much of that is their FO doing what the M’s used to do, saying “We tried, honest”?) There may be other factors — his calculation that Detroit is less likely to contend over the next 5 years than Seattle, giving him lower visibility when it comes time to be an FA again. Maybe he really did want to stay on the west coast, or (again) maybe that’s retroactive spackle by Tiger’s FO trying to excuse themselves to their fans. But that factor is really only going to come into play if the years are what he wants and the dollars are pretty darn close.
Perhaps the delay on DFA’ing to bring down the roster is a sign that some trades (presumably for minor leaguers, or 2-for-1 major leaguers) are in the works…
Abit off topic but does anyone know the problems Rhett Johnson had last year? Have searched everywhere for info. He seemed to be on the way to the bigs. Thanks for ant info.
That story is pretty clear that the Tigers “would have gone” beyond the M’s 5 year, $64 million offer. But Boras basically told them no thanks. They didn’t make a higher offer that he walked away from. When Beltre signed, the offer from the M’s was the best financial deal on the table.
As far as Rett Johnson, we’ve made a decision to not discuss his personal issues. He’s working his way back, and we’ll talk about pertinant baseball information, but we’re choosing to respect his privacy in other areas.
Villone, eh?
I suppose it could be worse……could it? He wasn’t a terrible reliever…
Hopefully he gets outperformed and becomes a trash time innings eater.
Perez would rock.
The M’s should make a trade to make way on the 40 for signings, aye. Some spare parts for….for…..a left handed bat I guess.
Dave-Thanks for addressing Rett Johnson. Wasn’t searching for juicy gossip. Wondered about his mechanics, velocity & control as he appeared to be one of the systems best prospects.
Boras is no fool. He wanted Beltre signed into his prime and no more.
Odalis Perez? I’m not convinced. He is actually weaker against LHH than RHH, much weaker. And at $5M already in 2004 and a rebuild under way, a replacement level player would serve the purpose.
Let’s not forget: no income tax in Washington state. Could make a contract with the Mariners a little richer.
Now I have to wonder if a strategic signing like Beltre, just to get them into their (richly valued) peak years, is a good way to go with Boras.
It’s certainly better than trying to sign them well beyond their peak years.
How long do the M’s have to get back to 40 on the 40-man roster anyway? I thought the idea of DFA was that you couldn’t go over 40, so when you added your 41st player, you had to immediately designate someone to be moved off the roster, even if you didn’t quite know where they were going yet. DFA gave you a week (or two?) to trade, demote, or release them.
Put me down as very happy if Perez signs. As for Rett Johnson, if Dave or someone could pass along my best wishes, whatever they might be worth, I’d appreciate that; he’s been a favorite of mine ever since I saw him pitch for Everett, and I really hope everything goes well for him–on and off the field–from here on out.
Yeah, just noticed the article about Villone on the M’s site this morning.
“He was a huge contributor to our pitching staff last season, and his versatility is hard to find.”
Yeah, about as hard to find as the opponents’ strike zones, apparently. Sheesh.
I really wish we’d kept Mike Myers. He was so much fun to watch.
Re: #21 it makes little to no difference at all. Cost of living offsets it.
Cost of living depends on your comparison. Most of the major baseball markets have high cost of living AND state income tax.