Chat With Stone and Finnigan on Thursday
Jeff · February 2, 2005 at 2:22 pm · Filed Under Mariners
Seattle Times baseball writers Larry Stone and Bob Finnigan will be answering questions submitted online this Thursday (today) at noon. These are three examples of questions you should probably not ask.
1. Boxers or briefs?
2. When you interview Dave Valle, does he refer to you as “Stoney” and “Finney” respectively?
3. What do you like best about the U.S.S. Mariner?
But definitely check out the chat. You can submit questions beforehand as well as during the event. Watch for the truest sign of spring: Finnigan pushing rumors that the Mariners are bringing back Ken Griffey Jr.
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20 Responses to “Chat With Stone and Finnigan on Thursday”
FYI, the Sea Times link says the chat will be at 12 Noon today, not 3 PM. In other Sea Times news, Bob Sherwin, another longtime Times sports guy (and the one who’s always filled in for Finnigan as beat writer on certain road trips) has been knocked back to covering high school sports. It’s too bad — Sherwin was always a good read. I’m wondering if they’ll have Stone fill in on road trips or if they’ve gotten somebody else to do it…
I’m tempted to ask when Finnigan’s planning to write his annual rumor on Ken Griffey becoming a Mariner again.
Thanks, Jon. I’m fixing that now. Dunno if they changed the time or if I just misread it.
If the Finny/Stone chat is anything like last year, it should provide for some classic P-Lint. I’ll never forget when he actually used Cirillo as a cautionary tale to avoid Vlad (“They tried a long-term deal with Cirillo and got burnt”). And of course his usual “the Kaz money/M’s budget really isn’t that much” statements that must’ve been spoonfed from management. I’m sure it’ll be another parade of non-threatening questions, though hopefully not as painful as the Jim Street chats.
How about asking Finnigan where he got the nick-name “Pocket Lint”? Oops, nevermind!
I am in the minority of this board that would love to bring Griffey back but man do I wish Finnigan was not the man carrying that torch. His articles don’t build a pro case or really make an attempt to defend against the con case they just toss out at random hey this could happen wouldn’t be cool. Regardless of position I always think you do nothing but weaken your argument when you don’t make your case and acknowledge the other side. There always another side. When you try an argue its all good or all bad to me that is just weak and does nobody any service.
I would love to see Dave Valle traded to Oakland’s broadcast crew just so he can refer to Nick Swisher as “Swishy.”
If you haven’t been checking out the chat — and I’ll be posting some of my thoughts on it in this thread — you should know that they actually did refer to Finnigan as “Finny” throughout. Extinction is at hand.
My question didn’t get answered; and it wasn’t too tough; New organization top, and a lack of depth in starting, is Soriano going to ever get a look at being a starter again?
The chat was actually rather interesting. “USSM approved columnist Larry Stone” was solid throughout. I cringed everytime I saw “Finny” next to a response, but I couldn’t look away I had to read them.
I think my favorite part was when he finally admitted that Junior won’t be coming back, but the sentimentalist in him couldn’t resist throwing in there, “but he’s still the best Mariner ever.” A true statement (unless you favor Gar’s sustained excellence), but it just seemed odd that he had to throw that in there.
Overall i think Finnigan is just a fan who wants to believe the best about everything, that’s why he’s such an easy target for M’s management to take advantage of. He’d rather write what he wants to believe than find out the actual truth.
There wasn’t much of substance discussed this afternoon, but there were a few things I wanted to remark on.
— Like Todd, I noticed Finnigan’s sad playdown of the Potential Return of Griffey.
— Finnigan also said that the Mariners’ righthanded-heavy lineup “really shouldn’t” affect performance in any way. Not true, even if you don’t consider platoon splits. Park effects are in play, too, since right-handed pull hitters have more trouble in Safeco than lefties. How this lineup construction will affect performance is up for discussion; that it will have some effect ought not be.
— Bucky Jacobsen is apparently likely to start the season in Tacoma. That’s too bad, if true. It’s a waste of an inexpensive guy who is pretty good and not getting any better.
I especially like “Beyond that, there’s his fit on the roster. His forte is the two- or three-run homer, but whether manager Mike Hargrove has room for that remains to be seen.”
Uh, gee, Mike, you have a team that was dead last in the AL in home runs and runs scored. Trust me, you have room.
Thing is that they don’t want to go with a permanent DH:
“Mike Hargrove said, however, that his preference is to rotate the DH, probably between Ibanez and Randy Winn, with Richie Sexson getting a day in that slot every now and then.”
– so, basically, Bucky is screwed yet again in his attempt to get a major league job (of course, assuming Sexson’s shoulder doesn’t implode again or we don’t trade an extra OF). This happened with Ken Phelps too, as I recall- he had a job, and then Alvin Davis showed up in the lineup after an injury.
-sigh-
Couldn’t help but smile at the ubiquitous bring Griffey back comment. Because, you know, he’s 100% healthy now. Really.
Is this ever going to end? People need to learn how to move on.
Whoops. Hit post too soon. I agree that splitting DH duties between Winn and Ibanez is a waste. Hopefully Bucky won’t be spending too much time in Tacoma.
#1 – That’s too bad. I always sort of liked him. Ah well. Maybe it’s what he wanted?
What the…huh? What kind of manager doesn’t have room in his lineup for a guy whose “forte is the two- or three-run homer?” I understand there may be reasons why Bucky should start the year in Tacoma, but the fact that he hits the cover off the ball isn’t one of them.
Well, at least he appears to have abandoned the Griffey rumor.
Oops…somehow I missed eponymous’s comment on the very same subject. Sorry guys.
That’s just Finnegan trying to use a word like “forte,” which he probably has no clue how to define, rather than saying something like “he has a lot of power, but it’s unclear whether, having obtained Sexson for that type of role, they’ll have room for him.” Don’t read anything into it.
Why would anyone use Randy Winn, who is an above average fielder, at DH, especially if that means putting Ibanez and Reed in LF and CF? If you want to rest Winn, sit him against a lefty and put any RH bat in the lineup. Why would anyone give AB to Winn and take them from Jacobsen, defense being the same?
Let’s hope the Mariners find a way to trade Winn or Ibanez for pitching before the season starts. Even a trade where we don’t get as much back as we give up, or take on some salary, seems like a good idea to open a spot for Bucky.
FWIW, when Hargrove mentioned rotating the DH position to give guys days off, I don’t recall Winn’s name coming up….