More cuts
Those who wanted Justin Leone to get a shot with the big club can begin their outrage again; he was one of 9 players cut from big league camp today. Shin-Soo Choo, Clint Nageotte, Mike Morse, and Justin Leone were optioned to Tacoma, Rene Rivera and Yuniesky Betancourt were optioned to San Antonio, Wladimir Balentien was optioned to Inland Empire, and Jon Huber and Mickey Lopez were reassigned to minor league camp.
Position Roundtables: #1 Starter
Dave: #1 Starter: Joel Pineiro
This spot, the opening day starter, the ace of the staff, is the
team’s biggest weakness. Compared to other teams with playoff
aspirations, our best starting pitcher often pales in comparison to
their best starting pitcher. New York has Randy Johnson. Boston has
Curt Schilling. Minnesota has Johan Santana. Oakland has Rich Harden
or Barry Zito. Anaheim has Kelvim Escobar or Bartolo Colon. In
almost any potential playoff matchup, we’re just outgunned in game
one.
Bloomquist, third catcher
I thought I could manage not to comment on this fawning article with withering sarcasm and generally unwarranted hostility. I’ve failed.
Sub-headline:
Stellar utility player adds catching to his resume
—–
Willie Bloomquist
Objective: a challenging and interesting starting job with a major league team that utilizes my enthusiasm, versatility, teamwork skills, and perspicacity to help win a pennant
Work experience
2002-present: utility player, Seattle Mariners
Hit .245 in 188 at-bats in last season. During my time, I fielded every position except catcher, with a focus on on third base. My hard-nosed play helped to inspire the team to lose fewer games and I was praised regularly by my coaches for both my effort and attitude. Participated in mound conferences. As part of team community outreach efforts, I regularly met and interacted with the public for charity and marketing efforts.
In the second half of 2003, I was for a time the starting third baseman when Jeff Cirillo experienced an extended performance outage and before the return of Carlos Guillen, when I returned to utility duties.
In my 2002 debut season, I hit .455 in twelve games.
1999-2002: minor league second baseman, Seattle Mariners organization
Hit .281 over five minor league seasons. Named the #7 prospect in the Mariners organization in 2001, and the #10 prospect in 2000 by Baseball America, behind Joel Pineiro.
Baseball America wrote “If makeup were a tool, Bloomquist would grade out with a top-of-the-line 80. He’s a gamer who helps his club win by doing all the little things that don’t show up in the box score.”
Personal
Drafted by the Seattle Mariners twice, in 1996 and 1999.
Born in Bremerton, Washington
Graduated South Kitsap High School
Attended Arizona State University
—
But wait, there’s more.
Bloomquist borrowed a catcher’s mitt from minor league catcher Rene Rivera and Tuesday morning started learning how to use it.
You catch balls in it. I can’t believe he’s got this far without knowing that a catcher’s mitt does the same thing as everyone else’s.
Then, in a couple of paragraphs on Ibanez, former emergency catcher:
“I have been the emergency catcher several times,” he said, “but I’ve never caught in a [Major League] game.”
He has, in 1999, with this very team. Isn’t there a fact checker on MLB’s staff, or… anything? Now, don’t argue that that’s a Bloomquist quote, as both preceeding and trailing paragraphs are entirely about Ibanez and it’s clear that it’s his when you read it.
I know it doesn’t matter that Bloomquist’s the utility catcher, and that in the even they called him in they would also likely be making a phone call to Tacoma to call up Wiki. It’s that I can’t stand this kind of fawning coverage, even if it seems sugary and harmless.
Fitness report
Richard Seven of the Seattle Times’ Pacific Northwest Magazine follows Dan Wilson through an offseason workout with trainer Peter Shmock, a former Olympic shot putter.
In the article, Seven mentions that Wilson takes a month off after the season “to clear his mind and allow his body opportunity to recover and recharge. Shmock calls this ‘active rest,’ and says it is critical for amateurs like you and me, too.”
Good thing, too, since I do a lot of “active rest.”
Okay, so it’s just regular rest.
M’s report a profit
I’m not sure why I still read the Times. Today’s Times and P-I each have a story about the M’s reporting an $8.5 million profit in 2004, according to documents they’re required to file with the Public Facilities District. Go read Angelo Bruscas’ article on the subject. Than go read Finnigan’s take.
Bruscas’ column comes across like a Dragnet report. Just the facts, ma’am. He says the M’s made a profit, talks about the debt service and how the team is about halfway to paying off their initial cost of Safeco, and attributes a comment to spokeswoman Rebecca Hale about the team’s profit coming largely in part due to Kazuhiro Sasaki’s retirement.
Finnigan’s article, by comparison, looks like someone desperately trying to spin a story they were hoping never became public. The second sentence sets the tone:
They did have an excess of $8.749 million, which is listed as profit.
Okay, so they made money, but its not profit, its excess, which is apparently different because it wasn’t revenue, it was money not spent. Seriously, they didn’t really make a profit, they just had an excess! Ignore the man behind the curtain!
Then there’s this gem:
Beyond the profits created by those player movements, the Mariners would have lost money, except that Seattle fans set a record. With a large number of tickets bought in advance, attendance was 2.9 million last year, best ever for a team that lost 99 times.
Attendance was down 10 percent from 2003, thanks to the miserable on field performance of the club. So, apparently, the M’s would have lost money if attendance was down 30 percent, or maybe 40 percent. But that just doesn’t happen. When the Florida Marlins stripped apart their 1997 World Championship team and essentially lost on purpose, their attendance only dropped 26 percent.
Finnigan also mentions that the team expects to operate at a loss this year because they’re projecting attendance of 2.5 million this year, a 14 percent decrease from last year and a 22 percent decrease from 2003. That just isn’t going to happen. But, of course, if they were projecting 2.8 million in attendance, they couldn’t claim they were going to operate at a loss, so, 2.5 million is what they tell Finnigan.
The entire article keeps with Finnigan’s long time premise of being a puppet for management. Its not profit, its excess. And they only had that excess because Sasaki retired. And even at that, it was only possible because the fans were amazing and came to the park in record numbers.
Its all lies. Its a shame that the Times is willing to be the Mariners personal PR machine. As for me, I think I’ll just stop reading Finnigan. He’s bad for my health.
Felix update
Felix rebounded today, tossing 2 innings (though 2 of the 6 outs were caught stealing), giving up two hits, walking none, and striking out three.
Spring training performances still mean nothing, but good to see Felix bounce back.
Also, Aaron Sele had the game of his life-okay, well, maybe not quite, but it was his best game in years-going four innings, giving up two hits, no walks, and seven strikeouts. With Franklin pitching like, well, Ryan Franklin, Sele looks to have taken the lead in the competition for the M’s fifth starter.
Things I learned from this week’s Mariner Mailbag
Every time I think we’re never going to link to the mailbag on MLB.com again, the cold slap of unreality makes my cheek (and brain) hurt.
This week’s gems:
* Pokey Reese might be a good defensive player, but he’s not as good as Bret Boone, who has three Gold Gloves to prove it; and
* Willie Bloomquist has developed into one of the best utility players in the majors; and …
… one last one that I have to quote in its entirety.
Why is everybody ragging on the Mariners pitching? Last year, it was considered their strong point and it hasn’t changed all that much. Just because they all had a down year at the same time doesn’t mean that they are going to struggle for life, right? I think they are severely underrated. — Rob S., Jefferson, N.J.
When fans notice that none of the starting pitchers won more than seven games last season, the natural reaction is to think it’s a bad group of pitchers. But insiders, like yourself, realize that if the Mariners’ hitters had provided more leads early in the games, the pitching would have been much better. An improved offense and defense should make things easier this season.
There is so much going on in that two paragraph excerpt, though it’s tempting to focus only on Jim Street calling a random guy from New Jersey who sent him email an “insider.”
What’s distressing is that a question like that is actually an opportunity to engage some important issues, like aging in pitchers and how it applies to rare specimens like Moyer; how wins are misleading, because they depend upon an array of factors outside a pitcher’s control; arm attrition among the M’s staff, two of whom are serious injury question marks; independent league talent, like Bobby Madritsch, and how valuable a pickup like him can be; and on and on and on.
But no, we get “if the hitters had been better, the pitchers would have been better.” More on this last bit later, possibly.
You can’t spell “bad” without “ad”
At worst, advertisements are intrusive, crass and banal. At best, they are intrusive, crass and mildly amusing.
Mariner fans were spoiled. We had commercials for the team that were quirky and cleverly written. The product of this creative well sprung forth for many years. Sadly, says the Times’ Kay McFadden, ain’t no water in the well, the creek’s run dry.
Without judging works I haven’t seen … a QVC theme? Trying to sell the team through a parody of commercialism? What’s next, a guy who makes a living by satirizing the spy serial genre getting a gig playing James Bond?
A promise: I’ll reserve judgment until the ads start airing on Saturday, but few of the spots McFadden describes sound promising.
Update: Here’s a link to the ads.
What got cut
(ahh, Cheap Seats…)
In the Washington Nationals team essay (p253, not the back-of-the-book history), between “.. wanted to slap them one last time while they had the chance” and “There were many reasons the team was in such sad shape…” one of the editors of BP2005 cut this:
BP’s own Jonah Keri is a Quebecois, and the most optimistic, happy, and generally pleasant person I’ve ever known in my life. He was a lifelong Expos fan. Year after year, he took the team’s fortunes in stride, laughed at the slings and arrows of outrageous mismanagement. At the end of the season when I tracked him down to talk about the year, I found him staggering through the streets of Montreal, drinking from a giant bottle of cheap, cheap red wine and shouting at passers-by, gesturing at them threateningly with a half-eaten baguette. “You can’t humiliate us fans without having us sneak around with other teams… teams that… that make us feel wanted, like a fan should! I know! (hic) I saw me do it!”
Then he vomited on a mime and punched out a gendarme, but that’s not important.
WordPress update problems update
This post is of no interest unless you’re a WordPress user/admin or, possibly, happen to have helpful knowledge of the system. Or you’re extremely bored and have already read everything on all the cereal boxes in the house.
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