I was glad when the Ms picked up Olivo: cannon arm, durable, passion for the game, like the scouts said very quick hands, plus power seldom seen from catchers, murders fastballs. I thought last year that Miguel definitely took the trade to come here hard, like a demotion or a write off by Chi. I thought that was a big factor in his defensive collapse at the end of the year, for example, and _that_ part of his game has come around quite well. What I wasn’t aware of is that Olivo has been a chronic slow adapter to new environments; that’s what I take away from the scouts discussion. And what Miguel is doing wrong at the plate is fundamentally solvable, so altogether this summary gives me hope.

I defnitely get the feeling that his teammates are pulling for him, too, working to pump up his confidence and emphasize that he’s wanted here. Moyer gave Olivo some nice comments after Sunday’s game, and then _somebody_ made sure that Olivo got the post-game radio interview after the win today (Tuesday) in Texas. His teammates want him here it would appear, and that bodes well for Miguel eventually relaxing and getting into a better groove.

. . . How does one say ‘Big Mike’ in Spanish? I’ve forgotten.

what is more frustrating for fans, I think, is that they didn’t have to give up both players– from the Times back in ’99:

“This is one trade Woodward apparently made on his own. According to story out of Boston and confirmed by a Mariner official, the original discussions had been for either Varitek OR Lowe. But when Woodward called Boston GM Dan Duquette, he agreed to part with both. While Slocumb helped in 1997 before falling apart in 1998, the two young players have helped Boston toward the postseason this season and promise to do so for years to come. In the bigger deals, there was always a feeling Woodward could have gotten more had he worked harder, or given less. Or, with more foresight and preparation, or willingness to make tougher choices, perhaps not wound up in a payroll bind that made it necessary to part with the likes of Tino Martinez, Omar Vizquel and Mike Jackson.”

Guillen for Santiago is a work in progress? Now who’s trolling? Guillen is, once again, in the top ten in the league in RCAA and Santiago is yet another no-hit, dime-a-dozen minor league SS, at a position where the team currently has a glaring weakness. Are you really implying that this deal may turn out in favor of the M’s?

I don’t armchair it either. Minor league prospects for what was thought to be at the time the closer the M’s desperately needed. Only hindsight is what makes that deal bad. At the time it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

“Also, we could have had Alfonso Soriano for Jose Paniagua, but Pinella didn’t want to let him go.”

If you want to lament the many players we could have had at one point or another, then go ahead. I don’t dwell on it.

“Those who don’t remember history are doomed to repeat it. Just like any other successful organization, in sports or otherwise, the M’s must remember and learn from their past mistakes.”

It wasn’t a mistake at the time. It became a mistake later. That’s my point. If you’re skittish on making deals because of one or two past failures, you’ll never do anything. Reed and Olivo could both die tomorrow, and the Garcia trade will look bad as a result. The Randy Johnson deal, in hindsight, is looking pretty bleak. Garcia was a great addition, but Halama did nothing for us and has done nothing, and Guillen had done nothing for us but has done something for someone else. Looking at the future tradeoffs for them, Garcia for Reed / Olivo / Morse is looking good now, but Guillen for Ramon Santiago is a work in progress.

If you must look back at trades and claim that because of them we might make other bad trades in the future, well you’re right. But we’d make bad trades in the future regardless of whether we’d made them before and learned something or nothing from it. Trades are a part of baseball. Trades that don’t work are a part of baseball. We have to deal with it and move on, not linger over it just because Boston fans like to remind us that they sucker punched us.

Those same Boston fans seem to forget we sucker punched them back for some no name fool named Jamie Moyer. Who’d we give up for him again?

Re: 36.

Nice troll.

(No, seriously, great post. Makes me both depressed and hopeful about Olivo.)