What I would do
Is there anything less productive yet more fun than creating wildly unrealistic scenarios where we get to manage the rosters of our favorite teams? The enjoyment-to-usefulness ratio is off the charts. They’re generally a gigantic waste of time, but there’s something oddly interesting about creating trade proposals and reshaping the team in our own image.
So, since everyone is angry today and wants to make wholesale changes anyway, what better day for a useless diversion thread where you can put all your crazy ideas and not have them deleted for being off topic?
So, welcome to the 2006 What I Would Do thread. Bill Bavasi calls you up tomorrow, hands you the reins of the team, and tells you to knock yourself out. What do you do? My ideas after the jump.
Dave’s Crazy Ideas For Improving The Roster
1. Fire Mike Hargrove. Install Dan Rohn as manager through the end of the season. Have meeting with Rohn, explain organizational philosophies, and make sure we’re on the same page. Explicitly go over the awfulness of sacrifice bunting with good hitters, and have him repeal the ridiculous aggressive baserunning philosophy the M’s have been using to run themselves out of innings all year.
2. Designate Carl Everett, Eddie Guardado, and Julio Mateo for assignment. Everett’s useless, so that one is self explanatory. Mateo, you’re hoping someone bites on his not-expensive contract for next year and claims him on waivers. Because he’s done as a major league pitcher, and the M’s will be better off if they aren’t trying to get him to reclaim his old glory. Guardado, you’re just giving a chance for another team to pick him up if they’re interested. Since he’s not going to get many innings here while I’m running the team, I try to do him the favor of finding him another job somewhere else.
3. Remove Joel Pineiro from the starting rotation. The fifth starter isn’t needed for a while, and he hasn’t pitched well enough to keep his job.
4. Trade Ryan Feierabend, Wladmir Balentien, and Justin Thomas to the Cubs for LHP Rich Hill and RHP Scott Williamson. The Cubs have never given Hill a real shot, and his minor league numbers demand that he’s given a look in the show. Only 25, he’d be a perfect experiment at the end of the rotation, and a good fit for Safeco Field. Williamson adds another power arm to the end of the bullpen.
5. Option Rene Rivera to Tacoma, recall Guillermo Quiroz. Quiroz is better, and his bat could actually help the M’s win games.
6. Recall Doyle from Tacoma and make him the DH vs right handed pitchers. Recall Yung-Chi Chen from San Antonio. He gives the bench needed versatility and allows the team to get away from having 12 pitchers and actually use the reserves in a strategical manner. He’s not a great prospect, so stalling his development isn’t a huge concern. He’ll be a role player in his prime, and having him fill a role now can help the team.
7. Have a meeting with Ichiro, explaining how the team needs him in center field, and asking him to try it for the rest of the 2006 season. If he hates it and feels it effects his focus, he can move back to RF in 2007, no questions asked, and he’ll never be asked to move to center again.
New Line-Up:
1. Ichiro, CF
2. Doyle, DH
3. Beltre, 3B
4. Ibanez, LF
5. Sexson, 1B
6. Lopez, 2B
7. Johjima, C
8. Choo, RF
9. Betancourt, SS
Quiroz, Bloomquist, Perez, Petagine, and Chen off the bench.
Pitching staff has Felix-Moyer-Meche-Washburn-Hill in the rotation, with Putz-Soriano-Sherrill-Williamson-Woods-Pineiro in the bullpen.
That’s my team. Let’s hear yours.
First, I’d fire Hargrove as manager and give myself the job since my complete lack of coaching experience above the teeball level would bring a new perspective and fresh ideas.
I would next have Carl Everett pushed around a little bit by some of the other players and then demoted in whatever is the most unpleasant manner.
I’d get rid of Pineiro, Guardado and Mateo and call up the three best pitchers from Tacoma.
I’d go after a nice outfielder, move Ibanez to DH, call up Doyle and beg Ichiro to move to center, enticing him with several new Ichiro bobblehead days with new models.
Thank you.
I too love pointless speculation. I also love wasting time. This is a perfect fit for me.
I am going to poach some of your ideas. In particular, the Ichiro in CF and the Cubs idea (which is awesome).
-make the trade you suggest with the Cubbies (netting Williamson and Hill for Balentien, Thomas, and Feierabend). This is where not having Asdrubal Cabrera really hurts.
-trade Gil Meche for the best prospect they can get. The Dodgers, Mets, Yankees, Astros, and Cardinals are all possible destinations. I would only take a good prospect for him. If not, I would keep him, offer him arbitration next year, and take the draft pick compensation. Since we are partaking in wild speculation, I am going to say Gil Meche to Houston for RHP Jason Hirsh.
-trade for Matt Clement, with Boston throwing in some cash to cover part of his salary in 2007 (~half). This could be part of an exchange of bad contracts, perhaps involving Everett or Guardado (not that the Sox would want either, but to offset the money involved in 2006). Clement is done in Boston, so hopefully the M’s could get a good deal on the reclamation project.
-DFA or move Guardado and Everett
-Pineiro to the pen
-promote Snelling to take over at DH
-move Ichiro to CF, making all the necessary steps to make this agreeable to him.
Lineup vs righties:
Ichiro CF
Beltre 3B
Lopez 2B
Ibanez DH
Sexson 1B
Snelling LF
Johjima C
Choo RF
Betancourt SS
Lineup vs lefties
Ichiro CF
Beltre 3B
Lopez 2B
Ibanez LF
Sexson 1B
Perez DH
Johjima C
Choo RF
Betancourt SS
This would help keep Snelling healthy with a few days off.
Rotation: Moyer, Felix, Washburn, Hill, Hirsh initially.
When Clement is back from the DL, he would take over for whoever is struggling among the rookies.
Pen: Putz, Soriano, Sherrill, Williamson, Mateo, Fruto, Woods
Bench: Bloomquist, Rivera, Perez, Petagine
This scenario is more about 2007 than 2006. I think that this club would be better than what they are sending out now. But it would help the team going into 2007 more. Hirsh would be a good bet to take a spot in the rotation next year, with Hill in the mix as well. Hill could also be move to the pen, where he could be really good. Clement is a huge risk, but the M’s would definitely be buying low. If Clement is in a mellower environment in Seattle, and playing half his games in Safeco, I think that he could be a real steal.
I’ll go off of yours, Dave:
1. Agreed.
2. Designate Carl, keep Eddie and Mateo as throw-ins for a deal to be named below.
3. Agreed.
4. Agreed (mostly because I don’t have anything else to offer).
5. Sounds reasonable.
6. Agreed on Doyle being called up, but not to be DH.
7. I wouldn’t do that.
My additional moves:
a. Trade Choo, Eddie, Mateo (hell throw in Pineiro if they’ll haul him away), Nageotte and whatever cash necessary to pick up Carl Crawford. Rent-a-player? Maybe, but why not actually try to keep him and get him to agree to an extension at the earliest possible date? Losing Choo might be a big deal, but with the money likely to drop off of payroll (Carl, Eddie, etc.) you can look to the free agent market if Crawford won’t stay.
b. move Ibanez to full-time DH. Platoon Doyle and Perez in LF (Perez can be used to just give Doyle rest, and when Doyle’s starting Perez can be used as a match-up pinch hitter or starter in some other positions he plays as needed).
c. Call up Cruceta or Jimenez.
1. Ichiro, RF
2. Beltre, 3B
3. Ibanez, DH
4. Crawford, CF
5. Sexson, 1B
6. Lopez, 2B
7. Doyle/Perez, LF
8. Johjima, C
9. Betancourt, SS
Pitching Staff – (s) -Felix-Moyer-Meche-Washburn-Hill; Pen -Putz-Soriano-Sherrill-Williamson-Woods-Cruceta/Jimenez
a. Trade Choo, Eddie, Mateo (hell throw in Pineiro if they’ll haul him away), Nageotte and whatever cash necessary to pick up Carl Crawford.
Why would Tampa do that?
They signed Crawford to a 4 year, $15 million deal before last season. This year, he makes $2.5 million. Next year, $4 million. He makes $5.25 million in 2008. He doesn’t start to make any kind of real money until 2009. So they have no financial need to deal him.
If you’re using the “they have a crowded OF” argument, why would they want Choo as the only valuable player going back in return?
When you guys are proposing trades, try to look at it from the other team’s perspective first.
Why would Tampa do that?
Given this statement:
Is there anything less productive yet more fun than creating wildly unrealistic scenarios where we get to manage the rosters of our favorite teams?
This:
a. Trade Choo, Eddie, Mateo (hell throw in Pineiro if they’ll haul him away), Nageotte and whatever cash necessary to pick up Carl Crawford.
seems to fit pretty well. It’s wildly unrealistic, but fun to ponder…
From the other teams perspective:
the mets need pitching. we’d love Lastings Milledge. Give them Washburn, straight up. Contract? It’s New York. The Mets are desperate, or should be, and there´s been tension with Milledge.
Mariner’s rotation? Moyer, Hernandez, Meche, Feierabend, Cruceta.
Replace the 4th and 5th spots with other prospects when and if these these two don´t pan out. Obtain more middle relief.
Dave: Good ideas. IMO, #1 is (and has been, despite the run against the NL West) the most important.
I’m not sure I understand why you think the at-best B- or C-level prospects you’re giving up would net you Rich Hill and Scott Williamson. Yeah, I know Hill has struggled quite a bit, but as you say, he hasn’t been given much of a chance and none of the guys we’re giving up has anything even remotely resembling the brightness of his minor league career. And Williamson has had a moderately successful (sometimes more, sometimes less) ML career, and only makes $2M. To quote you, why would the Cubs do that? I’m actually really hoping you can answer that, ’cause that is exactly the kind of deal the M’s should do, if they can pull it off.
I’d love to have Carl Crawford, but also don’t see why TB would trade him for the kind of spare parts being suggested. He’s a guy they trade ONLY for what really makes sense for them and not just a guy (or a salary) they’d like to be rid of.
I might not DFA Eddie and Mateo just yet, either. I suspect there may be some interest in one or both, though I guess DFA’ing them can serve the purpose of testing that theory, too. I know there isn’t much of anything objective to support the notion, but I am not sure Mateo is done, and even Eddie might still regain enough form to be useful as a long- or set-up guy. Holding onto them for a couple of weeks can’t hurt.
I agree with everything else in The Plan.
Eddie, Mateo, Nageotte and Pineiro are not worthless as a package (esp. if we are absorbing a fair bit of their salaries).
Although you and I may agree that they may have outlived their collective usefulness, TB (with a good effort from Bavasi) might be sold on thinking about the potential in the basket of players. You don’t have crappy players, what you have is a closer who is just a little off his game (a physical probably would dispel that, but this isn’t reality . . ), a middle reliever who has been effective in the fairly recent past (a chunk of ’05), a starting pitcher who has had stretches of effectiveness this year (cough, choke) and can eat up 200 innings for you, and a minor league prospect who has some major league experience and might be an effective bullpen guy somewhere down the road.
If a couple of those guys pan out with Choo, then it seems like a decent deal. You say Carl Crawford is only making 4 mill next year, but he’s already the 3rd highest paid player on $35mill payroll team. 5.25 million is like 10-12 mill for us.
They may not bite, but it opens dialogue for them to ask about some “other AAA guy we’ve been looking at.” We’d probably be outbid with that package, but, hell, neither of our lists is going to happen anyway.
Sorry, there is NO WAY that Tampa Bay would EVER agree to trade Crawford — one of the more valuable properties in baseball — for the equivalent of a bucket of balls and a wingnut.
Eddie and Mateo are net negatives. Pineiro is likely beyond repair. And the sentiment around Nageotte is negative.
It would be like asking us to trade JoLo for Brad Halsey, Dan Meyer and a random middle reliever. Ain’t going to happen.
I’m with Dave except that I think if Doyle’s up and Ibanez is in the outfield, you should try a hybrid rotation where you try and get Doyle in LF/RF 1-2 every 3 or so games. Ibanez clearly likes playing the field, but he’s not that good at it, and you want Doyle to get time out there without risking his health (as much as that’s possible).
So there’s an added wrinkle of complexity.
what you have is a pile of aging poop as trade bait for one of the most desirable young outfielders who also is economically controlled for several years to come…
Tampa could instantly get offers for Crawford that are ten times more compelling than that proposal if they announced Crawford was available..
A big bag of poo is not more useful than a small bag of poo…especially since poo is readily available for practically nothing…
seems to fit pretty well. It’s wildly unrealistic, but fun to ponder…
To me, there’s a difference between speculative roster overhauls and talking about pilfering all-star caliber players by dumping collections of crap for them. But maybe that’s just me.
the mets need pitching. we’d love Lastings Milledge. Give them Washburn, straight up.
They already turned down Zito for Milledge. So, uhh, no, this wouldn’t fly.
I’m not sure I understand why you think the at-best B- or C-level prospects you’re giving up would net you Rich Hill and Scott Williamson.
Feierabend is a solid B prospect right now, and you could make a case for him being a B+ guy. He’s 20, he’s in Double-A, and he’s been lights out the past month. In his last 34 innings, he’s walked 6 guys and struck out 35. He’s got solid above average stuff from the left side, he’s young and projectable, and scouts love his makeup.
He’s clearly the M’s #2 pitching prospect behind Brandon Morrow right now. He’s upped his value quite a bit this year.
Justin Thomas, again, left-handed, 22 years old, pitching lights out right now. Dominated the Midwest League, now torching the Cal League (36 K’s in 27 innings). He wasn’t my favorite draft pick last year, but he’s pitching very well, and doing his best to show that I was just wrong about him.
Two young left-handed arms, throwing very well, one of whom is already in Double-A at age 20? There’s a ton of value in that package. And I haven’t even mentioned Balentien, who a bunch of teams think could be a potent power threat in the majors, and is just 21.
If anything, I feel like the M’s would be giving up too much in the deal for just Hill and Williamson. I’m pretty sure that the Cubs would make that trade in a heartbeat if they could.
Eddie, Mateo, Nageotte and Pineiro are not worthless as a package (esp. if we are absorbing a fair bit of their salaries).
Yes they are. Pineiro has negative trade value. A team wouldn’t claim him on waivers if they had the chance. Guardado, a contending team might take his salary as a LOOGY if they didn’t have to give anything up, but they’re not paying his salary and giving up a player. He’s the relief pitching version of Jeff Weaver.
Mateo might have a bit of value, but not much. And Nageotte’s got no value right now – he’s been lousy for the last few years and is on the DL with a bad elbow. His velo hasn’t been around since 2003.
Even if you’re picking up the salaries, you won’t get anything for that group.
I’m with Dave except that I think if Doyle’s up and Ibanez is in the outfield, you should try a hybrid rotation where you try and get Doyle in LF/RF 1-2 every 3 or so games. Ibanez clearly likes playing the field, but he’s not that good at it, and you want Doyle to get time out there without risking his health (as much as that’s possible).
I agree with all this. I’d like to get Ibanez off the field as much as possible, but also don’t want to run Doyle into the ground doing it. So you interchange them between LF/DH, with the split gradually going Doyle’s way as he proves he can handle it.
Might be nice if the trade is tweaked such that the team keeps more of its limited pitching depth. Maybe swap out Feierabend and include another position player?
Guardado remains relatively effective against left-handed batters (1.04 ERA, 6/1 K/BB, 1 HR in 8.2 IP). As long as the M’s remain in contention, the M’s should keep him around as a pure LOOGY for spots when guys like Eric Chavez and Jason Giambi come up in the 6th or 7th inning and the team needs to save Sherrill for higher leverage situations. In other words, he could play a poor man’s Norm Charlton (vintage 2001) to Sherrill’s Arthur Rhodes.
If the M’s fall out of contention, by all means, do him the favor and let him catch on with a contender.
#12, Dave -
Thanks for the response/clarification. I wasn’t aware that Feierabend had made that kid of move up as a prospect. I was aware that Justin Thomas is a 22-year old in A-ball (granted, high-A) and I just don’t see as much value in a guy who is old for his league performing well at a sub-AA level. And maybe it shows, but I’ve never been much of a Balentien, though I acknowledge many people smarter than I am disagree (strongly).
Again, I really hope you are right, because I think both Hill and Williamson could help the M’s. Not that I have much confidence that the FO will do any of this, but . . ..
I dunno if I could come up with a better plan. I definitely agree with Scott Williamson being the next target the M’s should go after. He’d be a good fit in the high-leverage situations, and would definitely be the type of guy that Hargrove would use. Remember — even if Bill hands you the reins, you still do not have absolute power. There’s the whole Howard Lincoln/Chuck Armstrong thing that you’d have to deal with. And I’m not convinced that Howard would let you get rid of Hargrove
Even if you remove the “What would Grover do with this guy?” question (by eliminating Hargrove), Williamson is a guy you have to target. I’ll admit to my lack of knowledge on Rich Hill and will defer to your knowledge of Chen, but I will say that I definitely like the thought of adding Williamson.
We definitely still have pieces to trade, and I’m not talking Eddie, Joel, Julio, Carl (I agree that they pretty much all have negative trade value). The A-Cab trade definitely stings a lot, but it doesn’t wipe out any hope the M’s have of making further trades. Feierabend is indeed a legit prospect that has improved leaps and bounds this season. Being a lefty gives him a little bit more value.
I’m not sure how tweaking things with Ichiro would work out, so I’d want to make sure I have a backup plan for center field. Adam Jones is out — I want him in Tacoma through 2006. Would I be desperate enough to give Matt Lawton an apology phone call?
But, yeah, overall I pretty much agree with Dave’s suggestions.
Dave: I noticed you left Meche right where he is in the rotation. Are you keeping him because trading him would make the 06′ team worse since there really isn’t anything in Tacoma to replace him with, or do you see Meche in the bigger picture and have him holding down the 5 spot in the rotation next year?
From my point of view i can really see teams like the Mets, or Phillies getting serious about a Meche trade. I don’t think they are willing to give up a Milledge type prospect, but if the M’s have an ugly July Bavasi’s phone may be busy.
I’ve always thought it was best to try and sell high on both Meche and Joel. Joel’s now not even worth a bucket of balls, so that oprotunity has been missed. I think everyone here agrees Meche is about ready to show his ability to only pitch half of a season. It would make sense to sell high right now, but it seems unwise to dump your second best starter when you the AL West will ultimately come down to the last week of the season whether the M’s are there to compete or not.
I was aware that Justin Thomas is a 22-year old in A-ball (granted, high-A) and I just don’t see as much value in a guy who is old for his league performing well at a sub-AA level. And maybe it shows, but I’ve never been much of a Balentien, though I acknowledge many people smarter than I am disagree (strongly).
22 isn’t old for high-A ball. The age/level thing has to be tempered with experience for college players. Unless you expect every college player to head immediately to Triple-A, you’re going to think they’re all “old for the league”.
Thomas has been pitching professionally for a year. He’s right on track. He’s not old for the Cal League.
Dave: I noticed you left Meche right where he is in the rotation. Are you keeping him because trading him would make the 06′ team worse since there really isn’t anything in Tacoma to replace him with, or do you see Meche in the bigger picture and have him holding down the 5 spot in the rotation next year?
If the team falls out of contention before the end of July, yes, I’m trading Meche (and Williamson, under the scenario where I’ve already acquired him).
But I don’t think they’re going to fall out of contention before the end of July, and I’m not interested in throwing in the flag on a pennant chase unless I’m blown away with an offer.
I also endorse Dave’s plan.
Assuming I can’t make the trade suggested work, and I have to go with strictly internal candidates, I call up Cruceta to take Piñeiro’s place in the rotation, and live with Fruto as the power arm.
My brilliant idea for fixing the team is… listen to Dave. If I woke up tomorrow with your plan in place I would be an ecstatic Mariner fan.
The order of happy making news of your ideas would probably be, for me, 2, 1, 6, 4, 7, 5. If the M’s even went halfway throught that i would keel over in ecstasy.
I also like that you aren’t afraid to move Beltre to the #3 spot… most people I think are too spooked (understandably but not justifiably) to risk taking him out of the #2 spot.
While I was happy as heck during our winning stretch, I’m not much freaking out by our new losing stretch, since I don’t expect much better until some changes are made; but if your plan was implemented, I would immediately care more about losing, because I would think we should win.
Dave (20) – Fair point. I do think that, regardless of experience or lack thereof, a 22-year-old succeeding against guys who are mostly at least a year younger, isn’t as impressive as you’ve made it out to be. Some college players who are legit prospects do move quicker (see the proposed plan for Morrow, for example).
Also, more than half of my hesitation about Thomas isn’t about age, but that he has still only done what he’s done at a sub-AA level. Apparently you disagree, but if I was making a trade and giving up major league (and major-league-ready) pitching, I would want the pitching parts I’m getting back to all have experienced at least some success at a AA level, at least. Don’t most people acknowledge there is a huge jump from A to AA ball?
You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to — I readily acknowledge you’ve got a better feel for what is reasonable in deals involving minor league guys than I do or probably ever will. Just thought I would explain myself a little better.
1. DFA Guardado
2. DFA The “Switch” “Hitter”
3. DFA Hargrove
4. Dave already stole my Scott Williamson idea, co comb the waiver wire, find Mike Remlinger, install in middle relief. If he pitches well- Yay! If not, no sweat. Mabye we get really lucky and can flip him for a new set of tires, and a free oil change. Also, sniff the Pirates out or some middle relief help. They have Hernandez and Marte and it’s not like they need them.
5. Recall The Thunder From Down Under, have hime share DH/LF with that other guy with 20 U’s in his name.
6. Install Roan on an interim basis. As said, have a heart to heart about the awfulness of reckless baserunning and excessive bunting. Make sure that Perez play against LHPs and is never left on the bench a la last Sunday.
7. Recall Quiroz (yadda yadda yadda…), and (I can’t believe this, but) Recall Nomar, Jr. take Morse’ spot as the UTIF/25th man.
8. Flip Perez at the deadline (assuming that our pennant hopes have flatlined). Cry in our beer over the net loss of the whole enterprise.
9. Install an orginzational policy that limits the pitching staff to 11 pitchers on the 25-man roster (except in cases of dire emergency). Organize and orginiation wide seminar about the dangers of the 12 man PS, excessive bunting, and bad baserunning. Force all coaches/managers/players to watch. Repeat.
10. Get rid of Pineiro. He’s got nothing. A merry-go-round of AAA scrap-heap hurlers(Livingston, Woods, Baek [gag]) can be more productive. (Are Brett Hinchcliffe and Mel Bunch available)? Sob quietly to yourself about how we could have allegedly had Craig Wilson (of whom Tracy hates and the Bucos won’t play) in exchange for him.
If a unproven rookie does not suit your tastes maybe Glendon Rusch could help, he has an ERA o 10,000.00 but he has 45Ks in 48 IP- so maybe he’s not entirely finished. Other names to ponder: Rodrigo Lopez (might be helped by the vast reaches of the Safeco OF), John Thomson, Jorge Sosa (reasonable stuff), Elmer Dessens, Mark Redman (all-star), and Russ Ortiz (just kidding)
11. See what it will take to pry Ryan Chruch from the Expos. Not much I’m thinking. Flip them a C-level prospect- I wish I had a more intimate knowledge of the ML system, but I don’t. Throw me some names (or a friggin’ bone).
12. Don’t play Reed until he is 100% healthy. I’d hate to sell low on him, but it seems like he could be finished here. Bring in a veteran OFer to challenge him for the CF job in ST next year.
I’d like to add more middle relief help. I have no idea how unreasonable the Pirates or Cubs would be in accomidating that need so So I think we’d end up with concretely…
Ichiro, RF
Beltre, 3B
Ibanez, DH/LF
Sexson, 1B
Lopez, 2B
S*******, LF/DH
Johjima, C
Choo, CF
Betancourt, SS
Quiroz, C
Petagine, 1B
Perez, 1B-3B-OF
Bloomquist, IF-OF
Garciaparra, IF
Moyer
Hernandez
Washburn
Meche
Livingston etc.
Putz
Soriano
Sherrill
Remlinger
Mateo
Fruto etc.
Looking to next year, our infield is pretty well locked up. Improvements, we all agree, will come at DH, left, and center.
Ibanez is a solid DH who has proven he can hit at Safeco. I’m satisfied with his bat in the lineup at least through 07. Doyle is also a solid DH who can hit at Safeco, but I’ll take him in the outfield now. As much as we want to “protect him” from his premature atrophic tendencies, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. Roaming left field isn’t really all that risky, and our new manager, Dan Rohn, will have the foresight to install high-impact airbags on the left field wall and provide inflatable sumo wrestler suits to all fans in the first four left field rows (mandatory garb).
Our CF, therefore, becomes our last hole, and I propose we trade for a AAAA outfielder who isn’t great with the glove but has a solid bat. Don’t give up too much, and don’texpect too much, since Jones will be here in 07.
In addition, I would like to see the Safeco experience improved. I’m a Portlander, so my trips up there are kind of expensive. Is it too much to ask that the garlic fries taste as good as they look? Why can’t we have a mascot that pulls naughty shennanigans (wears dinosaur suits, holds up signs calling for bunts when there are two outs, refuses to step foot in CF when wearing an ICHIRO! jersey)? Why not fire the dancing grounds crew, hire Anna Nicole, give her a bottle of pills and a whisky flask and have her, you know, do improv?
Dave (20) – Fair point. I do think that, regardless of experience or lack thereof, a 22-year-old succeeding against guys who are mostly at least a year younger, isn’t as impressive as you’ve made it out to be. Some college players who are legit prospects do move quicker (see the proposed plan for Morrow, for example).
Average age of hitter in the Cal Leauge is like 23.4 years old or something. He’s not succeeding against guys who are younger.
Also, more than half of my hesitation about Thomas isn’t about age, but that he has still only done what he’s done at a sub-AA level. Apparently you disagree, but if I was making a trade and giving up major league (and major-league-ready) pitching, I would want the pitching parts I’m getting back to all have experienced at least some success at a AA level, at least. Don’t most people acknowledge there is a huge jump from A to AA ball?
The jump from High-A to Double-A is overstated. I don’t think its significantly bigger than the jump from Double-A to Triple-A. I think it was John Sickels who coined the whole “Double-A litmus test for soft tossing lefties”, but I’ve never seen any data to support the idea that Double-A is where these guys get weeded out, and Sickels isn’t really the kind of guy to do a lot of research to prove his pet theories true. Craig Anderson was awesome for San Antonio, but terrible in Tacoma, for instance.
Oh, and, trade for Griffey.
A merry-go-round of AAA scrap-heap hurlers(Livingston, Woods, Baek [gag]) can be more productive. (Are Brett Hinchcliffe and Mel Bunch available)?
I’m still not getting why people think Baek, etc. > Cruceta. I defy you to find guys who K 5-6 guys every 9 IP in AAA who experience longterm success in the majors (hell, Ryan Franklin was doig better than that). You’ve got the PCL leader in strikeouts posting an ERA below 4 in a hitter’s league, folks. Why in hell doesn’t HE get a shot?
Oh, and, trade for Ryan Howard too.
Not to over-post, but it’s almost like is need to write up two plans: one for if they take 2 of three from DET and stay in the race, and one for if they lose 11 out of their next 15. Finding middle relief help, and seeking out the Roberto Hernandezes of the world is kind of pointless if you can’t win the division.
29
Because I’m typing a big long post and don’t want to spend a half an hour editing.
It was an oversight, sorry.
I don’t know quite how the arbitration clock works, but maybe they shouldn’t start it ticking until September unless they are reasonably confident he can throw strikes in the bigs at present.
I agree on the firings and the DFAs. I’m not sure I agree with shifting Lopez all the way to sixth. I know that studies say that lineups don’t matter, but it seems like you’re burying him at the six spot, especially when Sexson is continuing to be a Three True Outcomes player.
Also, I’m giving up on this season now. In my mind, the pieces the M’s need (another corner OF that can mash left-handed pitching, a solid setup RHP, two starting pitchers) are too expensive, and the M’s deplete a minor league system that Bavasi has been trying to rebuild.
My hare-brained idea: find out if the O’s are willing to talk about Daniel Cabrera, and see if it’s doable. Maybe Piñeiro + Mateo + Balentien + cash for Cabrera and Gibbons? Nah, they wouldn’t do that.
But Cabrera intrigues me. Eternally top 5 in FLAKE, lacking control, but oh so much talent. Career 1.27 GB/FB. I really doubt the O’s would part with him for a bunch of retreads, but I’d at least make the call.
Here’s nutty idea #2: Trade Everett to Colorado for Ramon Ramirez. Everett can upper-cut the ball into the right field seats at Coors, and Ramirez could fill the Mateo role. Will Colorado do it and break up their bullpen? Probably not.
If I’m not mistaken, isn’t Baek on the 40-man roster and Cruceta not? I mean that really isn’t a big deal since you are making room with the DFA of Everett, but i think that is probably the biggest reason why Baek would get the call before Cruceta would.
I defy you to find guys who K 5-6 guys every 9 IP in AAA who experience longterm success in the majors
Ben Sheets in 2000, Internationl League, age 22: 6.5 K/9 – in 2001, he was pitching for the Brewers.
Roy Halladay, career minor league K/9: 5.88.
Not that I’m disagreeing about Baek – both Sheets and Halladay had stuff that said they should miss bats, even though they weren’t. Baek doesn’t have that kind of stuff.
Pitchers I’d be making calls about: Jon Rauch, Tony Armas, Kris Benson, Paul Byrd, Wade Miller, Rich Hill, Oliver Perez
Hitters I’d be making call about: Corey Patterson, Kenny Lofton, Aaron Rowand
I’m not saying any of these guys are totally viable, but any of them could be useful if the price is right. I don’t assume to know individual trade market prices, so that’s why I’m throwing out so many names. It’s obvious I don’t think that Ichiro should be in center if he doesn’t want to. I’d ask him first before going after the aforementioned center fielders, but once he says no, I’d move toward one of those three options. I’d also love to trade for Arizona’s Chris Young, but that’s more a pipe dream than anything else, and everyone in this forum likely loves Adam Jones too much to listen to my rantings about Young’s awesome prospects.
I’m going to save my speculation until about July 26.
I have to keep remembering that even though I don’t think the Mariners are any better than a .500 team, they could still win the division at that rate.
If so, I support Dave’s deals (though I have doubts about the extent to which Rich Hill can help put a team over the top this year).
If not, then we’re talking about dumping Meche (hopefully he’ll have a good month even if the M’s tank and hold whatever trade value he has) and others, and giving the kids/problem talents (like Cruceta) a shot.
No great ideas to add, other than random trade fantasies, but I find it mind boggling that the Mariners haven’t done #5 and some of #2.
It’s clear backup catcher is 4-5 AB/week if that. No sense having Rivera, a semi-prospect, rotting away when Quiroz is better right now. I understand why they’re keeping Eddie around but what’s the reason to NOT DFA Everett. He hasn’t hit all year and now is becoming an attitude problem. (What was that explosion at first base yesterday?!?) They don’t want his option to vest and in Bloomquist, Perez, and Petagine they have better/equal options on the bench. My hope is that they’re wating for the all-star break to DFA him and call up “someone” from Tacoma. No point calling up a prospect who’s trying to get his stroke back so he can sit 4 of the next seven days.
The others are judgement calls where I agree with Dave and can see why the Mariners have a different opinion. Not sure the Cubs are really to trade Hill, so that may be moot.
Going all the way up to Jerry’s at 2:
Why would you trade for Jason Hirsh? He’s minor prospect.
The problem I see is that Baek is going to throw strikes, alright- that get hit into the RF bleachers. His 2-4, 5.52 ERA cup of coffee in 2004 represents what you’d get out of him, and it’s not much of an improvement over Joel.
I’m pretty dubious that guys who aren’t able to outperform Ryan Franklin’s peripherals in Tacoma are going to do BETTER than him in the majors- and Ryan had a rubber arm as a benefit, at least.
By the way, I also agree about firing Hargrove. He’s the biggest liability on the team, in my opinion.
Fair enough, Dave- though Sheets blasted through the minors VERY quickly (2+ seasons from rookie ball to the majors, total of just under 200 IP in the minors), and Halladay got jocked in the majors in 2000, when he was posting low K rates in the minors as well, and in 2001, when he started succeeding in the majors, he was punching out a lot more guys per 9 innings in the minors as well- I’d argue he improved his K rates and his level of performance.
Anyway, I’m pretty suspect of guys who can’t punch guys out in AAA doing great in the majors. For every Jamie Moyer who can hang around at the margins there are lots of guys who can’t.
#41 I would go above him and make Bob Engle the GM.
Anyway, I’m pretty suspect of guys who can’t punch guys out in AAA doing great in the majors. For every Jamie Moyer who can hang around at the margins there are lots of guys who can’t.
You should be, because 5-6 K/9 is almost always a bad sign for a pitcher. I just figured since you “defied us” to name some guys, I’d take you up on it. There’s always an exception.
I don’t know about the trades, but I trust Dave’s judgement on that. I like the rest. My only change would be the lineup, as I’m nervous about moving Beltre out of the 2nd spot. So I think I’d have it look like this:
vs. RHP
1. Ichiro
2. Beltre
3. Ibanez (DH)
4. Sexson
5. Snelling (LF)
6. Lopez
7. Johjima
8. Choo (RF)
9. Betancourt
vs. LHP
Ichiro
Beltre
Sexson (why not have him swinging for the fences w/2 out?)
Perez (or Perez-Sexson)
Ibanez (LF or RF)
Lopez
Johjima
Snelling (LF or RF)
Betancourt
This team isn’t solid enough to win in the playoffs even if they can squeak out the AL West and probably isn’t strong enough for that.
I’d like to see as many of the vets that aren’t part of the solution get traded for the best upper level pitching prospects they can get. Their infield, catching, and one outfield spot is set (Sexson & Beltre won’t go anywhere for their $). OF/DH seems solid if Choo, Doyle, and Jones can pan out along with Ibanez. Next year, sign Schmidt & the Japanese Stud for a rotation of Schmidt, DS, Moyer, Felix, Washburn. Pen has Sherril, Soriono, Putz, and the best of the young pitchers.
I agree with firing Hargrove and lifting the pitch count. It seems like 100 or a little under is the magic number, no matter what is happening on the field. If the starter is rolling, keep him out there for another inning and save the pen. We’d never see a situation like Santana the other night where he gave up the 6 runs, but he was on the mound until the 8th.
#46: Can’t agree with you. Winning in the playoffs is largely a matter of luck, and as we’ve seen, the M’s are just as capable of being red-hot as anybody in baseball. It’s all a matter of whether they’re hot at that particular juncture … and how much they’ve done in advance to make themselves open to being lucky.
Eddie Guardado has been traded, just heard it on KJR. He went to Cincinatti, for a right handed pitcher named Travis Chick.
Guardado has been traded to the Reds for RH minor league pitcher Travis Chick.
This team isn’t solid enough to win in the playoffs
Of course they are. Any team that gets to the playoffs in baseball can win it all, and we see an example of that every few years. It isn’t the NBA.
I wonder how much cash we packaged with Eddie.
Hmmmm. Where to begin…
I agree that canning Grover is priority numero uno. Installing Rohn and meeting about organizational philosophy makes a lot of sense as well.
DFA’ing Jurassic Carl and bringing up Doyle seems like a no brainer to me as well.
I have no idea if the Cubs deal would actually work, so I’ll just operate under the “what I would do with what’s already in the organization” concept for right now.
Moving Ichiro to center would be great, if it actually happened. I like giving Choo a shot in right thanks to his arm, but isn’t LF actually more important in Safeco? I know Choo isn’t a fantastic defender, but I’d have to think he’d be an upgrade over Ibanez. Why not Choo in left and the Ibanez/Doyle combo in right?
I would opt for the Junior Nomar promotion over the Chen promotion, as Garciaparra is less of a prospect and harming his progress doesn’t even cross my mind. Chen could, at least, have some trade value at some point. I’d keep him progressing.
I’d certainly send Rivera down and bring Quiroz up.
I agree with going to the 11 man pen, for sure. Since I’m not trading I don’t get Scott Williamson. I’d promote Atchison (who has struggled somewhat this year but at least has some promise as a reliever). Joel is booted off my team, as are Mateo and Guardado. Cruceta is brought up to get a chance to start.
My lineup:
CF Ichiro
DH/RF Doyle
3B Beltre
RF/DH Ibanez
1B Sexson
C Johjima
2B Lopez
LF Choo
SS Betencourt
Rotation: Felix, Moyer, Meche, Washburn, Cruceta
Pen: Putz, Soriano, Sherrill, Fruto, Woods, Atchison
Again, I’m not making trades since I don’t really know what’s realistic, but I’d at least be interested in what it takes to acquire Jacque Jones. If I could get him I would have a legit CF to keep Ichiro happy most of the time, but I’d sit him against lefties, in which situation Ichiro slides over.
My lineup against righties would be Ichiro RF, Doyle DH, Beltre 3B, Ibanez LF, Sexson 1B, Jones CF, Johjima C, Lopez 2B, Betencourt SS.
Against lefties it would be Ichiro CF, Doyle (who hits lefties well, IIRC) LF, Beltre 3B, Ibanez RF, Sexson 1B, Perez DH, Johjima C, Lopez 2B, Betencourt SS. So essentially the platoon would be Jones/Perez which would be killer.
I don’t know what it would take to acquire Jones – presumably a bit better package than for Hill/Williamson. So I’ll just assume the three guys you parted with plus Choo (no clue if that would fly).
That leaves my bench as Bloomquist, Garciaparra, Perez/Jones, Quiroz, and Petagine.
Dave, any idea how feasible the Jacque Jones idea is?
RE: my own post…of course I agree about DHing Snelling at least part time, so however that works out is fine in the mix with Ibanez. He’s not very useful to us on the DL as we all well know.
RE: 46, I’d be all for keeping starters in the game after a couple of rocky innings if we had any pitchers besides Felix that I really trusted to right themselves. Moyer’s great, but when he’s getting hit, he’s getting hit–and I don’t think I need to explain about the rest. As for Felix, we’re trying to keep his pitch count down more than we’re trying to rest the bullpen, I think, so I just don’t see that being a viable strategy for this team, unfortunately.
Travis Chick, and in 2006… uh, yeah. Sounds like “live arm” to me, listed as having a good fastball in 2004 by Baseball America.
We got something for Guardado? I’m shocked. Absolutely shocked.
Has anyone got any info on the kid they got back in the deal? A bag of baseballs is an improvement on Eddie at this point. Wow. (Did the M’s have to eat salary? That’s the other big question.)
I just heard we traded Guardado for some chick. Sounds about right.
Travis this year in Chattanooga:
W- 4 L – 5 ERA-4.61 G-16 GS-16 CG-0 SHO-0 SV-0 IP-84.0 H -79 R – 45 ER – 43 HR- 12 HB 3 BB – 36 SO -77 WHIP – 1.37
I’d have taken a Chick-Fil-A for Guardado, let alone a guy who’s got a live fastball, apparently.
My guess is he’s middle/short relief organizational fodder, eventually, and in an organization that’s thin on fastballs, I can live with that.
Chick for Guardado has its own post.
Fire Hargrove, Hire Joey Cora,
Trade Piniero, Nageotte (i dont think he will be sucsessful) to PIT for Kip Wells.
Find another Outfielder.
Lose Guardado, Mateo, Pinero to Pen.
Travis Chick, 6-3 righty, according to BP’s 2006 book:
“Like a lot of hard-throwing youngsters, he had to take something off his fastball to avoid walking the bases against more experienced hitters who didn’t swing at every pitch in the same ZIP code as the ballpark. He’s got lots of time to improve his decent slider and minus change, and he’ll need it.”
Good K/W rates, but hasn’t thrived in AA or higher yet.
In Double-A Chattanooga this year:
4-5, 4.61 ERA, 36 walks, 77 Ks, 12 HRs allowed in 84 innings.
Sounds like marginal-major-leaguer material to me.
Like Eddie.
Good K/BB at least, maybe Safeco will help the HR problem.
I’d fire Mike Hargrove and first ask Sweet Lou if he wanted the job. If not I would give the job to the bench coach (taking ideas from the Houston Astros) who in 2004 fired Jimy Williams at the All Star Game, gave the managerial job to their bench coach Phil Garner and went 48 and 26 the rest of the year.
Now for lineup changes. First I’d trade Rivera, Choo and one more prospect who really doesn’t really have a future in this organization such as Navarro and trade them to the Phillies for LHP Rheal Cormier so he can help the bullpen. Then I’d try to trade Everett to a team with a bad offense for a couple of prospects then I would waive Eddie but if nobody took him I’d try to do the same as Everett. For Mateo I think one of the main reasons he’s doing so bad is that Hargrove overworks him. I think it was twice, well at least once that he was unable to pitch because he had pitched in like four straight games, plus he was injured for a while. So if he didn’t do better I’d demote him and call up Crucetta or some other good pitcher in Tacoma. I’d also demote Woods. Also for Choo I’d call up Doyle and for Rivera I’d call up Clemente who could bat versus rightys. Oh yeah I’d also put Pineiro in the pen and put Soriano into the SR, so my lineups would be:
Vs. RHP
1. Ichiro! CF
2. Beltre 3B
3. Ibanez LF
4. Sexson 1B
5. Lopez 2B
6. Petagine DH
7. Doyle RF
8. Betancourt SS
9. Clemente C
Vs. LHP
1. Ichiro! CF
2. Beltre 3B
3 Lopez 2B
4. Sexson 1Ba
5. Ibanez LF
6. Perez DH
7. Johjima C
8. Doyle RF
9. Betancourt SS
Pitching Rotation:
Starters:
1. Moyer
2. Soriano
3. Meche
4. Washburn
5. King Felix
Bullpen:
LRP. Cruceta
LRP. Baek
MRP. Fruto
MRP. Pineiro
CP. Putz
Re my post number 52:
Not sure what I was thinking, but I’d hit Perez cleanup versus lefties, and drop Ibanez to 8th.
As much as I wish I could, I can’t support a move of Soriano to the rotation this season. I’m too afraid of him being injured. Hopefully, they give him a nice rest after the end of the season and start stretching him out for 07. Ojalá.
Well guess what the Mariners… trade Eddie!!!! to the Reds for minor league pitcher Travis Chick.
Sorry guys didn’t see the other post or the messages for this post.
SI says Abreu and Burrell will both be available, for reletively cheap.
They’re both expensive, but signed through the next season or two, so it wouldn’t be a rent-a-player. Any idea on what it would take to pry Abreu away, or if he’s worth the money anyway? Unfortunately they’ve both got a no-trade clause, so getting them to come to Seattle might not be possible, but Gillick knows the M’s system, so he could certainly find something to match up.
Okay, the hindsight of the Eddie deal aside… my take.
Bye, Grover. Hi, Rohny.
Bad pun city: Put the junkballer in the Bullpenero. I’m not sold on Fruto and the jury’s obviously out on whoever takes Eddie’s place in the pen. There will be a spot for him.
Call up Cruceta and give him a shot in the rotation. Sink or swim, he cna’t be much worse than Joel.
Entertain the idea of trading Gil Meche. If no one shows significant interest or offers anything of significance in return, then ride it out with him, and let him test the free agency waters in the offseason. I’d lean towards keeping him for this year only because I don’t see another arm in Tacoma besides Cruceta that could step in and contribute anything beyond batting practice.
Bye, Bigotsaurus. If Doyle’s healthy and got his chops back, come on in, mate. Platoon him with Eduardo at DH. Rotate Ibanez/Perez/Doyle between LF/DH at will, to give each other a rest. Speaking of resting overworked starters, Petagine, twice a week at 1B, for Big Richie, and he doesn’t like it, he can stop striking out and GIDPing and start hitting .300 with consistency.
In fact, that will be the response to any struggling veteran who complains about getting benched or getting moved down the lineup. “Don’t like it? Play better. Until then, shut up before I trade you to Kansas City.”
If we see more solid play and less of what we saw yesterday out of Choo, leave him in CF. If not, go get the Ignitor, tell pentland to teach him how to drive the gaps and hope you get anything more than 250/280/320 and missed diving catches out of him. Entertain the thought of dealing Jeremy Reed in the offseason, while shopping the market for a useful CF on a 1-2 year deal.
Bye, Mateo. Sorry about your brother, but business is business. I’m not sold on Fruto but at worst, he’s better than Julio. If anyone in Tacoma is lights out and Fruto or anyone struggles, bring em in.
Bat Reed 9th when he returns, until he hits. In fact, take your worst slumping hitter, even if it’s Lopez of Ibanez or ICHIRO and bat him 9th. Set an example. No more entitlement to lineup spots.
Give Washburn a couple starts off (yes, start the Junkballer in his place. In fact, use the Junkballer as a spot starter. It’s not like he can’t do it.). Get Jarrod not to reach so far back on his windup.
I’m with everyone on sending down Rivera and calling up Quiroz. Ditto on adding a bench player and cutting the bullpen to 6 guys.
Rest guys whenever you can. Give Adam Jones the call and make him the middle infield and emergency CF guy. If that sounds implausible, just pick a middle infielder. Yeah, even LITTLE GARCIAPARRA.
Rotation: Moyer/Cruceta/Washburn/Meche/Felix
Bullpen: Junkballer/Woods/Fruto/Sherrill/Soriano/Putz
Lineup: Ichiro/Beltre/Ibanez/Johjima/Lopez/Sexson/DOYLE or Perez/Betancourt/CF
Bench: Petagine/Perez/WILLIE/Quiroz/PICK EM
Re: Offering a job to Piniella.
If I recall, Piniella isn’t particularly patient with young players. He isn’t a bad manager, would add some fire to the club, and wouldn’t put up with anybody’s crap, but one might prefer to hire somebody like Rohn that is both happy, comfortable, and experienced in developing young players.
On the other hand, anyone you could name, with the possible exception of “I can’t think of a single reason why a decent starting pitcher should ever be given a day off” Melvin, would be more flexible than Hargrove.
The problem with some of the trades proposed is that, with Hargrove in place, the new guy wouldn’t get any playing time if there was still an old experienced guy around to play in front of him.
Thus, fire Hargrove has to be first, unless the posited trades elicited All-Stars or at least old guys. In a perfect world Lincoln/Armstrong would be included in the fire-Hargrove package, but that’s unlikely to happen.
No one was a bigger supporter of Soriano as a starter than me. But putting him in the rotation now is a terrible idea, seeing as how we don’t know the full extent of his injuries.
If the Cubs would go for Dave’s deal, maybe they would trade the same pitchers for Chick, Everett, and Sexson. Put Petagine, backed up by Perez, at first.
Put [HIS NAME IS FREAKING PINEIRO] in the bullepen and give 2 starts to Hill. If he sucks as bad a Pineiro, try Curcetta for two starts. If he also sucks, try Jimenez. If he sucks, try Baek. Then give Livingstone a shot. If none of them are any better than Pineiro, give him another shot. Repeat the process until someone shows he can stick.
I also like swapping Rivera and Quiroz, especially since Johjima is likely to tire late in the season. But I wonder if there is a personality clash at play there, since they made such a precipitous move to get rid of Quiroz early in the year.
And bringing up Doyle to platoon with Perez is an obvious move.
This leaves a big hole in center field. Maybe the three minor leaguers Dave mentioned in his trade with the Cubs could be dealt for a decent outfielder.
To tell you the truth… it might be fun to run the team even for a day, but I’d be worried that I would screw it up. I guess I would have no problem telling Bavasi to fire Grover, but other than that…
If he sucks as bad a Pineiro, try Curcetta for two starts. If he also sucks, try Jimenez. If he sucks, try Baek. Then give Livingstone a shot. If none of them are any better than Pineiro, give him another shot.
Lou? Is that you?
Dave, just wondering your thoughts on possibly acquiring Jacque Jones (is it even worth looking into), as well as moving Choo to left and Snelling/Ibanez to right?
I’d like to add Randy Wolf to the list of guys I’d look into acquiring. Just a thought.
Feirabend + Choo + Adam Jones
for
Andruw Jones + Smoltz.
Flags fly forever.
Whoa… you’d have to say that’s dramatic.
OTOH, Andruw Jones has exactly zero rings as a Brave, so I’m not convinced he’s the end-all, be-all to give you a championship. It’s a pretty interesting trade conceptually, though- assuming Mariner ownership was willing to blow up the budget.
confess all the corporate thievery of the mariner organization to the fans. return the stadium to the people. offer to testify at the trial of the FO managers….uh …
as Butthead says: “that would be cool.”
Feirabend + Choo + Adam Jones
for
Andruw Jones + Smoltz.
The Braves could get way, way more than that for those two. They’d probably ask for more than that for just Andruw.
Dave, I’ll go after this in two parts. I know you threw out your plan for discussion not dissection, but there’s some points on it I don’t think are going to/can happen, and I want to reframe the focus a tad.
—Grover will not be fired _now_: he’s a blast shield for ownership to take the blow-up when the team finally tanks this year. As such, he has real value to the higher-ups in the org. He’ll be axed 1 Sep, or after the final game to take the fall, but till then we’re stuck with him. His constitutional inability to use his bench, or to distribute the workload amongst his bullpen arms will continue to hurt the team, maybe costing a loss or two the rest of the way. I’m not convinced that the ‘aggressive baserunning’ move is completely his play; we’d likely see some variation on it even with Rohn, ’cause the org believes that their weak-scoring team should do something on the basepaths to manufacture runs at Safeco “. . . like Lou managed to do.”
—Ichiro will never play CF here, except in an utter emergency. It’s very clear looking at his non-statements and “They haven’t asked me” remarks that he simply is unwilling to do it, but doesn’t want to take the heat for turning down the team publicly. They won’t put him in that spot, and they _will_ not force him to do it against his will. If there was ever any circumstance where it was going to happen, it was just now with Reed out for months but the team on a hot streak: Ichi didn’t go there. He will never play CF for the Ms. We can just forget this.
—Trading Feierabend+JThomas+Balentien: well, these guys are all taking a big step forward this year for what that’s worth, and they all have been in your personal doghouse since the team signed them, so on a nice speculative ‘what-if’ of course clean the fantasy roster of guys one is down on for guys one is high on. I’m far from sure it makes sense to dump them ALL, though. I’d rather like to see if Fontaine has really latched onto anything in Thomas, who could also advance quickly. Balentien has a better than even chance of drowning at the AAA level, but a non-negligible chance of turning into a monster masher. Like, yes, Ryan Howard, who had all of the same flaws, and more, and has not patched enough holes in his game and his swing to make his positives count for a few years. I have no problem with flipping Feierabend, who isn’t significantly better than Livingston, to me, or flipping all of them if I’m _sure_ something solid of long-term value is coming back. Otherwise, no, not all of them.
—I’m not sold that the team needs to spend prospects to bring in a power bullpen arm. By this time next year, the first of a big, big wave of power arms will be coming up through the system. Long-term, we won’t be hurting for Scott Williamson equivalents. This year, if Putz, Soriano, and Sherrill aren’t going well enough for the team to make the playoffs, the team just can’t make it. Getting one more arm behind them doesn’t change the equation unless Soriano is injured enough that they shut him down as a precaution. Bullpen isn’t the team’s big need.
—Offense is the team’s big need, and OFers who can play every day with good D, especially in center. To me, that’s where the focus of a ‘win this year’ deal should be.
In mix-and-match time, the Ms want to bring in a few bodies to make a run at the division title or at least finish at .500, and so put butts in seats and make their budget projections. I, on the other hand, believe that this season is bearsquat more or less, don’t care whether or not the Ms finish a few decimel places in the red, and care greatly that the team cleans up its roster and ideally brings in at least one player to build around. So:
—See if a package including but not limited to Meche+Choo+Asdrubal Cabrera can bring back Milledge from the Mets or Crawford from TB . . . oops, can’t do that, can I? Well, that’s the org’s major mulligan, since they swapped out their best chip for 1/3 of a pretty good DH who’s too old to be any use long term. I’m not going to forget this for a long time.
—I’m a big fan of Bobby Abreu, and was hoping for a Beltre for Abreu swap last offseason. I’d do it right now (I mean NOW, 2300 hrs PST, 6 July). But I’d also do Ibanez for Abreu right now, too, and I don’t care what the ‘Yah Gotta Love These Guys’ fans think. Both guys have about as much left but Bobby’s just better than Raul, and Gillick would do this one ’cause he knows Ibanez. Whether Abreu would come is open to question, but here’s one way to sweeten it: offer him the right to demand a trade _this_ offseason if he agrees to come now. He’s moveable in the offseason if it doesn’t work, and the team would clear salary if so.
—Get a CFer for the near-term witch some upside as a reserve but who won’t block Adam Jones, ideally a RH bat. Eric Byrnes comes to mind. If a LH hitter, Corey Patterson might well be pried away from Baltimore. Choo+shiny toy is the basis of this package. There are probably better guys out there, but I haven’t looked under every fallen log, so feel free to name a better name. I’d take Aaron Rowand if he’s available, but after a couple of highlight reel catchs I suspect that he either isn’t or would be too expensive. But yeah, he’d do the trick.
—If Feierabend+throw in for Rich Hill has any angle, work it hard. I’d be happy to have him.
—Carl Everett has to go, and Eddie too [already gone]. Mateo: he’s been torched several times which leads one to forget that the rest of the time he’s thrown fairly well. Yes, dump him in the offseason, he’s no keeper, but it’s hard to see anyone else doing much better. Rather than burning a bunch of organizational maybes for a bullpen arm, I’m quite happy to see what Fruto, Cruceta, and late in the year even Mark Lowe can do. If Hargrove fulminates a phoneme, _then_ fire him; winning is his job, not personnel, especially since he botched the one call he had on that with Everett.
—Quiroz up, Rivera down; total no-brainer, but obviously the Ms FO needs some help here.
—Doyle up, and he and Raul split time rotating between LF and DH. Someone above beat me to it, but this is the best way to improve LF defense, give Doyle limited playing time, and it can be sold to Raul as ‘keeping him fresh for the stretch drive.’ Perez DHs against lefties, while Doyle rests his knee, and Raul hazards the outfield. If we get Abreu, then DH is a platoon of Doyle and Perez until they bring up Clement, after which it’s probably Clement and Perez with Doyle getting occasional games in the outfield.
—Garciaparra up as an infield sub. I actually love the idea of bringing up Chen, but Hargrove won’t use either of them, and I’d like the team to get enough of a look ag Garciaparra to let the shine wear off, as happened with Dobbs and should have happened with Reed except his D was sweet for a time.
—DFA Pineiro. Look, players HAVE to be held accountable for performance. The team has done this with expensive vets where they’ve had to eat salary (see: Guardado, E.). The only reason Joel is still in the rotation is that the FO feels they don’t have a replacement who’s any better, and are terrified that they’d stick a body in his place who got raked for an 0-5 record. Well, DFA Joel, and when no team picks him up send him to Tacoma. Bring up Cruceta. He’s likely to be better in the pen then Joel, and can go in the rotation if Rich Hill is out of reach. I think clearly something is going to happen here, with team talking about ‘reordering the rotation.’ Joel _is_ going, and I say “Bye bye.”
—Cheap pen guys who are interesting: Jon Rauch, Damaso Marte.
—More generally, Pittsburgh and the Nationals aren’t going anywhere, have many holes, and are likely looking to next year already. See if their organizations can be picked for something useful long term.
—Lineup
Ichiro RF
Beltre 3B
Lopez 2B
Abreu LF
Perez/Doyle DH
Sexson 1B
Joejim/Quiroz C
??? CF
Betancourt SS
Bench:
Perez/Doyle
Quiroz
Petagine
Bloomers
Young pup
Rotation:
Moyer
Felix
Washburn
Meche
Cruceta/acquisition
Bullpen, six men:
Putz
Soriano
Sherrill (getting more innings)
Damaso Marte/Jon Rauch
Fruto
[one load of assorted backfill]
Pray alot, and when that doesn’t serve order another Triple Carmeliet.
I’m surprised no one has suggested a trade for Craig Wilson.