Open Thread

Dave · August 31, 2006 at 10:46 am · Filed Under Mariners 

Okay, it’s an off day, Derek’s in Europe, and Jason, Jeff, and I are too busy to put up any kind of substantial content for the afternoon. If we leave last nights game thread as the top post, that’s going to turn into an off topic bandwidth nightmare, so, against my better judgment;

Here’s an open thread for those of you who constantly complain about our requirements that you stay on topic. Want to post your roster construction ideas? Take potshots at the engineering community? Need to rant about Hargrove walking Adam Kennedy to get to Howie Kendrick (seriously, what was he doing)? You a lurking Red Sox fan who still hates me because of the Papelbon/Lester thread and wants to gloat?

Knock yourselves out. These opportunities won’t present themselves very often. Talk about anything you’d like within the comment guidelines – the general rules still remain, so no politics, no steroid innuendo, and be nice to each other.

And for those of you who are cringing reading this intro, I suggest skipping the comments section. We’ll have real content for you guys again tomorrow.

Comments

222 Responses to “Open Thread”

  1. Cynical Optimist on August 31st, 2006 8:50 pm

    Did the Red Sox really just get George Kottaras for a week and a half of fat David Wells?

    According to the trade story on MLB.com, [San Diego GM Kevin] Towers would “neither confirm nor deny” that the PTBNL in the deal is Kottaras. That would be crazy if true. Great catching prospect.

    Also, Mr. Towers, did you really say ‘neither confirm nor deny’? Because that is pretty much always assumed to be a confirmation.

  2. DKJ on August 31st, 2006 8:56 pm

    Mr. Malph, it was the editorial staff of Baseball Digest who intimated a relationship between Hendu’s long ball and the tragedy of Donny Moore. I came here for enlightenment on the subject, and I appreciate that you provided it.

    You are not the actual Ralph Malph – Donny Most – are you? Ralph Malph is just your nom de blog? Well that’s the sort of question that one can’t get an answer to.

    Thanks anyway. I brought up the subject because others besides me have manifested some irritation at Mr. Henderson’s mannerisms, a feeling I only began to share this season.

  3. msb on August 31st, 2006 9:46 pm

    Neither Mr Yamauchi, Ichiro! nor Joh will have any effect on getting Matsuzaka. The only thing that will get Matsuzaka is the winning bid for the rights to talk to him.

  4. LB on August 31st, 2006 9:52 pm

    #200: If he were to be posted, the advantages for Seattle that have been mentioned the most are Ichiro’s status and the Japanese ownership. Wouldn’t having Kenji as his backstop be even more influential?

    The only advantage that the M’s can leverage is a higher sealed bid than any other MLB team. Yankee dollars are influential in this process, nothing else.

    If the M’s bid is even $1 less than the Yankees’ (or any other team’s), then Bud Selig will not even forward that bid to Matsuzaka’s Japanese team. As far as the Japanese team and player are concerned, there is only one MLB team to be dealt with.

  5. LB on August 31st, 2006 9:55 pm

    #201: Kottaras… Great catching prospect.

    So was Ben Davis, which is why San Diego is willing to make this trade. They have burned child syndrome with great catching prospects.

    Also, they went 3 and out in the NLDS last year and have ambitions to go a little deeper this year. Wells is a very good bet to help them get back to the playoffs and do that, especially since obtaining him for themselves keeps him out of a Dodgers’ uniform.

  6. Oly Rainiers Fan on August 31st, 2006 10:12 pm

    So tonight at the Rainiers game, Dobbs rounded third, ready to head for home. You could almost see the cartoon caption above his head as he thought ‘wait, no, I’m in Tacoma, and Brundage is the anti-aggressive-baserunning-coach’.

    Like I said a few weeks back, when we were playing Oakland, I think our player philosophy with regard to progression thru the farm system is really screwing us. Oakland does that ‘.obp is important’ message all thru their system. If we want to have an aggressive baserunning team (I’m not saying that IS what we want, but…), then we should do that all the way up the system at every level. Then, maybe we’d be better at it.

    I’m already in mourning. My season ends Monday.

  7. JeffS on August 31st, 2006 10:38 pm

    We should pay whatever cost to get Matsuzaka.

    Rotation:
    1. Matsu
    2. Felix
    3. Wash
    4. ????
    5. Baek/Woods

    Not bad at all…

  8. Cynical Optimist on August 31st, 2006 10:49 pm

    205 – I can’t disagree with you that Wells probably helps their chances in the short term, and that there was an arms race with the Dodgers aspect to the deal. But do you really give away the best prospect in your system just because Ben Davis didn’t pan out? That’s a pretty poor way to analyze the potential career of George Kottaras or any future catcher in the Pads’ system.

    Maybe if you’re San Diego you figure anybody can win the NL this year, but at the same time it looks pretty astute by the Red Sox. They turned a player they don’t need into one of the four or five best catching prospects in baseball, and a guy who looks like he’ll be ready right in time to take over for Varitek.

  9. metz123 on August 31st, 2006 10:53 pm

    Spike Owen…there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while. My wife & I had a running joke that I wanted to call my first child Spike (if it was a boy). Of course this was when we lived in Boston, Owen was a member of the Sox along with Hendu and ’86 was a fresh memory.

    Lucky for my kids we had 4 girls….(none of them named Spike.)

  10. msb on August 31st, 2006 11:11 pm

    But do you really give away the best prospect in your system just because Ben Davis didn’t pan out?

    well, Ben Davis, Wiki Gonzales, and just about every catcher they’ve tried since Santiago…

  11. LB on August 31st, 2006 11:17 pm

    #208: The Red Sox were in the driver’s seat. It was a seller’s market for pitchers who had cleared waivers. That Wells was a pitcher who didn’t suck and came with a post-season track record made him all the more valuable.

    Bagwell for Anderson was an August 30 (waiver wire) deal.

  12. JeffS on August 31st, 2006 11:38 pm

    Does anyone know if Meche cleared waivers?

  13. Nat Irons on August 31st, 2006 11:52 pm

    No comment on the Red Sox going out and getting Kevin Jarvis? I read that and thought he must be enjoying some sort of unsustainable streak of luck, but no, he’s got an ERA like a bowling score.

  14. LB on August 31st, 2006 11:53 pm

    #212: At this point, it wouldn’t matter, since it’s past midnight Eastern Time, so he wouldn’t be eligible for a postseason roster if he were to be traded now. (But to answer your question: no, I don’t know.)

  15. LB on September 1st, 2006 12:46 am

    #213: Someone has to pitch in Pawtucket for the next couple of days. Boston started a reliever (Tavares) today in Wells’ slot and he could only go three innings. So a lot of AAA pitchers are coming up to Boston to get through the necessary innings.

  16. terry on September 1st, 2006 4:51 am

    #182: boy japanese hitters suck 🙂

  17. CCW on September 1st, 2006 8:20 am

    Quote directly from rotoworld: “Chris Snelling, OF: Snelling, a.k.a. Doyle, is an injury-prone 24 year-old outfielder. He hit quite well in Triple A last year before getting hurt, but fared poorly at the same level this season. He got the call anyway and is 13 for 35 with a couple of home runs already. We know the talent is there, so Snelling should be picked up in AL-only. AL: $15, Mixed: $2.”

    Doyle!

  18. The Ancient Mariner on September 1st, 2006 9:00 am

    Kottaras wasn’t the Pads’ best prospect — that would be Cesar Carillo. BA did have Kottaras #2 before the season, though.

  19. msb on September 1st, 2006 9:03 am

    a few more stray threads….

    USA today talks about the thin pitching pool due to earlier long term contracts, the OC Register has a piece about the attractiveness of the Angels for the latin player, and Jim Caple talks to Jeffrey Maier

  20. sidroo on September 1st, 2006 10:48 am

    So, uh, how many people would trade Ichiro straight up to for A-rod? With Texas paying a chunk, the salaries are pretty much a wash. If Reed doesn’t work out, I’m sure we’d get a decent CF for Yuni.

    A-rod’s gotta be thinking leaving Seattle was the biggest mistake of his life. (You *know* how much he loved the summers here!) And it’d be cool to have a division rival pay a third of his salary to have him beat up on them.

  21. dbroncos31 on September 1st, 2006 3:32 pm

    Yeah. I’m from New York (garrison) and became an M’s fan b/c of Griffey and edgar and jay.
    this lineup is probably a wet dream, but i do think that most of it is do-able.

    1. King Felix
    2. Daisuke Matsuzaka
    3. Schmidt/other FA pitcher
    4. Washburn
    5. Woods
    and how bout this lineup?
    1. Ichiro!
    2. Doyle
    3. Beltre
    4. Lee Seung-Yeop
    5. Rauuul
    6. Benny B
    7. Kenji
    8. Jose
    9. Yuniesky
    I would hope to trade sexson, maybe to the yanks for some cash, as they’re interested in lee as a 1B.

  22. Curious Guy on September 2nd, 2006 8:51 am

    Remember when you wrote that long post about “why the A’s aren’t that good,” and finished with this gem:

    There’s no reason to be afraid of the A’s. The Mariners are a better team, even if the national writers will take months to figure that out.

    That was gold, Jerry, gold!

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