and then he got a catcher.

Either way, I don’t really do roster speculation or posting speculation anyway, so I’m afraid I can’t really be of much help in this situation. I can, however, write you a song about it, if you’d like.

#53 (and Deanna): The whole point of the agreement with the Japanese League and MLB is, from Japan’s perspective, supposed to prevent the Japanese League from just becoming a farm team (like the Mexican League is) to MLB. They consider themselves a major league, so yeah, if they start losing too many good players to MLB and the quality of their league starts suffering noticeably because of it, I’d be wondering what additional changes they’d be wanting to make to that agreement with MLB (it gets re-negotiated every couple years I think).

Of course, they may have bigger problems in that an article I read recently said the Japanese players union is starting to make some noise about how the agreement might violate Japanese anti-trust laws….if that movement gains any traction, the Japanese league would be in big trouble.

What a horribly negative way of looking at things. Although NPB and hte posting process seems a smidge on the reprehensible side in that it feels more like selling human beings then wishing them well with greater competition, it isn’t as if you’re not a fan of Major League Baseball too.

To fit your analogy, if I happened to also like, follow, and watch Galactic League Baseball, I would watch my favorite former Earthican players taking on the best of the best on a greater scale. Meanwhile, if Tip-Tac- and Toe from the Zoq-Fot-Pik Frungy Leagues was purchased by the New York Yankees to play second base even though they hit a combined (3 splits) .235 / .290 / .336 and were horrible at fielding seeing as how they have no arms, I’d be interested in seeing how the newcomers handle the insane New York Media.

OTOOH, Bill Bavasi has a record of telegraphing the _type_ of move he’s going to make. Remember last year’s “lefthand sock” and the need to get some pitching? His remarks there were not exceptional, and indicated his real intentions, just like the year before he made it clear he was going to sign some big bats. I do not doubt that Bavasi is zeroing in on a corner outfielder with power; that just fits how he and his guys have been ‘building the team,’ to me. And I’ve thought for many months that the Ms FO as a group were going to make a move on Jason Schmidt. So by that matrix, Matsuzaka is their third priority, and a hyper-expensive one, if they make an offer.

My gut feeling for some time for what it’s worth [I'll save you the trouble, Dave: "Nothing."] is that Matsuzaka will NOT be a Mariner. Nothing in the article counters that feeling. Don’t let it creep up on you, folks, if it happens that the Ms big offseason moves this year are something like Cliff Floyd and Jason Schmidt. . . . Which is why I’m watching more squash than baseball these days. Ramy Ashour is something, inn’t he, hey?

The question is do you think the Mariners are Machiavellian enough to conceive of this type of plan.

Didn’t mean to bring up a touchy subject. I hope the Japan Series was worth staying up for. I look forward to reading the update as soon as I can access Marinerds again.