Comments on: One More Link

By: chief

chief — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:18:46 +0000

I know this is off the track but Ichiro just hit an inside the park home run with one on.
AL 2 – NL 1. MVP??

By: gwangung

gwangung — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 05:05:38 +0000

I think many of you have missed my point. I am not saying we should NOT have signed Ichiro. I am saying we signed him for TOO MUCH.
The impact of this signing could affect other areas of this organization (as mentioned above plus others not mentioned.)

Well, the smartass answer is that it wouldn’t be a problem if they spent their money better on other parts of the lineup, it wouldn’t be a problem….

On the other hand, there is certain amount of value of being able to pack as much run-scoring/run-stopping ability as Ichiro offers into one position. The traditional way has been to focus on the offensive end…but combining defense and offense will do it as well.

As the blog authors point out, nothing matches the value of pre-arb players who perform. You’re not going to match the bang you get for your buck there. But when you look at the context of free agents and of your own players about to be free agents, I think the equation changes (for free agents, it averages out to be $4.4 million a win, and probably will increase in years to come). The question you may want to ask is if Ichiro will continue to give you 5-6 wins above average for the life of the contract….

By: Wells

Wells — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:19:33 +0000

Are we kissing Geoff’s ass every time he writes something now because he mentions USSM?

By: david h

david h — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:56:50 +0000

#31 I seem to remember there was a lot of hand-wringing about Baker on this very blog when he was hired. Actually, the first post on Baker here was optimistic, including this line: Iâ€™m happy to hear itâ€™s Baker, though, as heâ€™s written pieces critical of the local team, and Finniganâ€¦ And the posts following that had their share of praise too.

By: Kunkoh

Kunkoh — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:21:27 +0000

I canâ€™t see defending the Vidro/Snelling or Ramirez/Soriano trade. I can see picking up someone that looks like they had potential to get back in form (Guillen, Sexson, Ordonez) after surgery; or picking someone up after a career year (Beltre) because you have to take a risk. I can justify those, and realize that itâ€™s a gamble that could turn against you.

Vidro and Ramirez though? I really see those as â€œlaying your own minefieldâ€. Especially the Ramirez (bad and fragile NL pitcher), when having kept Soriano could have allowed Morrow to go to the minors. Youâ€™re looking at guys that are either declining or never were, and are frequently injured.

Hind site is 20/20 thoughâ€¦

By: raw1

raw1 — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:18:12 +0000

Ahhh, let the business guys worry about the money. It looks like we get to enjoy one of the best and possibly the most exciting player in baseball for many years to come. I am absolutely grinning from ear to ear. And the better news is…he is on a mission. I think we will see him turn it up a notch (if there is a notch left to turn up to) in the second half as the M’s charge toward the playoffs. Exciting baseball has, at last, returned to Seattle.

By: kenshabby

kenshabby — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:05:33 +0000

The above should read “He’ll then become…”.

By: kenshabby

kenshabby — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:04:28 +0000

Considering that Ichiro was underpaid (relatively speaking) for his first seven seasons here, $20m per doesn’t seem that outrageous. Using my crystal ball, I’m predicting that Ichiro will remain at his current level of productivity for three more seasons. He’ll then have two more good, not great years, and retire with around 2,600 hits and 1,300 runs. He’ll the become the first Japanese player enshrined in Cooperstown, having played all twelve major league seasons for the same club.

By: J from Issy

J from Issy — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:45:25 +0000

I think many of you have missed my point. I am not saying we should NOT have signed Ichiro. I am saying we signed him for TOO MUCH.

The impact of this signing could affect other areas of this organization (as mentioned above plus others not mentioned.)

Ichiro will decline as ALL players do. It is impossible to say by how much player X will decline because all players are unique. But if stays on par with his averages then great, we got a player who is different than every other player throughout history.

By: msb

msb — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:34:01 +0000

I seem to remember there was a lot of hand-wringing about Baker on this very blog when he was hired.

really?