To me Dickey seems like exactly the kind of pitcher we need to try to pick up. He was much more effective in relief (that BP fastball gets really easy to drill after 2 abs) and really had decent minor league stats in 07 and even better in 08 (4.36 FIP and 3.18 in 08).

Also probably one of the pitchers that could benefit most from the improved defense we’ll have (it will improve, right???)

Just doesn’t seem like a wasted spot on the 40 man for peanuts in pay. But I guess we’ll know that by the people they get to fill those spots.

Best bet: use that “email the authors” link towards the upper left of the page. Since you’re new, please keep in mind this is not some fancy-schmancy commercial sports site. It’s a labor of love for the authors: they don’t get paid to do any of this (ads and donations go towards keeping the site up, but don’t even cover that), and they have real jobs and other commitments on their time — in addition to working, Dave’s newly married and working on a degree. He also writes daily for Fangraphs. So don’t get too upset if he doesn’t seem to respond, or doesn’t respond right away. What often happens is that those kinds of questions get banked until the FO does something related, or one of the newspapers carries something stupid/interesting about the same topic, and then Dave or Derek or Conor writes a post that, along the way, happens to respond to a bunch of questions they’ve been getting. But just posting random questions in a comment for a completely unrelated post will just get your comment deleted.

However…

This move makes no sense to me. None at all.
Can someone explain why this is a good move?

Dickey was a bad pitcher. I don’t care how many innings you eat, it doesn’t help if they’re eaten with a 5.21 ERA.

NELSON FIGUEROA–the first Brandeis University graduate to play MLB—is not available. He just signed an mlb contract with the Mets; with the usual ST invite.

If you’re going to talk about him with such pride, you ought to know that he’s a right-hander. I was talking about lefties specifically, and in this case, Pedro Figueroa, presently of the Athletics. You do raise a good point, however, in that when dealing with these common Spanish last names, one ought to have a first attached. So I’m talking about Jose Lugo of the Twins, not Ruddy Lugo.

I don’t think Lis is better than the in-house options. His year in Beloit, while impressive, was the best of his career and his plate discipline has been trending in the wrong direction for years now. Jesus Guzman, I’d get a kick out of seeing again because he’s one of those guys that sticks around and does some impressive things on work ethic alone. I think his winter league numbers will get him a long look and maybe even a pick by someone, but I doubt it will be the Mariners.

Besides, they can probably find better players with the roster spots in FA, the Rule-5 or through trades…

I’d make a case for Loek van Mil so we can bolster our ranks of absurdly tall players with good raw pitching ability,

Not to mention extending our undisputed MLB lead in unpronounceble/unspellable names.

He’s an innings eater with potential upside who can spot start if you need him

Aside from the upside part, let’s hope the roster improves enough so that Silva can fill that role out of the bullpen.