Sexon AND Delgado, yay!
Jim Street’s latest at MLB.com has it happening. And in case you thought he might get through it without saying something implausible:
Think about that. Sexson and Delgado in the middle of Seattle’s lineup. All of a sudden, a team that hit the fewest home runs and scored the fewest runs in the American League last season looks like a Murderer’s Row.
A historically great offense, wow! Like the Yankees of the 30s!
Best-case Recreation of Best Previous Year Jim Street Memorial Mariners Murderer Row:
Richie Sexson (2003) : .272/.379/.548
Raul Ibanez (2002): .294/.346/.537
Carlos Delgado (2000): .344/.470/.664
Bret Boone (?)(2001): .331/.372/.578
Wow, that suuuure is powerful. Except that relative to the rest of baseball, the best of those isn’t close to Ruth’s 1927 season, which makes Boone’s 2001 look like Boone must have been hitting with a wet noodel. Or Gehrig’s season, which was equally good.
Even Earle Combs and Bob Meusel, who get short shrift, beat the best of the M’s. Combs put up a line in 1927 where, relative to the league, he was as good as the career years of *any* of the M’s players. Meusel was as good in 1927 as Ibanez had ever been.
The only way I can come close to expressing this in modern terms: the 1927 Yankees had two Barry Bonds performances backed by Albert Pujols and David Ortiz.
And while we can argue a little about what our metrics for relative comparison is, no matter what you choose, it totally neglects the issues of injury, effectiveness, and how slim the chances that all four of those guys would put up career lines.
Adding Sexson and Delgado at their best wouldn’t make a Murderer’s Row. Next season’s lineup would be more like a snowball fighter’s reading club.
oooof
Good to be back home. I don’t have any good rumors or anything.
It was weird to read the San Francisco Chronicle and read that the Giants may be pursuing a trade for Randy Winn (and that they’d been interested in him for over a year, which… what?). As much as I mock the Times, it was weird to read a paper where there were agenda pieces on the front page (like “the city may be backing off this bad idea, which is for the best anyway because we like this other idea…”) and containing a sports column of the “notes and stream-of-consciousness” written by someone who had lost their notes and was working against a severe upstream current.
My head hurts
The winter meetings are over, but the last half hour is threatening to make me turn my phone off. Pedro Martinez is supposedly going to the Mets, which is reportedly setting off a monstrous chain reaction that could lead to everything we’ve discussed the past 24 hours getting blown apart. Sexson’s agent is saying the deal is still not done (which is true, as nothing has been signed, but a tentative agreement has been reached) while the Dodgers have supposedly called a press conference to either announce that they’ve re-signed Adrian Beltre, they’re dropping out of the Adrian Beltre sweepstakes, or that they’re moving the franchise to Lake Titicaca, depending on who you talk to.
It’s insane, honestly. I don’t know that anyone has a good idea what’s really going on right now. And this was supposed to be the boring day.
Update: It appears that the talk of a Dodgers press conference was either incorrect or it was delayed/canceled. Who knows. I’m just ready for all this to end.
Koskie to Jays
Well, he won’t be a Mariner. Three years, $17m pending the physical, ESPN and others report.
I don’t understand this, either — the Jays are a reasonably smart team, but I agree with Dave’s write-up on Koskie. On a shorter deal, I still think he’d be okay as a fill-in if he came cheap, but this is a long commitment for a lot of money, and it’s unlikely he’s going to be worth what he signed for.
Rule 5
The Mariners passed in today’s major league portion of the rule 5 draft, as expected, thanks to their full allotment of the 40 man roster.
Minnesota selected lefty Ryan Rowland-Smith, who was #26 on the Future Forty. I’d say its a longshot they’ll keep him the whole season.
Sexson
Ken Rosenthal reports that the M’s are closing in on a deal for Richie Sexson.
Considering the offers he’s gotten to date and walked away from, here’s to hoping this one doesn’t materialize.
Update: Yep, this one looks to be true. As long as the physical pans out, we could see a press conference tonight. If the numbers being tossed around are true, too much money for too many years. I’m actively rooting for Sexson to fail the physical.
Updates
There’s a lot of untruths floating around out there surrounding the Beltre situation. Without getting into too much detail, the M’s have the best offer on the table, and if nothing changes, he’s probably going to be a Mariner next spring. Obviously, things change on an hourly basis, though, so that doesn’t mean much. Remember that patience we asked you to exercise? Just a few more days, folks.
In a related note, a lot of people believe that Tim Hudson is going to be a Dodger by night’s end. The A’s would reportedly get Edwin Jackson and Antonio Perez. DePodesta wouldn’t include Jackson in the Randy Johnson deal last summer, so I’m surprised to see him willing to move Jackson just a few months later. If the Dodgers acquire Tim Hudson and extend his contract, they will be very hard pressed to meet the asking price for Beltre.
This should be an active afternoon for other clubs, though I don’t expect the M’s to finalize anything today. There should be several deals going through that put the wheels in motion for the big dominos to start falling, however. Interestingly enough, it appears that Edgar Renteria may be the lynchpin in this whole thing. Should be another fun day.
And remember folks; patience.
Beltre-o-matic
Ahhh… brief internet access.
I would qualify the sourcing on Beltre thing I called Jason with as “erratically reliable”.
I admit that when I heard it, I pretty much blew a fuse before calling Jason. I am, at heart, a huge M’s fan (you may have noticed). So forgive my contagious enthusiasm.
Last Feed Reminder
The Second Annual U.S.S. Mariner Pizza Feed is one week away. Next Saturday, Jason, Derek, and I are going to be hosting a pretty large get together of M’s fans to hang out, talk baseball, and generally have a good time. We’re bringing in some pretty cool guests, as well, and a good time will be had by all. Unless, of course, the Mariners have signed Jeromy Burnitz to a five year contract, in which case, we’ll likely turn into a mob with pitchforks and start burning things to the ground.
The details of the event are below. I am placing the food order tonight, so if you’d like attend, you pretty much need to let us know today.
When?: December 18th from 12 pm to 5 pm.
Where?: Horace Mann Elementary School in Redmond.
Who?: Derek, Jason, Dave, you, and various special guests who you’ll enjoy meeting.
How much?: $15 per person
Is there food?: Enough pizza, salad, and sides for lunch and a small dinner (New York Vinnie excluded)
Great! Now what? If you’re going to attend, you must do three things:
1. Email us with the name of each person you’re confirming attendance for.
2. You’ll receive an address in response to mail your check to. Payment in advance is required; your spot is not guaranteed until we receive your money.
3. Show up on the 18th.
See you all next Saturday.
Raining on the parade
You know whats cool about multi-author blogs? You can get conflicting rumors from the same site…
I love Jason and D, but this one doesn’t have legs. Beltre to the M’s is not a done deal. I’m guessing Derek’s source got a little jumpy. It doesn’t look like Beltre will sign at the meetings.