Howard Lincoln’s letter to season-ticket holders
First, a thanks to the readers who sent in a couple versions of this before I could update the original request. Our readers are great. Fortunately, having more than one meant that (like comparing Shakespeare folios, only without the quality of writing or historical significance) I could assemble a perfect copy. Therefore, I present to you, dear reader, Howard Lincoln’s letter to season ticket holders. Please set down any beverages you may be enjoying before you read this. Thanks to Adam, Jason, and Kirk, and I’d offer last names except that I don’t want them to yank your tickets.
August 30, 2004
Dear Season Ticket Holder,
Like you and other Seattle Mariners’ season ticket holders, I’m
terribly disappointed with our team’s performance this season. My
expectations for this season were very high coming out of spring
training. So were the expectations of our ownership group, our front
office executives, our players, our field manager and our coaches. We
all expected to be in the middle of a battle for the American League
Western Division title during the last month or so of the season.
Instead, we were never in the race this year. That is simply not
acceptable.
We’ve harped on the lack of dissent or an objective view of reality in the front office before, but this is pretty funny. What really sticks out is the “or so”. Did Lincoln seriously expect that they might be out of realistic contention in 30 days, but still have hope at 45? And that that would be okay? Isn’t the goal of the team to field teams that can compete for the division title all year long?
I appreciate all the support you’ve given this team, both this season
and in seasons past. Safeco Field remains a special place to see the
excitement of Major League Baseball, and the crowds continue to be
loud and appreciative for the home team, including rookies who are
getting their first chance to play at the Major League level. I know
that you continue to care about your team. I recognize and appreciate
your enthusiastic support. I certainly don’t take it for granted.
“Less special when we cram more seats in, but never mind.”
This goes back to another point we’ve made here — that they are deeply worried about fan perception. The decline in actual gate attendence probably has them spooked.
Your loyalty to the Mariners is what fuels this franchise. I know
that being a season ticket holder is not an inexpensive proposition!
In asking for your patience and continued support, I also know that
you expect that changes will be made as quickly as possible to turn
this team around. That is precisely what we are now in the process of
doing. That process will continue through the coming off-season.
Jeez, I’d hope so. That said, while I appreciate the nod to how much it costs, what the hell does Howard Lincoln know about season tickets being an expensive proposition? He’s worth eighty cajillion dollars and gets all the Gamecubes he can eat. I don’t think he sits around wondering if he’s going to be able to afford a 16-game pack next year if his job gets outsourced to India.
Okay, that was a little unfair. Sorry.
In late June, after it became apparent that we were too far behind, we
made the decision to turn our attention to the future. We needed to
turn the page and focus on building a team that can reach this
organization’s ultimate goal – a World Series Championship.
As long as, you know, we can do it pretty cheaply, and it’s a bad year for the other teams in our division.
Lincoln continues to try and make up for his accidentaly honesty in admitting they weren’t really interested in making a run for it. Trying for World Series is what everyone wants them to do, and it’s what they’d like us to think they’re going to do.
To achieve that goal, we need to be back in contention as soon as
possible, and hopefully next year. While some teams in our situation
decide to pursue long-term rebuilding programs, that is not our plan.
We plan to assemble a team that will be back in the race sooner,
rather than later. We know it won’t be easy. There are no guarantees
in baseball. But that’s our plan.
If you’re interested, Mr. Lincoln, we have some suggestions on how you could do that. Drop us a line, we’re happy to talk to you.
General Manager Bill Bavasi’s first step was to make several
mid-season moves to acquire some top young position players and to
call up some of the best players from our farm system. We have been
able to evaluate young players like Miguel Olivo, Justin Leone, Travis
Blackley, Bucky Jacobsen, Bobby Madritsch, George Sherrill, Jose
Lopez, Matt Thornton, Clint Nageotte and others against Major League
competition. It is important to determine now who will fit into our
plans in 2005, and who needs more time to develop. And it has given
our rookie players a chance to better understand what it takes to be
successful at the Major League level.
They have to be tested like this, you see, because Bavasi doesn’t believe you can get anything out of minor league statistics. But okay, this is all fine.
The next step will be off-season moves – trades and free agent
signings. Bill will have the financial resources and flexibility to
pursue key players via free agency and trades, to quickly return the
Mariners to the quality of play you want and expect. Although we’ve
been asked by several season ticket holders about our interest in
specific free agents, because of Major League Baseball’s tampering
rules, we are not able to identify the names of potential free agents
that we may be interested in signing. In addition, we don’t want the
other 29 teams to know our plans.
So Bavasi’s been given money and permission to do what he needs to do to get the Mariners winning again. What Bill doesn’t have is the ability to make good use of those things. But again, nit-picky. He’s right about tampering, though — while we’re free to scream “sign Beltran!” at the top of our lungs, he can’t hint at it.
I understand that when making promises to season ticket holders,
actions speak louder than words. I also recognize that we need to
learn from our mistakes. I’ve made my share! The challenge ahead is
exciting. I accept it with enthusiasm and confidence, and together
with Chuck Armstrong, Bill Bavasi and our entire front office, we’re
ready to go to work to field a team you will be proud of.
Lincoln admits he’s made mistakes! Pat Borders traded from a Gillick-associated team! Dogs and cats, living together! It’s telling that Lincoln and Co. aren’t interested in discussing the particulars of their mistakes, and that they’re still stuck on team you’ll be proud of, which means more Ibanez and less Bradley.
Over the past several months, I’ve heard from many of our season
ticket holders. Chuck
Armstrong and I have met with small groups of fans to talk about the
Mariners. We plan to
continue doing so for the forseeable future. We have also received a
number of email messages from our fans. The thoughts, feelings, and
comments of these fans about Mariners Baseball have been extremely
helpful as we plan for the future.
Phhbllltttt. Armstrong and Lincoln have also told fans before the season that they’d budgeted payroll based on x fans, and would have more money to spend if more fans turned up…. and then pleaded poverty all year as so many fans came out each game that they had to sit on top of the roof. Meeting with small groups of fans (How many groups, 2? How small, 2 fans? Do you think perhaps surveying casual fans might lead to an entirely different impression than talking to season ticket holders?) doesn’t mean anything to me, as the team’s shown in the past they’re not listening to even the most cogent and persuasive of their critics.
Off the field of play, we remain committed to providing outstanding
family entertainment and guest service at Safeco Field. Through
Mariners Care, the Mariners charitable foundation, we will continue to
do our part to make this community a better place to live. In our
meetings with fans, they have reinforced that these aspects of
Mariners Baseball are highly valued and appreciated. So, as we work
to improve the team, we will also continue to improve the fan
experience at the ballpark and our community service programs.
… by sticking more stands in your favorite places to hang out, for instance.
On August 9th, Edgar Martinez announced that he would retire at the
end of the 2004 season. Edgar is a true gentleman, one of the
classist people I’ve ever met. I hope to be in Cooperstown, N.Y.,
someday soon, to watch as he in inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.
I hope you will be in your seats at Safeco Field on October 2nd,
Edgar Martinez Day, when the Mariners honor Edgar in a post-game
ceremony to celebrate his career and what he has meant to Mariners
Baseball and to the people of this community.
And folks, Howard Lincoln knows classy. Seriously, okay, that’s all fine, and yet… and why is “Mariners Baseball” get the capital “b”?
Once again, thank you for being a Seattle Mariners fan.
Sincerely,
Howard Lincoln
Chairman and CEO
Were it that I had a choice.
So what’s really important about this letter?
Bob Melvin’s fired. Seriously. Every rookie got a shout-out. Bill Bavasi is going to be the heroic architect of the team’s revival, following his destruction of the team. Chuck Armstrong got a nod, for crying out loud. Not a word about Melvin.
Dan Rohn, incidentally, won another Pacific Coast League Manager of the Year award. Totally unrelated.
Also unmentioned: the legacy of Pat Gillick, and his role (along with Lincoln) in building this team.
It’s interesting that Lincoln wrote this letter. He clearly wants to reassure season ticket holders that the team knows something went horribly wrong, and they’re going to fix it. They appreciate the business, and want to do better.
But it’s as if we’d complained to a car manufacturer about their incompetent design, exploding cars, and disregard for user comfort, as shown in the spiky metal seats and electrified gear shift, and the car manufacturer had replied “Dear loyal customer, we too are disappointed by this year’s models. Thanks for buying one, though. Next year’s cars will be better.”
This letter is missing something that’s a requirement for this kind of reassurance: a recognition of what’s gone wrong. An accounting or responsibility, and actions taken to prevent them.
What in this letter should lead us to believe the Mariners will do anything different than what’s led them to this disastrous season? What in Lincoln’s letter would even lead you to believe that they have learned any lesson at all?
I don’t need a detailed accounting of everything that went wrong. All I want is some kind of hope that the lightbulb went on over the head of someone — anyone — in the front office at any point this year.
Howard Lincoln’s letter wanted
Update: we got one! Thanks
If anyone got and can scan Howard Lincoln’s no-apology apology letter to season ticket holders, can you kindly email us a copy we can post here? OCR into text is best, as I’m sure everyone’s going to want to hack it up and comment on it.
From what I’ve heard so far, Melvin’s out, Lincoln’s got a secret plan to win the war in Vietnam, and all of that money they slashed this year is in Bavasi’s hands, and not in the team’s bottom line (as the team accidentally mentioned was the case earlier).
The seating audit
I should start a separate category for these Section 101-related posts.
Several readers have commented that they’ve been to games where the Section 101 stands were not present. After an extensive audit of my game notes and pictures, along with some work with the PI’s fine Mariner photo galleries I’ve pieced together the following sketch of Section 101’s presence. In general, “there” means I found a photo or evidence the team was selling tickets to that game in that section. “Not there” means I found a photo where they’re clearly not present. “Believed there” means it’s in my game notes, a reader comment or email, but no photo has turned up yet.
This is made much more difficult by way of Ibanez/LF-of-the-day/Winn making almost no defensive plays warranting a picture, ever. And also the difficultly of finding information on past ticket sales… argh.
April
6-8, v Anahiem: believed not there
16-22, v Texas, Oakland: unknown
May
4-9 v Minnesota, New York: believed there
18-23 v Baltimore, Detroit: not there
31- June 13 v Toronto, Chicago, Houston, Montreal: unknown
June
25-July 1 v San Diego, Texas: there
July
15-25 v Cleveland, Boston, Oakland, Anahiem: believed there
August
10-15 v Minnesota, New York: believed there
23-29 v Tampa, Kansas City: there
September
6-19 v Cleveland, Boston, Anahiem, Oakland: there
October
1-3 v Texas: there
The score then:
There: 30
Believed there: 23
Believed absent: 3
Not there: 6
Unknown: 19
Did I do that math right? It is awfully late.
Or, to sum up: 53 games with the stands, 9 games without, 19 I haven’t seen evidence either way. Even throwing all the unknowns into the unknown, that’s a 53:28 and pretty clearly shows that the Mariners didn’t select (say) only the New York games to put the monstrosities in.
On the other hand, if there was indeed a long early-season abscence of those seats does make the lack of attention paid them a little more excusable, because they were home, away, home… and then there are the stands, just like last year, for a homestand with New York… except after that they’re around almost all the time.
I’m also less angry at the team for selling these as “temporary” even though they’re there for every game after the All-Star break. It also makes for a good excuse for the PFD to not get involved (though, again, it’s clearly their duty — if the Mariners wanted to have “take your seat home” night, sponsored by Home Depot, the PFD has a responsibility to protect their investment, just as they do in upholding the public interest, blah blah blah, as I pointed out earlier).
Anyone who wants to chime in and move those unknown games one way or the other (or dispute other classifications) should feel free to comment. URLs to photos particularly appreciated. Or correct my home/away math.
Yes, folks, the U.S.S. Mariner: where we do a ton of bizarre research because there’s no reason a sane fan should have to (or want to) do this themselves. I’m going to sleep.
Jason Giambi injury outed
The New York Daily News is reporting that Giambi’s been afflicted with a pituitary tumor.
I post this because it touches on something we’ve talked about here and in comments, specifically relating to Michael Morse, his suspension, and the team’s unwillingness to talk about it. This isn’t at all the same issue, but I want to point out that Giambi had entirely valid reasons for not disclosing his condition:
The reason for his secrecy was simple, a source said: After testifying before a grand jury in the BALCO steroid-trafficking case and having to deny repeated rumors about steroid use, Giambi was worried that a pituitary tumor would make him guilty by association, according to a source.
Plus, his treatment course includes corticosteroids, and let’s be entirely honest — there are a lot of people who aren’t going to draw the fine distinction here between corticosteroids and the steroids they’ve already figured he was taking (in fact, how long before someone floats that this whole thing is a coverup for his steroid use, an excuse to get him a valid reason to test positive?) because of his BALCO connection.
It leaked anyway and, as one commenter’s suggested, it’s likely that Morse’s suspension may leak eventually as well. I just wanted to point out that in the context of medical issues, players and teams can have very good reasons to keep injuries or suspensions quiet.
Part of the problem is that I don’t know what Morse’s suspension was for, and I don’t want to know if I’m sworn to not discuss it in order to be let in on the secret. Without knowing, we don’t know if it’s something we should know:
If he’s suspended for some Eric Cyr-like incident, well, I think maybe fans have a reasonable expectation to know a player’s up on rape charges.
If he’s suspended for a positive drug test because he’s fighting addiction problems and is in treatment, and wants to keep that quiet, I think that’s fine.
You see the dilemma. If I’d known the nature of Giambi ‘s tumor, I wouldn’t have run it, for instance.
Even as he gives up another hit — I like Madritsch. I thought he and Rett Johnson and Nageotte were all more or less about the same in ability-to-contribute this year, with Madritsch perhaps having a bit of an edge based on a couple of conversations I had with Dave. Now, having seen most of the Tacoma rotation get an audition, I have to say that if we can’t get Johnson, Madritsch would be my choice to take a rotation slot until someone clearly better and ready arises.
I have no analysis to contribute on this topic yet, I just wanted to post that.
Section 101 and Mariners, liarheads
A reader forwarded us his response from the M’s on Section 101:
Thank you for your comments regarding the new bleacher seats in centerfield. Bleacher seats are extremely popular with our fans as a place to enjoy the game and we have received many requests for these seats in the centerfield ball catch area. With the arrival of summer weather, we decided it was a good opportunity to put the bleacher seats in place. This small bleacher section will be in place for the remainder of the season, but we appreciate receiving your feedback as we will evaluate our decision during the off-season.
Thank you again for taking the time to contact us. Please contact me if you have additional questions or comments.
Sincerely,
Frances Traisman
The Seattle Mariners
(206) 346-4458 direct
(206) 346-4450 fax
http://www.seattlemariners.com/
Couple of things to note:
One is that they’re lying: the seats have been there all year — this wasn’t some decision they just made.
Two is that at least they’re pretending to reconsider the idea for next year.
Three is that they’re very popular, which if you’ve been to games and seen how many people sit there, is clearly not true.
Still, the second one is hopeful. If you haven’t already, go on and complain. This may make a difference yet.
Blackley update
After conficting opinions on what was shown in Blackley’s MRI, the M’s have decided to take the wait-and-see approach. Considering that he’s likely to miss all of ’05 whether he has surgery now or in the spring, it’s probably not a terrible idea.
Of course, the rest-and-rehab option almost never works, so surgery for Travis Blackley is most likely inevitable. It just won’t happen soon.
Keep feeling elimination…
Reader Mack Shultz writes:
I haven’t seen this in the news but a friend and I have been tracking the
M’s playoff elimination and they were eliminated from the AL West title
chase after yesterday’s results. There’s 20 games left between OAK, ANA,
and TEX and there’s no way to allocate the wins in those games to have all
three teams end with 81 or fewer wins (since 81 is the most the M’s can win
now). So, assuming all scheduled games will be played, the M’s have been
officially eliminated.
Then he goes into a lot of math and thoughts about potential four-way ties I’ll skip.
Hopefully with all the pressure of this division race off, the Mariners will relax and play better. Unless you think Melvin’s too lax a manager now… then things might even get worse.
Random post-loss thoughts
I have trouble feeling bad about losing when Ichiro! goes 2-3 with a walk. Ichiro’s second-half performance is really one of the redeeming things about this season for me as a fan.
It was weird to see Meche doing a Ryan Franklin impression (low K, low BB, dinger) except without going deep into the game. Meche’s big problem early looked like endurance and control, not stuff… starts like this make a case that he’s no better at keeping his pitch count low so he can go further into games, but he’s working around the strike zone and relying on his defense, an entirely opposite approach that’s no more likely to be successful.
I really don’t want to see Delgado here if the price is expensive. For $500k, maybe. I was thinking about this today, and if I wanted the Mariners to spend wisely and I could only give them one rule, it would be “no one over thirty”.
Seriously. Nate Silver, the guy who came up with the PECOTA forecasting system BP uses, likes to remind me that career paths take weird paths far more often then we think. It’s easy to say “ballplayers tend to peak at 27-28” but that doesn’t mean that any particular one won’t peak early, or late, or suck in those years but be good around them.
But in the aggregate, you can’t beat age. Players may age gracefully, but teams rarely do, and never for very long. If the Mariners invest in quality free agents, like Beltran and Beltre (hmmm… that sounds like a threat: “Don’t make me get the Belts”), they need to be reasonably sure those players will be healthy and productive through the life of their contracts, and that you’re not paying in five years for a level of performance the player’s not remotely capable of achieving.
Player A/B comparison
Been a loooooong time since I did one of these.
Player A: .241/.268/.352
Player B: .241/.281/.309
Which of these players is more valuable? Well, a point of OBP is worth aaabout two points of SLG, so… well, it’s Player A, right?
Not so fast. What if I told you one of these players (A) was born in 1983, and the other (B) in 1977?
Yes, folks, it’s Jose Lopez versus Willie F. Bloomquist!
I think it’s funny that we’ve had arguments here on whether Lopez is overmatched, as Dave wrote, or if he’s just struggling badly but will come around and stick at short, as others have argued — while the question of how bad Bloomquist is (at least in our circles) is so well-established and accepted that we don’t even mention it any more. Overmatched? Lopez… maybe. We can discuss that. Bloomquist, oh yeah (Kool-Aid man busts through monitor).