When asked if he was surprised by the lack of home runs, general manager Bill Bavasi said, “I am surprised, but not shocked. If you know you are not going to hit a lot of home runs, whether you’re last or fifth doesn’t matter.”
You heard it here first, folks. There’s no difference between last and fifth when it comes to homers.
Mike Mussina beats the Mariners. Shocking.
Seriously, what’s this guy against the Mariners career, 1000-2? It’s ridiculous.
ESPN’s John Sickels has some comments about Tacoma 3B Justin Leone in this mailbag feature (scroll down; it’s the last item).
Basically, his take is “good defensive 3B, decent power, probably won’t make contact at higher levels.”
Housecleaning: If your blog hasn’t had a new post in the last month, you’re now off our left nav. Sorry; it’s nothing personal.
This article will make you chuckle*.
“They don’t play offense,” [Bill Bavasi] said of his players. “They either don’t know how to play offense or they can’t.”
As we’ve pointed out, no, they’re actually playing the exact kind of offense that was to be expected — make contact, don’t hit for power, and don’t walk. It’s not that difficult.
Here’s the best part, though.
Bavasi said no deals are near, but rumors are circulating the Red Sox and Royals are trying to entice the Mariners into a three-way trade. Boston would trade pitcher Byung Hyun Kim and, possibly, outfielder Johnny Damon to the Mariners in exchange for pitcher Freddy Garcia and minor league starter Cha Seung Baek. If the Red Sox could get the Mariners to bite, Garcia would then be shipped to Kansas City, with outfielder Carlos Beltran going to Boston.
To Seattle: Damon, Kim
To KC: Garcia
To Boston: Beltran, Baek
Does anyone else see the obvious hole in this trade? If Kansas City really wants Garcia for some reason — and they shouldn’t, because they’re losing and he’s a free agent this winter — the M’s should just trade him directly to the Royals for Beltran. Not even Bavasi is stupid enough to want Damon and Kim over Beltran. Wait, no, maybe he is. It’s hard to say at this point, honestly.
* And by “chuckle”, I mean “yell and scream”.
Reader Kathleen Frizzell, among others, sent us this quote from the Tribune:
“Bob Melvin managed a perfect game today, he did everything he could to put this team in position to win,” Bavasi said.
It was obvious when he extended Melvin’s contract that Bavasi wasn’t an astute evaluator of managers, but we can now firmly put that in his “weakness” list.
Bill Bavasi
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Pros: Looks sort of like one of the most popular players in Mariner history
Cons: Archaic evaluation, no knowledge of modern analytic tools, poor insight and uncreative, poor reasoning and investigative abilities, poor talent evaluation and understanding of positional scarcity, unable or unwiling to stand up to organization, unwiling or unable to make difficult decisions, poor lineup and roster construction as part of a larger inability to see the team or organization as a whole, by contrast also poor with details, no understanding of replacement level talent or its easy availability, overly reliant on older veteran players without understanding the consequences of doing so, inability to adapt… anaaaaaaaaaaaand now, dear readers, we add poor evaluation of managerial moves and talent.
Bill Bavasi is to general managing what Jay Buhner is to broadcasting.
Reader extraordinaire Paul Covert sent us a really cool email with a great line:
Underperformance by one person is poor performance. Underperformance by a
whole team is poor management.
So, with Bavasi placing the blame on the players for “not knowing how to hit”, remember who it was who thought they could, and rewarded them with above market contracts.
Paul also points out, correctly, that the offense has been underperforming even the most pessimistic projections. Despite the fact we’ve been hammering the organization for their beliefs the past few days, no one expected this level of collapse. It isn’t objective analysis to use this trainwreck of an offense to say “see, we were right”, because realistically, we all thought this team would win 85-90 games. We weren’t as off the mark as Bavasi, but barring some miracle turnaround, we were off the mark.
Now, for that ridiculously stupid Beltran/Damon/Garcia rumor. Hickey spent the offseason scooping everyone on nearly every transaction, so I’ll give it a little more credence than if this was coming from one of the other local writers. However, I don’t see any scenario in which this works to do anything besides enshrine Theo Epstein as the greatest GM of all time. Look at this breakdown.
The M’s trade Freddy Garcia, their best player to date who should have a large market value, for an injured, less talented reliever making $5 million per year for the next two years and an average center fielder making $8 million per year for the next two years. The M’s commit $13 million of 2005 salary to two players who don’t fill any needs or improve the team, and toss away one of their most tradable commodities in the process.
The Royals take their homegrown star who led a resurrection of the franchise last year, along with being one of the five or six best players in the game, for a pitcher who will walk at the end of the year. They make their current team worse, alienate their fanbase, save negligible amounts of cash, and acquire no help for the future.
The Red Sox turn two bad contracts of underperforming players into a superstar entering his prime. They shed payroll, greatly improve their team, gain financial flexibility for 2005, and keep an all-star away from the Yankees.
Seriously, this is the kind of rumor you’d expect a fan on Sons of Sam Horn to create out of wishful thinking. I can’t imagine both Baird and Bavasi are likely to hurt their franchises just to help the Red Sox conquer New York.
New GM Watch
May 14th edition
a brief comparison of GMs in their freshman year at the helm of their teams
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Paul DePodesta, Dodgers, 22-11, .667 [last year .525]
Dan O’Brien, Reds, 17-17, .500 [last year .426]
Bill Bavasi, Mariners, 12-22, .353 [last year .574]
Ichiro has a 12-game hitting streak.
Hey, I’m just looking for positives here.
Last year, the Marlins fired Jeff Torborg when the team had a 15-21 record — and that was a team with expectations quite a bit lower than those of the 2004 M’s. After replacing him with Jack McKeon, they posted the best record in baseball the rest of the way. The Mariners are currently 12-22 heading into three games in New York.
So, um, make of that what you will. Personally, I still can’t believe they picked up Melvin’s 2005 option. Sparky Anderson, anyone? Earl Weaver?
Good news, everyone! The Mariners have a new jersey deal available in the team store:
With the new portable, all-natural one-size-fits-all hat, fans can show their continued support for the team while maintaining their pride. Wear it on the streets or at the game, it’s a look that says: “We suck!”