Metro bus service for M’s games may return
From many places: Senator Patty Murray’s attempting to reverse via legislation the nonsensical Bush-administration “rule” that prohibited public transportation systems from offering special game-day service if a private company said they’d do it.
And again, not a “could do a better job” or “could save money” or any kind of selection. It’s “I’ve formed Joe’s Bus Company out of spite and I’ve decided to run shuttle service to M’s games for $100/seat” means Metro can’t even compete. And not just here, where we got particularly clobbered — everywhere teams partnered with local transit faced this.
So it’s not done yet, and yeah, it’s not a Big Issue in the grand scheme of things, but it’s the right thing to do and makes some small improvement to life. Kudos to Murray for looking out for a chance to fix this.
The M’s did a good thing in subsidizing special bus service to the games in partnership with Metro: those things ran like clockwork, helped a lot of people get to the game easily, and it’s a boon environmentally too. Hopefully we can get back to that.
Silva, Bradley, and Burrell
So via Jayson Stark, the latest in Milton Bradley rumors:
Certainly not to Seattle, and especially not for Carlos Silva.
What about Carlos Silva and… umm… Skillet caters the clubhouse food next time you’re on a road trip in Seattle? No?
So all signs continue to point, if they can ever figure out the money disparity, toward Bradley’s winding up in Tampa Bay, in what now figures to be a one-for-one trade for Pat Burrell. The Cubs would then do their best to spin Burrell elsewhere, to a destination still unknown.
I don’t see this. It sounds like a deal someone would pitch in fantasy baseball. “Okay, I know you don’t need another first baseman, but you can trade him to someone else…”
Let’s say you’re Tampa Bay. Sure, you might like to get rid of Burrell, but you’ve just seen the Cubs weren’t just unable to move Bradley but they couldn’t even get nibbles from more than a few teams who then decided it wasn’t worth it. Say what you will about Burrell, but he doesn’t come with the complete matched baggage set. I don’t remember the last time I saw a player valued so low as Bradley is right now. And with that, everyone knows the Cubs aren’t going to get less desperate. They’re not going to bring Bradley to spring training and try and spread the good news about how they’ve reached an understanding and Bradley’s healthy and re-dedicated, so anyone who needs an outfielder/DH should certainly not call them, that’s how excited they are.
Well, not with any sense of pride or credibility.
If you’re any team that might be considering trading a contract sink (like Silva!) for him, you’re probably demanding so much the Cubs would rather buy out the remaining years and be done with it. And good for you.
The Adrian Gonzalez Rumor
So, Jon Paul Morosi wrote up this morning that the M’s are trying to get Adrian Gonzalez from the Padres again. It made for a nice morale boost after a four day stretch that saw the team add no one while losing out on Rich Harden. Here’s the problem – it’s just really, really unlikely.
Like with Felix here, Gonzalez is a player that everyone in baseball covets – an all-star with two years of bargain salaries before he hits free agency. Like with Felix here, the Padres don’t want to trade him, even if other teams are coveting his abilities. Gonzalez is not just the Padres best player, he’s their only player. New ownership is loathe to get rid of the only guy on the roster that fans want to see play just a few months after shipping Jake Peavy out of town. It’s one thing to lose a lot of games – it’s another to have the fan base just give up on the organization.
They’ll trade Gonzalez eventually, but from everything I can gather, it’s not going to be this winter. That’s why you didn’t hear any Gonzalez rumors at the winter meetings. Everyone just knows that SD wants to keep him, so they didn’t bother trying to make something happen.
It’s a nice dream, but Boston fans are having the same dream about Felix. We’re about as likely to deal our ace as they are to deal their first baseman.
M’s Draft Kanekoa Texeira
The M’s used their Rule 5 selection on RHP Kanekoa Texeira today. Think Sean Green – he’s a right-handed sinker-slider guy who gets a lot of groundballs and uses an arm slot that makes him tough against righties. His slider is good enough to get some swinging strikes, and his command is okay, but not great.
If he’s going to have a major league career, it will probably be as a situational middle reliever. The M’s are so deep in RH relievers that I don’t expect him to make the club. He was likely drafted as Sean White insurance – if White’s healthy, he has almost no shot at making the team.
M’s Sign Harden?
Buster Olney reports that Rich Harden is on the verge of signing. He doesn’t identify the team, but the Mariners have been the most active team in pursuing Harden, and it makes all kinds of sense, as we’ve laid out previously. It sounds like he’s backed off his demand for a multi-year deal, so if this gets done, the M’s will get a pretty significant upside pitcher while minimizing the long term risk. He’s always going to be a durability question mark, but on a one year, incentive laden deal, the move would be a great one for the M’s.
Get it done, Jack.
Craig Calcaterra reports that Harden is signing with the Rangers – $7.5 million for one year with a second year option. Lame. M’s should have beaten that, unless he just didn’t want to come here. T.R. Sullivan confirms.
New Name?
This is not a rumor. The source for this idea is me. I am not reporting anything.
Okay, now that that’s out of the way, let me throw this out there. Jon Paul Morosi has reported that the Dodgers and Tigers are looking for a third team with an expensive pitcher to send to LA, allowing those two teams to move Juan Pierre to Detroit and Carlos Guillen to that third team.
The Mariners should absolutely be trying to insert themselves into that conversation. Carlos Guillen would be a nice fit for what the Mariners are looking for, as a guy who could play LF or 1B, depending on how the roster shook out. Switch-hitter with the patient approach that the team is obviously emphasizing and some power in his bat. He’s coming off a bad year that is almost entirely BABIP driven (.267 in 2009 vs .325 career), which combined with his salary, should make him a decent option as a buy low candidate.
The salary is why he’d be available in the first palce. He’s due $13 million each of the next two years, so the M’s should only be interested in a scenario where payroll is going away – specifically, Carlos Silva. The paychecks due to Pierre, Silva, and Guillen are similar enough to where it wouldn’t require huge amounts of money changing hands to make everything balance out. The tough part would be trying to figure out what else the M’s would have to include to make this work, as Silva’s clearly the least valuable asset of the three.
It seems to me that there may be a deal to be made here, though. The Dodgers also need a second baseman, while the M’s are obviously shopping theirs. Some kind of deal where Lopez and Silva made their way to LA, Pierre went to Detroit, and Guillen and something came to Seattle makes a lot of sense.
Be involved in this one, Jack. Find out if there’s a good fit here. From my perspective, there may be.
Figgins deal official
The Chone Figgins deal that we’ve known about since Friday is now in the books and official.
Most interesting comment from Zduriencik at his meeting with the press, per Geoff Baker: Figgins is “an infielder” – won’t commit to him as a third baseman, but apparently will rule him out of left field. Still hard to see Beltre taking a big enough pay cut to make it worthwhile for the M’s after declining arbitration.
Jack then tells Mike Salk on 710 ESPN that Figgins “can play all over the field, but I don’t see that happening, I think he’ll settle in at one position.”
Goodbye, Adrian
I will miss your defense and the crazy antics. It was great having you here. Now go somewhere with a normal left field and remind people that you can still hit.
Day One Rumor Roundup
Here’s what I can gather, so far, mostly culled from the handy Mariner Writer twitter list.
Mike Salk says he hears the team likes Nick Johnson. Obviously, I’m a fan, as I’ve been trying to get the M’s to acquire him for years.
Geoff Baker suggests that Jason Bay would twist himself into a pretzel to play in Seattle. I suggest that the M’s offer him $10 million for one year and ask him to prove it. When he turns it down, tell him to enjoy Boston.
Buster Olney says the M’s aren’t in on Bay. Apparently Bay’s agent hasn’t given him the talking points memo yet, or Buster was smart enough to shred it.
Ken Rosenthal reported that the M’s offered Felix 4/45 as they begin negotiations for a long term deal. I hope its not true, because that’s not even a real offer. 4/45 offers to buy out Felix’s first two free agent years for about $10 million each. Unless you’re trying to offend him, there’s no point in making that offer. To even have a conversation, they need to come in at something like 4/65 and hope to settle in the 5/80 or 6/100 range.
Figgins deal should be announced late tonight or early tomorrow. Wak talks to the media at 1 pm, so expect a bunch of articles containing the words “belief system” at about 2:00.
Save Our Server: Use Twitter
In early December, 30 GMs converge on a hotel somewhere in America, while 40 bazillion Mariner fans converge on USSM and hit the refresh button until our server blows up, trying to find out if the Mariners have traded anyone yet. It’s an annual tradition at this point.
This year, I’m providing this handy post in an effort to save our poor site from you relentless rumor mongerers. For as weird as it may sound, Twitter has officially become the place where 99.9 percent of all news stories break, and there’s no reason to pound our servers when you can pound theirs instead. You will find out about M’s news from various writers on twitter faster than you will find it from us. So, I have created a Twitter list of Mariner writers for you to follow.
Even if you don’t use twitter, just go to the link above, and every message sent by Shannon Drayer, Geoff Baker, Larry Stone, Ryan Divish, Mike Salk, and us will appear in one single page. Refresh the crap out of that page all you want, I don’t care.
When news does break, you’ll get it there first. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll let us survive through the winter meetings without going down. Please.