Changes to M’s broadcast crew
This has been discussed in the mid-week news thread and we ran the Sims thing a while ago, but here’s the word, from Larry Stone at the Times:
Former Mariners’ infielder Mike Blowers will join the team’s broadcast crew in 2007, along with veteran play-by-play announcer Dave Sims.
…
Blowers replaces former analysts Dave Henderson and Dave Valle, who may appear in more limited roles.
Woo-hoo! Until we get tired of Blowers, that’s great news! At least it’ll be a change. How will this all work? Stone attempts to run down the complicated scenario:
The Mariners’ plan is for Niehaus to begin each game in the TV booth for the first few innings with Blowers, and then move to the radio booth with Rizzs. For most games, Rizzs will work on the radio side only. Sims and Blowers will team up when Niehaus goes to the radio booth.
Except on Tuesdays. On Tuesdays the Moose does color on the radio for innings 1-4, then radio 6-9. In the event of extra-inning games, he’s replaced in the 10th by anyone still in the stands.
Mid-week news-o-rama
More details on the John Thomson contract: it’s 500k guaranteed, but he gets $1.5m if he makes the Opening Day roster and it could go as high as $4m. Also, he slagged Paul Lo Duca as being one of the reasons he didn’t want to go to New York.
Mark Mulder re-signed with the Cardinals, getting $13m over 2 years.
They also signed RYAN FRANKLIN to a one year, $1m deal. If you remember, when Franklin signed with the Phillies, we laughed it up – it was a spectacularly bad fit for them and for Franklin, who to be decent needs a spacious park and a good outfield defense. It was a clear case where he took a big one-time payout over a more modest contract somewhere that might have made him look better and allowed him to collect more money for longer… and look! It happened! Even Joel Pineiro got $4m from the Red Sox, and he pitched all season with a giant fork sticking out of his back.
Random news of the Tuesday
We thought he was coming here, but it turned out he was just a backup plan they never called back. Now John Thomson’s signed with the Blue Jays.
Javy Lopez agrees to a 1yr deal with the Rockies
Edmonds went in for surgery
The Yankees, who it appears did not learn their lesson the first time, agreed to a 1yr deal with Miguel Cairo.
Gwynn, Ripken win on Hall of Fame ballot
McGwire gets a shockingly low 128 votes, 23.5 of the total, probably assisted in no small part by the “people won’t vote for McGwire” publicity drive. I’ll link to some McGwire is and isn’t a Hall of Famer pieces I read the last couple of weeks. We had a good discussion around here last time this came up (which, essentially, was dw asking me if I’d gone mad over and over), back when I was most sympathetic to the “maybe he isn’t even without considering the steroids allegations” and the more arguments I’ve read, I came back around to “he is unless you leave him off because you believe he was on steroids and you believe that’s a valid reason not to vote for someone” side.
Bert Blyleven took a step back this time, dropping from 53.3% of ballots (277/520) to 47.7% (260/277)
Jay Buhner gets one vote.
Cheater’s Guide Cover
Since I have a copy of the cover, I thought I’d share.
As always, you can pre-order The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball
That is, if you’re curious, a DZ logo on that hat. I’ve asked if they can have a real one made up for me, and they’re looking into it.
Advance praise for Cheater’s Guide to Baseball
“It’s all right here, from Vaseline to superballs to licorice, from Arnold Rothstein to Gaylord Perry to Sammy Sosa — a book sure to find its place in the pantheon of underground manuals. Wielding his sardonic humor like a freshly corked bat—lightly yet forcefully — Derek Zumsteg knocks it out of the park. The Cheater’s Guide to Baseball is funny, true and entirely original.” — Jeremy Schaap, ESPN correspondent and author of CINDERELLA MAN and TRIUMPH
Pre-order now, folks. Your purchase supports me writing for USSM.
M’s rumored to be interested in further self-harm
In the form of Darin Erstad and, though they likely won’ get him, Brian Lawrence.
Dave Sims joins M’s broadcast team
Does college football, college basketball, and CBS NFL. You can hear him call the Giants-Eagles game tomorrow. He did ESPN baseball in the 1990s.
Wow, he’s got a substantial Wikipedia page. I didn’t even need to research this. Hooray for sloth.
Seems much more like a play-by-play guy than a color man, though lest we forget Fairly did pick up some substantial chunk of that work during the season, especially around Niehaus’ annual mid-season vacation.
No Reynolds, though. I wonder if they couldn’t work out the money or what happened.
Reitsma makeup chart
“He’s got the stuff, and his makeup as a closer is off the charts.”
— Bill Bavasi
M’s sign Chris Reitsma
Wondering how they’d fill the hole created in the bullpen by the loss of Rafael Soriano?
Say hello to Chris Reitsma, who the M’s signed today. One year deal, club option for 2008 with a $700,000 buyout. It’s either going to be a 1 year, $2 million deal, or a 2 year, $4 million deal.
Like every other pitcher they’ve acquired this winter, he’s a groundball guy, so that’s a positive, but unfortunately, that’s about where the good news ends. He’s a failed former prospect turned decent enough reliever who was terrible in ’06 due to an elbow injury that cost him most of the year after having ulnar transplant surgery. The Mariners are hoping he returns to his ’04/’05 form when he was simply decent, but he’s not significantly better than guys like Justin Lehr. He costs a lot more, though.