Thursday, January 29, 2004
Pudgeless in Seattle
Bob Finnigan breaks the news that Pudge Rodriguez will not be a Mariner.
That is not surprising. What is silly is all the discussion about the Mariners budget in this article, and how they didn't have $9.5M to spend, but rather $7M and if you take this out and that out and blah blah blah.
I don't know if this is Finnigan's work or something the M's want published, but both should just shut up. It makes my job hard as the Mariner Optimist to promote that the team wants to win, when they make it sound like they didn't make a $10M, 1yr contract offer at least to a potential difference-maker.
Oh well, I will have to admit that I've had mixed feelings about the whole Pudge thing. I have always stated that 4yr/$40M is way too much for him, but even at 2yr/$20M, I was concerned on the effect that signing would have on the M's. I think catcher must be the least understood position on the field in terms of knowing what effect a catcher has on a pitching staff, and to a lesser extent on the opponents running game.
Add in the fact that catchers have historically broken down as hitters at about this point in their careers, and it was certainly a risky signing.
I would have endorsed signing Pudge, but part of me is happy to wait for something better to come along, hopefully in the form of trade. If we are not going to upgrade at catcher, than the best places to upgrade will be centerfield and/or a platoon partner for John Olerud at 1B.
That is not surprising. What is silly is all the discussion about the Mariners budget in this article, and how they didn't have $9.5M to spend, but rather $7M and if you take this out and that out and blah blah blah.
I don't know if this is Finnigan's work or something the M's want published, but both should just shut up. It makes my job hard as the Mariner Optimist to promote that the team wants to win, when they make it sound like they didn't make a $10M, 1yr contract offer at least to a potential difference-maker.
Oh well, I will have to admit that I've had mixed feelings about the whole Pudge thing. I have always stated that 4yr/$40M is way too much for him, but even at 2yr/$20M, I was concerned on the effect that signing would have on the M's. I think catcher must be the least understood position on the field in terms of knowing what effect a catcher has on a pitching staff, and to a lesser extent on the opponents running game.
Add in the fact that catchers have historically broken down as hitters at about this point in their careers, and it was certainly a risky signing.
I would have endorsed signing Pudge, but part of me is happy to wait for something better to come along, hopefully in the form of trade. If we are not going to upgrade at catcher, than the best places to upgrade will be centerfield and/or a platoon partner for John Olerud at 1B.
