Friday, June 30, 2006
A Lefty Masher
Since the dawn of time... or at least since 2003, the Mariners have stunk against lefthanded pitchers. So Bill Bavasi has gone out and traded an excellent prospect, Asdrubal Cabrera, to the Cleveland Indians for one of the top lefty mashers of the 21st century, Eduardo Perez.
Currently, Perez' (330/355/693!) 1048 OPS is the 30th best against lefties for players with more than 50 plate appearances. The top Mariner is Ichiro (375/439/477) at 916 followed by... Willie Bloomquist (333/397/386) at 783. Perez provides power against lefties that was completely nonexistant in our current lineup.
Yes, Asdrubal Cabrera is a good prospect, but he is well behind where Jose Lopez was at the same age, and was likely to stay well behind Jose Lopez and Yuni Betancourt for the foreseeable future. Is it nice to have depth? Sure, but we have other middle infielders in the system, and Cabrera wasn't going to provide depth this yea Could we have gotten more for Cabrera? I have no idea. But in a player for player trade, I doubt it. Cabrera could have been used as part of a package to chase a Barry Zito, a Tim Hudson, or even a Dontrelle Willis. But we have other pieces that could fill that role.
And, of course, there is the psychological aspect of this trade. There is no Stand Pat here. The Mariners looked at 2006, identified a weakness, and attacked it. Early. Tell me a better hitter we could have gotten for Asdrubal Cabrera. The team now knows that the GM is in the fight with them. The rest of the league now knows that the M's are buyers and are willing to give up good prospects for talent. The teams who strike early in the trade market often get the best deals.
The Mariners of 2006 got better today. The momentum is building. The A's hear footsteps. Soon they will be eating our dust.
Currently, Perez' (330/355/693!) 1048 OPS is the 30th best against lefties for players with more than 50 plate appearances. The top Mariner is Ichiro (375/439/477) at 916 followed by... Willie Bloomquist (333/397/386) at 783. Perez provides power against lefties that was completely nonexistant in our current lineup.
Yes, Asdrubal Cabrera is a good prospect, but he is well behind where Jose Lopez was at the same age, and was likely to stay well behind Jose Lopez and Yuni Betancourt for the foreseeable future. Is it nice to have depth? Sure, but we have other middle infielders in the system, and Cabrera wasn't going to provide depth this yea Could we have gotten more for Cabrera? I have no idea. But in a player for player trade, I doubt it. Cabrera could have been used as part of a package to chase a Barry Zito, a Tim Hudson, or even a Dontrelle Willis. But we have other pieces that could fill that role.
And, of course, there is the psychological aspect of this trade. There is no Stand Pat here. The Mariners looked at 2006, identified a weakness, and attacked it. Early. Tell me a better hitter we could have gotten for Asdrubal Cabrera. The team now knows that the GM is in the fight with them. The rest of the league now knows that the M's are buyers and are willing to give up good prospects for talent. The teams who strike early in the trade market often get the best deals.
The Mariners of 2006 got better today. The momentum is building. The A's hear footsteps. Soon they will be eating our dust.
5 in a Row... Redux
Less than 2 weeks ago, over at Sportspot, I dropped my Optimist hat long enough to rail that the Mariners would never get over the Mountain by actually winning five games in a row.
The reverse psychology (in my mind at least) worked, and the Mariners were happy to prove me wrong by winning their fifth in a row. Now, just a week later, the M's have done it again, this time in dramatic fashion with two runs in the ninth to beat the DBacks 3-2.
Baseball is fun again!
The blogosphere is going nuts, and are starting to conceive of what a month ago would have been considered ludicrous:
- Adrian Beltre may finally be the hitter we signed
- Raul Ibanez' contract extension was a good idea and a bargain at that.
- The A's aren't that good, and the M's are the team to beat in the AL West
And today's coup de grace:
- Gil Meche has arrived and the Mariners should sign him to a long-term contract extension.
You know, as many times as Gil Meche has gotten my hopes up, you think I should know better. But right now, I'd be happy to give Gil a 2-year, $12M contract, and he should be happy to sign it. I don't think either will happen and some GM will probably give Meche more in free agency. And that may be for the better.
But maybe, just maybe, our solid TOR starter that we are looking for is already here.
Good times!
The reverse psychology (in my mind at least) worked, and the Mariners were happy to prove me wrong by winning their fifth in a row. Now, just a week later, the M's have done it again, this time in dramatic fashion with two runs in the ninth to beat the DBacks 3-2.
Baseball is fun again!
The blogosphere is going nuts, and are starting to conceive of what a month ago would have been considered ludicrous:
- Adrian Beltre may finally be the hitter we signed
- Raul Ibanez' contract extension was a good idea and a bargain at that.
- The A's aren't that good, and the M's are the team to beat in the AL West
And today's coup de grace:
- Gil Meche has arrived and the Mariners should sign him to a long-term contract extension.
You know, as many times as Gil Meche has gotten my hopes up, you think I should know better. But right now, I'd be happy to give Gil a 2-year, $12M contract, and he should be happy to sign it. I don't think either will happen and some GM will probably give Meche more in free agency. And that may be for the better.
But maybe, just maybe, our solid TOR starter that we are looking for is already here.
Good times!
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Happy Days are Here Again
When Arizona went down by a run late, the DBacks announcers (including former Mariner Ken Phelps) began discussing how they need to come back quickly.
My first reaction was the same as that of Agent Smith in the opening scene of the Matrix, talking to the police outside the building where fellow officers had "cornered" Trinity.
"No lieutenant, your men are already dead."
I think my response may have been exactly, "Dudes, your team has already lost and you don't even know it."
If the M's get a late lead, we are going to win. If they don't have a late lead, they are going to come back. Its once again fun being an M's fan!!!
My first reaction was the same as that of Agent Smith in the opening scene of the Matrix, talking to the police outside the building where fellow officers had "cornered" Trinity.
"No lieutenant, your men are already dead."
I think my response may have been exactly, "Dudes, your team has already lost and you don't even know it."
If the M's get a late lead, we are going to win. If they don't have a late lead, they are going to come back. Its once again fun being an M's fan!!!
