By Terry Benish
Special to The Sports Paper
“Names that have been bandied about (please hold your applause until the end) by the rumor-mongers include Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Mike Napoli, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Garza and Brian Wilson on the free-agent market, and Billy Butler, Dexter Fowler, Ryan Braun and one Dodger outfielder among Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford on the trade front.”
The above quote is from Larry Stone. He tweeted it out at 10:04 Wednesday night. Here is the link: http://seattletimes.com/html/larrystone/2022301427_stone21xml.html?cmpid=2628
The headline says:
The Mariners’ offseason actions bear watching (really)
He closes up by saying, “I fear that the top free agents will view the festering mess that currently exists in Seattle and decide to pass, even if the Mariners pony up with a competitive offer. That will leave them to either dip into the trade market, where the danger is robbing Peter to pay Paul, or targeting second-tier free-agent talent. Then the temptation will be to overpay in order to provide the fans with some evidence of change — a trap to which the Mariners have succumbed too often.”
“Names that have been bandied about (please hold your applause until the end) by the rumor-mongers include Carlos Beltran, Shin-Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Jhonny Peralta, Mike Napoli, Jacoby Ellsbury, Matt Garza and Brian Wilson on the free-agent market, and Billy Butler, Dexter Fowler, Ryan Braun and one Dodger outfielder among Matt Kemp, Andre Ethier or Carl Crawford on the trade front.”
The above quote is from Larry Stone. He tweeted it out at 10:04 Wednesday night. Here is the link: http://seattletimes.com/html/larrystone/2022301427_stone21xml.html?cmpid=2628
The headline says:
The Mariners’ offseason actions bear watching (really)
Stone closes up by saying, “I fear that the top free agents will view the festering mess that currently exists in Seattle and decide to pass, even if the Mariners pony up with a competitive offer. That will leave them to either dip into the trade market, where the danger is robbing Peter to pay Paul, or targeting second-tier free-agent talent. Then the temptation will be to overpay in order to provide the fans with some evidence of change — a trap to which the Mariners have succumbed too often.”
So yesterday the Rangers traded Ian Kinsler to Detroit for Prince Fielder and money. Purportedly St. Louis is trading John Friese to the Angels for something that has not been disclosed, yet. Right handed starter Josh Johnson signed with the Padres for $8 million yesterday.
David Murphy, free agent outfielder from Texas is close to a deal with Cleveland. Tim Hudson veteran right hand pitcher signed a deal with the San Francisco Giants.
The visual image that comes to my tired old mind is that all the general managers are lined up in a horse racing starter’s gate and the doors open up and every one of them except Jack Zduriencik is out running like hell while he is still in the gate looking out the back way. Probably waiting for Howard Lincoln to say go Jack.
This is one of Larry’s best pieces in a long time, because he points out that the Mariners have $50 million to spend that has freed up from last year’s payroll. To spend on players or Howard and Chuck’s bonus remains to be seen.
You have to think every General Manager that Jack talks to says, “Well, let’s see. Zunino, Franklin, Miller, Paxton and Walker and we’ll give you a broke down catcher and some broke down right handed hitter and shoot, I used broke down twice and well I broke down. Sorry. But everything of note that is to be had seems to be locked down already.
Well here is some more stuff to ponder. The Mariners added four of their own minor league players to their 40-man roster, bringing the total to 38. Those players are outfielder Stefen Romero, designated hitter Ji-Man Choi, outfielder James Jones and pitcher Logan Bawcom. Choi is a first baseman that advanced rapidly from HighDesert to Jackson to Tacoma last summer. Played very well at the first two stops and struggled a bit in Tacoma. He is a left hand hitter from South Korea. He might be special.
Jones is a 25-year old fourth round pick from the 2009 draft. He is six-feet four inches tall, runs well and has plate discipline. He does not have much power.
Bawcom is a right handed relief pitcher obtained from the Dodgers in the Brandon League deal.
Romero is a right handed power hitter who was a second baseman at six-foot-two and 220 pounds that has now played first base, third base, left and right field. He’s been shuffled around because he was not a first round pick. He can play. They don’t have a lot of guys that can.
Yesterday I tweeted to the gang of 22 ‑ those folks that look to me for clarity in this fog ‑ that Jack could not do anything because Howard is in Rhodesia hunting Cape Buffalo and could not be reached by electronic device. So publicly I need to say that I was trying to be funny and that I do not know where Howard is. Yesterday or today, that is true.
In other news, Alvin Davis the former Mariner and 1984 rookie of the year, was on MLB the network saying the Mariner kids need some more experience, but they’re close. I hope Alvin is right on.
So for all the readers out there, who thinks the think the Mariners will sign a free agent this winter that will play everyday. Secondly, who thinks that the Mariners will trade away a bunch of prospects this winter? Looking forward to your answers to either or both.
Lastly, the Alex Rodriguez stuff is playing out in front of the world. A number of Internet writers for such entities as Yahoo Sports and Fox Sports are heavily, hard over on the MLB side. Just for the sake of understanding what has actually happened, follow this link to the New York Times for a look at just how sordid it really is:
MLB investigators sleeping with witnesses, it’s great stuff.