Winter Meeting Mariner Rumors Thus Far

et’s talk rumors and do a bit of “round-up” on the current on going Mariner rumors so far in the winter meetings.

You had Ian Stewart that started off the day Monday. Not a huge fan of this rumor, but I don’t exactly hate it. We haven’t heard much talk on it through so I tend to think it was just the Mariners checking the price tag on a position that is an obvious weakness for the major league team.

Followed up with the rumor of Jamie Moyer and then Jeff Francis. The two seem to be seperate rumors, that is to say the organization seems interested in both pitchers at the same time and in a way that makes sense. Francis seems to be the current focus of the front office, but is being courted by as many as two other teams.

Overall I don’t hate the idea of Francis or Moyer. Actually, they seem to be the same exact pitcher only Francis is going to cost more. But, with good reason Francis is obviously younger, a better bet to stay healthy and is more likely the better pitcher. What I don’t like about Francis is he’s currently seeking a two year deal and at this point I’m willing to bet he’ll get it.

The Mariners supposedly met with Francis’ agent yesterday afternoon. I’m not sure how long Francis is going to draw this out but I’d bet he makes a decision by the end of the week if not sooner.

Then you have Carlos Guillen as has been mention previously. I like him, I think he’s a better version of Adam Kennedy and I think that he’s a good fit at a redudced deal. I certainly am not alright with a bidding war over him and considering that there are approximately 5 teams that are interested things could get out of the reasonable range pretty easily. That said, at the 1 year, 2.5 mil contract we had previously placed him at I think, regardless of what his past connection is with this organization, he could be a positive asset to this team in 2012.

Oh and then I guess there is some talk about Fielder. Supposedly the Mariners are in the “lead” for his services but I think that’s just pure conjecture based upon the amount of teams that are willing to go 6 years. I think the Prince Fielder craziness is just getting started as the Albert Pujols stories have him close to making a decision between the Cards and Marlins.

Again, I don’t hate the idea of acquiring Fielder but just as there are as many reasons to be excited there are equally as many concerns.

Geoff Baker also started talking about Justin Smoak as being a prime trade chip if Fielder was signed. He specificly mentioned the Orioles with Mark Reynolds and Jeremy Guthrie, but I’m really not a fan of either of those players. I’d rather keep Smoak and I think it’s possible to field Prince, Smoak and Carp all in the same line-up.

According to Eric Wedge he plans on making Carp his full time left fielder in 2012. Which, is another blog post entirely, but it leads to the thought that why couldn’t you just stick Smoak (a young hitter full of potential) at the DH spot and live with that?

If the Mariners and Orioles were talking trades I wouldn’t mind talking about a return of Adam Jones or even the Orioles own version of Ian Stewart in Josh Bell.

It’s been a fun couple of days on twitter.I guess we’ll see what craziness day 3 holds.