Credit: ©Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports

Last weekend, the gates of Safeco Field swung wide to welcome Mariners fans to a baseball carnival. Today, they opened for a different cause.

The Hutch Award Luncheon was established in 1965, named in honor of former Seattle Rainiers pitcher Fred Hutchinson. Hutchinson battled lung cancer during his time with the Cincinnati Reds, succumbing to it just three weeks after his managerial resignation in 1964.

According to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center’s website, the Hutch Award is presented to a major leaguer who embodies the “fighting spirit and competitive desire of the legendary leader.” It has been presented to 47 MLB players since 1965, including Mickey Mantle, Sandy Koufax, Willie McCovey, Jamie Moyer, and Billy Butler.

This year’s recipient, San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Zito, was selected by the Hutch Award committee from a pool of ten players: Alex Gordon, Ryan Ludwick, Jake Peavy, Ryan Zimmerman, Rickie Weeks, Dan Uggla, Logan Morrison, Brandon McCarthy, and Seattle’s own Felix Hernandez.

Zito’s work outside the ballpark is extensive. He supports and volunteers at the St. Anthony Foundation, aimed at feeding and supporting the homeless and military veterans in San Francisco. The list of charitable causes and organizations he partners with is a long one, including cancer research, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Special Olympics, and Make-a-Wish Foundation. Most notably, Zito founded and runs Strikeout for Troops, an organization that works with Major League Baseball to assist injured and recovering service members and their families.

This morning, Zito toured the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center research labs and Hutch School with former Seattle Mariner Lou Piniella. Later, a charity luncheon and silent auction was held at Safeco Field, punctuated by Piniella’s keynote speech. Along with the distinction of a Hutch Award, Barry received an original glass sculpture designed by renowned artist Dale Chihuly.

To find out more about the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and its work in the Seattle community, visit their website here.

via infamouskidd.com

There are an innumerable amount of things that are exchanged throughout our daily lives.  These exchanges can both positively and negatively affect our state of being.  A conversation with a loved one can influence your attitude for the rest of the day.  That exchange may bring you to utter dissatisfaction or complete elation.  A break up.  A marriage proposal.  A simple conversation exchanged on any given day could change someone’s life, or it could be business as usual.

The United States Dollar is the currency of America.  The dollar is legal tender: upon the exchange of the dollar, one can receive a plethora of things.  Most commonly, the dollar can be exchanged for three things: a service, a consumable possession or a material possession.  Paying for an education at a university is an exchange of service – the USD for knowledge.  Presumably, this knowledge helps equip scholars to attain a higher understanding of their surroundings, but most importantly it helps them achieve a higher pay grade.  This pay grade greatly influences what sort of possessions one may own.

Food is an essential commodity that is consumed on a daily basis.  It is an afterthought – sometimes we don’t even realize we are eating something!  It comes and goes.  It passes through our lives, affecting our energy level and our health.  Another consumable possession is a ticket to an event.  A sporting event, a concert, a convention.  We consume the entertainment but we cannot take it with us.  It becomes intangible.  It becomes a memory.  It’s something that you can’t physically touch, but it affects you in some way.

The last thing we can exchange for is a material possession.  This is something we can take with us.  Something that ages with time.  Something that becomes obsolete.  Something that provides constant entertainment.  Something that reminds us of better times.  An wedding band is just that: something that was exchanged for the USD that represents something.  Love, passion, commitment.  It could be with you when you die.  It could be buried with you.  A fifty-year old wedding band could spend an eternity underground.  Or it can be sold off after a handful of years of marriage.

Money, the material object, influences the way we live, the way we think, and the way we see the world.  Money, the immaterial object, creates a segregation within society that is unstoppable.  There is no doubt of the power of influence the dollar has in American society.  Lives are built because of it.  Love can be broken in lieu of it’s absence.  Money is a powerful commodity.

Baseball is an American sport.  Moneyball attempts to couple the two in a seamless marriage.

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Mariners trade Chone Figgins and Jamey Wright to the Giants for LHP Barry Zito and $25 million

Why this works for Seattle:

The Mariners have too many infielders for their playing time. Figgins has been the worst of those fighting for playing time and likely isn’t going to play at all. Getting Figgins off the roster is a need, as it trying to get something out of the $9 million he’s being paid each year. Wright is near the end of his career, and doesn’t have a place in the long terms plans of the Mariners, and the M’s need to make room in the bullpen for Josh Lueke and Dan Cortes to get some major league innings now that they’re out of it.

Zito will fill a need in a rotation once the M’s trade away Erik Bedard and Blake Beavan (yes, Beavan is included in another trade) The cash included in the deal covers the difference in salaries between Zito and Figgins, so the M’s get Zito for about $9 mil/year. While that is more than you’d like to pay for a #5 starter, it’s easier to swallow that for a pitcher than it is for an infielder who’ll never play.

Why this deal works for the Giants:

The Giants need bullpen help and Wright offers that. He’ll be a steady but not spectacular middle reliever in the lesser National League. He’s also cheap, which is a plus. Figgins is a versatile player who can play many positions, especially third, where Pablo Sandoval has had injury problems all year. Figgins is also very likely to have a resurgence in a new city, especially in the National League.

Zito really doesn’t have a place in San Francisco ‘s rotation anymore, and they aren’t going to be willing to pay him over $20 mil/year to be a long reliever, so they’ve felt compelled to keep him in the rotation over younger pitchers who deserve a shot. Moving Zito will also have the benefit of removing the very negative conversation piece about the pre-Lincecum front office. You’d think a World Series would give their front office a bit of a pass from their fans, but that hasn’t been the case when it comes to that Zito contract.  This deal as I’ve set it out also gives the Giants a little financial relief.

How it works out financially:

Total: $31,800,000

I have the Giants sending $25 million to the Mariners. The idea is that the Giants would cover the difference in salary, and the M’s would have to cover the 2014 buyout.