He hasn’t really had any problem with keeping his nose clean since coming into the organization, but his incident with breaking his hand left a sour taste in my mouth and he already had a disappointing season.

I don’t know. I’m not trying to “bury” the kid but there were starting to become a few red flags with him this past year and while I wish we would have gotten something in return for him, it just seems like there wasn’t much a market for him for a variety of reasons chief of which is probably the shoulder surgery.

I personally believe the real shocker in all of this is it looks like the Royals come away with ”winning” the Yuniesky Bentacourt trade. Wouldn’t have guessed that two and half years ago, but due to the lack of production from Cortes and the fact that we paid Bentacourt to be terrible for both the Royals and Brewers.

Oh, as for Gimenez, I kind of feel bad for him. He still interests me behind the plate (laugh if you will but his numbers at least defensively have shown consistency over the past three years and are interesting enough to give him a back-up job), though he wasn’t ever going to make the team out of spring training and at this point in time he’s pure depth being a 4th or 5th string catcher. There is of course the off-chance that the Mariners could resign him to a minor league contract. It seemed as though Eric Wedge liked him well enough.

I’m not of the high opinoin that either will be retained by the organization. This is hardly a huge hit or anything to the roster.

This is strictly of my own opinion, take it at face value, which is worth nothing. I understand no one cares how I would improve the Mariners and that in general most of my theories for roster construction are really just a mish mash of other brilliants minds at work.

Be prepared to be completely disappointed. I, like many others, love talking trades. I love discussing how to make this team better simply because, My Lord they are awful this past year, but really I can’t believe they are as bad as they really are. As I’ve previously discussed my sole goal for this team is to do the following:

• A)     I want to give this team a trampoline. The goal is to give them the opportunity to bounce forward from this point. Start this coming year as a 77-80 win team and give them the opportunity to better themselves to becoming an 85-90 win team. Next year starts this year.
• B)      You can’t move forward without talent. I’m not just talking about acquiring talent either, it’s about cultivating and helping it grow towards being healthy and productive. The Mariners are never going to compete, let me reiterate this for everyone, NEVER going to compete again unless they can eventually grow internal talent. Doug Fister was good, Dustin Ackley is of course way better, but there needs to be less gap time between the time periods and more players. Really, what this team needs to figure out is how to grow position players and while you need to give them time you need to have the talent to step in for if those young guys fail.
• C)      With growing talent it means keeping it. My goal is to keep as much internal talent possible while moving forward. This is extremely difficult and it relies on… more risk. You can’t get premier talent without giving up premier talent but you can acquire certain individuals that are available around the league for less than they potentially could be worth. This takes a lot of time and is a huge risk. But the important thing is all your giving away is at bats. The talent you have to give up to get them was hardly negligible. Bottom line: I hate giving away young cost controlled arms for risk/reward situations. There is a time to hold ‘em and a time to … well deal them. I see few moves that could should be made by dealing away any of the young arms the Mariners have collected to this point.
• D)     I know Seattle fans are looking at the potential 20 million dollars and they feel like finally they can spend it. Oh they have the money free right now and it’s already starting to burn a hole in their pocket. The unfortunate truth is we can’t just throw that at the “best” guy possible. They have to spend it wisely or be doomed to repeat more of the mid -2000’s. Likewise it means acquiring talent that is on the mend that other teams have deemed “too much time to invest or too pricey due to lack of production” some call it dumpster diving others call it investing. We need to come away from this season with more money in our pockets next year. As I continue to say getting to .500 is easy. Once we’re there it’s going to take money or prospects to make that last push. We’ll discuss that more as we get into the free-agent section.

Without further ado I give you my EPIC king of the off-season post.

(more…)

1. Catcher Chris Gimenez was placed on the 15 day DL with a strained oblique.
2. Catcher Josh Bard was recalled from Tacoma.
3. AA Pitcher Edward Paredes designated (removed fromt he 40 man roster) to make room for Bard.
4. Pitcher Erik Bedard was placed on the 15 man DL with a strained knee.
5. Catcher Jose Yepez was recalled from Tacoma.
6. AAA Pitcher Chaz Roe designated (removed fromt he 40 man roster) to make room for Yepez.
7. There will have to be additional minor league moves, as the Raniers now have no catchers on their roster.

That’s a lot to process. First, neither pitcher designated for assignment is any good, and I expect both to stay in the organization since any team that claimed them would have to put them on their own 40 man roster, and they aren’t worth the spot.

Second, the Mariners now have 3 catchers on the big league roster. Olivo is still recovering from the leg cramps that caused him to leave last night’s game. Bard was recalled to be the backup and play in tonight’s game, but is himself dealing with a very painful toe injury. Yepez is here for insurance, though I don’t expect him to stay up with the big club for very long.

Lastly, Bedard to the DL is a bad thing, but at least it’s not a shoulder injury again. It’s a knee strain, and what i’m hearing is that it’s very minor, and will be back as soon as he’s able to come of the DL. In fact, the Mariners say he’s only going to miss one scheduled start, though since his rotation spot will come around twice while he’s gone it is a little confused.

Here’s how I see this all going down, (This is all speculation on my part. We’ll have wait until after today’s game for Wedge to give us the official plan):

• Yepez starts tomorrow to give Bard’s foot and Olivo’s legs more rest. Olivo then returns as the starter, with Bard as his backup once Bard’s toe is healed.
• With tomorrow being an off day, the M’s just skip Bedard’s spot in the rotation this next time around.
• When Bedard would normally be scheduled to start again, Yepez is sent back to Tacoma and Blake Beavan is recalled to start in Bedard’s place.
• Once Bedard is ready to come of the DL, Beavan goes back down to Tacoma.
• He’s the real kicker: once Gimenez is all healed up, he reports to Tacoma, leaving Bard in Seattle.

I’d felt for some time now that Bard was the better fit with the Mariners. Gimenez was brought up instead of Bard because he could play the outfield as well as catcher. When this team was without Franklin Gutierrez in center, and with Milton Bradely in LF and DH, the versatility made sense. Now, the M’s need a better backup catcher so Olivo can be rested more often. I believe the only reason this swap wasn’t done sooner was because Bard wasn’t on the 40 man roster, but the Gimenez injury has removed that obstacle.