Official Mariners Thread

[boomboom]

from the ussmariner.com

ESPN reports that the pitching prospect the M’s are getting with Ronny Cedeno is Garrett Olson, whom the Cubs just picked up from the Orioles for Felix Pie.
At this point, if you don’t like this trade, you’re just trying to be a curmudgeon. This is an amazingly fantastic deal for the M’s.
Olson is a 25-year-old LHP with a below average fastball, a good slider, and a solid change-up. He was the Orioles best pitching prospect the last few years, but like Cedeno, he’s been bad in the majors. However, not nearly as bad as his results would indicate.
In 132 innings for Baltimore last year, Olson had a 5.13 FIP - way, way lower than his 6.65 ERA. Just like we talked about with Silva, there’s a huge regression to the mean coming, and considering his minor league track record, quite a bit of upside beyond that.
Olson consistently struck out about one batter per inning in the minors and flashed good command as well. He’s pretty neutral on balls in play, being neither an extreme groundball or flyball guy. CHONE projects him for a 4.96 FIP for 2009, which sounds about right. He’s a #5 starter with potentially some upside as a #4 starter. Not that much unlike Aaron Heilman himself, honestly.
He’s under team control for five more years, and he won’t make any money until 2011. Adding him to Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ryan Feierabend, and Jason Vargas, the club now has four mid-20s LHPs with potential who are all under team control for the next 4-5 years. The M’s have quietly been stockpiling arms who fit perfectly into Safeco Field, and filling out the back-end of the rotation for no cost for the foreseeable future.
I’d have traded Heilman for either Ronny Cedeno or Garrett Olson. To get both is just a huge win for the M’s.

[200tang]

January 28th - LATEST UPDATE
Mariners acquire Ronny Cedeno and Garret Olson for Aaron Heilman

I am not sure if this is going to be a good deal, We should have kept Heilman, where is Cedeno going to play, is he going to play for Lopez or maybe this is part of the bigger plan, like having Cedeno play 3rd base, and we can move Beltre.

Thou I would hate to see Beltre leave.

Z loves defense and Beltre is one of the best defensive third basemen in the league so I doubt he gets rid of him. If anybody is going to go anywhere it's Washburn or Silva who hopefully have a decent first half since they're both contact pitchers playing with a much better defense. I'm guessing if Olson does make the roster it's in the pen where we need him, but agian that is if he makes the roster. They'll likely open the season with

Felix
Bedard
Morrow
Washburn
Silva

Then you hope Washburn and Silva put together a first half and trade them if you can, eating half their payroll would be ideal at this point. Even if we cant though I believe both of them come off the books at the end of this year.

[boomboom]

Felix
Bedard
Morrow
Washburn
Silva

Then you hope Washburn and Silva put together a first half and trade them if you can, eating half their payroll would be ideal at this point. Even if we cant though I believe both of them come off the books at the end of this year.

For the Rotation, the first 3 sounds good, the last 2, I really hope RRS gets a shot. I think that Ryan Fierebrend will not make it. There is little luck for him to turn into Jamie Moyer.

I hope that Washburn will get traded, Silva did put up a great April last year, if my memory serves me correct.

[200tang]

Well Washburn and Silva are both high contact guys and we should have a much better defense this year to help them. I hope that RRS gets a shot, but for team needs, getting rid of Washburn and Silva is a top priority in my book. Smith isn't going anywhere anytime soon and pushing his starting days back half a year or a full year shouldn't hurt him.

[200tang]

greatest Mariners' legacy ever.

[200tang]

UPDATE - I removed the Heilman/ Counsell rumor btw.

[HoustonGM]

Z will be batting 1.000 till he can show what kind of team this is going to be.

I have a feeling the Mariners are going to win between 75-85 wins this year. I think it will be closer to 75 than 85.

You shouldn't judge the GM by the record of the team in the first year. The moves he's made so far have been good, though unlikely to pay off immediately. He at least has a direction and isn't make moves for the sake of making moves. He's gambling on upside instead of overpaying for mediocrity (and getting worse) from the likes of Carlos Silva, Jose Vidro, etc.

January 28th - LATEST UPDATE
Mariners acquire Ronny Cedeno and Garret Olson for Aaron Heilman

I am not sure if this is going to be a good deal, We should have kept Heilman, where is Cedeno going to play, is he going to play for Lopez or maybe this is part of the bigger plan, like having Cedeno play 3rd base, and we can move Beltre.

Thou I would hate to see Beltre leave.

I think if given a shot at a regular role, he'd easily outperform Betancourt. Cedeno tore up AAA both times he was there, but has been jerked around in the majors. A regular role could allow for a breakout season.

[KowboyKoop]

It seems like a lot of people (both here and elsewhere) are expecting Brandon Morrow to step into the rotation and do pretty well...but I'm not so sure I see that. He's had only 15 starts in his professional baseball career (10 in the minors, 5 with the Mariners last year) and had a 5.79 in his five starts last year. I certainly don't mean to say that he sucks or anything, but I could definitely see him struggling next year...it seems to me he needs a lot more experience before being a full-time effective starter. We'll see.

[dickay]

It seems like a lot of people (both here and elsewhere) are expecting Brandon Morrow to step into the rotation and do pretty well...but I'm not so sure I see that. He's had only 15 starts in his professional baseball career (10 in the minors, 5 with the Mariners last year) and had a 5.79 in his five starts last year. I certainly don't mean to say that he sucks or anything, but I could definitely see him struggling next year...it seems to me he needs a lot more experience before being a full-time effective starter. We'll see.

I agree 100%. To expect anything more than say a Zach Greinke type of mediocre season is asking for alot.

Sorry....seeing you get so riled about the Royals, I admire your committment yet can't help bustin balls a wee bit.

[metsguy234]

I'm quite excited that Heilman will get to pitch at Citi Field in front of the Mets home crowd! That should be interesting

[200tang]

UPDATED - Mariners acquired Mike Sweeney

As more news and analysis comes in I will post another link or 2 for this signing.

[Alloutwar]

Minor league deal.

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.co...e_sweeney.html

[filihok]

Then you hope Washburn and Silva put together a first half and trade them if you can, eating half their payroll would be ideal at this point. Even if we cant though I believe both of them come off the books at the end of this year.

Carlos Silva rhp
4 years/$48M (2008-11), plus 2012 mutual option
4 years/$48M (2008-11), plus 2012 option
signed by Seattle as a free agent 12/20/07
$5M signing bonus
08:$7M, 09:$11M, 10:$11.5M, 11:$11.5M, 12:$12M mutual option ($2M buyout)
no-trade protection for 2008
award bonuses: $0.2M for Cy Young, $0.1M for WS MVP, $50,000 each for LCS MVP, Gold Glove, All Star
suite on the road

Jarrod Washburn lhp
4 years/$37.5M (2006-09)
4 years/$37.5M (2006-09)
signed by Seattle as a free agent 12/05
06:$7.45M, 07:$9.85M, 08:$9.85M, 09:$10.35M
no-trade protection

http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/200...-mariners.html

[200tang]

Thanks for the info fil, At least Washburn comes off the books this year no matter what although moving him mid season would still be cool depending on the no-trade protection.

Also, Mike Sweeney : http://progressiveboink.com/archive/sweeney/1.htm

The man who hit 83 home runs in 2003 and had a .422 batting average 2 years before. You're all so jealous.

[KowboyKoop]

Thanks for the info fil, At least Washburn comes off the books this year no matter what although moving him mid season would still be cool depending on the no-trade protection.

Also, Mike Sweeney : http://progressiveboink.com/archive/sweeney/1.htm

The man who hit 83 home runs in 2003 and had a .422 batting average 2 years before. You're all so jealous.

Sweeney is complete done as a ballplayer. Can't hurt to give him such a cheap deal though, who knows...maybe by some miracle he'll play 80 games. I doubt it.