Official Mariners Thread

[200tang]

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.

haha I was kidding :P

I agree Sweeney is done though and I doubt he makes the team.

[boomboom]

I really do hope that Mariners do the right things for the Fans and sign Griffey Junior.

[WHAK0985]

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.


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.

I've been a big Ronny Cedeno fan for years. I went to school in Iowa so Cubs games were on all the time and I saw at least a few dozen games every year on TV and even a few at Wrigley every summer the past few years. The thing is nearly all of my friends who were Cubs fans did not like Cedeno at all. Even some of the more "baseball intelligent" ones. They were enamored, just like Lou Piniella, of Ryan "The Riot" Theriot for his old school, hard nosed, hard working play. The "shiny" .300 batting average probably factored into that as well.

I've been secretly hoping all offseason that the Mariners would take a flyer on Cedeno and my biggest wish of the offseason has been granted (Can you tell I'm a long suffering Mariners fan? My "biggest" wish was for the Mariners to take a chance on a player who could be a AAA player at best. Hooray Jack Z!) Betancourt is not a Major League starter. At this point we don't know if Cedeno is either, but I'd rather give him a fulltime shot then give Betancourt another 500+ PA's.

[WHAK0985]

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.

I, too, would love for RRS to join the starting 5. I almost wish they would just cut Washburn and get it over with. On a team that most certainly will not make the playoffs in 2009, Silva will make 25+ starts around 160 innings guaranteed. It's not worth $11 million, but it's not the worst thing in the world. And it's not like the minors are overflowing with near-Major league ready pitching.

[WHAK0985]

Another thing about the whole Ronny Cedeno/Cubs thing.

Look at the Cubs 40 man roster.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/team/ros...n.jsp?c_id=chc

How many home grown legitimate Major Leaguers are on there? Maybe 3? Zambrano, Marmol and Soto, we'll see about Samardzija. And don't forget even Geovany Soto was yanked around by the Cubs the last few years before finally hitting his stride late in '07. I thought it might just be Piniella not trusting youngsters, a la Dusty Baker. But looking at the roster maybe it's just Cubs' management that has a hard time feeling comfortable playing young players.

[WHAK0985]

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.

I really hope Mike Sweeney doesn't play 80 games in 2009. That would mean something has gone terribly wrong.

But at the price of a minor league contract, on a maybe-.500 team, not a huge gripe.

[WHAK0985]

I really do hope that Mariners do the right things for the Fans and sign Griffey Junior.

Kind of on the fence about that. The fan in me would love to see him in a Mariners uniform again. But it would be nothing more than an obvious publicity stunt. Nothing to do with winning games, or more importantly, building for the future.

[HoustonGM]

Another thing about the whole Ronny Cedeno/Cubs thing.

Look at the Cubs 40 man roster.

http://chicago.cubs.mlb.com/team/ros...n.jsp?c_id=chc

How many home grown legitimate Major Leaguers are on there? Maybe 3? Zambrano, Marmol and Soto, we'll see about Samardzija. And don't forget even Geovany Soto was yanked around by the Cubs the last few years before finally hitting his stride late in '07. I thought it might just be Piniella not trusting youngsters, a la Dusty Baker. But looking at the roster maybe it's just Cubs' management that has a hard time feeling comfortable playing young players.

Soto didn't do anything at all in the minors until 2007. The highest OPS is posted in the minors was .750 at AA in 2004. In 2007, he exploded for a 1.076 OPS in AAA, kept it up during a major league cup of coffee, and then the Cubs entrusted him fully with the job in 2008, despite him having only one good season on his record (albeit a phenomenal one), and being a catcher having to learn and manage a pitching staff for a top-flight contender.

I don't disagree with your overall point that perhaps the Cubs do have a hard time feeling comfortable playing younger players, but you have to admit that Soto is a good piece of evidence AGAINST that, since nearly every contender would waver with a young catcher with only one good season.

[WHAK0985]

Soto didn't do anything at all in the minors until 2007. The highest OPS is posted in the minors was .750 at AA in 2004. In 2007, he exploded for a 1.076 OPS in AAA, kept it up during a major league cup of coffee, and then the Cubs entrusted him fully with the job in 2008, despite him having only one good season on his record (albeit a phenomenal one), and being a catcher having to learn and manage a pitching staff for a top-flight contender.

I don't disagree with your overall point that perhaps the Cubs do have a hard time feeling comfortable playing younger players, but you have to admit that Soto is a good piece of evidence AGAINST that, since nearly every contender would waver with a young catcher with only one good season.

Perhaps. But remember, the Cubs weren't always contenders the last several years. And look at their catchers since Michael Barrett imploded: Jason Kendall, Koyie Hill, Rob Bowen, Henry Blanco. It wasn't worth at least trying Soto out for awhile instead of those guys? At least we can agree there is a general mistrust of young players in Wrigley and among Cubs' fandom. No wonder they never win anything

[200tang]

Quick Update - Bobby Abreu under Rumors section

I, too, would love for RRS to join the starting 5. I almost wish they would just cut Washburn and get it over with. On a team that most certainly will not make the playoffs in 2009, Silva will make 25+ starts around 160 innings guaranteed. It's not worth $11 million, but it's not the worst thing in the world. And it's not like the minors are overflowing with near-Major league ready pitching.

I think it would be a mistake to cut Washburn before spring training begins, last year there were supposedly people who were interested and like I said before, a high contact pitcher with a much better defense behind him this year should be better. At worse you have to keep him the whole year and then his contract is up.

Kind of on the fence about that. The fan in me would love to see him in a Mariners uniform again. But it would be nothing more than an obvious publicity stunt. Nothing to do with winning games, or more importantly, building for the future.

I agree 100%. If they did sign him I would be sad and happy at the same time. Great to see him again, but unfortunate for the team's future and I don't even think he would help us out with winning this year.

One article I read on Mike Sweeney said we should have signed Chris Snelling instead and I have to say I agree with it. Still not a bad signing obviously since it's a minor league deal and griping about the contract is really just splitting hairs.

http://www.lookoutlanding.com/2009/1...-is-old-and-fr

Sweeney generated 0.1 wins last year for the Athletics and is limited to playing 1B or DH, spots we already have more than a few options for. Sweeney is 35 and right-handed, so even if he were to recover some of his old power, Safeco Field isn't the ideal place for him to utilize it. Marcel and CHONE project him for about 300 ABs of .317 wOBA, which is pretty bad.

...

How about a projected 230 ABs of .344 wOBA instead? Well Chris Snelling is still available out there. He's much younger than Mike Sweeney, bats left-handed and has the skill to play the outfield from time to time. Oh, and he generated 0.2 wins last year. He's twice as good as Mike Sweeney. And he's basically local.

Again, not a bad idea getting Sweeney but I do agree with this article.

[200tang]

UPDATED AGAIN - Two updates within a small time frame, this one is a BIG rumor.

http://prospectinsider.com/view/a-small-rumor/
http://www.bleedingblueandteal.com/0...clearing-move/

Basically, the rumor states that the Mariners are in talks with an AL Central team in getting rid of either Silva, Washburn or Batista and Clement/Balentien/both for a young corner outfielder with solid defensive skills and one strong offensive season under his belt, and minor league prospects - at least one pitcher.

In one sense it is nice that one of those pitchers could be gone but scary that Clement, Balentien or possibly BOTH could be gone. Keep in mind this is JUST A RUMOR. Speculation so far points to the White Sox and Carlos Quentin.

[WHAK0985]

That could also potentially lead to a Bobby Abreu signing:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...57_mari30.html

Right now there's interest on both sides, but the Mariners can't sign Abreu unless they shed salary.

[BINGLEBOP]

UPDATED - Mariners acquired Mike Sweeney

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

Minor league deal.

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

I still get Mike Sweeney confused with Mark Sweeney sometimes.

[TheNamelessPoet]

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

I hope he throws a 1 hit 9 inning shutout

[BINGLEBOP]

Why not a no-hitter or a perfect game?