Missing live baseball

Clearly I'm an M's fan. But this National League race is so entertaining, I can't wait to wake up in the morning and check the scores. Being in the UK, not really able to see much before having to go to bed (maybe need to find a job with a graveyard shift for next season?). It was sad to see that Colorado lost last night. That was my personal favorite story, was really hoping to see them pull it out, it would have been so improbable. With that done, I'm looking forward to seeing Philly keep on winning, and then watching the headlines in the New York Post!

2 more days...

Bavasi and McClaren back in 2008

Oof. That's a punch in the stomach. The only, and I mean only, positive to come out of the 2nd Annual Mariner's Collapse was that it ensured that McClaren would not be back to manage the M's for 2008. Right? Well, not so much. I think the biggest pain point is the justification for it. Quotes as absurd as saying that McClaren guided them to a winning record are patently untrue with just a slight amount of research, which you would think the President and CEO of the Mariner's would do. Record on announcement was a losing record, I believe 40-41.
On top of that, this will delay next year's development as McClaren will not play anyone who is younger than me (and I'll be 30 by next opening day). We've got a raft of cheap, talented, young players. Every team representing the AL in the playoffs this year is counting on young, talented, cheap players. Go Veterans.

As for Bavasi, I am not positive on him as a GM. For 3 years, I gave the benfit of the doubt, saw what seemed like great progress in the farm system, from what I read, from what I saw coming to the Mariners. But good god, the trades, the trades. And the way this team is put together. It makes no sense. We continue to get fleeced, no need to rehash. And we end up with rosters with 4 DH/1st base candidates and no willingness to make a tough decision to resolve it. This then impacts the outfield where we can't get one of our most talented players onto the field. I am very very scared about who gets traded this offseason, and for what comes back in return. Some wily veteran I'm sure.

Disgusted.

Who wants to be a GM?

It's time. Time to get rid of the old and bring in the new GM's. It actually seems a bit of a strange time to me, firing a GM with just a month left in the season, with teams that aren't going anywhere, and no draft or trade to screw up. But be that as it may, Dave Littlefield and Terry Ryan are out. Tying those two together doesn't really feel right though:

Dave Littlefield's Pirates:
Tenure: 6 years (2001-2007)
Record: 442-581
Highest Finish: 4th
Impact players: Pretty much none

Terry Ryan's Twins:
Tenure: 13 years (1994-2007)
Record: 946-1054
Highest Finish: 1st (4 division titles)
Impact players:
Johan Santana
Joe Nathan
Francisco Liriano
Boof Bonser
Kevin Slowey
etc.

So yeah, two GM's have got the ax before the 2007 season even finished, they are tied together there. Besides that, nothing in common. One was incompetent from day one, never had a vision for what he was trying to accomplish, never had the team showing progress, left with no discernible talent in the minors. The other has created a consistent winner, been to the playoffs multiple times, and left a team loaded with pitching - although not much on the offensive side of the ball. Not the same at all.

Somehow I feel that one of these guys may do this again. And the other, I'm guessing not at all.
Not in Seattle though. I'm sure that there will be more openings coming up, but one of them won't be for the M's.

Go A-rod!

Let's be clear on two fronts. Not a fan of the Yankees. At all. Period. Second, I'm a Mariner's fan through and through. But I guess I don't harbor the same animosity that others do to Alex Rodriguez. When the guy is doing what he's doing right now, hitting his 52nd home run of the year, and in 5 straight games, you can't do anything but sit back and admire. Awesome.

Go M's? Not so much.

Not that anyone is reading, so can't feel too bad, but oh, it's been a long wait. I was hoping with this post to talk about the M's and their chances to get into the playoffs (now down to 1% and falling). Since my last post the Mariner's have lost 13 of 14 games, entering into a freefall where they have gone from leading the wild card to 4 games back of the Yankee's and 1 game back of Detroit. The only good thing is that I now live in London and can more easily shake this off since I can't see them implode in real time.
I am trying to look at the positives of this. First off, I think Mariner's fandom was treated to games that mattered way later in the season than anyone could have hoped - going into September with a legitamate shot at the playoffs was awesome. Second, and more cynically, this should show the front office and ownership that this team as currently constructed is not the team they need to compete and win consistently. This should extend to management as well. John McLaren has shown himself unable to manage a baseball team lineup or bullpen and after a half season tryout, should find himself back as a bench coach, if he's lucky. His inconsistencies in how he things of platooning (always for pitchers, never for batters) has been a constant source of frustration. His use of bullpen and his complete lack of feel for high leverage situations and the pitchers to use in them is also staggering. As pointed out over in Keith Law's blog for ESPN, in a game where he is essentially managing to stay in the playoff race the other M's relievers get blown out of the water, and his best reliever, JJ Putz, never gets off the bench. It makes no sense to be that tied to roles when fighting for the playoffs (or ever, really).
I can't say that at this point I would be too disappointed if the changes went further up the chain to Bill Bavasi. He seems way to fond of "veterans" and to have little grasp of how to execute a trade in a way that benefits the team he currently is responsible for. He seems to be a very good man, and has done wonders to the farm system, but is then overly generous in giving away said farm systems for mediocre, "proven", talent. We shall see. Again, not making the playoffs certainly raises the probability that Bavasi goes.

To end on a positive note - Next year we get to look forward to a full year of Adam Jones in the outfield. We're going to end over .500 for the first time in 4 years. And we played meaningful games into September. Baby steps.