Offseason Thread

[BayAreaMadSkill]

Felix - Tanaka - Iwakuma

As much as I want a big bat added to the lineup, I would be OKAY with adding an elite pitcher to the staff. It would give us 3 legitimate #1 starters on the staff.

[Sweezo]

tanaka, anyone? hopefully the seattle factor + playing with an old teammate (kuma) can sway him to pitch here. not sure we'll be the highest bid, but hopefully other things go into consideration.

It's hard to know what Jack Z plans to do with anything, but I couldn't be more certain that the M's are gunning for him. It fits with the history of this team and the history of this front office. Plus, I recall McClendon kind of alluding to going after Tanaka in a radio interview, and there was this...

Q. You said Iwakuma has a tremendous arm. Have you seen another tremendous arm such as Tanaka play?
McCLENDON: I’ve seen film. I’ve seen film, yeah.

Q. What was your impression?
McCLENDON: Pretty good.

Q. His splitter? Or what was good about it?
McCLENDON: Well, you know, he can go 91 to 93, and then he can go 97 to 98 with touch and feel. Obviously, his off‑speed pitches are second to none. He’s pretty darn good. He’s pretty impressive.

Q. So you think a lot of teams will bid on him?
McCLENDON: I hope not.

Also in the interview, McClendon mentions Montero as a guy who he hadn't spoken to yet. So ask about a guy in the organization and you get a slight mention. Ask about an international FA and he gives you a full scouting report and seems to let slip that the team is interested. McClendon seems like a good, fun interview and I know he said it with a sly grin when I saw the conference live, but I still think there's some value there.

As much as I would like to add a bat...what's left? Not much worth paying Tanaka money for. I'd rather be aggressive and get the big prize.

For all the team's done in the offseason, they've done it without trading away any major assets. I am sure we'll see the M's grab an outfielder via trade once Tanaka signs somewhere and the rest of the market adjusts.

[quote-"BayAreaMadSkill"]Felix - Tanaka - Iwakuma

As much as I want a big bat added to the lineup, I would be OKAY with adding an elite pitcher to the staff. It would give us 3 legitimate #1 starters on the staff.[/quote]

With Walker, Paxton, Ramirez, Beavan, and Maurer to fight it out for the 4/5 spots? And the 'losers' of the competition waiting in the wings in case someone falters or suffers an injury? Damn straight. Best case scenario if Paxton and Walker pick up where they left off last year...is 5 SP pitching like #1 pitchers. I'm not counting on it by any means for a million reasons, but the potential would be there.

[Sweezo]

Wow. To potentially replace Chuck Armstrong--a lawyer/businessman whose understanding of the game I question--with Tony La Russa would be absolutely staggering. Who knows if it's the right hire or not, but what an amazing boost in credibility it would be.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/01/09/tony-la-russa-seattle-mariners-team-president/4395373/

[BayAreaMadSkill]

It would be a terrific acquisition. With the new manager and big-time FA signing, this is a new era for Mariners baseball. Lets make an even bigger splash by bringing in a proven winner like Larussa.

I like it. Would he be brilliant as President? Who knows, but we cant get worse.

[Bulltalk]

Wanting to hear more good news soon on the Mariners player front. I want another decent bat or two, not the stuff we last acquired masquerading as such. We need more punch, and we need another decent starting pitcher.

The LaRussa thing sounds better than Armstrong. At least LaRussa is about winning and knows something about the game. That's an upgrade right there.

[Sweezo]

Well, it looks like we have a new backup catcher:

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JonHeymanCBS/status/423224788127977472[/tweet]

There's been an odd amount of support online to go after Buck which I haven't completely understood. He has some power but he's not a particularly good hitter and there's some data out there indicating he might be the worst pitch framer in the league. But he's a decent bet for a 1 WAR season somehow, and our standards for backup catchers is exceptionally low. Not a bad signing for $1 million but it's not that exciting either.

[Sweezo]

The LaRussa thing sounds better than Armstrong. At least LaRussa is about winning and knows something about the game. That's an upgrade right there.

Sounds like LaRussa's not even getting an interview and we'll be staying in house. Which is stupid because our front office has been the laughing stock of the league for years.

http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/cardinal-beat/la-russa-doesn-t-think-he-will-get-seattle-job/article_262c0c4f-2130-5bde-907f-394f484908c5.html

[TTown]

after getting off to a roaring start, the free agency period seems to be puttering out. and by that i mean it seemed to die sometime last month.

we did land scott baker, who i think is very interesting. he's one of those "if healthy" low risk/high reward guys.

we are now getting to the point, too, where the market of a few guys seems to be getting so small that there are a few moves i once outright rejected... that now i think might be quasi-smart.

i mean, look at nelson cruz. we all scoffed at those first initial numbers, but what if he could be had for, say 3 years/30 million? cruz at those crazy pre-winter meeting projected contract numbers was laughable, and i think to a man every fan of every major league baseball team said, "whoa, let's not go there." but now? he wasn't worth THOSE numbers, but he's not without skill. his presence would up the talent level of our outfield. at a reasonable contract... why not? we need more bats. the price is quickly drifting into the respectability range.

i'm also all-in on either ubaldo or santana, assuming we've reached the stage where either could be had for a reasonable rate without an excessive number of years tacked on. after felix, our rotation is still hinging on kuma keeping up his ridiculous pace and on the backs of several young kids. kids are kids, no matter how highly decorated by scouts.

[Sweezo]

we did land scott baker, who i think is very interesting. he's one of those "if healthy" low risk/high reward guys.

I was floored by the amount of money Tanaka got, and don't fault the M's for not making Tanaka the highest pitcher on the team over Felix. A deal for Baker seems smart. If he succeeds, he's a bargain. If he fails, you didn't really lose anything given the cost and non-guaranteed roster spot.

we are now getting to the point, too, where the market of a few guys seems to be getting so small that there are a few moves i once outright rejected... that now i think might be quasi-smart.

I'm still against Cruz. His age and the steroid issues are one thing, but the reality is...he's just not very good. He has a career .734 OPS away from Texas, and a .912 OPS at Texas. Even at his best Cruz would struggle at Safeco. We'd be better off bringing back Morales from an offensive standpoint.

i'm also all-in on either ubaldo or santana, assuming we've reached the stage where either could be had for a reasonable rate without an excessive number of years tacked on. after felix, our rotation is still hinging on kuma keeping up his ridiculous pace and on the backs of several young kids. kids are kids, no matter how highly decorated by scouts.

I agree. As talent as the kids are, we could still use the depth.

[TTown]

i've been advocating a morales re-sign from the get-go. i know we have a lot of 1B/DH types, but i think morales is better than hart. i'd have hart play the outfield, morales DH, and platoon liberally. let morales play some first when we face a lefty (or is it a righty? i can never remember w/o looking it up) and smoak becomes worthless. give hart's knees a rest at the same time and DH him.

[Sweezo]

i've been advocating a morales re-sign from the get-go. i know we have a lot of 1B/DH types, but i think morales is better than hart. i'd have hart play the outfield, morales DH, and platoon liberally. let morales play some first when we face a lefty (or is it a righty? i can never remember w/o looking it up) and smoak becomes worthless. give hart's knees a rest at the same time and DH him.

I don't really want to sign Morales because we have Hart/Smoak/Morrison, and not one of them should be playing in the outfield. Hart can, but the guy just lost a whole season to knee injuries. Do we really want to put him in the outfield instead of keeping the DH slot open to keep him healthy?

But if the M's sign Cruz, I think they'd strongly consider putting him at DH a fair amount anyway since he's terrible defensively and injury prone. So, might as well just bring back Morales who will probably do better offensively anyway. I don't hate Morales, which is more than I can say for Cruz.

But I just can't imagine the team not learning any lesson from last season's Ibanez/Morse/Montero/Smoak debacle. Punting defense in the name of adding power to the offense doesn't work all that well. I should give the front office the benefit of a doubt as--in spite of some dreadful rumors that have popped up this offseason--all the moved they've made have been relatively intelligent: Signing Cano, cheap deal for Hart, cost effective trade for Morrison, cheap deal for John Buck, cheaper deal for Baker, etc. The only misstep was giving Bloomquist his deal, and that's more about timing than anything...if they slip that contract in after the other moves they'd made I liked wouldn't have cared. Until the M's actually make an offer for Cruz (and that report awhile back that Cruz turned DOWN a 4 year/$75 million deal from the M's seems like pure hogwash) I don't think they will.

It makes far more sense to me to bite the bullet and sign Jimenez/Santana [although I'm not a huge fan of Santana], and grab an OF via trade with a package built around Nick Franklin. Maybe the M's aren't getting offers they like but with the pieces they have I can't see how they're not able to find someone suitable.

[nuke the whales]

http://baseball.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ ... $14m_deal/
Looks like we still have some money to spend, especially if we still want Cruz and another starter.

[TTown]

rodney still has some juice, that's for sure. consistent 95-96 mph last year.

sounds like cano is courting cruz. this thing has been really public the last few days, which is strange for this team. they usually operate in stealth mode. i'm still okay with signing him on a reasonable deal, if only because i don't think much of our outfield.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

7 million per season? For a closer?

Come on now. Jesus.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using RealGM Forums mobile app

[nuke the whales]

7 million per season? For a closer?

Come on now. Jesus.

Joe Nathan, two years, $20 million
Joaquin Benoit, two years, $15.5 million
Grant Balfour, two years, $12 million
Edward Mujica, two years, $9.5 million

Seems in line with the market.

[BayAreaMadSkill]

I dont care if it seems in line lol. Closer is such an easy position to fill, and we have a ton of other needs. I just dont get it. Oh well.

[TTown]

closer seems like an easy position to fill until it isn't. i like farquhar, but i like him better in the 8th for now... and of the remaining targets, none of them seem overly expensive. this shouldn't impact the rest of the offseason.

random thought of the morning: it's no secret i really like morales, but i concede the counter point that we do have a lot of 1B/DH types. so... why don't we just cut smoak?

hart said he's planning on playing "about half" of his games at DH this year, which, logically, would assume he's talked with management and plans on playing the field the other half. why not cut smoak and bring back morales? morales could play 1B, and DH when hart is in left. morrison would play wherever.

SS miller
2B cano/franklin (for now)
1B morales/morrison
dh hart/morales/morrison
rf cruz (since it seems likely at this point)/morrison
3b seager
c zunino
lf saunders/hart
cf ackley/saunders

// shrug

[Sweezo]

I dont care if it seems in line lol. Closer is such an easy position to fill, and we have a ton of other needs. I just dont get it. Oh well.

I think the way the M's played it was pretty smart. They didn't rush into the market early and risk overpaying someone. They targeted a guy they wanted, didn't overpay, and signed him right before spring training starts. One severe problem we've had the last few seasons is believing a reliever we had on the roster was "the guy" after a half season's worth of effectiveness. Wilhelmson? League? We lost a ton of one run games last season while scrambling to patch the closer role. What happens in 2014 if Farquhar falters? Now, we have Rodney at CL and Farquhar waiting in the wings.

random thought of the morning: it's no secret i really like morales, but i concede the counter point that we do have a lot of 1B/DH types. so... why don't we just cut smoak?

hart said he's planning on playing "about half" of his games at DH this year, which, logically, would assume he's talked with management and plans on playing the field the other half. why not cut smoak and bring back morales? morales could play 1B, and DH when hart is in left. morrison would play wherever.

I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hart's comments, the supposed "all in" pursuit of Cruz, Z's comments about learning the lesson from having too many 1B/DH types last season and not wanting to do it again...

[tweet]https://twitter.com/pgammo/status/431747539562274816[/tweet]

I don't know how plugged in Gammons is any more but Pittsburgh seems like a team that could make some use of Smoak and Nick Franklin/Ackley. They have a wealth of good young outfielders. Marte and McCutchen aren't going anywhere, but they have Lambo, Polanco, and Tabata all hanging around. I think both sides have the pieces to make a deal work if they wanted. Tabata's supposedly stuck as the RH part of a platoon in Pittsburgh, and he could fill that role here. Plus, Clint Hurdle was Smoak's hitting coach with the Rangers in 2010 so he's certainly familiar with him.

As much as I don't like Cruz, I'm resigned to it happening. If it does, it does. If it doesn't...great!

We're still short a SP but I'm sure the team has something in the works. I may not agree with every move they make this season, but the team definitely seems aware of its deficiencies and is planning to address all of them before the season starts.

SS miller
2B cano/franklin (for now)
1B morales/morrison
dh hart/morales/morrison
rf cruz (since it seems likely at this point)/morrison
3b seager
c zunino
lf saunders/hart
cf ackley/saunders

Do you think they'd sign Cruz and Morales? I'd imagine it's one or the other...? I'd wager the normal starting lineup looks like this...

RF: Cruz
LF: Ackley
CF: Saunders
1B: Morrison
DH: Hart

That leaves Almonte and Guti off the bench [potentially], and the team able to shuttle Hart/LoMo/Cruz into the DH slot from time to time. I wouldn't be shocked if Ackley looks more comfortable as an OF this year. He was pushed there without much warning, he's played there before, and I don't think he'd kill the team in LF. I'm not crazy about Saunders in CF but I don't see what other options they have currently on the roster.

An above average OF? Hardly, but not one I'm completely terrified of either.

[TTown]

Do you think they'd sign Cruz and Morales? I'd imagine it's one or the other...? I'd wager the normal starting lineup looks like this...

RF: Cruz
LF: Ackley
CF: Saunders
1B: Morrison
DH: Hart

i'd like to them to, yes. i think more of morales than i do morrison.

[Sweezo]

What the **** is going on?

[tweet]https://twitter.com/TNT_Mariners/status/433703799807410176[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/TNT_Mariners/status/433982783107502080[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/TNT_Mariners/status/433684191964692480[/tweet]
[tweet]https://twitter.com/TNT_Mariners/status/434033446076153856[/tweet]

To recap the past 24 hours: Our #2 pitcher's out for God only knows how long, our star young pitcher is having shoulder issues which--major or minor--is still worrisome for a guy who really shouldn't be a lock for 220+ innings at his age, our best defensive OF is done for the year, and a guy with all the talent in the world but needing to prove himself this spring training decided to spend the offseason eating his way into oblivion.

Unreal.