Getting Swept By the Nats...

Posted by Dave Nichols | Monday, June 16, 2008 | , , | 0 comments »


As Kristen from We've Got Heart wondered, "Wow. Now if the Mariners would have swept the Nats.....Would we have a new GM?" We wish, Kristen. We only wish.

It's amazing with all the dysfunction and lousy roster maintenance in the Emerald City that it took this long for Bavasi to be relieved of his duties. Seriously, you think the Nats have lousy outfield defense? Well, they do. But the Mariners corner OFs are horrendous.

Ibanez should have gone the way of Harold Baines years ago--and they've been playing revolving door in right field all year, starting with Brad Wilkerson and his bloated free agent contract they ended up eating, moving on to rookie Wladamir Balentien, who couldn't hit his weight, and now they're trying failed prospect Jeremy Reed.

And that's just to start. Richie Sexson hasn't been productive in two full seasons now, and he still has time remaining on his contract. Adrian Beltre has put up decent power numbers, but not enough to justify his ridiculously over-inflated contract. That's $29MM tied up in your corners who are hitting .220 combined. And talk about a waste of money. Jose Vidro, the primary DH, is a cool .219/.267/.333. That's not a typo, he's SLUGGING .333--at DH!!!

Even Ichiro has shown signs of being human...he's only hitting .295

And to make things worse, Bavasi thought going into the season the Mariners could contend, so he traded Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman and others for Erik Bedard, who may not even finish out the season in Seattle. Hope the new guy gets a good deal for Bedard, a player EVERYONE knows wants to play in Toronto.

There's an awful lot of work to do at Safco Field. The interim guy, Vice president/associate general manager Lee Pelekoudas is a "Mariner guy"--he's been with the team forever. We wonder if owner Howard Licncoln take sthe safe route, or if he'll move out of his comfort zone and do a legitimate search for the most qualified person for the reclamation project, because it won't be easy.

0 comments