Firesale?

[blacksilverfan12]

Who are the Mariners who could be traded/released in the upcoming months? I've heard Sexson, Vidro, Bedard, and even Ichiro

[Stumanji]

I don't think ownership would allow Ichiro to leave. And given his age and probable success, I doubt King Felix is on the block.

Other than that, I think everyone available. I've heard on ESPN radio loose talks that Adrian Beltre is desired, as well as Bedard.

[Seattle1]

Just don'tget rid of Ichiro or Hernandez. Also, I kind of like Ibanez, Betancourt, Beltre, and Lopez to tell you the truth. Ok, maybe you can deal Lopez.

:twocents:

[SABR Matt]

Ibanez can be dealt...he's too old to remain here.

Trade Betancourt, Ibanez, Beltre, Washburn, Putz and Rhodes...release Vidro, Sexson, Cairo, Bloomquist and Batista, promote Balentien permanently along with LaHair, Huber, Feierabend, Valbueno, Chen and any young relievers we can find and start over.

[Rennie Stennett]

Ibanez can be dealt...he's too old to remain here.

Trade Betancourt, Ibanez, Beltre, Washburn, Putz and Rhodes...release Vidro, Sexson, Cairo, Bloomquist and Batista, promote Balentien permanently along with LaHair, Huber, Feierabend, Valbueno, Chen and any young relievers we can find and start over.

I agree. Get rid of Ichiro also, while we can still get some value for him.

[SABR Matt]

eh...I'm only in favor of Ichiro getting traded if we can get three major league ready players in return.

[Rennie Stennett]

eh...I'm only in favor of Ichiro getting traded if we can get three major league ready players in return.

The trade deadline should be fun this year ! Where would be a good home for Ichiro ? Boston ? Yankees ? Dodgers ? Mets ?

Ichiro will be a 10/5 guy in two years ! My Oh My !

[Seattle1]

Boy am I ever glad that the ownership of the Mariners is from Japan and in love with Ichiro and will never trade him in a million years. That is a real good "firewall," so to speak, against those who think it's a good idea to deal him for some strange reason.

[leecemark]

--I think there would be few suitors for Ichiro. Only a few clubs could absorb his contract. Whether they would give much for the priviledge of acquiring a mid-30s speedster having a lackluster season is doubtfull. Even more doubtfull is ownership giving the go ahead to move him, regardless of the return.
--I suspect that the interim GM will only be authorized to try and move guys who have worn out their welcome here. If we can get something for Washburn or Batista they are almost certainly gone. I'm sure we'd pay Sexson's full salary and accept a B (or even C) prospect in return if someone expressed an interest. Not sure if the org is still down on Lopez enough to actively pursue moving him, but I'm sure we'd listen if offers came in. Ditto on Beltre. If Ibanez hasn't agreed to both a position change and an extention by the trade deadline I'm sure he will be offered up. I wish I could believe Joh will be offered around, but I doubt it and who would take him with that ill advised 3 year extention in place anyway. Bedard I expect they'd part with if the right offer came along, but whether we'll be the aggressors in such a deal I don't have a clue.
--Right now the only guys I wouldn't be willing to part with are Felix Hernandez, Brandon Morrow and Jeff Clement. Beltre and Bedard I'd demand a huge price for, but they could go if somebody came up with it. Silva is probably untradable with 3 years left on his overpaid deal. Putz we'd be seeling too low on this season. Betancourt is probably worth more to the M's than he'd fetch in trade. Lopez I wouldn't be actively peddling, but I'd be listening. Balentin and Reed we probably couldn't get much for and so they should get as much of a look as possible this season. Ibanez I'd prefer to extend, but only if he is audtioning for 1B the rest of the year with the understanding he'd DH if that didn't work out (although they may be saving the DH job for Griffey).
2009 Mariners
C: Clement/Johjima
1B: Ibanez?/free agent/trade
2B: Lopez
3B: Beltre
SS: Betancourt
--although trading at least one of these IFers is probable - they can't bring back too much of this mess intact. The replacements would have to come from outside the org though and we have no near MLB ready IF in the system.
LF: Balentin/free agent/trade/Griffey/Ibanez:eek:
CF: Reed/Ichiro (although if he spends the rest of 2008 in RF this is probably not an option)/Griffey:eek: - or Saunders on the very fast track
RF: Ichiro/Griffey/Balentin/free agent/trade
DH: Ibanez/Griffey/free agent
SP: Herndez, probably Bedard, Silva, Morrow, Dickey or Fierabend or Rowland-Smith or free agent/trade - or Washburn/Batisita is back for one last year
RP: Putz, Lowe, Green, Smith, Rhodes?, O'Flaherty (what went wrong for him this year?)

--Of course this could look very different if the new GM comes in with a mandate to blow this team up and start over. I'd be okay with an even worse 2009 if there were some new faces who brign some energy and upside to Safeco. The firesale is unlikley to happen at the trade deadline unless a new GM is already in place though and maybe not even then. We really don't have alot of players who we could get much in return for now. Most of our guys are either having lousy years or have problematic contracts or both.

[Rennie Stennett]

you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtImIqR5neU

Caution: Foul Language in the above link.

[Jake Patterson]

Ibanez can be dealt...he's too old to remain here.

Trade Betancourt, Ibanez, Beltre, Washburn, Putz and Rhodes...release Vidro, Sexson, Cairo, Bloomquist and Batista, promote Balentien permanently along with LaHair, Huber, Feierabend, Valbueno, Chen and any young relievers we can find and start over.
I watched Brian LaHair play as a youngster. He was something very, very special.

Jake
101 Mod

[Wade8813]

Hey Rennie, you should put a disclaimer with that Ichiro link. I don't mind, but it's just a good idea.

[Zito75]

Ibanez can be dealt...he's too old to remain here.

Trade Betancourt, Ibanez, Beltre, Washburn, Putz and Rhodes...release Vidro, Sexson, Cairo, Bloomquist and Batista, promote Balentien permanently along with LaHair, Huber, Feierabend, Valbueno, Chen and any young relievers we can find and start over.

I agree with your cuts. Sexson garbage, his career is done. Talk about an unmotivated player. Making the dough that he is, where is the incentive to take extra BP?

As far as Bloomquist goes, he was recently featured in article on our hometown paper (we went to the same schools). He said he's worth more money and that he would be solid on an NL contending team because he's a jack-of-all-trades. OK there slick Willie, do you know you're hitting a buck-89?


http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jun/15/willie-could-be-out-the-door/

[Rennie Stennett]

As far as Bloomquist goes, he was recently featured in article on our hometown paper (we went to the same schools). He said he's worth more money and that he would be solid on an NL contending team because he's a jack-of-all-trades. OK there slick Willie, do you know you're hitting a buck-89?


http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2008/jun/15/willie-could-be-out-the-door/

Willie's on fire ! In his last seven games he has a (.500) average, with a (.529) OBP. He's hitting .258 for the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6636

[Texas Rangers]

I've heard that the Rangers and Diamondbacks are interested in Bedard, but I don't know if Seattle will trade within the division.

[mrakbaseball]

Willie's on fire ! In his last seven games he has a (.500) average, with a (.529) OBP. He's hitting .258 for the season.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=6636

Didn't Bloomquist break John Moses' M's record for most AB's without an extra base hit? Get the fire extinguisher!

[Rennie Stennett]

Didn't Bloomquist break John Moses' M's record for most AB's without an extra base hit? Get the fire extinguisher!

LOL...Willie has an OPS of 1174 in the past seven days...

...Ichiro has an OPS of 489 the past seven days...

[SABR Matt]

LOL

Willie has an OPS of .641 for his career. What was Ichiro's career OPS? :)

Face it dude...Bloomquist frickin' sucks. He needs to go.

[Floyd Butterball]

If the right deal came up I wouldn't be surprised to see anyone go. If they got a good enough offer for Beltre I think he could go with Lopez as the future third baseman. I hope Johjima goes but I'm not so sure how Japanese ownership sees that. If Ibanez is not going to be the future dh then trade him. Get rid of Washburn's contract. Sexson should have been history two years ago. If J.J comes back and throws somewhere around the semblance he did last year he could possibly net a good gain. Trade Ichiro you're gonna lose a lot of fans including myself.

As for Bloomquist I'm with Matt the guy is a dipstick whose best value is as a pinchrunner.

[Rennie Stennett]

LOL

Willie has an OPS of .641 for his career. What was Ichiro's career OPS? :)

Face it dude...Bloomquist frickin' sucks. He needs to go.

It tells you something when the utility guy and late inning speedster is hitting higher than most of the team. So you are saying that we should not carry a utility guy on the club ? Get rid of one of the few guys on the club that is hitting the ball ? LOL

[SABR Matt]

We need to get rid of Bloomquist because we have three guys in AAA who can hit at least as well as he does and are younger and more likely to benefit from the playing time.

Tug Hulett, Oswaldo Navarro, and Yung-Chi Chen. All better fielders than Bloomquist...all young and deserving of their shots at some point soon here. Bloomquist is part of the old Mariners...the Mariners that failed utterly and completely due to plumbers union favoritism of "grizzled vets" like Bloomquist. Time for a change. Bloomquist represents everything that was wrong with the old Mariners.

[Rennie Stennett]

the Mariners that failed utterly and completely due to plumbers union favoritism of "grizzled vets" like Bloomquist.

I agree ! except for the dump Bloomquist stuff. You are on a roll today Matt ! That plumbers union stuff is funny !

[leecemark]

--Even if we wanted to trade Willie B, what could we possibly get for him? He'll play out his contract and head off to the NL next year to pursue (unsuccessfully I wager) his dream of being a super sub.

[Rennie Stennett]

--Even if we wanted to trade Willie B, what could we possibly get for him? He'll play out his contract and head off to the NL next year to pursue (unsuccessfully I wager) his dream of being a super sub.

You could see Bloomquist in a Cubs uniform next year playing on the Northside.

[SABR Matt]

I wasn't saying we should trade Bloomquist...I was suggesting we should RELEASE Bloomquist. He's wasting his time here (why play for a loser)....he's wasting OUR time too (why play a 32 y/o wiht no upside when you can play one of 3 promising kids who are at least as good as him already).

Release him...let the NL gobble him up and let's move on. NOW.

Hey Rennie...you big copy-cat. I was a Cubs bandwagoner a week before you! BAH!

The Cubs board is going to fill with Mariners fans who miss Sweet Lou.

[Rennie Stennett]

Hey Rennie...you big copy-cat. I was a Cubs bandwagoner a week before you! BAH!


I was in the closet for a long time. Now I'm coming out !

[mrakbaseball]

Washburn has actually looked decent his last 4 starts. A trade to the NL seems to make sense.

[leecemark]

--Make a deal quick while he's going good!