MVN: Most Valuable Network

The Mariners have a lot to accomplish in the coming months if they want to get this ship sailing in the right direction.  First off they have to hire a new GM, which won't happen until late October early November.  Then the new GM is going to have his or her hands full trying to reorganize this mess by hiring new staff and especially a new manager.  Then after all of that is done they will have to get down and dirty and try to find a way to field a respectable team for the 2009 campaign.  That would have been a tall order for a GM already in place, but a new GM with only a few months is going to be a chore.

However, I'm not one of those people who thinks a lot needs to be done to put a team on the field that can actually be recognized as a major league team.  I think pretty much everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.  Johjima, Sexson, and Vidro all got extremely old in a hurry, Ichiro performed subpar, Felix regressed slightly, the bullpen didn't hold up and every off season signing went totally wrong.  There were a few bright spots; Lopez showed that he could be an everyday second baseman, Beltre continued to earn his paycheck, some youngsters got to play and Morrow finally was thrown into the mix as a starter.

I've outlined what I would do during the season to try in improve this team, but since many of those moves cannot be done or some have I've decided to do a quick "play GM for a day" post for the upcoming off season.

1. Resign Beltre- Don't trade him unless he makes it clear he wants out next season.  He is one of the better third baseman and gives the team a good clubhouse presence with the latin players.
2. Don't Resign Ibanez- The M's need all the draft picks they can muster to help the new GM rebuild and lets face it Ibanez isn't going to be around when the M's start to contend anyways.
3. Waive Batista or use him as a mop up reliever- I would keep him around as a spot starter if the club gets in trouble with injuries, but there is no way he is a regular starter or a bullpen guy when the game is on the line.
4. Move Clement to 1st base- Defense hasn't been his strong suit and he proved that this season.  He just isn't a major league catcher.  The M's have a huge hole at first and Clement is the logical choice to fill it.
5. Keep Lopez at 2nd-  I'm sorry, but I don't get all the Lopez haters out there in.  You asked him to change positions and ask him to become a power hitter when all Hargrove wanted from him was a number two hitter with no pull power.  He was terrible at second, but showed improvement in the second half.  If he returns to 2007 form the M's will have an above average 2nd baseman of the future instead of an average two bagger.
6. Trade Betancourt or find replacement- Once agian I don't know why everyone wants Betancourt instead of Lopez.  Betancourt is a terrible defensive shortstop with no bat.  He would probably be an average second baseamn defensively with no bat instead of a slightly below average fielder with a bat in Lopez.  Get rid of him he is getting old and is easily replaceable.
7. Sign Juan Rivera to play LF or RF-With Ibanez leaving the M's need to find a bat to replace him.  The M's would get a bat almost equal to Ibanez with far better defensive from Rivera.  He is only 30 and wouldn't be too expensive.  This is the kind of low risk/high reward type of signing that Bavasi just couldn't understand.

Thats about it.  Balentien is the everday LF fielder and you might throw in another signing of a lefty hitter of the free agent market.  For the most part the M's need to stay pat and build from within.  The fans are going to have give the next Gm some time because it's not going to be an over the night kind of fix.

Here is an article by fellow MVN writer Evan Brunell and what he thinks the M's should do in the off season.

Here is an article by USS Mariner's Dave and how the M's could reload this offseason and compete.  He doesn't necessarily recommend it, but its a good read.

 Writers Note: Go Peter Woodforke for GM

I wanted to express some of my ideas about some of the recent moves and going ons in Mariner land.  First off the big news of the day is that Brandon Morrow is slated to start Friday September 5th against the New York Yankees.  The M's sent him down to stretch him out and to see what his future could be in the starting rotation.  The reports out of Tacoma have been mostly good, but his stats have been pretty bad.  It seems that some of the troubles he had at times as a reliever are going to cost him more severely has a starter.  His control has been shaky and he has had to use a lot of pitches to get hitters out and get out of an inning.  This are all common problems of a young starter, so if anyone thinks that Morrow is going to have an... Read more

The Mariners continued there horrendous season this evening laying down for the Chicago White Sox to a score of 13-5. Jarrod Washburn continued his downward spiral since not being traded. He was knocked out of the game in the fifth inning after allowing eight earned runs. The offense once again lacked the crucial hit and compiled only five runs on 15 base hits. The M's bats left 13 runners in scoring position in the defeat. The one positive note of the game was Jeff Clement, who had his first three hit game of his career. He has shown an improved approach at the plate while continuing to hit for power. In August he has amassed a respectable .372/ .400/ .442 line at the dish. However there are still concerns on whether he will be able to stick behind the plate. So since the Mariners have decided to packed it up... Read more

If you were like most Seattle fans, angry and confused about Washburn not getting traded, then your likely to be pretty upset today.  According to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Jarrod Washburn cleared waivers without a single team putting in a claim.  This means that Seattle is on the hook for the remainder of his contract, about 13.5 million dollars, and will be with the team in 2009.  The local media is doing spin control saying that this is good news because now the M's can work out a deal with any team they desire.  But in reality this couldn't be worse news for the M's.  No one is willing to take on his entire salary and the team cannot get a player currently on a 40 man roster.  Both of these were apparently what the New York Yankees were offering before the deadline. This is another example of... Read more

It took the Mariners a long time to finally make the two moves all M's fans wanted and most baseball minds agree with; DFA Vidro and send Morrow down to the minors to stretch out.  I'm not sure if the M's were thinking that someone would actually give us a player for Vidro, but lets give them a little props for finally making the right call.  GM Lee has done exactly what every M's fan has wanted expect for shipping out Washburn, which could still happen.  Lee isn't going to get the Seattle GM job, but he is making it a little bit easier on whoever does take over by taking out some of Bavasi's trash. Morrow made his first start in Tacoma and was limited to 34 pitches.  He apparently looked solid, but got to deep into counts to throw more than 1 2/3 innings in his debut.  This... Read more

There's not a lot to talk about on the Mariners front. They still suck and look even worse tonight against the Twins. Batista still sucks and shouldn't be a starting pitcher. Vidro still sucks and I have no idea why he is still on the team. Yuni's defense still sucks. But I thought that I could give you guys some good news of sorts. It's been hard to come by, but there are some good news. Erik Bedard looks to be getting close to coming off the DL. John Hickey reports that he threw again today: The left-hander was supposed to throw again Monday after a 30-throw session in the outfield Sunday. But a meeting of the minds including the manager, the pitching coach, the trainer and the pitcher ended with a decision to hold off for a day. ''We were going to go two days on, one day off,''... Read more

Seattle Mariners selected Aumont number 11th in the amature draft last season even though the Canadian had little baseball experience. The M's inked him to a 1.9 million dollar signing bonus. His size (6-7 220lbs) and movement on his fastball was all the M's had to see to take a chance with this kid. This was a little out of the ordinary for the Mariners becuase they tend to draft older college players in early rounds because of the less risk involved and signability. Aumont started the year in single A Wisconsin and was used out of the bullpen throwing 40-50 pitches per outing. Slowly the M's moved him into the rotation and they increased his workload. He was having a very solid year in Wisconsin before he got injured in June. He hasn't pitched since June, but their are reports that he is about to be placed off the... Read more

The Seattle Mariners were expected to make a couple of trades today, but in the end they made only one. Arthur Rhodes was shipped off to the Marlins for Gaby Hernandez. Hernandez (22) is a double A pitcher who has shown mixed results this season. Rhodes was one of the M's names that most people expected to be traded and GM Lee got good value out of a non roster invitee. Hernandez was baseball America's number 5 Marlin prospect at the beginning of 2008 and many scouts and evaluators had him as a potential #2 or #3 starter in the future. John Sickes gave him a B grade at the start of the season and Matt Birnbach at Future Fish here at MVN had Hernandez as the Marlins #7 prospect. Here is a little scouting report by him: Hernandez commands a two seam fastball in the low 90s, with excellent... Read more

There are two reasons why the Mariners are hanging on to Vidro; they are idiots or they want to see if someone will take him off their hands for them.  I'm hoping it's the latter because he doesn't belong on a major league team that isn't competing or an everyday player anymore.  Vidro has no value as a fielder and has very little value as a hitter besides maybe a pinch hitter on a team. After tomorrow I'm hoping the M's release him or shortly after he clears waivers in August because he is taking up a roster spot that could be filled by two Tacoma players.  One who has shown he can play at the big league level and one who has potential to fill an outfield spot for years to come.  I'm talking about Victor Diaz and Wlad Balentien. Victor Diaz not only has major league experience, but... Read more

After a solid start to the 2007 season Jose Lopez's play went spirally downwards in the second half of the season. Pretty similar to what had happened in 2006, even though he was an all-star. Many wondered if it was because of the death of his brother or perhaps his conditioning, but one thing was clear people in Seattle were tired of waiting for his potential. He saw playing time in the bigs as a 20 year old and many predicted great things for him. Every year it started off the same; solid if not great first half followed by a disappointing second half. Things had to change. One of Bavasi's offseason plans was to upgrade the 2B position by signing a player to overtake Lopez or to compete for the spot. There wasn't much on the market so Bavasi settled on Cairo. There was talk of competition and a... Read more

After a slow start in High Desert Carlos Triunfel has turned it around and is starting to look like the top prospects fans, scouts, and ownership envisioned when he signed out of the Dominican in 2006. Bob Engle and Patrick Guerrero signed him as one of the best international prospects out there for a million plus. Unlike other international signings in 2006, Triunfel started the year in A ball instead of Rookie league. Last season Triunfel more than held his own in Wisconsin batting .309 in a pitcher friendly league and High Desert were he was the youngest player in the league at the age of 17. In High Desert he batted .288 Many people expected a huge breakout season for him when the M's decided to send him back to High Desert in 2008, but after a slow start and an early season suspension many were starting to wonder... Read more