I’m not home yet, not for a couple more weeks, but the busiest part of my mini-sabbatical is completed.  I’m currently in Orlando with some time on my hands, so I’m happy to report that I’m back to full-time blogging.

While I’m almost relieved to have missed most of the last month of atrocious Mariner baseball, I still do miss it.  Over the last month I haven’t been checking the standings or followed the rumors much at all, only popping online once or twice after news flashes via text message from other BBT frequenters.

Catching up isn’t easy.   I have 645 unread articles in my reader, and that’s after deleted several sources before I left!  So here are a few thoughts on the last month, both in Mariner-land and BBT-land.  Feel free to add anything you think I missed.  Obviously there is no way I’m going to read all the debates that circulated around the blogosphere during the last month, so if you want to post a link to anything specific that you thought was interesting I would greatly appreciate it.

Mr. Dustin Shires did a decent job of keeping BBT afloat in my absence; not bad at all for a kid trying to wrap up his high school career.  Thanks again, Dustin, and welcome to the dreaded “real world.”  He’s not going anywhere, however, and should continue to be a fairly regular contributer.

Also, Patrick Whealton decided to call it quits the other day.  His posts were hard to come by on the new site, but some of you may remember him from the old BBT site.  It was Patrick’s upstart Mariner blog that had me thinking about possibly blogging in the first place, and he was my right-hand man when it came to dreaming up this new site.  I wish Patrick well and know he will be successful in all his future endeavors.

If anyone thinks that they want to write for BBT feel free to send me an email with a writing sample.  Obviously you should have a solid knowledge of the Mariners, past and present, and good baseball sense.  Age isn’t a big deal as long as you know what you’re talking about and know how to write in a somewhat professional matter.  In the short while that this blog has existed the age range for the contributers has been something like 18-40.  Sure, I’d prefer someone that can remember the pre-1995 days first hand, but if you know your stuff you know your stuff.

I don’t need to go into player stats or anything like that.  Only a couple players are excelling, a handful doing their jobs decently, and the rest underperforming horribly; you all know that.

June 9 – Hitting coach Jeff Pentland is fired after Seattle hitters put the team at or near the bottom of the league in most offensive categories.  Seattle’s anemic offense can’t all be blamed on Pentland, but this was a move that had to be made, just like the moves that followed.  Special assistant and former Mariners hitting coach Lee Elia took over.

June 16 – GM Bill Bavasi is finally cut loose.  He’s a nice guy and made a few decent moves, but most of the time he could be found hurting the team with bad moves or no moves at all.  This move was certainly long overdue, though Seattle may still reap the benefits of Bavasi’s tenure a few years down the road, but more on that at a later date.  Long time member of the Mariner organization Lee Pelekoudas becomes the interim GM while Seattle searches for a permanent solution.

June 19 – Manager John McLaren is fired and bench coach Jim Riggleman takes over.  Lee Elia becomes bench coach.  Roving minor league hitting instructor Jose Castro becomes the hitting coach.  This was another move that should have happened a long time ago.  I have defended McLaren a lot over his brief tenure, hoping that he was still learning the job.  He’s been in baseball for a long time and word around the league is that he has a great baseball mind, but he certainly didn’t show it as Seattle’s manager.  As if countless bonehead moves and head-scratchers weren’t enough to jettison the Mariners’ 12th manager, McLaren didn’t help himself out by assembling a coaching staff that included three former big-league managers (Riggleman, Elia, Perlozzo).

A lot as going on in the rumor mill.  Richie Sexson‘s release has been labeled as imminent for about a week.  The same can be said for Jose Vidro.  The money shouldn’t be an issue when the team is so far out of it.  Just cut your loses and move on.  Those two shouldn’t be the only ones on their toes.  On the GM front there are several lists of possible replacements, including ones compiled by John Hickey and Jason Churchill.  I’m sure  there will be more discussion about the possible names, so I’ll save my thoughts for when I’m more caught up.  Erik Bedard is available for the right price.  I’m not too worried about trading him away.  While Seattle gave up a lot to get him, I’d be more concerned about signing the injury prone “ace” to a long-term deal.  His trade value is slightly lower than it was during the offseason for several reasons including health, performance, contract and attitude.  Jarrod Washburn is also on the block, but I can’t see Seattle getting anything for him.  The Phillies are supposedly interested, but I can’t imagine them coveting a washed up fly-ball pitcher considering the park they play in.  The Ken Griffey-to-Seattle rumors won’t die, and he could still end his career here.  I still wouldn’t mind bringing him in this year, because at least it would sell a few tickets during this lost season.  There has been a few other rumblings from earlier in the month, but nothing worth writing about here at 3 AM.   Looks like just about everyone is on the block except for the young studs, and I would expect most of Bavasi’s bad deals to be erased during the season if at all possible.

As far as injuries go, J.J. Putz is down again and on the DL.  Could it be time to move on?  I mentioned that he may already be done as Seattle’s closer after he was injured the first time.  Also, Erik Bedard is hurting again.  Anyone surprised?  Of course not.

What else am I missing?  Probably a lot.  Well I started with 645 unread articles and am now down to 592, but I think I give up.  Now I’m counting on you regulars to fill me in a bit more!