Pro Ball NW / Bleeding Blue and Teal

When I decided to quite blogging I couldn’t think of any reason outside of appeasing the readership to keep the site going through a hectic ‘real life’ schedule.  But the flurry of Seattle Mariners activity this offseason has reminded me of one of the main reasons I started the blog in the first place:  I don’t have anyone to talk Mariners baseball with.  I live in Washington, but a few hours outside of Seattle and none of my ‘real life’ buddies are Mariner fans.  Even of the people I would only categorize as acquaintances, only a few are Mariner fans and none of them would be considered anything more than casual (“I get my Mariners content from Sportscenter and Mariners.com”).  Most people in similar situations use message boards to connect with like-minded Mariner fanatics, but while I used to frequent the Seattle Times Mariners forum or the one over at Pro Sports Daily and still pop up on occasion over at Mariner Central, I’m not a huge fan of message boards.  Keeping up with the conversation in a busy forum is something I simply don’t have time for and the fact that forum posts can get buried in minutes tends to quash motivation (for me at least) to contribute a well thought out and realized post.  So I started a blog where I could submit my thoughts under my own terms and hope for a response from someone else.

So now that I remember the appeal of the blog, I can see myself making more of an effort to keep it around.  Am I bringing it back?  Not necessarily.  I’ll continue to think about it and will probably hold off on making a definitive decision until mid-January when my schedule starts heating back up.  But I will toss out my very quick thoughts on the two recent big Mariner moves here and maybe a couple of other posts over the next couple of weeks.

The Mariners (about to?) acquire Cliff Lee from the Philadelphia Phillies

I find it a little funny that this deal has been billed as a three-team or even four-team trade.  Most trades like that have players going all over the place.  This trade, as we know it now, is more like several separate deals.  The Toronto Blue Jays send Roy Halladay to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kyle Drabek, Travis D’Arnaud, Michael Taylor and cash.  The Phillies extend Halladay through 2013.  The Blue Jays send Michael Taylor to the Oakland A’s for Brett Wallace (the rare prospect for prospect deal).  The Seattle Mariners send JC Ramirez, Phillippe Aumont and Tyson Gillies to the Phillies for Cliff Lee.

As you know, I am a big fan of the minor leagues and player development, possibly causing me to be more guarded with prospects than others would when sitting around the hot stove.  And while I love all three prospects the Mariners lost, I am a fan of this deal.  The Mariners will receive a true blue ace while giving up just one of their top 10 prospects (in my opinion).

That being Ramirez, who Baseball America had slotted at #5 for next month’s Mariner rankings and I would have ranked similarly (5-7, probably).  Even then, he’s not a top notch starting prospect.  Without a third pitch he is most likely a reliever, but as long as he isn’t rushed he has #2-3 upside.  He’s no ace, and while he was arguably the best starter in the Mariners’ system, Seattle has decent depth with those 2nd tier starting prospects.  They don’t possess a clear future ace, but between Dan Cortes, Michael Pineda and Mauricio Robles the Mariners’ system should be able to absorb the loss of Ramirez.

Aumont is awesome.  The delivery isn’t always pretty, but the high 90s heater, low-mid 90s heavy sinker and sick two plane breaker are awfully fun to watch.  But for the Mariners he was a reliever, so no matter how great his value was tempered.  I’m curious as to why Aumont was pushed into the bullpen.  The front office has said multiple times that the move was made simply because they’ve always viewed Aumont as a reliever, something that didn’t pass the sniff test coming from an organization that is smart enough not to overvalue good relievers.  Then it was reported that Aumont had a degenerative hip condition, with the implication being that he was unable to start.  But then Aumont came out and admitted the bad hip, but said it didn’t limit him.  So I have to wonder if the Mariners moved him not because they thought it was in HIS best interest in terms of longevity or player profile, but they moved him to the bullpen to keep him healthy because they were planning on moving him at some point.  It really does seem like Zduriencik is hellbent on removing every artifact left from the Bill Bavasi era.

Gillies is a fun prospect as well.  Blazing speed, decent approach at the plate, good defensively with an above average arm.  But until he starts making better contact and/or tapping into his natural tools for some more power he profiles as a fourth outfielder (Add on: see comment).  But damn– he sure is fun to watch.

The Seattle Mariners got by without giving up Michael Saunders, Carlos Triunfel, Adam Moore, Brandon Morrow or any other top 10 prospects outside of Ramirez, and continue to show Felix Hernandez and other free agents (and maybe Lee himself?) that Seattle is the place to be– big win for the Mariners.

The rotation is looking pretty damn good for Seattle right now.

Felix Hernandez
Cliff Lee
Ian Snell
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Brandon Morrow

Snell, Morrow and to a lesser extent RRS are all kind of hard to project, but that is a rotation I’m confident in.  Add Ben Sheets or even Erik Bedard into the fray and you’ve got something special.

I found it funny that MLB Network had a graphic that had Luke French in that fifth spot.

M’s sign Chone Figgins

I’ll keep this short since this is “old” news.

I didn’t think much about the Mariners pursuing Figgins coming into the offseason, but only because I figured he’d come up with a contract that exceeded his projected worth.  The Mariners signed him to a fair deal, getting a good offensive player and someone who is versatile (and good) in the field.

Nice move.  I don’t mind much that the Mariners still lack power bats because a productive hitter is a productive hitter.  Besides, the offseason is young.  There are still some very good hitters to be had and the Mariners still have money and trade chips.   (Speaking of which, the Angels got Hideki Matsui for one helluva deal. )