The day after
Now that we've had almost 24 hours to think about the M's moves yesterday, it's time to look at the moves that were made, and how we got here.
Through interviews with Bavasi, as well as other baseball parties, we are starting to get a good idea on how this trade came about, and the thought process behind it.
We'll start with Snelling. At first, many long time fans thought Snelling would be taking the place of Everett, perhaps even playing LF and pushing Ibanez to the DH position. This was clearly never the plan. With Snelling already dumped back to Tacoma, it is clear the only way Snelling gets back on the team is to rake in the minors and get a September call up. Even then, it's doubtful Hargrove would even know what to do with him. If you are a Snelling fan, yesterday went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. At least for now, the team thinks Dobbs is more valuable then Snelling. That tells you how much Snelling has to prove before he gets handed anything from this management team.
Next is Broussard. The problem with evaluating this trade is figuring out who the PTBNL is going to be. I had no idea you can't trade a player later who played in the majors this year, so obviously it is not going to be Reed. I'm curious why they need to push this out, rather than include the player now, and we really haven't gotten any good answers on this one.
There is simply no way a player like Broussard gets traded straight up for Choo. No way. Choo hopes he has a career like Broussard. Choo is not very valuable in my eyes at all. He can't play center, and doesn't have natural instincts to the ball. The fact that Cleveland is SENDING money to Seattle raises huge red flags to me.
If this was a Broussard/Choo swap, and the Indians were paying his salary to boot, I would call this one of Bavasi's best moves as manager. This would be an absolute steal if you are Mariner fan, and I would be screaming bloody murder in Cleveland.
But Shapiro is way too sharp for that. So the million dollar question is who is this player?
At this time, we simply don't know. I don't anyway. Names like Tui spring to mind, and given our glut at catcher, that is also a good place to look. I have a bad feeling about this, but perhaps this won't be a big deal. Remember, the names have to be submitted before Sept 1, when the call ups begin. Hmmmm....
To wrap this up, overall the team is WAY stronger as a result of these moves. The two-headed monster we now have at DH is such an improvement over Everett it literally is like adding an All Star on our roster. I fully expect this team to contend for the Al West title, especially knowing more moves are to come.
The villian in all this is Hargrove. A cynic could argue we would have never found ourselves in this position if he hadn't wanted Everett in the first place. If he would value the farm system, and knew how to use the players it contains.
But we'll save that for another day. The fact is, the team is playing good baseball and just got better.
For now, we can be happy with that.
Now that we've had almost 24 hours to think about the M's moves yesterday, it's time to look at the moves that were made, and how we got here.
Through interviews with Bavasi, as well as other baseball parties, we are starting to get a good idea on how this trade came about, and the thought process behind it.
We'll start with Snelling. At first, many long time fans thought Snelling would be taking the place of Everett, perhaps even playing LF and pushing Ibanez to the DH position. This was clearly never the plan. With Snelling already dumped back to Tacoma, it is clear the only way Snelling gets back on the team is to rake in the minors and get a September call up. Even then, it's doubtful Hargrove would even know what to do with him. If you are a Snelling fan, yesterday went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. At least for now, the team thinks Dobbs is more valuable then Snelling. That tells you how much Snelling has to prove before he gets handed anything from this management team.
Next is Broussard. The problem with evaluating this trade is figuring out who the PTBNL is going to be. I had no idea you can't trade a player later who played in the majors this year, so obviously it is not going to be Reed. I'm curious why they need to push this out, rather than include the player now, and we really haven't gotten any good answers on this one.
There is simply no way a player like Broussard gets traded straight up for Choo. No way. Choo hopes he has a career like Broussard. Choo is not very valuable in my eyes at all. He can't play center, and doesn't have natural instincts to the ball. The fact that Cleveland is SENDING money to Seattle raises huge red flags to me.
If this was a Broussard/Choo swap, and the Indians were paying his salary to boot, I would call this one of Bavasi's best moves as manager. This would be an absolute steal if you are Mariner fan, and I would be screaming bloody murder in Cleveland.
But Shapiro is way too sharp for that. So the million dollar question is who is this player?
At this time, we simply don't know. I don't anyway. Names like Tui spring to mind, and given our glut at catcher, that is also a good place to look. I have a bad feeling about this, but perhaps this won't be a big deal. Remember, the names have to be submitted before Sept 1, when the call ups begin. Hmmmm....
To wrap this up, overall the team is WAY stronger as a result of these moves. The two-headed monster we now have at DH is such an improvement over Everett it literally is like adding an All Star on our roster. I fully expect this team to contend for the Al West title, especially knowing more moves are to come.
The villian in all this is Hargrove. A cynic could argue we would have never found ourselves in this position if he hadn't wanted Everett in the first place. If he would value the farm system, and knew how to use the players it contains.
But we'll save that for another day. The fact is, the team is playing good baseball and just got better.
For now, we can be happy with that.
posted by Tom at
9:58 AM
