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Lookout Landing

I'm Trying To Rationalize This But I Can't.

Rosenthal says it's done, pending physicals.

Assuming this trade goes through as detailed below - and I don't know why it wouldn't - it's just...it's...what?

Let's say it stops here and no further moves are made (except Broussard leaving). Then you're paying Vidro to DH, which Snelling could do better for a fraction of the cost. It doesn't make a lick of sense.

Now let's say it doesn't stop here. Let's say Vidro becomes a regular. Nobody has the balls to send Betancourt to prison for his immigration thing, meaning the most likely outcome is that Jose Lopez goes somewhere else. Jose's a talented, young, cheap second baseman who could bring a big return in a trade, but do you really trust Bavasi to cash him in for maximum return? Honestly?

And then you're left with the problem of playing Vidro in the middle of the infield every day. Vidro's a bad defensive second baseman, which has a direct negative effect on our two newest starting pitchers, and he's aging in a hurry, dropping from a .293 EqA in 2003 to .263 a year ago. He's a switch-hitter without any real platoon splits, which is neat, but he's a 32 year old who's been plagued by a rash of lower-body injuries in recent seasons. Since 2004 he's missed 163 games while on the DL. You can't make the argument that Snelling's expendable because he's injury-prone because Vidro is every bit as fragile. Oh, and he's worse.

Edit: Vidro could conceivably also play first if Sexson gets dealt instead of Lopez, but that hardly makes anything better. Seriously, think about it. Snelling and Fruto for Jose Vidro at first base? What?

The mind boggles. The only - ONLY - advantage Vidro has over Snelling is his alleged ability to play the middle infield, which he can't even do anymore. This is a nonsensical trade, and I'm afraid it's going to be part of a bigger, even more nonsensical picture.

The most valuable assets in baseball are early- and pre-arbitration players who give you solid production for pennies. In the past week Bill Bavasi has dealt two of our best away, and now he's threatening to ship off a third. This is absolutely, positively unforgivable, and I don't know why I put up with it.

As far as I'm concerned, the only possible way to salvage this whole thing is to trade Jose Lopez for some young ace like Jeremy Bonderman or Jake Peavy. That's it. That's the only way. And I don't think it's going to happen. Do you?

What a clusterfuck.

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Comments

Jesus Jeff slow down
I keep up with all these threads
The words flow when I'm pissed.
And I'm pissed.
You know, I think I could become a Nats fan
Nick Johnson, Felipe Lopez, Zimmerman, Snelling, they got some ok talent there.
Yeah know who's got good talent
as well as cool new uniforms and a cool new logo?

The Diamondbacks.

I remember 2005...
Spring and early summer when the Nats were good and really captured the imagination of the folks of D.C.  It was fun to go to RFK (a crappy baseball park, by the way).  It will probably be more fun to go to RFK again, maybe more fun than Safeco Field, I'm afraid.

I still think the Ms will win 80-85 games in 2007, but Bavasi's sure eating away at his bullpen.

I too am done rationalizing.
If I wrote something to Bill Bavasi, I would write this:

Fuck you Bill Bavasi.  I've defended move after move, I even tried to see the good in getting Horacio Ramirez for a player clearly more valuable than him.  So what's the deal with trading a player that Bill Bavasi himself said he liked at many a USSM feed?  Jose Vidro is going to be worse than Carl Everett.  Any idiot can see that.  Then again, any idiot wouldn't have signed Carl Everett last year.  Snelling would've been our best hitter this year if he had ful playing time.  What other hitter would hit .280/.380/.450 on this team?  This deal is worst than Varitek/Lowe for Slocumb.  I'm glad I got my Snelling autographed ball before this shit went down.  

When Snelling lights up the NL, you'll regret it Bill.  Have fun finding a job this year, and please, take Howard Lincoln with you.  Jeff Sullivan for CEO!  Jason A. Churchill for GM!  Hell, I'd take my ex-girlfriend's partially retarded sister over Bavasi now.  Congratulations Bill, you just sabotaged a franchise just before leaving it.  

Who wants to go start an anti-Bavasi/Lincoln/Armstrong rally at the Safe right now?  I'll bring the gasoline if you bring the torches!  Seriously.  Let's organize like, a thousand people to go protest this bull shit.

So who wants to have a LL gift exchange?
I want a devil Rays hat :)
I already own one
Plus I have a nice blue Washington Nationals hat that I'll wear with even more pride now
I'll be at Safeco field in an hour
if you want to.

That said, I'd be shocked if this wer ethe end. the next more is going to be trade Ben Broussard to the Orioles for a bag of magic beans. THEN we'll be done.

FIRE BAVASI
YESTERDAY
Seriously...
This tells me there's GOT to be more to the Betancourt story...
Then who plays SS?
Lopez can't.
Trading
Lopez to St.L. for Eckstein.
seriously tho
We should at least do a letter-writing campaign.
A few weeks ago
I bought two autographed cards off eBay: Chris Snelling and Rafael Soriano. I put them on my wall next to the computer.
That's a little errie.
Thats it...
Moral of the day:

Jeff is not allowed to buy autograph baseball cards of good Mariner players

So, can you buy some autographed Hargrove cards?
I have one.
Got him to sign it at Fan Fest last year.

I'd sell it for a supply of antidepressants, except I think Jeff might need them more.

Hmmm.
Clearly, I'd imagine DMZ could probably take it more than Jeff right now.
LL interview curse
it's working it's way upwards. Quick! remove the link to the Adam Jones interview.
do me a favor
and get a Howard Lincoln, Chuck Armstrong, Bill Bavasi, and Mike Hargrove autographed cards too.
yeesh
Does Bavasi sign cards too?
USS Mariner is no more
Now its USS Thisistotalbullshit
Please fail your physical Chris...
Can't you tear an ACL when we need you to!?
uhh jeff
Please tell me you didn't buy Felix or Ichiro cards
I bought a Felix card in September.
So far, so good...
it's the so far that worries me
What if?
What if Bavasi was named Joseph, was a carpenter and lived in the Middle East about 2000 years ago?

I think he would have traded Mary and baby Jesus for a 15 year old Donkey, with a history of lameness.

Bavasi/Joeseph quote from the Jerusalem Times "But hey, that Donkey is a veteran. And look...he worked for the conquering Romans. He is a proven winner!"

Yep, that about says it all
The forum at firebillbavasi.com
Is actually down. You can't get in. The server is too busy.
Worst Mariner offseason ever?
Jeff
you need to change the poll options.  You need to take away B,B+, C, C+, D, D-.

its either F or "I think you mean Thompson"

And this time
I'm not going to vote for "I think you mean Thompson"
lol..I still voted Thompson
By the way
did you notice that Snelling got 119 PA's after he was promoted on August 17th? That's 459 over a full season.

I want to blame this on Hargrove, like the Choo trade, but I can't. It's just stupid.

More good news
according to the article up on the M's website, to get Vidro to accept the deal they had to add on a vesting option for '09
Haha.
Aren't we just the bluebird of unhappiness today!
Well
If I'm going to be the bearer of bad news, might as well be the bearer of all the bad news...
oh my fucking god...
This is a practical joke, isn't it?
I don't even care.
That pushed me over the line. Now I'm just laughing.
Ah good, I'm not the only one who's laughing
We can go insane together Corco! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol
I've been laughing for a while now.

I think my psyche just cracked

I am fucking STUNNED
This is it.  Officially.

As soon as I get a chance I'm going to Seattle and burning my Johjima jersey and my Mariner hat outside of Safeco field.

What the FUCK?!

Change the poll
Is Bill Bavasi a bad GM?
  • Well, it was Schueroltz the first time
  • Pretty much, yeah
  • Yes
  • I'm not happy.
  • I'm worried.
  • I'm angry.
  • BOWDEN? JIM BOWDEN?
  • Where's this guy's house?
  • All we wanted was Doyle!
Jose Vidro
is worse than Marcus Giles.
Here ya go, Jeff
And, for context...
Google image search Ted Cassidy...
Welcome, friends!
HAHAHA
ok..that HAS to be the new logo!!
me too
I second MFAN
gotta slap a Mariner logo on that bad boy.
Haha, YES!
That's going to stick for a while.
Thank you.
All hail the U.S.S. Titanic!
At the very least
We're all part of the same team, now.

We ALL hate this offseason.  Brothers, unite!

And Giles could've been had
for LESS CASH than Vidro.  Oh, and for NO PLAYERS...
I really wish the D-Backs had as awesome of
an online community as we have for the Mariners.

Seriously, that's the only thing keeping me a Mariner fan is you people.

Without a doubt
Agreed
I love you guys.  The team we root for, on the otherhand....

I wonder, can Snelling still be my favorite player, or does it just default to Felix now?

Game over.
Game fucking over.
I vote we DFA everybody.
EVERYBODY. From Yamamuchi to Mike Schilling. Let's trash this whole organization and start from scratch.
This is horse shit.
Fuck baseball.
Who is Bill Bavasi working for?
My guess is that he's working for an out of town ownership group that plans on moving the M's. In order to succeed, he'll need to make the M's so bad that attendance will rival that of the mid 1980's.
If this is the case he's doing great so far.
I heard a rumor
that Bill Bavasi is engineering a purchase by Rachel Phelps.
Yeah
somebody must have some pretty great pictures of Bavasi with little boys to blackmail him into this one.
To crush any hope
of retaining Lopez...

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061205&content_id=1751201&vkey=hotstove 2006&fext=.jsp

"He said he is working hard this offseason to be a second baseman."

" 'I definitely want to play second base and that's where I think I'm going to play.' "

It wouldnt make sense for him to waive his NTC to come to a team where he wont play second base.  Even if the Nats told him he wouldn't be playing second base in Washington, he'd only accept a trade to a team that would allow him to play 2B.

Bye bye Lopez.  Probably getting Tim Hudson and Lopez will replace Giles and become an All-Star.  And thats me being totally hopeful.

Jose Vidro at second base
costs us as much in the field as whatever he gives us at the plate.

Today suck-diddly-ucks.

Rightly-Dightly Neighboroony
You know what's funny?
The fans think Jose Vidro is the worst defensive 2B in baseball.

And he's all ours!

Yeah
It would kind of negate that "Let's stock up on GB pitchers" theory.
well lopez was only average at best
but still sucks and bavasi should be punched in the balls for this one.
yeah I kinda have a feeling
Lopez is gone.  Just a gut feeling.

oh and is Broussard the full time DH now?

im so lost right now, I know like 5 names on the active roster right now,lol.

Thank god I don't live in Seattle any more
because I don't think I can take this any more.

If and when we start contending I'll be back.

Fuck You Bavasi.

Lovely
Now two of my favorite Mariners are gone. Let's get rid of Ichiro, Felix and Beta to make it a sweep.

Fuck Bavasi. Fuck him so hard.

If your thirsty head on over to Detectovision
Where you can get a big giant glass of Kool-Aid!
DOV
Everything is good! Everything is great! Go get Bonderman, amigos!
Bavasi has a bigger plan in store!
Like Jesus or something!
I never really find
his site worth my time.  I always walk away convinced I just read some propaganda.  Alot of people seem like they like it though.
You know
I'm one of the biggest optimists around here most times -- usually the one who goes a bit less crazy over these things, saying "okay, guys, it's not so bad, stop punching walls and slinging cursewords at the front office", but even I'm feeling pretty sad at this deal.  I'm not angry, just sad.  It's like when your best friend moves across the country in elementary school, and you tell your parents you're not going back to school, and they tell you that no, you are going back to school even if you have no friends, and sure enough, you go back to school and the world hasn't ended, but boy is it sad with that empty desk next to yours, and it doesn't get any better when some new kid transfers in and fills the seat.
And the new kid farts.
I miss Snelling already. This team is rapidly losing the players I like.
Now that...
...is therapy, folks.  

I didn't need to eat those M&Ms anyway...

Beltre trade?
Anyone think its possible that Beltre gets traded instead of Lopez and Pezzer moves to third?  Or is it the consencous that Lopez is gone?  Or is everyone too angry/suicidal to think about future moves which will only further screw us over?
I just want to fastforward
and pretend this coming season never happened.
It's certainly possible.
So is Sexson getting dealt. But only Lopez is capable of bringing the return to make this worthwhile.

Seriously, how do you make this trade with a handful of decent 2B's already available on the FA market? How?

Re:
I really hope for your sake that either Vidro or Shelton fails their physical. I was told that the Mariners "aren't one of the picky teams" though, so even if Vidro looks bad, it might go through. Sigh.
Shelton?
re:
Snelling. Sorry, I have Tigers first basemen on the brain today.
Shelton would be nice.
I agree
I find it hard to agree that Loretta, Belliard AND Giles would have 0 interest in Seattle.
Uh huh.
Money talks. I'm sure $50 and a gift certificate to AMC Theaters would be enough to lure Loretta north for a year.
There's not enough HGH in Puget Sound
to lure Giles.
Well I am not changing my Fandom
So I will be sinking with the ship

See ya at the bottom

Does that make it a Poseidon Adventure?
same here
Im like the the people in 3rd class on the titanic.  There's no way im geting out, but i'll do my best to save others and then go down with the ship.
I wish I could change
I don't want to be a Mariner fan anymore. Of course I am. I'm a die hard. I'll never leave this team. But it's so painful. Why can't I be a Twins fan or something?
It's a shitty situation.
Nothing would make me happier than to stop caring, and move on to another team, but I just can't make myself do it.
Vidro for Snelling and Fruto
Oh.

My.

God.

That is all.  Just... wow.

SPRING BREAK!
WOOOOOOOOOOO!!
GET ME A MARKER
I wonder if this was what bill
was trying to do last offseason. He did say if he got one trade down it would cause a domino effect
I don't think he understands
what the domino effect is.  I think he thought the domino effect meant that it would keep getting shittier and shittier and wouldn't stop.
seriously
I'm NEVER going to diss the Seahawks EVER again(unless they start to totally suck).

They may lose some stupid games and we might kick and scream at the D, but at least they put a freakin winner on the field.  Honestly there going to get a home playoff game and yet I've still complained, NEVER AGAIN!....THANK YOU SEAHAWKS!!!

I porbably could of made this exact same post about the M's in 2001 when the Hawks were sleeping with the fishes,lol.

I wish I gave a rats ass about football
So I could fall back on another team.
yeah
they're the only thing keeping me from not jumping off my the roof of my apartment building.
I made this to celebrate the Mariners incompetence
It's a bit big, but.....

awesome!
that makes me feel better.

Good to see Big Play Hackett with some love!

DJ's my favorite Hawks Receiver
I couldn't leave Big Play Hackett off...I just wish I had some room for Walter Jones...
yeah
but Walter would of pancaked everyone else and thus been the only one in the picture.
Shouldn't Jackson
be dropping a pass.  I didn't know he actually looked the ball in to his hands when he tried to catch the ball.  

At least they got rid of Koren Robinson, and that Branch trade....money in the bank.

im sure
he found a way to drop that pass.

However in D-Jacks defense, he is having a great season. Minus the drops.

Jackson does lead the league in TD catches
n/s
he has dropped a few ones that have made me mad, but overall he's having an awesome year.
Clearly
that ball is about to go through his hands like a Tony Romo bomb through T.O.'s.
How appropriate
No defense.
Well, there were no Peterson in Hawks gear
pictures.  I can see why he wouldn't want to be on an image search with the rest of our D.
Couldn't you have picked
the only Seattle team to actually win a championship? I know the Seahawks are making more of a vested effort now, but still...
Nah, I think basketball sucks
And who cares about the Sonics (or Storm, they won a championship too)

And I still think the Hawks deserved the W last year, even if they didn't get it, but I'm over the complaining part of the Superbowl.

They'll be in Oklahoma City in 3 years
I really think
we had a better team before the offseason started.
Is this really a topic of debate now
A few hours ago, this question was debatable.  

Right now, the M's are MUCH worse than they were a year ago.  

This fucking sucks.  I hate this fucking team.  What the hell is wrong with Bavasi?  He should be fired immediately.  

I am so fucking pissed off.  

I need to quit going to work
because I have no internet there and everytime I come home, I find out Bill Bavasi has done something incredibly stupid with the roster.
I don't know
Work bought you a few more hours/minutes of thinking Snelling was a Mariner. I went on a long bike ride today, and man, it was nice thinking Snelling was going to be in our starting lineup while I was out.
FWIW
Snelling and Fruto will have breakout seasons for the Nats.  They will get the deserved chance that Seattle never gave them.
I think I am going to cry
Soriano was hard enough to stomach
Mariners Email
What is the email address for the M's?  

I want to send a fuck you letter to their fan feedback address.  

You'll just get the same letter everybody else
gets. Except Snelling/Fruto-Vidro will be substituted in for Soriano-Rameriz or Brouusard-Choo, ect.
I have a theory
I think Bavasi is still working for the Angels.  After he finishes destroying us, he'll move to the A's and the Rangers........
Wait...
Why is everyone so upset?

We're getting Zimmerman, too, right?
Thats not even funny
because it should be true.
In my eyes
Snelling = Nick Johnson = Great/Cheap hitter
Bill Bavasi is on your team
Trading away your best players.
BURN SAFECO DOWN.
BRING ME MY CROWBAR.
If you believe Jose Vidro
he's going to DH.

Which means we traded a good, young, cheap DH for a worse, older, expensive one. But he switch-hits!

going by that
then I would guess Broussard is the most likely trade candidate.
I almost want to see Lopez traded.
At least that way the whole thing would make some kind of sense.

Jose Vidro to DH, though? What on Earth?

same here
I actually like Broussard and think he is game is perfect for safeco.

Broussard > Lopez, in my honest opinion.

Broussard > Lopez
I don't think that Jeff is saying that at all.
im saying that
Jeff said he'd rather see Lopez traded.  I was just adding reasons why I would rather see Lopez traded.
Some are saying
this is in response to the federal investigation on Cuban smuggling that Betancourt's involved with.

Could this be a contigency move in response to the possibility of YuBet doing time?

Huh?
Who are "some"?  
Other commenters elsewhere
Given the situations, it makes more sense than anything else so far.
No at all
That is completely incorrect.  

It is illegal to traffic people.  It is not illegal to defect.  

There is no way that Betancourt will be charged with anything.  

Even if he was, he would have to get deported in order to make this an issue, and that just isn't going to happen.  

Whoever is posting that crap is just grasping for any sort of rationale for this bullshit.  

The only explanation is that Bavasi is a fucking horrible GM.  

I heard no charges were pressed against YuBet.
Don't try to rationalize it....
This deal makes no sense.  It is like trying to find reason in the ramblings of a crazy person.  

There is just no way to justify this move.  

If the M's wanted an injury prone DH, why not sign Cliff Floyd.  Or Trot Nixon.  Or Aubrey Huff.  Why give up good young players for an old, broken down middle infielder who can't hit?  

There is no reason here.  This club is being managed by crackheads.  

Can anyone here remember a club having an offseason this bad?  

Bavasi has now put this club back three years.  

Positioning though?
Is he just saying the right things in order to avoid a problem?

If not, then Bavasi has just ass raped every M fan.

Yeah, I dunno.
I hope so.
Vidro as a DH
that was said also in the intiail report in the Washington paper, which is why I wondering why everyone was freaking out about lopez getting traded.
Vidro as a DH
is a colossal waste.
Yup
and nevermind it wasn't mentioned in the Post, which is funny because thats what I assumed and it turns out to be true
I just realized...I never get to use this anymore.
I always though Fruto looked like a big cuddly Sesame Street Monster...
Not shocking to ge someone like vidro for dh
If bavasi can't even figure out how much his own players are worth, how can he possibly know what the rest of the league can do.
Maybe I shouldn't stay away from my computer.
As soon as I do that the Mariners start making stupid stupid moves.
The one solace
This probably will cost Bavasi and Hargrove their jobs.  Maybe Howie and Chuck will bumble into hiring someone better.
Hell
it might of costed Howie and Chuck there jobs
Remember when our bullpen was good and deep?
Putz
Sherrill
Huber
Woods
O'Flaherty
Mateo
Green
Jimenez
"Lowe"

A real thinning of the herd going on.

And Woods
might end up in the rotation as a "starter."
Fruto
Fruto is one of the guys that I thought could actually emerge as a real good replacement for Soriano.  

What the fuck is going on!

Remeber when we thought we were going to have
a huge imrovement in our dh production this year?
AND it just gets better....
Rotoworld:

Not only are the Mariners taking on $12 million of Jose Vidro's $16 million salary for the next two years, they're also going to give him a vesting option for 2009 to make up for him waiving his no-trade clause.
It just keeps getting better. At least the Mariners didn't give up talent when they brought in Carl Everett to DH last season. The trade sending Vidro to Seattle for Chris Snelling and Emiliano Fruto is set to be officially announced on Thursday.

All right, now I've heard
that they really did get Vidro to DH.

Lopez isn't going anywhere. Broussard's getting dealt for whatever.

I honestly cannot find the right words for this.

I think you mean "Thompson"
It's sad.
I remember two weeks ago when my biggest annoyance was people misspelling that name.

Now we don't even get Thomson and everything else has gone to hell.

Tear.

In other words,
This is it.  No deal for a TOR starter.  

LOL.  We just traded a good, young hitter for an old, bad hitter.  And we threw in Fruto, a 22 year-old arm and agreed to pay 75% of the old, bad hitter's remaining salary, AND we let him vest a 2009 option.  When he'll be 35.

Good heavens.  What planet am I on?

Planet Suck
Say hello to Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Kansas City when you see them.
Charlie Donovan and Lou Brown
Pick up the white courtesy phone.
Can't wait to see what we get for broussard!!!!
Giving up talent like this
broussard/fruto/soriano/snelling

Could have come close to getting manny.  and getting the right piece for broussard and shipping that off to boston probably does get us manny.  

The only Manny we could get now
is Manny Sanguillen.
I just posted a similar message USSM
I'm through with this team.

I'll hang around the blogs until the start of the season, because it's comforting to have people to empathize with.

But I hate this team.

I can't stop rooting for this team
Even with the crappy moves, I'll root hard for the Ms.  I'll root just as hard that Bavasi and Hargrove are shown the door ASAP.
I think Graham said
"Whats the point of trying to improve the Mariners, if they stop being the Mariners in the process" or something like that. I don't care if they make a playoff run next year because its gonna be lead by the likes of Guillen, Rameriez, Bautista and Vidro instead of the talent that we watch grow up in front of our eyes. I watched this team in person over 150 times during the recent dark years, but I could bare through them because I knew that they would lead to better days. Now it just feels like I wasted three of the best summers of my life.
Go Felix.
Shhh.
You need to say "Boo Felix!" otherwise that Felix-for-Blanton trade's going to go down...
Well
Teams have guys come and go all the time, and we still have a lot of Mariners who came up through our system.

This move is totally shitty like the others, but it's not enough to totally spite me, especially when it leaves images of pink slips in Bill and Grover's hands.

Whatever
M's still lose.

Fortunately, as teasing and then spiting as it really is, it's still only baseball.

Heh, USSM made a alteration to their campaign
button:

The worst way to wake up ever
Is to an A's fan IM'ing you this trade.

I'm just curled up in to a little ball and wanting to die.

Look on the bright side
At least we now have confirmation that Bavasi reads Lookout Landing. That is the only explanation. After reading so many negative comments this off season, he finally said "Call me stupid! I'll show those bastards who's stupid!" and so he promptly traded away the Blogoshpere's favorite player and a couple of integral parts for a pair of players (Vidro and Ramirez) that even their mothers couldn't love.

With that in mind, everyone should say "Hi Bill," or some other such salutation as might come to your collective minds.

Oh, and would someone with far more computer savvy than me please arrange it so every time Bavasi logs into Lookout Landing, a nice, healthy dose of kiddie porn is planted on his computer and a copy is sent to the owners?

I don't understand
even if Bill wins a little next year and keeps his job. He made his job so much harder by getting rid of a bunch of young talent
Fun with photoshop:
Before:

After:
 

Yeah, they're both clowns, but this had to be done.

Since I've been the bearer of Bad News
on this whole trade.... there is a rumor floating around that not only did the M's extend Vidro an option year to agree to the trade, but they also, gave him an increase in the amount of teams that he can veto a trade to.... total up to 15.
LOL like Vidro has trade value
... oh wait.

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