SB Nation - Login for mobile commenting

Lookout Landing

Okay Fine Here's Your Cliff Lee Thread Until Tomorrow

Says Ken Rosenthal:

#Phils getting $6M from #Jays in Halladay deal. Drabek, Taylor, likely D'Arnaud to TOR, Aumont, Gillies and 3rd player to PHI...

This is, of course, just another rumor, but it's the latest rumor and also comes from as credible a source as you're going to find at the moment, so go nuts.

0 recs  |  779 comments

Comments

I CAN'T BELIEVE WE TRADED GUTIERREZ
Just so long as we keep Saunders, eh?
Yeah but we got Turanga Leela so it's cool
What a great show.
New episodes are coming soon.

We can continue this in the OT thread.

This would have been a good answer to the Beltre beaning conundrum
REALLY?!?! NEXT YOU'RE GOING TO TELL ME WE TRADE JEFF CLEMENT AWAY!
We get to keep Guti.

Felix is the one going.

OH MY GOD, I HOPE WE DON'T GET ANOTHER PLAYER!
Say NO to Vernon Wells!!!!
Raul Ibanez

Starting Left Fielder

The 3rd prospect is likely Saunders or Triunfel

We paid market value for unfortunately AUmont/Gillies isnt enough

What are you basing this on
Because 1 yr of Lee is worth more than a converted reliever and A+ball OF
One year of Lee is worth whatever the Phillies will take for it
Which video game are you playing?
They obviously don't think of Aumont as a reliever

And jesus christ stop posting stupid things.

YES! Yes it is!
.

Seriously. This trade has brought some... interesting posters out.
I'd rather use the Indiana Jones one, but I can't seem to find it.
No
Just take the advice.
No
Then post things that aren't fucking stupid
Why did you respond to something intended for MagicMike?
Goose responded to my post above with a link to this pic.

I’m guessing he had us confused?

Hajime no Ippo is good, but stupid sometimes.

The amount of serious punching that goes in that show would render most normal human beings brain dead from concussions.

from another site:

11:33pm: Rosenthal reports that the Phillies get $6MM from the Jays. Kyle Drabek, Michael Taylor and probably Travis D’Arnaud are headed to Toronto, Rosenthal says. Phillippe Aumont, Tyson Gillies and a third player are apparently headed to Philadelphia.

Another site using the same information as is listed above doesnt really carry much more weight.
What a shocking turn of events!
looks familiar....
If I posted this it would get at least 2 recs
And then Robert would bitch about always wanting to copy Jeff
No matter what the start of a thread involving myself and Robert is,

It invariably ends the same way.

2010 is the year it all changes!
Thanks for the info!
Holy shit no way

If another site says it…well….WOOT!

No need to be mean Dave
I'm moderately concerned as to how you ascertained my first name
It's on your website.
Well... fair play to you then.
According to my statcounter

You didn’t click on my website until after posting the comment, so LIES

I recommend you get a new stat counter
I recommend you reveal yourself before I IP bomb you
I need some popcorn and a drink, this is gonna end well
Cliff Lee just blew up Lookout Landing
#CliffLeeFacts
He's on to you, hide!
Just in....

we get a chimpanzee with a 110-MPH fastball in the deal.

As long as Matt LeBlanc isn't included in the deal that's fine.
Wow. Really? An Ed reference?
Better than an Ed TV reference!
Thats a close one.

Its possible that Dunston Checks In was not the worst monkey movie of 1996. God I miss the mid-90s.

I can't stop laughing.

I think the saddest part is without hesitation I knew it was Ed. I mean, there aren’t a lot of baseball movies starring a monkey, but I didn’t even have to pause to think of the name of it.

Who taught Yuni how to pitch?!?
I can't believe that I'm actually glad to be going to work so I can get away from this insanity.
We are foolish in thinking Lee would be given away

for a reliever and A+ ball OF, I dont think we got off that easy. It would be great, but i’m not expecting it.

OK.. We get it. You don't need to keep posting this thought.

Good lord. Stop talking.

It would be even more foolish to speculate wildly on what we did give up without more information.
Then why are you here?
Analysis of what we know is not the same thing as speculating on what we don't.
Because some people who know what they are talking about might stop by.
It's the Internet. Keep hoping.
You must be new to the Mariners blogosphere.
Jesus Fucking Christ
Penalty box time...?
Are we in Montreal?
Oddly, people who have no idea what they are talking about will do in a pinch.
I am starting to associate Cliff Lee with this drivel
That's it, back to making shitty moves
Are you and MagicMike the same person?
I don't think we will be hearing from him / them again.
Nope.

Just interesting that 7 people have done nothing but clutter this up further. Not like you are helping anything either.

You must really be new around here
MagicMike and MagiStermilitum are one and the same.
Yeah.. That's what I have been assuming.
He also goes by Pedro Calderon and dbacks2007 in some circles.
OH MY GOD

Evacuate the area. I want a full quarantine on this site.

I like to watch the uninformed make fools of themselves.
Well I do bu not here
its logical

The only hitter in upper minors with any value is Saunders and Triunfel. Considering Phillies are loaded with OF’s and WIlson is signed for a 2 yr deal, I would think Triunfel would be their choice

I would think a lot of players would "be their choice"

Thankfully, that’s not how trades work.

It's a good thing we have a smart GM then, isn't it?
No I think you're on to something. It's just like Fox to perpetuate disinformation
OH MY GOD IT'S FELIX.
And Ichiro in a companion trade
Department of redundancy department, how may I help you?
Hey the jerkstore called, it wants more of you
We'll nice knowin' ya.
This is the worst joke I have ever heard. SHUT UP.
Sorry I got it from seinfeld, i'm not a creative person
That's not how it goes
Agree to disagree
AND you fucked up the line
The ocean called, they're runnin' out of shrimp
This subthread is closed, see my comment below.

- Matthew
Department of redundancy department, how may I help you?
Hey the jerkstore called, it wan...

Oh nevermind.

This subthread is closed, see my comment below.
doh. Delete my comments if you want

I didn’t see this when I typed

I'd be OK with Morrow or JC Ramirez

I can’t imagine either of them have enormous projected values at this point. They COULD make this look like a stupid trade, but you wouldn’t assume this. Saunders would be sad, but the value of a Win is, to some extent, more important to the M’s right now than 2-3 years of a projected Win.

Look at it this way...

As much as everyone is anxious and emotionally charges due to all of this you could all be Astros fans and have this at the top of the board…

Astros re-sign Michaels, sign Gustavo Chacin

I think I prefer the chaos of the runaway rumor mill to that.

Okay peeps,

here’s the deal. Play nicely and respect the rules of the site. If you’re going to take an attitude, then I, as a moderator, will take one right back and ultimately, you will lose that battle.

Capiche?

Why would the Phillies do this?
To save money I guess
Again, they are likely going to get a very good extension with Halladay

That’s their win.

They're getting him at 4/70 if my math is right

So yeah, thats a good deal, I think

4/75
Minus the 6 mil in cash the Jays send if Rosenthal is correct
Yeah, that deal is nuts.

I can kind of see it.

This seems the most likely motivation to me

The Phillies wanted to get hitched. The hot girl they were dating wanted to sleep around more, so they ditched her and married the girl who used to get beat up by her boyfriend and was ready to settle down.

Hooray for easy pitchers and sloppy seconds!

This analogy is even better considering that Ricciardi would be the abusive boyfriend in this scenario
Which makes us the sap who is just getting used until the hot girl can upgrade.

But hey, at least we’re getting laid for a year…

We haven't had any tail in years.

I’d be more than happy to be Cliff Lee’s fuck buddy for a year.

Agreed. Hot girl with no commitment?

I’m pretty sure this is the ideal situation. Besides, we get two picks back at the end, which is the romantic equivalent of . . . I’m not sure what.

Her less attractive friend scooping you up after she's discarded you.
Blind date with her sister who has a "great personality"
I'll take it!
But you can't motor-boat great personality.
Dating 2 girls that still need 5 years to develop.
Ew.
Glad to see you have standards.
Oh dear, we're getting into some problematic areas here...
Perhaps this analogy has limitations.

But don’t tell Bill Simmons, he’s made a career out of this shit.

How about Holliday at 8/128!
Oh god.

Don’t nobody mention the number 128 to me until 2018, alright?

It's okay, it will all be over by 2018.
I would cry
Aw c'mon it's not so bad
He'll be making 15 million in 2017!
15 million will be only like 12 million in 2017
Although with Boston out of the picture now

It appears that the Yankees and maybe Mets are the only other challengers.

I don't understand why this would be a big deal

The world is set to end in 2012 I’ve heard.

'Predicted' by the Ancient Mya.
Mya's not that old.
Have you not seen her calendar?
Why wouldnt they?

Lee to Halladay- upgrade
$6million
Sign halladayfor 3 yrs more on below market deal
They replace an enigmatic yet talent Drabek, Keep Happ. Trade Taylor, keep Brown.
Darnaud is a throw in prospect.Get 3 prospectsto replace the ones traded away

If that's all it costs

Damned I’m so stoked (and drunk) I can’t even think of a witting crack.

I’d say everyone could kick my nuts once. But I ain’t that drunk. Yet.

I was excited when we got Bedard

Then reality hit. I dont this will be as bad, but 1 yr of Lee and he’s gone. This will set off a chain reaction for moves likely having to overhaulanoffense which is still bad and having to overpayolder FA hitters just to get them here.

Yes, because obviously the team wasn't going to have to overhaul the offense this year

Good grief.

There's is zero reason to think this.

Did you pay any attention to last season?

You mean our GM isn't Bill Bavasi any more?
Not unless someone put him in a vise
"I was excited when we got Bedard"

I think this is an interesting point. We here were not excited, and we ended up being right. We are excited about this trade, perhaps we are correct again?

Small sample size

Kidding!

I was kinda excited, like riding a bike down a mountain really fast only you know sometimes the chain pops off.

And then it does and it eats your pants leg, and you then you can’t stop the bike and it drags you to your doom.

I mean, tying your balls to an SUV and driving it off the cliff is exciting too

but I wouldn’t recommend doing it a second time.

Seriously, I just really wanted to be a Kappa Delta Chi member.

Jeez, Wednesday can’t get here soon enough.

Yeah you would be nuts to do it twice
Not after the first time!
I was mad and excited
We do get two draft picks back.....
I cried and puked a little when they did that
Not news necessarily but what the hell
StoneLarry Don’t be surprised if third player to Phillies is RHP Juan Ramirez (aka J.C. Ramirez), ranked M’s No. 5 prospect by Baseball America.
I approve of this.
I also approve of this.

Cliff Lee without giving up ANY of Saunders/Morrow/Loafie… well, DAMN.

Heck, even giving up Saunders, we STILL have some chips to play with.

The only reason I don't like Saunders

besides the obvious value that he has, is that it would also take a lot to replace him. Everyone else is easy to replace, because they’re all far away from the majors. So I really do think that if it is Saunders – and not just from a value/value perspective – I won’t like this trade. Anyone else, I don’t think I’d care, really.

The way I see it, Saunders is absolutely crucial.

He’s either a good regular going forward or an opportunity to fill another hole through trade. If he’s in the deal, it goes from being awesometastic to okay in my book.

We needed a 4-5 WAR player at decent salary something horrible.

If Saunders is the price for that, well, I’m fine with it. Again, we’d still have Morrow + Loafie. You can’t tell me SOME team won’t jump at ZOMG 96 MPH PLUS POWER HITTING 2B.

I just can't justify trading six years of team control of a guy who is probably 2 WAR right now for one year of Lee plus picks

the prospects we’d be giving up are so young that they just have a much, much higher chance to completely bust as opposed to Saunders

I can, easy.

Saunders == Choo, or Jones. If your system can’t produce SOMEONE every year or two of this caliber, you should fire your draft people or farm system people, or maybe both, because they are full of FAIL.

Conversely, your farm system isn’t going to produce Cliff Lees or King Felixes very often. The only chance the Mariners were going to have to contend in 2009 was finding a player like this at Lee’s price point, and it’s well worth the cost of Saunders.

I believe you are underrating Saunders, Choo and Jones.

Like, by a lot.

Cliff Lee for Adam Jones

Done

Yeah, guys like those don't materialize out of nowhere usually

Our system is pretty good right now compared to the rest of the league, and even being outfielder-rich by comparison to most, if we traded Saunders (assuming Ackley stays at 2B) it would probably be pretty hard to replace his level of production anytime soon, unless Halman figures something major out and real soon.

Holy shit that would be an awesome outfield!
It got hidden in the stupid in the last thread

but I think we can assume Saunders won’t be included if the third player is in fact going to Philly. With Ibanez/Victorino/Werth, there’s not really any reason for the Phillies to take him over anyone else.

Slightly off topic, when did he start going by J.C.?

I’ve always referred to him as Juan up until his name was included in trade talks today.

Changed it at the start of this past season because he wanted to Americanize it

of course Juan is a perfectly normal American name but…

If this is so I consider this a mild win

good job BaldZ

Mild?

We don’t give up either of Saunders/Triunfel/Morrow. Thats an excellent deal if that’s the case.

This trade is amazing if it's Gillies + Aumont + Ramirez

Aumont is entirely in the eye of the beholder – in this regime, he’s a reliever, and thus he has virtually no value

And from the day he was drafted, Aumont has always been very risky.

There’s a tiny chance he becomes a dominant MLB pitcher, but I’m not putting money on it. I was really excited about him a year ago, but if the Mariners don’t think he’s a starter, I’m never going to enjoy that breakout anyway. So I’m fine with losing him assuming we get some good value back. And Cliff Lee + picks is pretty awesome.

Divish Counters

TNTmariners “@StoneLarry — Don’t be surprised if the third player to the Phillies — is Larry Stone, rated No. 2 (not my rankings) in the PNW BBWAA”

That’s where I draw the line. We are not giving up Larry Stone!

Oh hell no.

Larry Stone is ours and you can’t have him.

Unless we get Bob Elliot in return
What's funny is these are the three players mentioned in the very first report IIRC

GOD

No, it would be funny if this took 2 months to complete

and ended up coming down to those same players.

No it wouldn't

It wasn’t funny the last time, and it still wouldn’t be funny

It would be kind of funny

Of course I would long be dead from chewing out my own heart so it’s not like I could appreciate the humor.

Someone get an x-ray of Aumont's hip
This has been going on since early this morning.

On the internet, that might as well be 5 years.

Does someone know the story of what happened with Lee between '07 and '08?

He was kind of a new pitcher – much higher GB% and he just stopped walking people. Did he learn a new pitch or something?

So what does this make us

a projected 84 win team with money to spare?!? At the rate Z is getting wins …. Holy crap. Am I dreaming?

Jesus

did I say that?
Or just think it?
Was I talking?
Did they hear me?

Had to

name the reference.

It's from the same scene as my avatar

Which is a dead give away

I was right in the middle of a fucking reptile zoo.

And somebody was giving booze to these god-damned things. It won’t be long now, before they tear us to shreds.

There he goes

One of God’s own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

That movie is solid gold.

Every piece of monologue selected for the movie is quote-worthy, and I still think it was Depp’s best performance to date. He transitioned from understated to hyper-insane and back seemlessly.

People still triple-blink when I point out that ‘his lawyer’ is Benicio del Toro.

The book is solid gold too

and I agree, Depp’s best work. I’m not sure who did their part better, him or Benicio Del Toro as the Attorney. I’ve read the book a few times and they bot are scary close. I can’t think of a single movie that does the book justice than Fear and Loathing. It still missed some vibe of the inner monologue, but it was close.

Bat Country, eh?
Damn this itches.

I wonder who gave it to me.
Probably that skank who needed a ride to the gas station.
Last time I do somebody a favor.
Oh God, they must have heard me.
OH GOD, I can hear me!
AH LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LAAA!

How would your projected lineup look to support this pitching?

RF Ichiro
3b Figgins
2b Lopez
DH Griffey
1B ??
CF Gutierrez
C ??
SS Wilson

So basically awork in progress. I wouldexpect offers to Bay, Johnson, Branyan etc

LF ??
Gutierrez

covers LF and CF, allowing us to have 2 DH’s.

That's only going to work at home when we make the rules.
That would be some rule

Home team can name the number of offensive replacements allowed.

Platooning Jack Cust and Endy Chavez or Adam Dunn and Adam Everett.

You should read the content of this website before you post this much.

Almost all of these have been addressed here and at our grandma site USSMariner.

Bay would have to take one hell of a hometown discount for this front office to consider him.
Could've sworn we had a catcher or two
Eliezer Alphonso
My mistake, we have 3
DH is a question mark, too, from what I can tell.
But Catcher probably isn't anymore
Twitter is destroying the offseason

“News” isn’t suppose to be this fast.

It's also supposed to be more accurate.
I'm still waiting for my homing pigeon to get back from Philly
The problem is

filtering the news from the crap. It leaks through, between the stuff the agents tell the writers and other make believe crap.

GMZ knows this

And he’s using it to screw with the other GMs

Teh puppetmastah?
Bavasi thinks a twitter is some kind of sexual manever
In all honestly it does make me uncomfortable to refer to Drayer's Twitter account
When you put it that way

Saying “Quick, go look at Drayer’s twitter” does sound kind of bad.

My sources tell me the third player from Seattle is Sebastian Le Toux
Wait a minute...

something’s not right here.

Hold on....

Checking my sources….

Matthew, I have bad news for you.

I think your source might not be very trustworthy.

In fact, I think he may be under the misconception that all sports are actually one.
That's what you get for trusting Levesque.
I would addume he would be going to Pittsburgh
Have a cold?
Yes actually!
Odd how that actually translates over the Internet.
I'm using a dictaphone
Do you not have hands?
They are holding the dictaphone
It's a big dictaphone
I heard someone once said that.
I believe it was a woman
This place is gayer than the pile
At least 10 inches l
I am very clearly not referring to a penis as that wouldn't make any sense given the context
He could be a cyborg with a dictaphone in his penis.
It helps his secretary multitask.
Makes blowing into the microphone...

more than just a way to test it.

I thought he was just yelling into a penis
So that's how you work this thing
Well now that image is burned into my imagination forever.
Luckily it's under 300 pixels.
It's my Irish imagination
So it's green and is covered in red hair?
Lady Hulk?
So you've seen it then.
Bait, trap, set. Excellent!
Tiny and flaccid
It's family counseling with dad all over again.
Oh a penis joke real mature
Sorry guys
This thread is just awful
-ly entertaining!
Yeah in a mid 2008 sort of way I guess
I don't know, I routinely hold my penis with two hands while shouting at the computer.
So that's what that was.
They're busy.

Zjackulation requires it.

Aw the penis boat sailed and I missed it
There's still room. You can sit in the dinghy that's being dragged behind.
That sounds like the saddest dinghy in the whole world.
Maybe the dinghy is an ironically named pussy wagon
Er.
Yeah I guess it isn't
I like to think it is.
Now I feel bad

sorry.

Sorry to hear that.
Adduming maks an Add of you and me
I knew they should've protected him
I would assume he would be going to Pittsburgh
Stuck the landing that time
SON OF A BITCH
"#Phils getting $6M from #Jays in Halladay deal. Drabek, Taylor, likely D'Arnaud to TOR, Aumont, Gillies and 3rd player to PHI..."

hey, wait a minute.

The M’s get bupkiss????

Two separate deals, it sounds like.
It's okay as long as bup uses toungue.
No, they get Slocumb for Varitek AND Lowe.
This deal keeps looking better
No no no, it's the third seal of the apocalypse
Famine & Drought?

I don’t see any black horses…

That's because it's dark outside
Dude, racist jokes are only allowed if they're funny.

I wish the Giants would do something

I agree

The Giants should trade the Mariners Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and Pablo Sandoval for Carlos Silva, Josh Wilson, and Garret Olson. I would approve of that trade.

My favorite part about this whole day has been the lack of dread.

The offseason is fun now. Trust is a wonderful thing.

I'm going to have to pull an all night as with the Clement trade aren't I?
You care way too much about Jeffrey Clement.
Hey guys it's ok you can all go to sleep Churchill has the answer

12:45am: Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider has had this info for quite a while today – the Phillies will get Aumont, Gillies, and righty Juan Ramirez from Seattle.

Like hell I'm paying for that
Oh for fucks sakes
Wait

I think this is what Churchill reported originally. If it is, I withdraw my criticism for now.

It is.
Yeah...

There is still every possibility he is right so until proven otherwise, sorry Jason.

So much for his vaunted "insider content"

Seriously! You guys need to subscribe! You can’t get this anywhere! etc…

It's an interesting paradox.

Churchill likely couldn’t (or wouldn’t?) do what he does if not for the tightly-knit, incurably rabid M’s blog-o-sphere, but it’s nearly impossible for him to monetize on his efforts due to the tightly-knit, incurably rabid M’s blog-o-sphere.

Well, it seems like today was a good day.

Question: do other teams scouting departments still see Aumont as a starter? If so, that would help explain why we’re seemingly giving up so little in the deal.

I think the Phillies will try to use him as a starter

Whether or not he sticks there is another matter….but that’s probably what they plan to do with him considering what they’re supposedly giving up for Halladay. If any of this is even true.

It looked like Ms got Cliff Lee and undisclosed piece or pieces???

It sounded like Blanton and Happ were out taking trade physicals. Are they sending one our way? Is getting a new rotation GMZs way of distracting us when he trades Felix for Adrian Gonzalez? ack my head hurts and why is that baby on the roof.

I'd recommend reading other posts before posting anything yourself

Adrian Gonzalez is probably not going to be traded, if he is, it almost certainly won’t be to the M’s and it most certainly will not involve Felix. Forget about any Adrian Gonzalez pipe dreams unless something drastic changes.

There's no way that makes any sense

We are just getting Lee, the only question is what we gave up for him.

Morrow to MIL?

Via Fox Sports:

M’s-Brewers discussing deal for Morrow — 12:14 a.m.

The Mariners, who remain active on multiple fronts, are discussing a trade that would send right-hander Brandon Morrow to the Brewers, according to major-league sources.

However, the deal appears unlikely due to the reluctance of Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik to move Morrow, one source said.

It is known what the Mariners want in return for Morrow, whom the Brewers would add to a revamped rotation that has been bolstered by the addition of free-agent Randy Wolf.

Makes sense with Lee coming into the fold.

My only question is what are we getting from MIL?

Uhh yeah there is nothing to comment on here without knowing the potential return.
Man, I love all this Mariners buzz.
So the "potential trade" is that the Brewers want Morrow?
Once again, I feel we should emphasize

The rumor stipulates: They’re in talks about Brandon Morrow, and Milwaukee has not offered anything GMZ wants.

That’s not really a “getting a trade ready” so much as a “made a phone call.”

Fielder!

Pleeeeeeeease?

/ridiculousness

Rickie Weeks is a pretty good possibility
Unless we are fleecing the hell out of every GM in the country that doesn't seem like a fair trade straight up

But okay maybe we are at this point.

At this point I wouldn't be surprised
I would die happy.
The Brewers like Morrow a lot and we still have Saunders, Triunfel, Moore, Lopez, Aardsma, Lowe, Kelley, Fields and lesser bit players that could be moved.

I’m not saying I think it’s likely, I’m just saying we somehow managed to trade Aumont, Gilles and Ramirez for Cliff Lee so who the fuck knows.

I can’t believe I was against this when the rumors started sounding credible.

I would be fine with Morrow plus any three of those.

I keep forgetting Fields exists.

Sounds like a whole lot of nothing

Mariners and Brewers discussing a deal, no mention of who Milwaukee is dealing, and Jack Z doesn’t want to trade Morrow.

Why would any reporter put this info out? I mean, I like getting updates on what’s happening, but some of the stories this offseason are getting ridiculous.

Looking at it logically

I don’t see a match, unless it’s Lopez/Morrow for Weeks.

Morrow wouldn’t fetch Fielder, unless MIL is bat-shit desperate to drop his contract and they don’t like to win.

Gamel is the first thing that comes to mind.
Not sure Zduriencik would like Gamels

Can’t play 3B, bat is still a question mark.

I don't think it'll happen, but it's just what came to mind.

Did Zduriencik not draft Gamel?

It totally makes sense actually
Agreed
Ok - consider me swayed

If Z thinks Gamel is a decent-enough 1B, it’s not a bad deal.

He certainly played a role in it

How large of one isn’t quite known and on top of that, his value for defense could be a new thing. It wasn’t too long ago that Billy Beane was selling us the idea that defense was irrelevant in Moneyball, so it’s entirely possible that Z didn’t have the same comprehension for the importance of defense then that he does now.

Actually

Gamel’s bat is a bit better than I remembered.

James sure likes him for next year (.356 wOBA).

Despite the fact that Bill James' projections are always very optimistic,

I think Gamel can hit. Playing third is another question, though.

Yeah, but we already have a third baseman in Figgins and if GMZ sees Gamel as a 1B

he can lock up that position long term, since doesn’t Gamels have 5 years of team control remaining?

I'm not positive, but I don't think Gamel has a full year of service time yet.
It's almost like there's somewhere we could look this up!
Mat Gamel 3b
1 year/$0.4M (2009)

    * 1 year/$0.4M (2009)
          o re-signed by Milwaukee 1/24/09
    * 1 year (2008)
          o contract purchased 9/1/08
    * drafted 2005 (4-115) (Chipola JC, Fla.)
    * $0.226M signing bonus
* ML service: 0.028

Cool, only ~1 month of ML service time

That's through 2008.
I'm not sure at what point Cot's updates its numbers, but it hasn't happened yet. At least not for the teams I've looked at.
Fuck
Apparently, I am retarded, because I remembered Mat Gamel being in the majors a lot more than that and posted it anyway
Yup

Lopez + Morrow for Fielder would be the steal of the century.

The Mariners would instant favorites

How long woudl we have Fielder?
2010 and 2011.
He's signed '10 at $10.5

According to Cot’s. He currently at 3.068 years of ML service time. So he should have one more year of arby before he hits FA.

2 years at crazy, $15m/y arbitration levels
He's worth that though.

I just want at least one new player to last beyond next year so that I can become a big fan of them.

Worth every penny.

A .449 wOBA last year.

Oh god.

That would be just batshit insane and after that deal’s final, we immediately sign Z to a 100-year contract extension.

Lopez/Morrow for Weeks

Seems more realistic…

There would have to be at least one more good prospect or young player going that way.
They'd save like 7 million.

That’s a lot of money to save.

True, I'm just thinking in terms that someone else should be able to top that offer.
Except

There would still need to be somebody of some value. The Brewers aren’t just going to give him away. What’s scary is Z knows the way they operate. If there’s an inefficiency in their process, he’d be the first to know. He’s got more money to play with too.

What’s funny, is at least so far, Z is on pace to blow Melvin out of the water as GM.

It'd be a steal and doesn't make a whole lot of sense

But if they couldn’t get it down with Braun and Fielder when they brought CC aboard, when will they? That’s the only justification I can come up.

"It is known what the Mariners want..."

Is that a typo (should read: “It is NOT known…”)?

Or do we know want Jack wants for Morrow?

By the way, I know that this is vague...but it's Fox Sports so it's worth mentioning.
Looks like Dave Cameron's ready to call it.

The Deal AS We Know It.

Wow.
Seriously, dance in the streets. Build a bust of Zduriencik and place it on your mantle. Name your first born son Jack and your daughter Jackie. When this becomes official, hug someone. This trade is that good.
I'm pretty sure Lookoutlanding is bipolar

Bored and depressed one day. Freaking out and ecstatic the next.

I'm pretty sure the Mariners lost on Rich Harden one of those days and got Cliff Lee for free the next
e.g. please demonstrate how you are even-keeled while I cockpunch you today and give you $1,000 tomorrow
Way to be the preschool teacher!
I would be an awesome preschool teacher

beer for all!

When did this become the PI blog?

Everyone with a retarded opinion now posts and is 100% convinced they have the right to be wrong and dumb. I forget how bad the internet is sometimes.

Luckly I think the problem got taken care of

It got ugly in some of the older threads. I had flashbacks to the ITP days.

DAMN YOU CHIPPYNUTTS!
It's only been a couple morons.

I propose a new rule for LL pertaining to new posters: We’ve already talked about here that people should get a good feel for the community before they post, but I would also add that it is probably not a good idea for new posters to start posting during times of high stress. Like for example, during huge transactoions. Because during these times we are all gonna be a little on edge and even crazier than usual and we are not likely to react well to new people who post stupid shit.

Yeah but those two or three bad posters affected everyone and made the last thread unreadable.
The weirdo in me really loves the stupid posters.

I hope they haven’t all been hidden by Graham yet. I want to read.

Unfortunately that's just an impossible hope because this is exactly when people want to talk the most

I did implement a 24 hour waiting period for newbies a little while back, which has helped a little, but it hasn’t been a cure-all.

"24 hour waiting period? But I'm angry NOW!"
You guys should see what I am dealing with at the Times' forum
bm=starter wrote:There’s never been ANY story reported on ESPN that wasn’t true. Sure they reported that Griffey was going to ATL last year but that was true. He was going there until it leaked and he changed his mind.
I hate everyone on that blog.

Some of the dumbest people I have ever encountered.

By the way, I know we've focused on us, but jeez...

Roy Halladay is gonna rape the NL.

Kinda what I was thinking.

is it a lock for him to win 20 games with Philly?

Yes Sir

I wonder how good of a hitter he is.

And he never has to face to Phillies.
This trade seems to make sense from all sides.

Except the part where we get Cliff Lee for nothing. That part is weird. But I don’t see anyone losing in this three way trade, and that’s remarkable.

The top post on The Good Phight is "Makes No Sense At All"

They seem to be having big problems with giving up Drabek, and that whole Cliff Lee for nothing part.

Ah, well... Getting Halladay for 4 years at a great contract is a win for them to me.

So I should have said “In my opinion, this makes sense from all sides.”

Sure, getting Halladay for cheap is awesome, but I just can't see how the marginal upgrade justifies virtually giving away Cliff Lee

but hell, I’ll take it

And if reports are to be believed they gave up way too much talent, even for how awesome Halladay is
There had to be a better way for Philly to clear money
I keep having to re-read one of Jeff's posts from earlier today right before "The Trade"..
To be honest, now that Harden’s off the board, I have no idea what the front office is planning. He seemed like such a great fit that I gave little attention to devising a Plan B. But with him disappearing and Lackey maybe being next, Zduriencik is going to have to get creative.

Wow.. Talk about a creative plan B!

I went back to this post yesterday too.
Talk about a plan B that kick plan A in the nuts
Plan A was a lil bitch
How has no one made a 1-2 punch joke?
Fox Sports comments are even more amusing than those on Geoff Baker's blog.

One jewel I couldn’t help but notice"

Baseball77Nut. You know whats funny. For the last 5 season i have stated the halladay was the best pitcher in the game,, I used to hear nerdy americans say he cannot strike out players he cannot win close games blah blah blue.. Now one day after jays trade him.. or dumped him what ever u wanna call it.. Look at all you americans he’s the best he’s this, he’s the next tiger woods of baseball lol… hiporcritts.. look up that word… just make sure u make the spelling better

Did he just say "hippogriff"?

I am reluctant to say how I know that word.

A friend I know in Philadelphia...

…is also wondering why they have to give up Drabek et al and Cliff Lee to make Halladay happen. I think it’s pretty clear that Philly is in an either/or scenario and possibly do not understand the value of draft picks. This isn’t as bad as the Kevin Mitchell trade by any means but it does, at least at this point, look kind of like they’re making a show of improving their ballclub while not actually improving it a great deal.

I mean, don’t get me wrong, Halladay is better than Lee, but it’s not like they’re replacing Jason Vargas or something.

They don't have to give up Lee....

… but clearly, they don’t want to completely deplete their farm system. Sure, if they keep Lee they can probably get draft picks, but there’s always the possibility he’s injured and they don’t want to offer arbitration, or they get less than optimal draft picks due to compensation wackiness. By dealing him now, they get to select the prospects they want. And 3 good prospects seems to be the going rate for one year of an elite SP, judging by the returns for Santana, Halladay, etc.

They have a lot of money committed to a few players over the next few years, so I suspect their fear is that if they keep Lee, they’ll end up being in a position where they have holes to fill but no budget $$ to add free agents and no upper-level prospects to plug the holes with.

In the end, they’re hedging their bets. If they keep Lee and add Halladay, they’re elite for next year, but in for some budget pain over the next 3 years or so. If they deal Lee now, they’re not quite so good next year, but in a better position for the 3 years or so after that.

According to Buster Olney

The deal is officially complete now – Halladay has agreed to the contract extension and is currently taking his physical. Looks like we will get an announcement today!

Linky

Oh thank god.
Just you wait. The Phils will swap out Lee for Blanton at the last second.

Then you’ll feel silly.

You shut your mouth!
Honestly it would almost make more sense

Assuming we don’t lose Saunders in this deal, it’s a such a good one for the M’s.

We'll just swap out Aumont for Carlos Silva

We have lumps of coal too!

And the Blue Jays will swap out Joe Carter!

I have a hard time thinking of anybody who played for the Jays after 1993.

There was Roger Clemens and David Wells and...

Uh…

Just say "[interchangeable white guy with mullet]" and you'll be okay.
Randy Johnson was an Expo
Boy am I glad the Phillies aren't aware of Aumont's degenerative hip condition
SSSSH LAD DON'T YOU KNOW THEY'RE LISTENING?
Yeah, and Gillies is deaf and JC Ramirez was banged up this year.

We need to ship them in some REALLY legit bubble wrap.

*nearly deaf
100 years ago he would have been called Dummy Gillies.

Has baseball truly moved forward? Truly?

JC Ramirez wasn't banged up this year.

Pineda was, but Ramirez pitched pretty much the whole season.

And Gillies is 60% deaf in one ear and 30% deaf in the other, I think.

That's weird

Much like attempted murder, I’m not sure how much I agree with the idea of partial deafness.

It doesn't seem that far fetched to me.

I only get caught up on trying to figure out where the bar would be set for 100%.

Anyway, he wears hearing aids, so it’s no problem. He kind of has to in the outfield, but like when we had Ryan Ketchner, I don’t think he wore hearing aids on a regular basis, and he had even less hearing.

I was telling a bad joke
Be funnier then.
Jeff is only funny when he doesn't realise he's joking
It really is astonishing
You guys are assholes
I fight to the last man for you boss
I chuckled inside somewhere.

Not sure where, though.

I have it, but not to the same extent as Gillies.

I cannot hear things said from the next room when I am at home. I hear noises when I am speaking to people, but if I am in a crowded area I almost always resort to reading lips because I just cannot hear the words clearly. It ends up sounding very jumbled and in-congruent.

The players being announced right now are Tyson Gillies and Phillippe Aumont

Someone else like Ramirez has to be involved, right?

Right?

From what I understand it's believed to be those two and Ramirez
I mean, Ramirez is great and all but I don't even care at this point

It would just add a few more laughs to an already hilarious deal.

CLIFF LEE? YES PLEASE.

Not Horacio Ramirez.
You have an oddly ironic username.
I have used it since the mid-90s.

And it was oddly ironic then as well.

There seems to be a widening consensus that it's Gillies, Ramirez, and Aumont.
Oh, by the way...

CLIFF FREAKIN’ LEE

CLIFF LEE WOOOOOOO
RED ROCKET RED ROCKET
This is the best day ever I think
When do people wake up to confirm this?
It is 10:49 am on the east coast and I am bored.
It's anything but boring being next to Philadelphia

I’m rather enjoying the sports talk radio for the first time in a while.

We've still got Colin Cowherd on the air in Seattle.

I’m avoiding the airwaves until 11.

But at 11 they head over to Safeco ...
But we've traded for a "playa"

This is big time stuff! It involves an interesting large market team! Cowherd has to be loving this right?

I only tuned in for a few moments but last I heard he was accusing Tiger Woods of using HGH.
I lost interest after that.
If I remember right he ripped Seattle for trading away Washburn while the big boys went and got players like Cliff Lee
I'm praying that 710ESPN hires Dave Grosby away from KJR and slots him into Cowherd's spot.
YES.

That would be better than Locker returning to the Huskies.
But not nearly as good as Mariners getting Cliff Lee.

What is the Philadelphia talk radio consensus?

I’m having a hard time thinking of Philadelphia and sports talk radio mixed together. It seems like that would create a black hole of not brightness and suck… well, it would suck.

Baker had a link to the Halos Heaven reactions yesterday.

It might have been so that his own commentors suddenly looked better.

They're flipping out

It’s really funny.

Usually I just get mad at them for constantly dicking with my boy, Mr. Donovan McNabb. This is my sweet, sweet payback.

And I'm sure this trade will be...

McNabb’s fault. Or at least Andy Reid.

I'm From Philly...

That’s exactly what it is.

I could imagine.

I don’t know if I could get any Philly stations in here, but eh… talk radio, especially sports talk radio, is not my cup of tea.

Oh, they're complete hacks

But it’s entertaining listening to hacks get angry when it doesn’t involve a team you care about.

It's 2:49 am here and I, too, am bored.
I would sleep in that case.
I am strongly considering it.
Things will be more resolved when you wake up and you'll have 600 more comments to read.
So not that I expect repeat performances from both guys

But we just added $18 million worth of payroll for two players who combined for 13.7 WAR last year. Wow.

I'm buying a pet and naming it Jack.
Is it safe to say that we have the best GM in all of baseball yet?
I could do with an awesome trade and an under market free agent signing every offseason.
So that means we are a 98 win team
This is clearly the case
Huh, my math had us a 132-win team
On the off chance anyone here hasn't read Baker yet (because I hadn't until five min. ago)...

His analysis of the reax from other AL West fans is pretty fun. Wow has the balance of power in the division shifted since last week.

It's going to be awful when GMZ goes to the Red Sox.
I was thinking about this yesterday.

Do good GMs ever really leave teams other than due to conflicts with ownership? We could have GMZ for a long, long time. It’s not like, say, rooting for a college basketball team in the middle of nowhere that stumbles upon an amazingly awesome coach only to see him leave after a couple of years when bigger schools catch wind and offer him the moon.

As long as we pay him.
He's more likely to turn us into the Red Sox than to go there I think
yeah but in six years he'll turn into Billy Beane
He's going to fall in love with soccer?
Traditionally, no

When you get a GM job at the highest level, there isn’t much point in moving around unless there’s a substantial difference in salary between two clubs.

I don’t foresee this becoming a problem for the M’s.

How do people feel about Kevin Towers possibly being brought into the fold?
I thought he went to the Yankees.
Last I heard he was leaning towards the Yankees, but hasn't committed anywhere yet.
I'd be happy, but I imagine anywhere he goes will only have him around for a year or two before he's offered a GM job again.
It would be like putting a spoiler on Optimus Prime.
If he can pry Adrian Gonzalez from San Diego, then by all means.
Question: is this offseason more or less exciting than last offseason, so far?

Keeping in mind that it isn’t over and that some more deals are coming down the line (i.e. Branyan or LaRoche at 1B, etc.), which one has you more enthused?

I still have to go with last year. The rapid turnaround from “who is this new guy” to “holy shit this new guy is great” plus the great Putz/Gutz deal still stands out as more endorphin-y to me. Probably because of the contrast with Bavasi.

More exciting

last year there was still certainly some trepidation at the fact that Lincoln/Armstrong hired the guy who appeared to be most “old-school,” relying on scouting over stats. Obviously this has been disproven since then, but when Jack Z was hired, there was a tinge of concern in the blogosphere. This year, it’s been more like “what the hell can GMZ do to impress us now? Wait… he just got Cliff Lee for three middling prospects?? SWEET!”

Yeah, but that's precisely why last year was more exciting.

There was a much great “potential energy” level in that system, if you know what I mean. The swing from “oh no, did we just get Bavasi II?” to “Jesus Christ, we got Billy Beane But Better” was SO rapid and SO exhilarating and covered so much more ground for me. Our attitudes went from “no hope at all” to “joyously resurgent” within a span of days.

As great as Figgins and Lee are (and man…) I’m no longer surprised that GMZ is pulling off this sort of shit. Apparently, it’s what he does.

"a much *greater"
I guess it depends on your definition of "exciting"

I happen to like the non-fearful kind more

It may well be that I'm appreciating it more in retrospect now that I know it all turns out so well.
I was actually disappointed when we hired Jack.

I really liked most of the initial pool of GM candidates, but when GMZ suddenly emerged out of the blue and was hired I was upset. First blush he seemed to be another old, white yes-man that had Armstrong and Lincoln’s approval written all over him. Holy hell am I glad I was wrong.

For that matter, we haven’t had to bitch about Armstrong and Lincoln in ages. That sure is nice.

Eh...

From his experience with the Brewers, we pretty much knew right away that he had a good scouting background and would probably be able to pick up undervalued players.

What we did not anticipate was bringing in Blengino/Tango and forming a monstrous stats dept. or that he would have an incredible poker face and ability to get more or less what he wanted no matter what.

My initial reaction was not at all rational.

I really had my heart set on LaCava and Ng, but you’re right. Jack’s background and track record with the Brewers was great. It’s just that when his name suddenly appeared out of nowhere I started getting bad Armstrong/Lincoln vibes.

Or that he loves Defense!
I still think LaCava will be a great GM, but I think Z was the best choice now.
If this trade is pulled off and it is as good as we are speculating, then it has already matched 2008-9 and there are still several months to improve upon it if we can get someone like Nick Johnson.
Last season for sure

This season has been like learning you have some mild superpowers. Last season was like being suddenly cleared of a malignant tumor. Superpowers are nice, but cancer sucks.

Exactly. Last year we were whisked off death row, released from prison and put into a nice suburban house.

This year we’re upgrading that house to a mansion. Nice, but not nearly as drastic (nor UNEXPECTED) an improvement.

This offseason is a heck of a lot more exciting.

Last year before this time we signed Russell Branyan for cheap and got quite a haul in a three-team trade. It was nice to see us make intelligently smooth moves for a change and given what kind of team we had previously we were looking at interesting times ahead.

This year, we signed Chone Figgins to a fair 4-year deal that makes all sorts of sense. We close in on Harden, which made a ton of sense and was on our wishlist before we lost him to Texas. We go to an alternative plan of….hauling in Cliff Lee….CLIFF LEE!? And that’s potentially while keeping our farm system intact!

It appears that not only are we going to “get good and stay good” we’re also looking to get good NOW.

Amazing.

We got Cliff Lee and kept Saunders/Moore/Triunfel.

We didn’t give up a top five prospect in the deal. That’s how insane this is.

Aumont is top five
Even as a reliever?
As reliever, I wouldn't.

I had him at six or seven I think.

So we have Ackley, Saunders, Moore, ?
Triunfel?

Even with his riskiness, he’s pretty high upside. What about Pineda? Or Cortes?

Pineda is at the back end of the top 10 for me.

A lot of people are more concerned about his elbow than I am though. Personally, for me, since he lost no velocity or command, I don’t think his injury was that serious.

I may have double counted someone.

So, Ackley/Saunders/Moore/Triunfel.

We gave up a top five prospect, whether that’s Ramirez or Aumont for you is another story.

BA has Ramirez falling out of the top 10
Really?

Where’d you hear that?

That’s a bit unusual for them, although I could easily see them having Halman drop from the top ten. Not that he should have been anywhere near #1 in the first place.

I asked

They have him as a reliever log term now

That's fair.

He was one of the most overrated prospects in the system for a while there.

Quick, someone who understands logarithms make a joke!
Naturally they would log him at reliever

I got nothing.

This offseason we're really getting to see what Z is capable of without being hamstrung by Bavasi's mistakes so much

So I think it’s more exciting.

It certainly does seem like a big unexpected ramp-up in ambition.
I don't know why Philly does this deal now

I hope nobody in Philly realises that they can now have Halladay AND Lee on their roster next season. They’ll get Lee’s two picks after he walks, so they can restock their farm system some (though likely not as much as with the three players Seattle’s offering). Still…being the WS favorite in April has got to be worth something.

Shhhhhh…..

Payroll.
What I can't figure out is why more teams haven't been rumored to be interested

If we’re getting such a steal, why aren’t, say, the Angels jumping in and offering more

I can't figure out why they don't just trade Blanton instead.

For like a PTBNL. He’s making almost as much as Lee.

They'd be selling the farm
That's true...

I suppose a little bit worse farm is better than no farm.

Two things

1) Clearly, the return for Lee is somewhere around market value. This is supported by the previous return for him last year, which seems to be approximately equal, deducting the time Lee spent in Philly

2) This is a time-sensitive thing. Philly has 72 hours to negotiate an extension with Halladay, right? So they can’t spend those 72 hours dickering with every GM out there. Once they have an agreement in principle, they’re going to focus on getting Halladay’s extension done. If they listen to every other offer, that might scuttle the whole thing.

The previous return for him was ridiculaously low in my estimation

he had two years and was accompanied by Ben Francisco. The return this time around, if it is what we think it is, may well be the due to Gilles being overvalued and Aumont either thought of as a starter or some GMs still not knowing that you can get closers for not a lot.

I also think

that the prospects that other teams value from us are guys who are great no question, but guys we don’t mind giving up.

Ichiro threatened to cut them
The Phillies have managed to do this without adding any money to the books this season
If they could have gotten Halladay form the Jays on their own they would have done so last summer.
More from good old Buster

@Buster_ESPN: It’s all moving fast: As soon as Halladay deal is done, the Jays are going to trade Michael Taylor to Oakland for Brett Wallace.

For Brett Wallace?!
Second time in a year he is getting traded..

I used to hang out with him and his girlfriend all the time… His girlfriend was a gold digging bitch.

Looks like she picked pretty well since he figures to be awfully rich in the not-too-distant future
Whoa, really?

Nice move by Oakland with their glut of infielders.

Fucking Oakland
Guess Billy wasn't so distracted by soccer after all.
Why are the Phillies collecting DHs?

That’s like trading for a centre-forward

Brett Wallace sucks
Can someone tell me what Brett Wallace plays and whether he's any good?
Brett Wallace is an infielder who can hit the tar out of the ball but can't field to save his life

he was the cornerstone of the Holliday to StL trade last year

Or whatever, it was still 2009, so this year
I have a hard time believing he would have been the Cardinals 3B this year
Played 3B and 1B in college...

But realistically? DH.

I don't know much about Taylor.

He’s a pretty big deal? Can he play center?

The homepage of ESPN.com has a link to a article where Neyer parrots what Dave said last night.

Neat

I really want us to trade for Blanton so I can root for the only person in MLB with Down's Syndrome.
Except Ichiro would cut him in the dugout.
Have you considered Dayton Moore?
Its a great day to be a Mariner fan

Even if we only get him for one year we are now the favorites in the West with the Angels losing a fair bit.

Its nice to see what we can do with a competent GM.

We're favorites?
I think we almost have to be now

Us or the Rangers. We lost basically nothing and added Figgins and Lee. Our only potential problem is offense.

I think this could be a special year.

We lost Bedard, Washburn, Beltre, possibly Branyan

That’s nine or ten wins right there among the four of them

Okay, if we lose Russel I'll give you that was big

Given that he had a career year last year.

If you refer to Beltre as nothing one more time I will fucking kill you
He was hurt so often last year

He couldn’t give us much. I love Adrian, I really do, but he kept getting hurt.

Fun fact

In an injury plagued year he was still worth 2.4 WAR.

Yup

As I said, I love Adrian, he was one of Bavasi’s few good moves.

I'm trying to point out that losing him is a big deal.
Of course

Although Figgins should be a nice upgrade.

No, he's not.

Figgins basically keeps us treading water, if you figure them both as 3ish WAR players with some upside.

The upgrade is that instead of paying 12+ million, we are paying 8 million… but that’s off the field.

I don't think he has the balls to repeat that performance.
We're not the favorites right now

And we probably won’t be the favorites when we finish building the roster. But we’ve closed the gap substantially.

With Lee, we could be favorites when all is said and done, depending on payroll limitations.
We might be right up there on equal footing with Texas/LA

But I doubt we’ll be the obvious favorites

I mean slight favorites

I don’t mean like “Omg we’re going to win the division by 20 games favorites.”

The Figgins and Lee moves did a good job of fully recouping our losses from last and year and adding a few wins

And Anaheim has clearly gotten worse and doesn’t have the financial flexibility to make up for everything they’ve lost. But we were an ~80 win team true talent last year and Texas has somehow managed to get better too.

I think the division is pretty much going to be a crapshoot when all is said and done.

I had us at about 83 wins max if we spent all of our extra payroll on 4.5mil/win players.

So drop Kenji’s salary, add Figgins and Lee, and decrease market value of a win a bit and we’re somewhere in the 88 win range.

Or you could start with Dave's breakdown and make changes based on what has happened.

Here is his original WAR projection chart for the 2010 roster. The Foundation article link here.

Here are the changes so far starting with a 75 win team.
Johjima out and Moore / backup in is neutral to .5 win loss. Still at 75 wins.
Tui out and Figgins in is a +2 to 2.5 win gain. Up to 77 wins.
Josh Wilson out and Jack Wilson in is a 1.5 to 2 win gain. Up to 78.5 to 79 wins.
Langerhans out and Griffey + in is a .75 win loss. Back to 78 wins.
Lee in and back-end rotation / middle relief out is a 4 to 5 win gain. Up to 82-83 wins.

I don’t think I’ve missed any roster changes from the guys on his spreadsheet, so there we are. 82 to 83 wins with about 15 to 17 million left to spend.

Now if only we could find a better catcher

Than Rob Johnson, ugh.

Rob Johnson Sucks

God Doumit.

Moore
Not likely a massive upgrade
Better than Johnson.
Hey I'd take a minor upgrade

Over Johnson, its not that hard. Just someone who can be consistent behind the plate and hit around .250.

Ajoemorgansayswhat?
Yeah.

C seems to be the weak spot on the roster, assuming that we can get a decent player in at 1B and DH (read: not Griffey), though I’d like to see an upgrade in the bullpen, too (I’d like a not-too-expensive good lefty FA on a one year deal).

If you figured the M’s had ~25 million to spend, they have about 8 million left to get a couple of decent players at those positions and to fill out the roster and considering that AAAA 1B/DH guys are usually available for not a lot, we’re in solid shape. We also have Loafie and Morrow to dangle in a trade if we’d like to approach things that way (with the ability to add salary, plus Loafie’s few million or whatever)- and at this point, I think we have sufficient depth behind King Felix and Lee without Morrow (Hyphen, Snell, Silva, French, Vargas and Olson should add up to a reasonable 3-4-5 once things get sorted out in spring training).

I'm thinking not.

The M’s weren’t exactly close to the Angels last year. Factoring in Pythagoreans we had what, 15 wins to make up? With taking Fogginess, trading for Lee, and watching the Halos lose Lackey, we’ve made up what? 8 wins? Our chances are better but they aren’t at 50% yet.

stupid android spellchecker.

Renaming Chone Figgins to Chomsky Fogginess was not my idea.

Best. Nickname, EVER.
We're not favourites for the west
Well, you're MY favorite.
I'd put us in the mix for the AL Central though.

You know, if the home team could decide what division they played in.

We're getting closer.

Actually, the Rangers worry me. They seem to have an actual pitching staff now, as opposed to their usual collection of undertalented young arms who get shellshocked at Arlington plus older pitchers better suited to throw BP.

Stay on topic you assholes
You get to deal with this for another whole day!
GOD
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I think that the worst part of it is probably over though.

Seeing as how we mostly know who is in the deal who isn’t.

Could be worse.

aka “Erik Bedard trade for a week”

Drayer tweet
Heading to the Figgins press conference. By all indications Lee/Halladay still a day away.

Fuck.

Probably have to sign all the paperwork

And everyone has to pass physicals, etc. No big deal.

It seems like negotiations are done

It has been reported that it won’t be completed until Wednesday at the earliest from early on in the reports. I don’t think we need to worry about the trade falling apart unless someone fails a physical or something.

Especially since

Halladay apparently has his mega-extension in place.

Felix, Lee, Snell, Morrow, Fistrenchargasilva

If one of either Morrow or Snell takes a nice step toward knowing where their pitches are headed, that’s nasty.

Don't forget about the Aussie.
Holy shit. SEX!
Even better in a short series.
Still think it's 50/50 that Morrow gets moved for a cheap 1B
Luke Scott?
Someone younger
Mat Gamel?
Makes sense
Make it happen, Z.

And then sorry, Russell. Hope you beat the snot out of the ball somewhere else, preferably in another division.

We still need a DH too
But we have Griffey!

Oh, wait, you meant a designated HITTER, not hugger.

I think Prince is better
They probably do too

is their budget that tight?

That's probably right...
CORRECTION: 5 years of Gamel
People keep reporting that we're not big on moving him for some reason
But that's probably just Z trying to drive up his value
Probably because we're trying to save him for another deal
I'm honestly confused

Does “on topic” mean just Cliff Lee chatter or any trade chatter?

Well, Graham will be around soon to hide anything inappropriate anyway.
Cliff Lee chatter

I slipped up DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO

Somebody box him.

First the bad jokes and now this.

Thanks, I didn't think we'd have a green light for rampant rosterbation.
Wow 20 guys in a room rosterbaiting...
You'd think SN could make money on that

ROSTERS GONE WILD

And that's okay too.
JUSTR HEARD

SO EXCITED TRYING TO REMEMBER TO BREATHE

Seriously how did we get so lucky

It’s like the baseball gods said: Alright, the Seattle Mariners have just dealt with five years of Bill Bavasi…it’s only just that they get the best general managerial canidate that no one ever talks about.

So happy, so very very happy to be an M’s fan today.

Has anyone brought up how weird it is

that this turned from a three way trade that made sense for all three teams (Aumont, Gillies, Taylor, Ramirez/Morrow/Saunders to TOR; Lee to SEA; Halladay to PHI) to the current mess, which, as far as I can tell, is two separate trades, one fair and one wildly unbalanced? Why wouldn’t Philly either hang on to Lee for a ridiculous rotation or shop him around for a better deal?

When was it ever rumored that we were giving up Saunders, Morrow, Aumont, and Gillies?
I think the slashes indicate that he means one of Ramirez, Morrow, or Saunders.
Yeah I'm really stupid
Also just getting to Matthews fangraphs post where he mentions this.

I’m kinda baffled.

Dave Cameron:

On FanGraphs


The Cliff Lee to Seattle portion of this trade just seems very light in return for the Phillies. They’re getting two power arms with a lot of questions marks and a speedy center fielder without a lot of power. None of these guys are top tier prospects. This is the best Philadelphia could have gotten for Lee? Really? A pu-pu platter of interesting, high-risk guys not really close to the majors for a Cy Young quality pitcher who is already well on his way to Type A free agency?

And, even if that’s true, why clear $8 million from the books by trading Lee? Surely, you could have moved Joe Blanton without eating any of his salary, even if you didn’t love the deals being offered. Or, how about this – don’t sign J.C. Romero, Brian Schneider, and Ross Gload, whose 2010 salaries are about equal to Lee’s. Replace those three reserves with league minimum guys and you’ve saved enough money to keep Lee around.

Halladay will help them, and the extension he signed is a great deal. But it just seems like they bent over backwards to make this particular deal, when there were so many other ways of going about it. It just seems to me that the Phillies could have had Halladay and Lee, and that reality would leave me pretty frustrated today if I was a Phillies fan.

I just love how we get to watch Lee for a year and then we get two sexy picks to replace some of the farm depth lost in this trade.
Or he stays for a while longer

win/win

Seems to me Amaro/Phillies let their mancrush

on Halladay and their determination to retrieve him at all costs blind them a bit to Lee’s actual value. Or Dr. Z is a master salesman.

That reminds me of a certain former GM...
That's all supposed to be blockquotes, by the way.
I just don't understand how Z keeps actually making me love him more and more after the Putz trade.

Just fucking unbelievable. If we don’t win a WS in the next 5 years I’ll eat my hat.

Just take the cardboard out first you don't need all that extra fiber.
Chone is putting on his teeny tiny jersey.
He is? Right now? Can I see it?
Online on the official site.

he’s rocking the flat bill.

TEARS FROM CHONE!

Love him

Aww really?
Yep. "Sorry about the tears."

Now he’s gushing about Jack, and at one point he thanked Angels fans. Then he said “Now. Enough of those guys.”

"Gonna be an honor hitting behind [Ichiro]"

Controversey over.

Fake media made up controversey anyway.
Chone kinda seems nervous. He's repeating himself a lot.
I would be too if I was trying to talk in front of a bunch of reporters.
Baseball players are real people. Who knew.
I know this is off-topic but I don't know where else to put it:

Salk pointed this out as well, which is one of the reasons why I love him, but Chone Figgins: “It’s never a negative to be patient.”

And also, did anyone else hear Z just call Chone "Chone" and not "Sean?"
Figgins wearing No. 9 in his press conference. Guess Jack Wilson is getting a new number.
Does the jersey say FOGGINESS on it?

I still think “Chomsky Fogginess” beats out Beluga Tits as a great nickname…

Or Noam...

for short.

His colorless green ideas sleep furiously, you know.
As long as Buckley doesn't punch him in the face.

You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Lookout Landing to post a comment.