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Lookout Landing

Yuni Traded

Per Drayer, to KC (hah!) for a pair of minor league pitchers. Details to follow.

They are:

Daniel Cortes

Derrick Saito

0 recs  |  892 comments

Comments

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I hate being gone all day when something exciting happens!
I just ran in circles
I JUST heard that.

Holy crap!

WOOOOHOOOOOOO

I’d have traded him to KC for some BBQ.

BBQTBNL?
The extra B is a typo
Yuni's just a little airborne...
No, it isn't

BBQ To Be Named Later = BBQTBNL

Oh right how could I have made suck an obvious mistake
GASP

Somebody missed a Simpsons reference!

Oh, is that it

You’re right, I missed that one. Sorry.

Was thinking the same thing, haha.
The extra B

is for BYOBB!

Salary goodbye!
We probably ate some of it
It's not as tasty as KC BBQ, but I will take it.
Yippe Kay Yay!!!!!

Dayton Moore!
Dayton Moore!
Dayton Moore!

Why the fuck would Kansas City want Betancourt?
Why the fuck would KC want Willie?
Why the fuck would KC want Jose Guillen?
Why the fuck would KC want Horatio Ramirez?
Why the fuck would Kansas City want Mike Jacobs?
Why the fuck would Kansas City want Gil Meche?
Why the fuck would Kansas City want Miguel Olivo?
Because he is good?
In conclusion I think they traded for him solely for the jokes.
Why the fuck would the Royals play in Kansas City?
They have a nice stadium
The Kauffman renovation is fantastic.
Too bad the team's renovation is sub-par.

I hear the Royals are also interested in the corpse of Freddie Garcia.

Garcia is still alive
Only in strictest sense of the term.
Kauffman stadium is amazing.
Gil Meche is good.
Or Horacio Ramirez, for that matter.
KC is on an ex-mariner binge. Plus what jimmy said.
Meche, HoRam before they let him go, Guillen, Hulett, Willie, Olivo, now Yuni. Who am I forgetting?
Danny Tartabull?
I'm talking current, but yes.
He's a useful utility player who was actually an upgrade on a roster spot for them

Is Aviles dead?

.205 wOBA!
Slightly worse than :(edeno!
He's been hurt for awhile

He some extremely bad BABIP luck to start the year, and the Royals’ training staff bites so he hasn’t come back yet.

Out for the year I believe.
Yeah, he just had Tommy John surgery this week.
They are not smart!
BECAUSE HE'S A FUCKING PILE OF SHITE AND KC IS CREATING A PILE OF SHITE DYNASTY
To answer your original question

Aviles has been all kinds of terrible

This falls under the heading of "not something I particularly care about"

he’s their problem now.

Or as any good GM would say: "I can't comment on a player who is on another team's roster."
They want Yuni.

Nobody knows it yet. Not even them.

Because Mike Aviles sucks I guess
The only explanation I have is that Aviles was not projected to be much more than a utility player by scouts (At least from what I've seen)

Then last year he came in and had a monster year. This year he started off struggling hugely and maybe they figured last year was a fluke and the scouts were correct.

Or they just didn't want to wait for him to recover from his surgery but still
How can you be so stupid

That you think the best way to build your team is to collect the worst parts of a team that was worse than you?

THIS IS THE GREATEST 24 HOURS SINCE THE BERLIN WALL FELL
Dave Cameron going to be on 710 in 15 min to break the deal down.
Bhahahahaha

One of these broadcasters is hilarious.

Commenter: I just want to comment on the Yuni…
Broadcaster: Uh huh
Commenter: trade and I think this was…
Broadcaster: Uh huh
Commenter: umm… well it was a…
Broadcaster: Uh huh
Commenter: good move.

I think it might Salk doing the “Uh huh” thing.

CRACK OPEN THE BEERS! I'M GLAD WE'VE GOT THAT MONKEY OFF OUT CHEST.
KC seems to be in love with the Mariners

Maybe they’re going to try and make a baseball player suit with all the former M’s they’ve collected.

It puts the lotion in the basket!

Is this changing twiddle dee wth twiddle dum

or is there actual potential in talent from a straight-up trade for Yuni.

Assuming Dayton Moore isn’t dumb, which could be a stretch.

USSM commenter says

Daniel Cortes and Derrick Saito, Pitchers

Farewell, Yuni - if this trade doesn't wake your bitch ass up, nothing will.


You just got traded to KC for a couple minor leaguers while you’re on rehab in AAA yourself. That’s… vaguely kinda sad.

At least you have plenty of ex-Mariners to compare notes with there. Assuming they call you up…

Cortez

Danny Cortez is one of the guys coming back. BA had him rated as KC’s #3 prospect in pre-season…

Time to score meselves a Yuni T-Shirt on the cheap
Which number? 3? 5? 7?
5 Baby!

Thats what mine is. =( What a stupid shirt to buy. =(

I'll be repping mine proud.
You could have already done that as he has switched numbers four times
I wanted to get one from when he was the worst
BETANCOURT REUNITED WITH BLOOMQUIST

Awesomeness overload in KC!

The NEW double play twins?
They are going to have their own show called Lazy & Hustle.

The show will end with them both grounding out.

In other news, Vlad and Hunter are both on the DL for the Angels.
Baker with the details:
After all that speculation, it became official today. Yuniesky Betancourt has been traded to the Kansas City Royals for Class AA pitcher Danny Cortes and Class A pitcher Derreick Saito. Not sure whether the Mariners had to eat any money.
Cortez is legit

He was BA’s #3 prospect in the KC org.

50 walks in 80 innings so far this year… But otherwise good numbers (in AA). He’s a lefty so maybe he becomes a LOOGY

Actually I suck Cortez is a Righty. My bad
I accidentally clicked Flag on this, sorry 'bout that.
You can unflag
Plus it doesn't do anything if you don't write in the box.

I don’t think.

Saito's a lefty, too, K an inning, not a lot of walks.

Guess Zduriencik is stocking up on fungible arms.

Saito has good numbers, Cortes does not

but I’ll leave that to the experts

I think Cortes was overrated last year, but he's got great stuff and is a legitimate high-minors starting prospect

Injury concerns though

That was my guess upon seeing his K/BB totals and his BA ranking

Some times those guys can be fixed

I'm guessing that's what KC thinks about Yuni.

“Hey, fix him up and we get a Gold Glove-caliber SS!”

Apparently pissing-on-fences-in-public concerns too
The past 24 hours have been unbelievably awesome.
Oh good gravy...

WOWOWOWOOWWOWOWOWOWOOWW

I AM FREAKING OUT!

So awesome. WHo do we get??

Ruh ros.

Cortes’ walk rate spiked this year, and his strikeout rate plummeted.

doesn't really matter

even if they’re both busts, we still got rid of Yuni and that’s what matters.

Probably why he got traded for YUNI FUGGIN BETANCOURT!!
Look at that! Minor league pitching depth!

Thank you Z.

Danny Cortes and Derreick Saito

These guys worth much? Or is this mostly just a Yuni-dump?

Not just a Yuni dump

Cortes is a top prospect having a bad year, and Saito’s an interesting arm; both should at least become useful bullpen pieces, and Cortes could be a pretty decent starter if he puts it all together.

Cortes is their #4 prospects in the organization.

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

I know practically nothing about either pitcher.

But both could be piles of shit and this would still be a win for us.

Hey, USSM hasn't fallen over yet!

Everyone go refr-NO JUST KIDDING

Our two new players

Derrick Saito

A quick glance at his stats: “MEH”.

Dan Cortes

Nothing that strikes out at first glance as awesome.

They're babies!
Babies? They're zygotes!
From Baker
But considering who is coming Seattle’s way, I’m sure the Mariners ate a considerable amount of Betancourt money.

Cortes is a big deal.

“He’s a big kid with a real good arm,‘’ Zduriencik told me moments ago. "We’ve been watching him the past few weeks and were real impressed with what we saw.’’
He actually looks okay if you go by last season. Not sure what we can attribute to

the high walk total and drop in strikeouts this year at the same level.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
What does GMZ say to get this deal done?

Look, Yuni is a MAJOR league player.. I’ll just take two of your minor league players for him. Surely Two minor league players equal one MAJOR league player

Royals fans reactions

I feel sorry for them, but…

Wooooooohoooooooooo

Haha, Matthew already staking claim in the Battle of Grass Creek!
That is an awesome picture of Yuni.
The best of him I've ever seen, actually.
First thing that came to my mind when I saw it:

This whooshed me.
Endy Harvey Chavez.
Er, wait, no...
You're right.
The picture or the player?

I mean, you have to know the picture, right?

Sadly, I do not know the picture.
Here's the entire newsreal

Jack Ruby shoots Lee Harvey Oswald.

Thanks. I do who both those men are, so hopefully you don't need to say "kids these days amirite" :)
I still kind of need to say it. I mean, that's an iconic image.

And no, I wasn’t born when Kennedy/Oswald were shot….

I find this fascinating.

As do I. One of many things on LL that makes me feel old.
Hey, I knew what it was. And I'm one of the more whippersnappery ones here.
And a damn smart whippersnapper too from what I have seen.
Unless the "iconic image" is on TMZ it doesn't penetrate the culture anymore
They sound like us after the Bedard trade.

The difference being we at least got a good player as part of a shitty trade.

While I am obviously elated, the Royals were my team as a kid before I moved here

and I really feel for their fans. What a poorly run team.

drdonkeypunch is not pleased.
With proper punctuation that could be the best SN ever
I'm pondering a change
I actually feel sorry for them too. They'll never get better with moves like this.
I disagree somewhat. Moore is following Bavasi's career path, only with even less success. This is his last stand.

Then they will get smart people in their F.O. like the Pirates and Mariners have gotten.

They're headed down the LA Clippers path if they don't.

Out of the last 15-20 years they’ve had good players and traded them away. That’s okay IF you get something in return for the future. But they got jack for players like Carlos Beltran. Carlos Beltran should’ve been a franchise deal and fallen in line with the deals of Bartolo Colon, AJ Pierzynski, and Erik Bedard. Bad, bad scouting needs to change. The Royals are still 4 to 5 years away from MAYBE competing. At least 2 or 3 years ago you could see where the Rays were headed, but this team doesn’t have an impact player in the system that’s going to be ready before 2011, as far as I know. And by that time I assume they will have traded Zack Grienke unless this FO is really going to consider becoming a good franchise.

I don't think you read a single thing that Decatur wrote
He said "if they don't" revamp their front office, though.
I wouldn't exactly call Kansas City a sought after destination for good GM's, though.
Sure. I was simplifying things a good bit. I do think, though, that that's the most probable outcome (although the ownership could always hire more old school fools in the current F.O.'s place, of course)

New Kauffman stadium is a really well-done remodel, so that will preserve their revenue and payroll for the forseeable future. Plus, I think the most influential media in KC, from what I’ve seen, are as fed up with the Dayton Moore way as everyone in Seattle was with Bavasi last year. Moore’s rep is old school, traditional player-evaluation based as can be, so my sense is that KC’s ownership will probably go as hard in the progressive scouting-stats direction in 2010 or 2011 as the Mariners’ ownership did. But I know less about this than almost any reasonably well informed KC fan, so I could be wrong.

I agree

At the very least, they will move in a more progressive direction, even if they don’t land a premier GM candidate. They’re one of the last teams to start making that transition and by now the consistent awfulness must be making it clear (to their fans at least) that their entire baseball philosophy is flawed.

Cortes has had a shitty season but is a real prospect

BA had him in at #3, Sickels at #4, good curve, fastball, erratic command and some injury concerns.

Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Im sure somewhere down here someone also mentioned he was KC's minor league pitcher of the year last year too. Which might not say a whole lot but it's something.
Alas, my, GIF, which I loved like a woman, is no more

We still play the Royals.
I wonder how our monkey jokes will play out when we invade RR
So post it during the Battles for Grass Creek!
Now, it looks like he is saying, "I won't come back!"
Felix will be sad
At least she's found a good man in Royals Review.
I thought we would be at least pry Greinke away.
Cortes looks like a fun fellow!

http://www.wreg.com/sns-ap-bbm—naturals-cortesarrested,0,6174482.story

Bah a minor offence.
Believe me I'm still doing backflips
Who here hasn't pissed on a fence when drunk?

I am doing it right now.

Lies!

You would have posted via mobile if you were!

He could take a folding table outside, set up a laptop on it, get some wifi, and type one-handed whilst doing so.
It was in Nebraska.

What the hell else are you going to do for fun in Nebraska?

Aksarben.... that's Nebraska Backwards

So, let me tell you this about Nebraska…. you only need to know one thing…

’SKERS

That’s short for Huskers, all you non-midwesterners. It’s a cult and a religion all rolled into one. For fun? You have hay rack rides, shoot skeet, cow tip, drink Busch Lite and play flip cup. Nebraska is alright, but if I had to do it over again, I’d move away from there much quicker than I did. I hope this helps.

Other thoughts: Yuni for two prospects is great. Why? Because no matter how you spin it, you can’t trade a shit sandwich for much else other than another shit sandwich. I just hope these two pieces of bread named Cortez and Saito can show they were worth the gem of a ss in YB.

Children of the Corn?
I can't wait to strike Yuni out over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over-and-over....
I'm thinking more DP, 6-4-3.
Honestly, there are so many possibilities.

Weak infield pop-ups are a favorite of his.

I'm a bit late to the party.

I thought J-Z was in talks with the Pirates for Sanchez? What happened?

Probably separate deals.

Pit did not like Yuni.

So Sanchez might still be a possibility, even if a remote one?

Awesome.

Who cares?

YUNI IS GONE, THROW A PARTY

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

What are the chances of getting rid of Silva?

Zero.

Unless he has a girlfriend who he is about to break it off with.

Heh.

Is it his cap considerations?

If you mean salary when you say "cap considerations", then yes.

Silva is grossly overpaid and he hasn’t pitched in 3 months on top of that.

There is no salary cap in baseball
There's very soft cap which is largely ignored
Right, I knew that.

Meant to say salary, yes.

I believe AA KC is a strong hitters park, by the way.

If true this would explain some of Cortes’s numbers not measuring up to his pure stuff

Shouldn't have really affected his K and BB numbers though, should it?

Good news, though.

Parks have an effect on K and BB%
He was in AA last year though

when he posted much better K/BB numbers.

True

He’s obviously having a worse year than he did in 2008

So has anyone else's 710 gone dead?
Is there a net link?

http://www.mynorthwest.com/streams/streampop_espn.php

Your ass = mine

Also Dave’s reception sucks sadly. :(

Hitting refresh on the player worked
Re Dave

If we traded for Hardy I would be so happy….

I wonder why the Brewers just wouldn't put Escobar at second

Even though McGehee has hit well so far

There's your reason.
SSS
I know, but they're riding the "hot hand". Nobody thinks McGehee will keep this up.
Counsell is a better hitter right now than Escobar

.352 wOBA by statcorner definitely isn’t real, but even if he puts up the .310 projected by ZiPS that’s probably better than Escobar would do. Counsell’s still at a +12 UZR/150, despite his age, too.

Also, if we won’t play Gamel, we probably won’t play Escobar.

Well yeah

but my point is that if they want to play him so much that they will move Hardy, why isn’t he playing already since Weeks is out?

Yes, mine did.

Sucks because I think Dave is on right now.

Yep. Just before Dave was to come on.
Send Cortes to the bullpen!
Where is Yuniform with the eulogy?
I was late to the news

But here it is.

We just got whiter
Somewhere, Kermit is smiling.
Don't think for a second I didn't notice
Quick somebody alert Geoff Baker!
"Zduriencik Lets His Inherant Racist Nature Show By Decreasing M's Team Diversity"
Man if Z was running the Yanks right now Derek Jeter would be so gone
So Im reading this guy's report on him and it says he throw 92-95 with a power curve ball.

And the guy comes up with a Gil Meche comp, which I thought was amusing

Where is Fogel???
He has been alerted
Just making sure
He doesn't seem to share this thread's enthusiasm
What's wrong with him is he retarded or something?
No he's probably out banging chicks
Summer school?
So the Royals basically have their new Angel Berroa
But Berroa had a good year.
Betancourt used to be amazing.
Have we ever seen regression like this?

Was Betancourts age ever verified? Maybe he’s just hitting his mid-30’s.

THAT IS NOT REGRESSION
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
REGRESSION DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY
GOD
I can't take another beating.
That's not what you said earlier.
You have to stop when there are marks.
Subthread closed.
It appears something has angered you
Comment regression getting under your skin?
Yahoo regression
Matthew's having an aggression regression.
no papa not again
This is so ironic amirite?
Seriously dude, quit it
Personally, I'm starting to hate the word regression.
Like when people start talking about regression because Aardsma had one of two bad outings all year?

I totally hear ya.

What word should I use?

Not-getting-better-tude?

Regression is a statistical analysis term.

Most commonly used when referring to a regression towards the mean.

What happened to Yuni was a steady decline in skills at a very early age.

Thank you for clarification Sec 108. I appreciate that.
I've said it around here before,

but reading up on an intro to statistical analysis will do wonders for understanding the great work done here and places like Statcorner, Fangraphs and USSMariner.

Im pretty new here, so I didn't know the word regression wasn't taken lightly.

All I really meant was that usually it seems players show promise at a young age and then get better. While Yuni seemed to show a lot of promise and then just got worse and worse at a time when you should be at least staying the same if not getting better. So whatever word that is – that’s the word I want to use.

Think of it this way.

In my line of work it drives me crazy when a client uses jargon specific to my vocation in a completely improper way. That is what you did to Matthew.

Just call Yuni a waste of skin like I do.

I wonder if you were an auto mechanic and someone brought in the car and asked you to fix the transmission and pointed to the wheel, you'd beat em over the head with a tire iron.

Don’t worry, I can take it.

Beat away.

Having worked in a repair shop I can actually answer this.

The mechanic will take the wheel off, balance it, put it back on, take a break to snort some meth and then bill you for a new transmission.

That was actually pretty polite and perhaps expressing frustration. It's not just aboutyou

The word regression had been getting heavily used, in an improper fashion for awhile. It’s basically becoming a meme, if it hasn’t already.

I'm not offended. I'm happy that Sec has cleared him up so that I know what the problem with the word regression is.

It’s helpful to know these things.

I'm not very statistically minded. But here's my take on regression, and someone please correct me if I'm wrong

For example, a pitcher is achieving above average results with below average swinging strike rates, the like. Eventually over time his results will reflect his abilities, and “regress”. Also works the other direction, if a pitcher is achieving below average results with fantastic inputs.

Yuni just sucked. More and more as time went on.

Crap, I see Section 108 beat me to it.
If it's working the other way around wouldn't it just be... progression?
Regression doesn't have a direction associated with it.
Other than "toward expectation"
So I should be using congression?
I'm not a statistician, man! I'm a diver!

I’m winging it here, I usually just say a guy is playing over his head and leave it at that. But when in Rome

This is a perfect description of how the word "regression" should be used in baseball analysis
Cool, glad I have the concept down.

There have been some really interesting discussion on it in previous threads, I had them bookmarked but my bookmarks disappeared when I upgraded to Firefox 3.5, not sure what happened. My next OT post will probably be a request for people to link to any favorite SABR type discussions, I’d like to replace them.

I think you mean falling off a cliff

With your limbs bound together. Hitting every rock on the way down. And somehow managing to land just right so as to become impaled through the back door on a giant rubber sex toy at the bottom of the chasm.

I see the 'regression' issue was handled, so to answer the spirit of the question,

I think we actually see this all the time in sports, it just always feels fresh and awful when it happens to our team.

There are plenty of pitchers who flame out, usually due to injury, but also due to people just figuring them out (guys with meh stuff and weird deliveries have this happen a lot). Think Nomo, Willis, etc.

It’s weird on D, because we haven’t had a way to reliably measure range until recently. That plus the fact that defensive reputations are startlingly difficult to change (Betancourt is still seen as a defensive wizard by some) make it hard to pinpoint historical slides on defense. Still, many fans can probably name a bunch – Ken Griffey Jr. as a Mariner in the mid 90s comes to mind.

His hitting never really got worse, but his approach never got better. Many thought Betancourt would improve at the plate given his age, but hitters with his approach don’t really change unless they develop a lot more power. Betancourt didn’t do this, and he never learned to take a walk. In high BABIP years, he looked sort of good to those without advanced stats… this led many to think he was ‘progressing’ or ‘developing’ when he was really just having a few more balls in play fall in for singles. That makes years like this one look worse, though this is well within the expected range if you realize he’s just swinging at everything and doesn’t have the power to make those balls in play clear the fence.

Age: probably not.

Interesting analysis.

Thank you.

You're welcome

Betancourt’s career is really starting to mirror Garry Templeton’s. Here’s hoping we do as well in this trade as the Cards did when they traded Templeton….

Was Templeton terrible in San Diego?

I thought he had a couple of decent season there before he fell hard.

With the bat, yeah.

After having three good offensive seasons with the Cards, he never again hit at a league average level after the trade. He came close, so wasn’t some sort of total sinkhole, but he only got his OBP over .300 three years after arriving in SD.

I don’t know if his D was great or not, but it’s quite clear it wasn’t as good as Ozzie’s.

That was so long ago that I can say I hadn't totally grasped slugging percentage yet.
Yeah, no kidding. All I knew was that he was an all-star on a pennant winner.

Of course, I still knew that I’d rather have Ozzie Smith.

Backflips! Loved that they’d always show that on TWIB with your announcer, Mel Allen!

I loved watching TWIB every weekend.

Mel Allen followed by Vin Scully doing the game of the week.

Vin

is one of the few things I enjoyed when I first moved to LA

I think condensed games will have a substantial impact on the way defense is scouted - it hasn't really sunken in yet.

You can see every defensive play by every player in every game of the year that way – the more eyeballs on something, the better, even if eyeballs are nowhere near perfect.

Condensed games will matter much less than UZR and hit fx-based defensive analysis.

That’s a guess, but really, condensed games have been around for a long time.

Undoubtedly. But I think the condensed games will at least help bring general reputations/perceptions for defense a little closer to reality too.
I hope you're right.
As far as measuring defense goes - does that mean that until recently we were just judging these things off of highlight reels?

And that’s why Gary Mathews Jr is making 10 million a year?

Sort of. The tools just weren't there.

You had (and still have) front office people using error totals/fielding percentage, which is beyond horrible in actually measuring defensive value. The early sabermetric approaches, like RF, were a bit better, but still not really good at all, as they were hopelessly tied to a pitching staff’s batted ball profile (lots of GB pitchers, not a lot of chances for your OFs).
So highlight reel plays probably did play into it. I think part of it too is that scouts really key in on certain aspects of defense, thinking that they’re proxies for overall defensive acuity. Some times that’s true, and some times it’s not. I think some scouts are probably really good at looking for defense, and others may not be. It’s really hard.

Undoubtedly hard.

Thanks again!

Vlad Guerrero and Torii Hunter to the DL. Yuni trade. What do I do with my last wish?
Seems like Guerrero was bringing them down anyway.
Scott Rolen and A-Rod!

How about Scott Rolen develops a serious latte adiction and demands to be traded to the M’s?

Or A-Rod suffers mysterious accident in sexual escapade with Kate Hudson.

Dave mentioned trading for Hardy:

What’s up with his hitting regression this year? I don’t know nearly enough about him or the Brewers to comment on it, but is there a concern that he isn’t the same player?

BABIP is low and he's striking out more often

at a cursory glance

ISO is down.

It isn’t so much regression as he’s just been worse this year. That being said, his defense makes him an upgrade even if he keeps hitting as is, and if he manages to get back on track with the offense, then he’d be very valuable.

Doubt we can get him though.

He's a streaky f'ing hitter too.
Wait what the hell these prospects are worthless!

CURSE YOU DAYTON MOORE

They are interesting
As long as they have homorous team photos I am happy
Cortes topless photo on MySpace is definitely homo-rous!
I'm going to rec this as if it was intentional.
Everyone gets lucky from time to time
x
BenBadler: Cortes was arrested last week for drunk & disorderly conduct (being a drunk 22-year-old urinating on a fence outside a bar)

Link

Sounds like typical 22-year-old behavior
What the fuck else is there to do in Kansas City.
That's about as bad as taking 3 advil instead of 2
And really, who among us has not done this?
Wouldn't it just be easier to squat?
HE IS SUCH AN OUT OF CONTROL CRAZY BASTARD!
He and Triunfel can go bowling!
Maybe I didn't survive that crash after all.
I had no idea Yuni was so hated

The Times Blog love love loves this deal

Yeah it's nice that even the retarded fans like this.
WHERE ARE YOU NOW SCRAPPY YOU LITTLE MUTT-SHITE???
DO NOT TEMPT HIM
Felix to the DH!
Well he did hit a grand slam off Johan Santana
He's blowing 2 of 3 at home to the Orioles
I guess the 3rd was too big
Have fun with Cortes.

He’s having a bad year but he’s got a major league arm. Ugh. I think we’re going have a bridge-jumping party at Royals Review.

I'd be kind of afraid of that PTBNL in the Freel deal.
It's probably Homer Bailey
Cortes has rebounded pretty well the last couple months after an awful start

He’s still an interesting arm…

Sweet, SBN fixed the comment-above-you-fucks-up-scrolling bug!
I noticed this, too.

It’s a band-aid fix, but it works.

It's good enough

except I’ve gotten used to it as it it was.

This is a great day, I don't even care who we got for him, Yuni's gone!
Yayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

This is great. We actually sort of got a good-ish prospect for him.

MY SWEET DICK IT'S A MIRACLE
Swell.
Too bad this isn't a reply to Bender's comment just above yours...

Or merged…

I CAN NOT CALM DOWN
In honor of Yuni's time hear I think we should all take a minute and tell everyone our

favorite story about him. I’ll go first.

Took out Endy Chavez so we could acquire Langerhans via shipping away Morse.
Well once upon a time he got traded to the Royals for two minor league pitchers
I liked the time he ran half-heartedly and waved at that single up the middle.
You'll have to be more specific.

That happens all the time.

I remember the time he had rough anal sex with Jose Lopez

Those were the best of times
I still don't understand why Biggie Smalls and A-Rod did an M's commercial
A-Rod did many Ms commercials through his tenure with the Ms.
Admittedly this joke works better when you scorll down so only the top half of the gif is showing
Jose Lopez looks like the Rock here.
I'll miss the t-rex arms
I never got to properly gif this
I think you must have hit post too early because you didn't say anything
I think you understand completely.
My favorite was the time you yelled so loudly at him that people heard you while sitting above the 3rd base dugout
The time he air-mailed a throw to 1B

and then scratched his junk watching the throw sail into the dugout.

Getting tagged out walking back to 1st...

It’s gotta be Yuni getting tagged out walking back to 1st base from 2nd, not waiting for Tinsley or the umps.

I'd go with him chasing Jeff Clement after the walk-off home run in '07.
Have fun on your trip Yuni

More like

I'd feel more comfortable about his chances of survival and return if we sent him into space personally
Be nice to Royals Review guys

It’s impolite to gloat on their blog.

And smugly offering condolences isn’t much better.

Really I thought that would have the polite thing to do.
Yeah I'm stopping posting now because I went over there with genuine good intention but I notice my jubilant posts will probably understandably upset someone.
And RR is probably the only blog we have good relations with so we don't want to mess that up...
I just imagine what I would have done to an Orioles fan offering apologies after the Bedard clusterfuck
At least with Bedard we got *something* nice after being kicked in the nuts hard in that trade.

With this … the Royals get nothing at all. It’s genuinely sad because I hold no malice towards the Royals, but I’ll take it.

THEY ALREADY HAVE TONY PENA AND LUIS HERNANDEZ JESUS GOD AND WILLIE
I would go over there, but I am not signing up for another blog I won't visit.
You can remove blogs now I think
You can???
Yep. I did recently.
HOW???
If you have zero comments
That's ridiculous. I have one at HH (I was being nice after Adenhart) and I want it to go away.
That's one more than me!
You probably have a different name over there.
My name is based on an Angels player.

If I was on HH, why would I not use this one?

Because over there, your sig says mariners fan from so cal
That could be me.

Maybe I have a whole Tyler Durden thing going on.

I didn't make up an alter ego to feel better about my baseball fandom and corresponding residency!

Take some responsibility for yourself!

You're just bitter because you've made more comments there than I.
For a supposed fan of the Angels, you sure take pride in not being a fan of the Angels.
I am not a fan of Angels fans.
[insert self-hate jokes here]
I made one.
Infinitely more than I did.
Well balls.

Being a subscriber to Driveline Mechanics reminds me how much of a fuck up I really am sometimes.

Ah, that makes sense.
Oh that was always possible.
Yeah what a downer
At the top click on your user name.

When your page comes up at the bottom right of each blog in red it says “Leave Blog?” Click that and away you go.

It doesn't for me.

But really, if they just made it to show your favorite blogs on the Blogs menu up above, I wouldn’t mind having a membership to any and all of the SBN blogs.

I'm not seeing how.
It seems to be pretty random, sometimes a 'remove this blog' option will appear under a blog on your list. I removed one a few weeks back.
I also noticed that it is now showing the correct date when you joined the blog as well for older members.
What what what?
I don't think anyone had come off as smug.

This is going to take some time – and a lot of alcohol – to get past. And there’s nothing you guys can do that’ll make it better or worse.

Unless you have Wheat Thins. I like Wheat Thins.

I do feel genuinely sorry for you guys.
We just traded away the next Alfonso Soriano!

/Detecto

Jeeeeeeesus

He really said that? And it wasn’t satire?

Back in 2005 I believe, when his blog was still semi relevant.
Oh ok good

I couldn’t imagine people’s reaction if he said that like 10 minutes ago

I wish that surprised me.
Huh

I didn’t realize his blog has now become a link-farm to the good blogs.

Not just good blogs.

He links to his own writing at other blogs.

Rec'd because good gravy I forgot about this!
The other golden statement from that source:

“Yuni Betancourt is a Grade-A hitting prospect!!!”

I love Dan Cortes solely for the fact

that he got arrested for pissing on the local street by the college with all the bars.

I don’t drink, but I enjoy going in for a Coke and chatting. And just think, I might’ve stepped in a future Mariner’s piss!

The "silver lining" to this deal at RR is that they didn't give up Butler.

God I feel for them.

THANK YOU DAYTON. LET'S ALL DO SOME SPEED

.

Photobucket

YES YES YES BLAZING SADDLES
The next line is Sim Pickens "What in the wide world of sports are you Kansas City faggots doing?!?"

Kind of fitting except it’s probably non-ironic usage

So great

And that line would absolutely be fitting

Dayton Moore: "Wait, our shortstop is black?"
THE SHORTSTOP IS A NI ::Bell tolls::
He hit me in the head with a shovel!

I wish some body would hang him by the neck until he was dead!

Batting practice? We don't need no stinking batting practice!
Tell me again about the remake.
Funny how things work out

If Yuni doesn’t slam into Endy we don’t trade for Langerhans, and maybe Yuni doesn’t burn his last shred of goodwill in the clubhouse/front office. Not to wish misfortune on Endy, but I’ll take Langerhans in LF and Not Yuni at SS.

So, “Thanks Yuni.” Now go fuck yourself.

How in the bloody hell.
MARINERS: AL CHAMPS '09

DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’

A NEW DAY A NEW WAY
YOU STILL OWE US A BRIGNAC YOU GREEDY BUGGER
Enjoy playing in the east
This does mean more Ronny Cedeno and Chris Woodward now

It’s good to get rid of Yuni in the long term, and at this point I’d maybe rather watch both of them than Yuni.

Give Z a few days.
He needs to celebrate making this deal first
I'd guess this makes it even more probable that we get another SS

I doubt we’d trade away Betancourt if Z didn’t have something planned. More Cedeno is garbage.

That's what I'm thinking too, I bet this is the first of many deals.
We have to make a deal

While I am glad we traded Yuni away, there is almost no way we can make a serious run with a Cedeno starting

I just love that Z had the wisdom to cut bait with Yuni

Can you imagine Bavasi making this move? Hellll no.

It’s a beautiful new day.

Actually if there's anything Bavasi would have been used to it would be cutting losses with sunk costs
Sexson! Vidro! Wilkerson!
Player A! McCracken! Everett!

The list goes on

Sure, but for those guys the M's received Nothing, Nothing, Nothing.
I think that was Poochie's point
Well this is fascinating.
It's gonna be a huge let down when Z finally makes a bad trade.

At this point I am looking at Z as positively as I looked at Bavasi negatively.

HAHAHAHAHA

Looks like Drayer’s as excited about this as we all are…

I love love love that article.

Drayer is awesome.

And, "I can see the M's shifting him into a relief role before to long."

Woo, bullpen!

He seems like a two-pitch pitcher

He has a change, but it hasn’t gotten great reviews. But as a reliever, he’d have two plus-pitches and control issues. Perfect!

His pitches are not set in stone
Once he gets to work with Rob Johnson a little bit he will have the confidence

to throw a variety of pitches all the way to the backstop.

Almost did a spit-take there, nice work.

Lesson learned, don’t drink water and LL.

My goodness Shannon rules.
Earlier in the season Jose Lopez made a critical error that cost his team a game in Yankee Stadium. I sat with him at his locker for a little while that night. He was very upset with himself. After a few minutes he said that he needed to come in early the next day and take some groundballs at second. “Great,” I told him. “Why don’t you bring your friend Yuni with you?”

“I don’t know Shannon. I don’t think he will come.”
Thats specifically what I was referring to with my previous comment.
The part about him wanting him and Lopez to be Mariners forever is sad though
So Lopez lost another brother..damn.
Maybe he should've worked harder.

If Loafie’s saddened by this, though, then I do genuinely feel bad for him.

I was thinking the same thing yesterday
I can't believe she says "addition by subtraction"! I love Drayer
This is so awesome!

I don’t care if both pitchers suffer from spontaneous human combustion tomorrow. We are free of that useless Cuban monkey. I can’t believe KC’s fetish with our shitty players.

Ancillary benefit: the LL Racism Index just dropped 82%
I like monkeys :(
And I like tits :)

See, it’s a great deal

I haven't checked...

But I presume “LastFanOfMiguelBatista” is an available username, FWIW…

Still got Griffey!
Angel fans may not speak his name
You should know that I don't need words to communicate on this site.
If you post the Humpty Dumpty again I'll have you poisoned
We'll see.

Poisoned, motherfucker.
I have it on good word that you enjoy that gif.
That same little birdy knows where to find the arsenic
She wouldn't do it.
Do they pay you to clean the urinals at the Big A?

Looks like a labor of love

STOP IT I AM SITTING IN THE FRONT OF THE OFFICE
I did make it smaller than last time.

Plus, there’s not technically anything NSFW about it.

I have that adblocked, so I didn't even realize you had done it.
It's the knight licking the ice.
I have that adblocked too.
But you like that one!
Also now I'm just going to use a mirror next time.
Stupid monkeys will endure still, this is true

.

Bavasi ordered mass production
WE WILL PUSH ON BRAVELY
Monkey stew!
No if anything it will rise
People who can't tell the difference between us and people who are actually racist are the sort of people I enjoy offending
Yes, those who don't understand the subtle difference are not worthy of arcane baseball statistics
I offend people by not offering them baseball stats?

That one’s new.

People who get up in arms about fake racism are racist and scared that everyone else finds out. People who are normal don’t give a shit.

Not what I'm saying but never mind. Yuni's gone!
Couldn't agree more.
Hey guys, I figured out why the Mariners want Saito. They want to flip him to the pirates for Freddy Sanchez.
Unfortunately, Pittsburgh is not as stupid as KC.
Traded McLouth for crap.
That's stupid; we should get Brent Lillibridge instead
Royals fan here

Can I become a Mariners fan? I love Zduriencek.

I feel like I just got punched in the stomach.

Cortes is really, really projectable. 6-5 or 6-6 and he throws hard, great stuff, underperforming this year.

Saito is a tiny little lefty with pretty good stuff, look at his numbers from his sophomore year of college.

Don’t even tell me what we got in Betancourt, I already know. He’s a big turd. Fuck my life

You already are a Mariners fan, have you looked at the roster?

Now just stop cheering for our AAA team and come root for the MLB squad.

I already have....

a retro-ish sounding username

Wouldn't we be like the Royals AAA team since players usually go to Kansas City AFTER being Mariners
If you start sucking, you go from the MLB to AAA.
Don't start with the semantics, Corco. This is too happy a day for that.
So we're on the good end of the Jose Vidro trade this time

I’ll take it

Vidro was worse
I'm just happy that Fruto never developed.

We lost Doyle, but nothing that makes the trade any worse. Unlike this trade.

I just wish we had Fruto and Gutz
Well...

Fuck me running! It is so nice to not be the stupid team anymore!

(=edeno time.
CE:-DENO
NOW THAT HE HAS THE MONKEY OFF HIS BACK HE WILL HIT LIKE A MIDDLE SCHOOLER
That RR thread, somebody hopes a new background will help him draw walks

I try and see positives, but holy crap that’s a stretch

Holy shit, last night's win, this, and now Torii Hunter and Vlad are both on the DL.

These last 24 hours have been spectacular

You are the third person in the thread to mention them.
So sorry to offend you, Mr. Eyebrows sir
This disappoints me
The chart of unintentional walks is gonna stay up, right?
(In honor of Poochie) DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD

I never onsidered this angle
Terrible joke.

Yuni can’t catch anything.

Bottom of 8th on FSN right now

Just in case you want to re-live last night :)

Yuni was still on the team at the point....eww.
Yes

But the epicness of this win rapes Yuni in the face.

OH GOD I ALMOST MISSED JOSH WILSON

Thank you a million times!

Yup watching it... Not that I need it since I was at the game and the freaking HR is tattooed in my eyes.
Lucky!
Lucky? It sounds painful.
Delightfully painful.
My family is (half) season ticket holders. We have watched a lot of horrible baseball.

So last night was just so amazing.

Watch the mariners bullpen blow this in the 9th
Best 24 hours as a Mariner fan I can remember since... a long time!

PLAYOFFS!!!

Too soon.
This, coupled with the username, made me laugh.
This, coupled with the username, made me laugh.
Quit mindfucking us, SB.
YAY!!!

Farewell, Yuni. For your sake, I hope you get your shit together. But now you’re someone else’s problem.

I just hope Felix isn’t sad.

Felix has Guti now.
It sucks a little that Felix's crew will surely be plucked away from him..

He’s buddies with a bunch of righty bats with no plate discipline. And I have a feeling those guys are heading out the door in the near future

Video of Saito

From before last year’s draft

Interesting. He’d probably look even shorter not on a mound. He has a funky windup but I actually kind of like the look of him, based on nothing but pure gut instinct.

Next Tim Lincecum!
I'm falling for you, Derrick Saito.

I thought he was a tiny little junkballer. But a low-mid 90s FB with the makings of a decent curve and change?

The bit about him being a walk-on who chose the school for its engineering program was nice, too. Go Saito!

Don't forget we already have a Cal Poly engineer on the roster!
Garrett Olson makes your Mustang heart swell with pride, huh
I had hoped the M's would pick Saito for the hell of it in that draft

But Fontaine, as ever, sought out pitchers who were about a foot taller.

So yeah. I’m happy.

So I got a hold of one of my current professors who is a Royals fan in order to gloat. His response...

“Fuck you.

Fuck your Mariners.

Fuck your Broncos.

Fuck everything in this world that you like."

Got to agree with the Broncos part
Buster Olney

on ESPNews just said that Seattle is paying all of Yuni’s contract the remainder of this season and 5 mil of the remaining 10 mil after this season.

Still like it.

Ew

Well, they still got prospects and unloaded some salary.

Whoa. Yeah, I'm still happy to be rid of him.
Irrelevant IMO

He’s gone. We got semi useful parts back. That’s all that matters.

Still a good deal.

That money was already spent. We essentially traded 2.5 years of Yuni, for 5 million dollars and two minor league arms. That’s fantastic.

It's much better than paying him to sit on the bench.
The Royals will use this three million dollars

To sign Ronny :(edeno to a two-year contract after he is released by us.

There was no way we were going to avoid paying most of the salary if we wanted to get anything in return

And we got something interesting and got rid of Yuni, so the money is cake.

WHAT?!

AHAHAHAHA WHEEEEEEEEE!

Jack Z is on 710 ESPN right now

Missed the first part of the interview, but may be some good stuff to come out of it

This delights me

If he pans out, might I suggest Cortes the Killer?

And a custom made great intro song to go with it!
Oh SNAP! I didn't even realize he's a conquistador!

So much potential here!

It is KC

who is tilting at windmills.

It amazes me how many friends are responding to me saying that they are disappointed because Yuni was good.
Those guys aren't real friends.
It saddens me

that you have stupid friends.

He was OK once.

A 1.5 WAR player isn’t anything special, but it’s OK. The problem is Yuni hasn’t been that good since 2007.

I talked to someone from KC and apparently the average Royals fan is pumped.

He proceeded to point out the average Royals fan is a moron.

Rob Neyer outlines the trade:

Royals add Betancourt, save season

I'm waiting for something from Joe Posnanski.
He's driving to St. Louis today
Waiting for somebody to post the pics of our new pitcher smoking weed and taking pics of himself

in the mirror topless.

Hope we can get this boy focused on pitching

Dan Szymborski's summary of this deal is classic
Royals – Acquired Nothing

Kansas City Royals – Acquired Nothing from the Seattle Mariners for P Daniel Cortes, P Derrick Saito, and the right to not have IF Yuniesky Betancourt on the team.

The Royals clearly overpaid here. 28 other teams have also acquired the rights to not have Yuniesky Betancourt play for the teams and none of them had to give up any prospects. Betancourt will continue to not field or not hit for the Royals and push the team into having a de facto 24-man roster. If the Royals wanted to continue to recall positive aspects of the 80s, a process they started with the return of powder blue in the alternate jerseys, they should’ve signed Kurt Stillwell, who is probably a better player right now.
Ouch! Kurt Stillwell, the guy who lost out to Barry Larkin for the Cincy SS job.
Quisenberry would have a better UZR
That's terrific.
That's hilarious

I’ve read it like 5 times and I’m still crackin’ up

GMZ must have taken pictures of Dayton Moore sniffing cocaine off Bill Bavasi or something because hahahahaha... We traded Yuni to them.
And this time we have zero possibility of another Carlos Guillen disaster.
Will Seattle be willing to get a huge defensive upgrade in 2B by sending Franklin Gutierrez back to Cleveland for Luis Valbuena?

And move Jose Lopez to 3rd? Indians fan here, I am sure you guys miss Luis Valbuena and wish he’s still in Seattle.

We'd need to replace him in center, so if you give us Sizemore too maybe.
You have Dustin Ackley coming up in a year or so, so you don't need Sizemore.
Go ahead and toss him in anyway. We're old pals, I'm sure you don't mind.
It's okay. If we need to, we can use Sizemore as our 4th OF.
Tell you what.

We’ll trade Val for Lopez straight up.

Make that Drubs
My favorite part of this discussion is how Gutz has been far and away a better player than Sizemore this year.
Yeah that's pretty lovely.
What?

Why in God’s name would we do that?

Because the whole idea of drafting Dustin Ackley #2 was to move him to CF. So Franklin G has no place to play once Ackley is ready.

And Ackley profiles to be a much better offensive player.

We fleeced the Indians. Now you know how we feel.
Ackley will go to a corner with Franklin on the field.
No, sorry.

This isn’t right.

FGut has been a +3 WAR player so far this season and is 26 years old.

I seriously doubt he’ll be going anywhere.

EXCEPT THE MOTHERFUCKING ALL STAR GAME
MAKE THAT THE HALL OF FAME!
Also, probably Boystown
Neverland Ranch!
Nope, not going there, either.
Never. Gutz is doing his best to turn the straight male population of Washington gay for him.
Gutz has the 9th best WAR in the AL. There is no way in hell the M's would do that.
too many javascripts running on this site. It's killing my browser. this site has one of the slowest pages to load on the web.
Then leave
Ok then, glad we're on the same page.
Buy a Better Computer
It was killing my computer yesterday.

Is it only in this thread, or on the main page?

You're better off selling Astrubal Cabrera back to us.

Are you guys interested in Mike Sweeney by any chance?

This is the single worst trade idea of all time

after we send Gutierrez back to Cleveland for Valbuena, we should send Mark Lowe to St. Louis for Albert Pujols and Colby Rasmus

Holy shit we're gonna get Albert Pujols!
Speaking of bad trades, the Mets just traded Ryan Church straight up for Jeff Francoeur.
And Dayton Moore avoids the "Most Indefensibly Retarded Trade of the Day"

Award!

The funny part is that this isn't even true
It's close but I think the Mets trade is worse

They traded a solid regular major league player for a worthless one AND took on salary.

It's sooooo much worse
WTF IS GOING ON TODAY
THE STUPID IS CONTAGIOUS
So....why would the Mets do this?
They hate winning.
They think it's still 2007.
So, the Mets just got worse?
While helping a division rival get better!
THE PIRATES RELEASED CHRIS SNELLING GO GO GO GO
SERIOUSLY?
I'm going to hire him to mow my lawn. It looks absolutely terrible!
I hope you have a riding lawnmower.
He would break his ass cheeks
I'll take care of him, don't you fellas worry.
BUT WE HAVE NO ROOM FOR ANOTHER OUTFIELDER!

NOOOOO!!!

Could upgrade at the DH slot.
Why couldn't this have happened to the Orioles instead?

They’ve got a lot of talent coming up, most of ours actually. But those fuckers are stuck in that death trap of a division. HAHAHAHAHA.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
woo seconded.

Motion carried.

.

Thanks for slowing my computer to a crawl, Jeff!
Yuni just seems like the type of person that people younger than him constantly have to remind him, "Dude, that's not okay"
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
DID YOU JUST FALL DOWN AND GIVE YOURSELF ANOTHER BEERKAKKE?
I want to buy a backpack big enough for me to carry you around.
Please say that it will be purple with a princess on it.
Is abender not the princess you speak of?

Sorry Bender!

There could be some bells and whistles, yes. I am sweet enough to let abender choose his color.
HOW HAS NO ONE ELSE RECCED THIS COMMENT
I tried earlier but none of the buttons were responding. "reply", "actions", etc.
Well, Jeff has officially snapped.

Looks like Matthew and Graham are gonna have to up their front-page stories!

Wait till September!
When you'll be cockpunched mercilessly while the team is 8 games over .500 and in first place?
WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
Saying Goodbye...


Going Away. Seems like Goodbye’s such a hard thing to say. Touching a hand. Wondering why. It’s time for saying goodbye. Saying goodbye, why is it sad? Makes us remember the good times we’ve had. Much more to say, foolish to try. It’s time for saying goodbye.

Somehow I know, we’ll meet again
Not sure quite where and I don’t know just when
You’re in my heart so until then
Wanna smile
Wanna cry
Saying goodbye

I know when. August 4th at 5:10PM in Kansas City.
now we only have to dump dave sims and this week will be the best in mariners history
Wrong.

Sims is awesome.

What Coach said.
I with Coach on this one
What InSpokane said
That blue fedora with the plaid ribbon Sims wore the other day was so NOT awesome

But at least he knows the difference between a change-up and a plain off-speed pitch, no offense to Dave Niehaus.

Wrong. Lot's of Sims fans here.
Dave Sims is nowhere near the worst commentator we've ever had.
Without a doubt Ron Fairly.
Ron Fairly is a gentleman and a scholar.
And remarkably still living
Just look over to any guy that sat next to Kevin for the Sonics. As far as the city of Seattle goes.
Marques Johnson was pretty cool
I'm Facebook friends with him!
That would be someone named Rick Rizzs (well, he's the worst play-by-play guy)
I still like Rizzs quite a bit.
I can't stand him.

First off, he’s an idiot (said that Michael Young was above average defensively during yesterday’s game, for example). Secondly he has that weird talking style where he has an upward tilt at the end of every sentence.

First off,

expecting all announcers to know advanced statistics already seems foolish, and does not make one an “idiot.” Secondly, you welcome your right to hate him, but I do not.

Rizzs' voice has become as synonymous to Mariners baseball as Dave Niehaus.

I tune out what Rizzs says a lot of times, but listening to his voice is comforting.

Dave and Mike use advanced stats.
I don't expect Rizzs to generally know advanced statistics.

But I can’t stand him saying that Young’s above-average defensively in the way that he did. He seemed to act as if it was obviously a true statement.

Don't take things so personal.

He’s catering to a large group of people, not just you.

He spoke to a group I was in before a game one night. he took some Q and A,

and I asked, “I love your play by play, Rick. I already know what I need to know about the players, so I want to ask if you’ve ever considered trimming your eyebrows?”

The crowd laughed, and after everything was done he found me, pulled me aside, and said, “You’re an asshole. But at least you’re a funny asshole.” Boy does he get me or what??

Haha, that is awesome.

Rick really does have a great play-by-play and that is what he is paid to do. But I think he’s stuck around all of these years because he has great public relations skills.

I read that as "Pubic Relation Skills."

Perhaps that’s what kept Red around for so long.

Yes, yes he does!
Most people think Jeter has been amazing defensively as well.

I would not consider them idiots either, unless they consider themselves analysts, which Rizzs is not. In addition, like most announcers, he would rarely say anything negative about another player anyway. Early last year I heard Dave refer to Betancourt as a great defensive shortstop. He is not an idiot either.

Maybe it's just me then.

I dunno. I just can’t stand him.

I'm with you. He seems lazy.
He means Rizzs not Yuni.
I meant Rizz.
I don't hate Rizzs, but I agree with Coach here.

Part of what started my loathing of Yuni was hearing Rick tell me every freaking day that he was the next Omar Vizquel when it was clear he was not.

Blowers agreed with him
Hahaha Blowers compares favorably with Jim Leyritz I can't get over that
Hendu then Rizz
I did like Hendu, though.

He was stupid, but hilarious. Much better than Dave Valle.

And you know what? I don't give a fuck if a commentator mentions a no-hitter or not. I'm not superstitious.
Dave Simms is awesome and I would welcome him at SS as well.
Sims is awesome
Where's the digg down button when I need it?
I didn't like Sims when he first was annoucing either

But now I like him a lot..

GO BALL!
That's the call that endeared me to Sims.
What exactly do people have against Sims?

He is a great play-by-play guy and his baseball ignorance is refreshing because the emotion is real. Sims also makes a fair analysis for both teams (he’s not a homer). We are really lucky to have the broadcasting crew we have. Rick Rizzs isn’t the best, but he is great with public relations, which is important.

Would you like me to kill you today?
I would pay 27 dollars to watch Sims rail your mother on Easter Sunday
The only downside to the last two days is holy crap who brought out all the stupid in the threads?
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Mumbles McGee makes his triumphant return!
This could use a visual aid

WHAT????
Take five minutes away from your computer, Jeff, cool down and then try to post more calmly.

If you can’t I, frankly, don’t blame ya.

I have been thinking about this for hours
Take it from me - sometimes you need to just cool off!
WOOOOOOOO it is then.
It's just that there is Joy in Mudville

Stumbly Yuni has shipped out

Anyone know where to find the instructions to post a link?

I can’t believe I don’t know this shit yet.

See that chain thingy at the top of the comment box? Click it, then paste there.
And for all that is holy - please click the "open in new window" box.
SBN should change it so this automatically happens.
You see that little icon under the subject line that looks like links in a chain?

Highlight some text, click the link, paste your url.

Jinx you owe me a Coke.
You were late, Kevin. I win.

WINNNNNNNEEEERRRRRRR!

You need to refresh.

Kevin beat you.

I beat you by a minute, jerk.
No... NO.

NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

I’ll fuck you up, Kevin.

It's a date!
It's a mandate.
I hate standing in lines
Also check the "open in new window box" too
Griffey says "Yes"

I can’t believe we got back warm bodies.

This reminds me...

What should I do with my busted Yuni bobblehead? I think maybe using the head as a golf ball might be a nice sendoff, any other ideas?

Better hit with a bat. Only seems fitting.
Only if you pop it out to second.
I can probably manage that.
Make sure it's a high leverage situation
Make sexy video with it and the Brandon Morrow bobblehead.
I don't have the Morrow one.

But I’ll be getting Gutz’s.

Does this cycle?
So where is Cortes' like destination and is it a pitcher-friendly league?
West Tennessee, and yes.
Interviewed former Mariners Meche and Ballgame about Yuni coming to KC.

GOD DAMMIT.
You could always go practice in an older thread, I did that for posting gifs to get the size adjustment right

I kept getting random text next to the picture until I figured out what I was doing wrong

Oh nelly.

Let the good times roll.

omg

"Wow! Really?" said Willie Bloomquist, who spent the previous four years as Betancourt’s teammate. "He’s very, very talented to the point where — and I’ve told him this — he could be the best defensive shortstop in the game hands down.

"And offensively, he can swing it."

THIS IS THE BEST DAY IN MY BASEBALL FANDOM LIFE
Is there any doubt GMZ is the best GM in Ms history?
The hits keep comin'

"Come on…" pitcher Gil Meche said when informed of the trade. "He’s pretty darn good. He’s fun to play with. I can tell you that pitching against him _ he’s not an easy guy to pitch to. He’s got some pop.

Apparently Gil Meche thinks throwing pitches outside of the strike zone is difficult.
That's not what I remember
Well it's not like they're going to trash the guy their team just traded for
I'm sure Felix would have no problem calling him out.
AHAHAHAHAHA WHEEEEEEEEE
BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
"For two minor-league pitchers?" said outfielder José Guillen, who spent 2007 with the Mariners. "Are you serious? How weird is that? I’m totally surprised. That’s all I can tell you. I’m shocked. That kid is pretty darn good."
He's as good at player evaluation as he is in right field!

It really is amazing to me how many ex-Mariners they’ve got in KC.

Wait til they talk to Gil Meche about Yuni. I'm sure he'll pretend to give a crap even!
Wait. Now I can't remember if they even played together. Blah.
These quotes are awesome.
x
"Wow! Really?" said Willie Bloomquist

I imagined that in a Beaver Cleaver voice.

Reactions
If the reaction of once-and-future teammates is any indication, the Royals pulled off a steal of a trade Friday afternoon in acquiring shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt from Seattle for two minor-league pitchers.

If the reaction of anyone with a brain is any indication, however, the Royals got Fed in the A.

Many of these players stopped playing with Betancourt when he was still good
Ignore the content of the article. Ignore the quotes.

Look at the picture they chose of Yuni in action.

This should tell you what the good folks at the Kansas City Star really think of this trade.

The preview button can be very helpful.
Sanchez and Wilson both in PIT lineup tonight, FWIW
I haven't followed either of these guys

but Derrick Saito’s #‘s don’t look too bad (47.7%GB, 4.24 tRA, 0.3 WAR) in Single A.

Whatever the case, we could’ve traded him for half a bottle of warm Blue Moon and I still would’ve been happy. Thank god we don’t have his dark ass on this team anymore.

Like midnight in a coal mine amirite?!?
Woooooooooo!!!!!

Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

But, hey, if Cortes never pans out, one thing I may suggest (h/t USSM/Slurve/Jay) is that we don’t use the “STAB! STAB! STAB!” thing with him…

Yes, ixnay on the abstay
He could protect leads from being stabbed?

I have no idea how that would work.

Here we are.

The good stuff.

Jose Guillen : "For two minor-league pitchers?" said outfielder José Guillen, who spent 2007 with the Mariners. "Are you serious? How weird is that? I’m totally surprised. That’s all I can tell you. I’m shocked. That kid is pretty darn good."

Willie Bloomquist: "Wow! Really?" said Willie Bloomquist, who spent the previous four years as Betancourt’s teammate. "He’s very, very talented to the point where — and I’ve told him this — he could be the best defensive shortstop in the game hands down.

"And offensively, he can swing it."

Gil Meche: "Come on…" pitcher Gil Meche said when informed of the trade. "He’s pretty darn good. He’s fun to play with. I can tell you that pitching against him _ he’s not an easy guy to pitch to. He’s got some pop.

"And as far as playing shortstop, he’s one of the best I’ve seen. He makes tough plays look really easy."

Dayton Moore: "The bottom line is he’s an upgrade for our team today," general manager Dayton Moore said. "And based on other opportunities that we have evaluated for the next year or two, he’s an upgrade there as well.

"He’s a very talented shortstop with a chance to make an impact with the glove and the bat. He’s somebody who has always hit a lot of doubles. His on-base percentage is something that’s lacking, but he’s a career .279 hitter."

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Good lord.

Wow. The kool aid in Kansas City is spiked.
Another quote:

“We are uniformly unable to evaluate the talent of our co-worker”

HoRam?
"Horacio is a young, left-handed starter who makes us better immediately."!
He's got some pop?

Does Meche mean soda, or is he referring to popups?

Soda. I hear Meche is a hug fan of Mexican Coke.
I am a hug fan too!

Yay hugs!

Felix is the hug fan.
Is it Silva who keeps kissing people in the dugout?
Yes.

Ichiro even. I have no idea what this is about but it is disgusting.

If it weren't Silva I'd actually think it was kind of adorable
Maybe they threatened him after he wanted to "slam [someone] against the wall"?
Sure looked like it the other day
Clubhouse chemisty, brah
So is Josh Hamilton
Word filtering
He’s very, very talented to the point where — and I’ve told him this — he could be the best defensive shortstop in the game hands down.

…if he gave a damn. Oh and did I say could? Sorry, I meant could have.

I'm simply giddy, waiting to see what Z does about SS/3B
This thread is pretty damn hilarious:

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/7/10/945143/mets-trade-church-for-frenchy

Those Mets fans are genuinely funny!

Shannon Drayer on 710 talking about the trade right now, if anyone is interested
Word, thanks for the heads up!
Drayer is seriously awesome.

There’s so much commentary on everything Mariners-related these days, but her take is always interesting. She’s seems to pick up on and see stuff that nobody else does.

They are sure are defending him.
Wait, who?

What?

Shannon was defending him for being terrible.

She was talking about his first year up here, when his family was still stranded back in Cuba, and how hard it was. It’s a genuinely rough story, for sure. Plus, I think Drayer is essentially the team Mom (in a good way!), so you can’t blame her.

I don't.

I was merely pointing it out.

Sorry, I meant this more as a reply to the duder above you, asking who was being defended
It was the "they" that confused me.

I know that Dreyer has defended Yuni, but I was thinking that they were getting some current Mariners reactions.

Naw. Everything from the fans has been possitive. I don't know anyone who isn't glad he is gone.
Past the excitement now, getting to the point where the eulogies start up
Oh man - from Amazin' Avenue
Jeff Francoeur has been acquired from the Braves for Ryan Church and cash.

We traded +2.0 WAR for -1.9 WAR and we still PAID for that!!
I'm really trying to figure this one out.

Why?

According to the Mets GM, Francouer has more upside?

Did they not see that Francouer was about to lose his job to Matt Diaz?

Wait WHAT?!

they sent the Braves money too!?!!

AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
so this is a good trade if Yuni sheds 20 pounds and revert back to the defensive SS he was in 2005 in KC?
Yes.

Also, it’s a good trade if Yuni starts shitting diamonds.

What about gold bricks?
Even if Yuni improves...

this isn’t one of those situations where the M’s could be blamed for giving him up too early. Hindsight will be useless in evaluating this. Well, more useless.

Maybe. Love that word, though. IF.
I wouldn't feel bad if that did happen

I am 100% confident that it never would have happened here, so the point is moot to me at least.

That's because the guy that will kick him in the butt to work hard is in KC, and his name is Jose Guillen.
If you have visual evidence of Guillen kicking Yuni in the butt

I will pay you for it.

Yuni's defense did drop off significantly after Guillen left

And since correlation is as a good as causation, that must be the ticket!

Ok, who's ironic and hilarious friend is this!?

My gf just sent this pic to me from down by Safeco:

Dude - picture size.

You can do it.

Speaking of clueless.

Ha, I didn’t even know anyone owned a Betancourt jersey.

probably came packaged with a griffey as a throw in
It's funny.

Yesterday at the Bellevue Mariners store, Morse had replaced Betancourt on the clearance T-Shirt rack. Betancourt will shortly be back on the rack, joining Ibanez, Morse, Bloomquist, and Sexson.

The Coors Field team store is wall-to-wall with Atkins crap right now because they know his Rockies career is on death row right now.
Yuni == Marvin Throneberry

Poor Yuni! He’d become the scapegoat and joke of the team, as Marvin Throneberry was to the 1962 Mets. It only took 3 hours for 2 ESPN & Sports Illustrated articles to come out mocking KC for this trade. Zach Greinke should invest in some knee braces now!

Seriously, he needed to go. But I hope for his sake he turns his carrer around.

hopefully this trade and media spotlight will open his eyes and he'll change his ways
I hope he's successful too, but evidence doesn't make that look too likely
I hope Yuni is selling meat door-to-door by October
Good day sir or madam

Might I interest you in some Silva jerkey?

Badler seems to disagree with my assessment

He still has an good spin on it though.

“For me, Dan Cortes is a mediocre prospect. But Betancourt’s best-case scenario doesn’t even sniff mediocrity”

Dan Cortes is really into himself - this website rounded up the embarrassing photos of him that are circulating on the internet.

http://www.ohlalaparis.com/ohlalaparis/2008/01/ohlala-daniel-c.html

It’s the second hit on google images. It’s probably safe for work, but the website seems to be flamingly gay so proceed with caution (lot’s of underwear model-type pictures, etc.)

Franklin is pleased.
If the man can pitch

I couldn’t care less if he’s posting pictures of his choad (sp)?

He's passed out naked on a toilet on one of them. Churchill is reporting he's been told Cortes has

a drinking problem.

Winston Churchill is one to talk
Still worth more than a bag of marshmallows!
The pictures make it evident that he suffers from terminal douchebaggery.
"a drinking problem"

Yes, that was a possible concern given that story about him and his run-in with the police.

But he takes a great photo.
Anyone who has never passed out on a toilet, raise your hand.
I fell off onto the floor, so HA.
I guess I need a new username.
What are you looking for in a favorite player?
This time I'd like a little less suck

But still a goofy name (I’ve previously loved Pineiro, Pirkl, and Brian Turang).
So Langerhans is right up my alley. And Tui’s from my hometown.

"Langerman"?
Fogel just recently jumped on the Tui bandwagon with myself.

You are more than welcome to join in!

Also

Yuni is no longer a Seattle Mariner. Traded for choad pictures is okay,

Sorry, I'm new

Meant this to be in previous sub-thread

So, does Yuni's departure improve the defense of the left-fielder ever so slightly... or at least decrease injury probability?
Gee whiz

That massive 3 team trade last season, the Langerhans trade, and now this?

Man this is some faggy bullshit
Yeah, I just realized Yuni's going to have to wear another uniform.

Ugh.

Beyond the Box Score sums up Francoeur and Bettancourt perfectly

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