The Seattle Mariners in 2008

so deserved.

and wtf we signed bubba crosby? and oh yeah i guess eric bedard is a mariner now too.

wait, REY ORDONEZ might win a spot??? THAT Rey Ordonez??!!??

last year. but still, uhh. we've got miguel cairo this year though! how's that for an upgrade?

trade Raul Ibanez RIGHT NOW

anlaysis of bedard injury...

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/fantasy/article/erik-bedard-windup-worries/

that does not sound good.

two hit by vicente padilla? you guys SUCK

richie sexson the piece of shit charges the mound

so, WHY would gabbard throw at sexson?

Why the M's don't offer the Giants some SWEET package containing Jose Vidro, Sexson, and (tho he'll be missed) Willie Bloomquist for one of teh G's pitchers, I don't know.

He's not even near Sexson. What a weirdo.

at least Sexson postgame admitted helmet toss was a "chickenshit move," but yes, he snapped for no good reason.

(ESPN anchor said "one of the few hits he's had all season")

Cannot believe Sexson charged for THAT.

What would've he done if that pitch had actually gone somewhere within the vicinity of his body?

“Playing on this team and seeing what is happening around me, I feel that something is beginning to fall apart,” Ichiro said, through a translator. “But, if I was not in this situation, and I was objectively watching what just happened this week, I would probably be drinking a lot of beers and booing.”

What kind of beer?

“Usually I enjoy Japanese beer, but given the situation, if I was objectively watching the game, I wouldn’t care if it was Japanese beer, American beer or beer from Papua New Guinea,” he said.

haha at least there's ichiro if nothing else on this team

Ichibro

Also, Carlos Silva seems like he would have a round hispanic wife who knows how to make tortillas from scratch. /realracisttalk

”We’re happy with our defense in the outfield”
– John McLaren, last week
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/6651/raul3.gif

lol

Ibouncez

ts: richie sexson vs dave kingman

that throw is lol and a half

jeez, after Felix & Bedard, what a rotation.

That's how Detroit managed to destroy them in a three-game series a while back. They faced neither.

Fans of flaming wrecks shd bookmark USS Mariner & read everything starting from May 1st (especially anything concerning Jarrod Washburn & his caddying request).

USSM's been sonning Washburn with beautiful regularity. this one is my favorite:

Washburn’s done this before, insinuating to the media that Johjima’s responsible for his poor performances. I have a news flash for you, Mr. Washburn - you aren’t pitching well because you suck. You throw a meaty fastball over the plate and your breaking pitches are something an 8th grader would be embarrassed of. Johjima can’t flash a few hand signs and tell you to throw a good pitch, because you’re not capable of it. His options are Suck Pitch #1 and Suck Pitch #2, with a side of Suck Pitch #3 worked in for good measure.

You’re lousy because you lack talent, not because your catcher is Japanese. Own up, be a man, take your ridiculous contract and shut the hell up. Thank you.

: | Mariners

Putz hurt again, apparently.

My dad emailed a local sports columnist and the guy wrote back?
Sent: Fri 6/6/2008 10:11 AM
To: Thiel, Art
Subject: "M" Changes At The Top
Excellent article!
If my company showed such poor performance the shareholders and employees would have shown me the door long ago.
We have been very patient but the time has come.
and thiel's response
I've heard from many a business person with the same view. Hard to argue.
Thanks for writing,
Art Thiel

and here i thought i had too much free time at work

scroll down some for lol terrible defense gifs

Bavasi apparently fired! THE NATIONAL NIGHTMARE IS OVER.

yea!

Awesome post-drop route taken by Ibanez.

Bavasi's legacy lives on!

Nail in the coffin: swept by the Nationals at home.

That was just one last tap -- that nail's been all but hammered in since they broke camp.

from the News Tribune:

We asked (Bavasi) about Bedard and his unwillingness to go past 100 pitches...

"You have to ask him and I know that's no fun. And he's going to have a stupid answer for you can count on it. He's going to have some dumb-ass answer."

"He's either gassed because he's laboring. He's protecting himself because he knows even he sticks around and is mediocre he gets another 2 million bucks lopped onto his salary."

"Why doesn't he go longer? It's a real pointed question. But you need to ask him. And good luck with that."

these brackets are confusing.

Moronically moving Ichiro back to RF apparently.

That's only because they sent down Wladimir Balentin (and are bringing Jeff Clement back up), and they are obligated to play Jose Vidro and Richie Sexson every single day and not cut bait on them as soon as possible.

Heh that's not the reason McClaren gave.

My bad -- I should quote Derek Zumsteg's pithy & resigned take on these moves (and the season in toto):

They’re sending (Wlad) Balentien down to see if he can play center after being bad defensively in right. To do so, they’re moving Ichiro back to right, creating a hole in center they’d fill with (Jeremy) Reed, who is the only other player on the roster who can defend in center. But they’ve also been working him out at first, to replace Sexson, who they’ve turned from a three-outcome power threat into a taller, fitter clone of 2007 Vidro who still can’t play defense.

The roster spot opened up by sending Balentien down will be filled by Jeff Clement, one of the best hitters in the organization, sent down after a 50-PA trial didn’t work out (and replaced by the shorter and one year regressed designated hitter version of the singles-hitting first baseman). Clement is a catcher, but he can’t play catcher because the team already has two, one of which (Johjima) was just signed to a lucrative three-year extension and who hasn’t hit so far this year. They could play him at designated hitter, but that would displace the designated hitter they already have who isn’t hitting.

The could also solve the team’s outfield defense problem by putting the team’s outfield defense problem (Raul Ibanez) at designated hitter, so he needs to remain a designated hitter who stands in the outfield and lets balls drop around him and never gets a defensive sub.

McLaren fired. press conference in an hour

Years of rebuilding ahead.

Ichiro to Tampa Bay ;)

Has Ichiro said anything like "fuuuuuuuck, I wish I hadn't signed that extension" yet?

haw xpost

All those severed managers washing up . . .

although the last one was actually an animal.

Please let there be a .gif of Ibanez's human pinball act last night.

Uh backup catcher Jamie Burke pitching in the top of the 15th.

What is wrong with Rhodes?

One run on one hit.

6' 8", 240-pound cyst removed

To be replaced in the line-up w/ a cyst whose OPS resembles the SLG of your average LF.

OK, a really good LF (577).

Ex-Tigers exec Smith another contender in Seattle GM hunt

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/10896698/

Haha haha hah ho... hahahah... ow...

JOSE VIDRO

NEVER FORGET

vidro_dp.jpg

T/F: the Mariners are trying Jeremy Reed (their 2nd best defensive OF) at first base?!?!?!?

god they're just dumb

Wait until they fungo the waiver claims of Washburn & Ibanez -- that'll be their truest Wonderlic test.

LOL

Time expired on Thursday afternoon on waiver claims made on two Mariners, left fielder Raul Ibanez and left-hander Jarrod Washburn. Both players will be remaining with Seattle.

tonight's the night! a chance to become the first 100 losses / $100m payroll team

jergins, you seem like a pragmatic sort -- do you think the USSM guys are going above and beyond the call of duty wrt Beltre's percieved value?

yeah, a little. i think it started with good intentions-pushback against the local media for calling his deal a bust, a love of his defense-but at this point it doesn't seem like he really has that much value. trade away his last contract year for a couple of pieces? get a type B compensation pick or two after next season?

i'll feel bad for him if he comes back next year, starting the season knowing there's not much to play for. he's a good guy

http://assets.sbnation.com/imported_assets/573/450mari02_097mu_beltrea.jpg

Noah (Brooklyn): Why do we see less intentionally tanking for draft position in baseball than in other sports, particularly basketball?

Joe Sheehan: Have you watched a Mariners game lately?

Things got so bad in the Seattle Mariners clubhouse during this discouraging season that one player reportedly threatened to "knock out" outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, the team's highest profile player.

A "clubhouse insider" quoted in Thursday's edition of The Seattle Times said, "I just can't believe the number of guys who really dislike him. It got to a point early on when I thought they were going to get together and go after him."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3609799

seems wrong

Ichiro looks pretty fit to me. I wouldn't fuck with him.

$10 says it was bedard

The most-heard rumor is Silva.

ha -- I was going to say it was Jose Guillen, but then I remember that he's pulling this shit on the Royals.

and oh Carlos Silva you fat talentless choad just cash your paycheck and prep for another 5+ ERA season