While I contemplate making “The wisdom of Ichiro” a regular feature, enjoy today’s choice quote from Seattle’s colorful corner outfielder.

Ichiro on the prospect of being traded:

“I haven’t heard that, but what I think about it is that when things are not going well, many people have different ideas, and that’s only natural,” he says. “If a crow has thought it, it would surprise me. But since it’s human beings, it does not surprise me.”

Prior to Randolph’s canning, the Seattle Mariners also made a rare in-season firing of a General Manager by showing Bill Bavasi the door.

I honestly don’t have too much more to add on this issue than what I’ve already written. A little over a year ago as we did our “What They Need” reports in 2007, I argued that what the Seattle Mariners needed was less Bavasi. He took over the team in November of 2003, inheriting a team that had won no less than 93 games per season between 2001-2003. His first full season at the helm, the Mariners won 63. The following year, they won 69, followed by 78 games in 2006. By this point, most GMs would have been fired. But Bavasi hung on.

In 2007, the Mariners surprised a lot of people (including myself) by winning 88 games, and during the off-season, I basically called the team a fluke. However, even I didn’t think that the Mariners would start ‘08 24-46. But that’s exactly what has happened.

All in all, he has spent over $480m in payroll over five seasons but constructed a team with a 322-396 record (.448 Winning %). He has resigned aging catcher Kenji Johjima because he thought that there would be a shortage of aging catchers in the future (pure speculation on my part but can’t think of any other reason). He gave a 4-year, $48M contract to Carlos Silva over the off-season, who is currently earning his keep with a 5.79 ERA.  He signed Ichiro Suzuki to a 5-year extention worth $90M that will have the M’s paying a 38-year old outfielder $17M in 2012. Sure he’ll still be able to put the bat on the ball at that age. But speed’s the first skill to go as you age, and Ichiro is going to be a one-dimensional player very soon. And although both Richie Sexson and Jose Vidro will be off the books following this season, they’ve still got one more year of Adrian Beltre ($12M), Jarrod Washburn ($10.35M), and Miguel Batista ($9M).

From what I can tell and have heard, Bavasi is a likable guy. But mistakes kept piling up and the owners finally had had enough.

On the surface, the Mariners seem like a team who’s poised to break out of a slump. The guys over at U.S.S. Mariner listed four reasons for optimism, two of which, were based on offensive numbers that were simply too low for the team not to improve.

The Mariners are hitting .228 as a team with runners in scoring position (dead last in the AL) and have a .309 OBP (also dead last in the AL); and Adrian Beltre is hitting a mere .244. On the flip side, the team slugging average is slightly less than the league mean, which means they’re at least putting some of those at bats to good use; and…

Adrian Beltre has a .239 batting average on balls in play despite a line drive percentage of 20.5%. His career BABIP is near .300, and considering how well he’s hitting the baseball, there’s no reason for the ball to continue to find fielders gloves at this rate. Beltre’s skillset makes it likely that his performance will improve as the year goes on.

But then, a team that was built around pitching, hasn’t exactly been lights out, hovering near the cellar in ERA, and batting average against. Eric Bedard, who was supposed to be the key addition to the rotation, has been inconsistent at best, as has been King Felix (although his 3-5 record is more due to lack of run support than anything else).

So what can you expect the Mariners to do now that we’re entering June and they’re 10+ games out of first place? Well, for the purposes of this exercise, you’d say they need hitting. Especially when you have a Miguel Cairo over Richie Sexon mini-controversy going on (oh and not to mention, the release of Brad Wilkerson after only one month of services).

Barry Bonds’ name was floated around as a possibility before the season began; but given the recent legal proceedings against the slugger, it’s a long shot. There are rumors the M’s are looking at Scott Hatteberg and of course, there was that idea about one Ken Griffey Jr. returning to Seattle next season (which could be hastened if the M’s decide to shake things up mid-season).

Other than that, if they don’t make things interesting by the trading deadline, then I guess the Mariners need to think about rebuilding (or at least, purging bloated contracts… then again, they go and sign Johjima to a 3-year, $16 million deal).

- What They Need Index -

As we head into Memorial Day weekend, three American League teams widely predicted to make the playoffs sit in last place in their divisions: the Yankees, the Mariners, and the Tigers. You can’t really say it’s “still early”—we’re roughly a third of the way through the season. June is looming. Soon, “slow starts” will just become “bad teams.”

While their predicament is shared, the exact causes of their suckery are diverse. Detroit’s problem is terrible pitching. The Yankees have suffered mysterious injuries to their older superstars and mysterious ineffectiveness from their young pitchers. The Mariners? Well, they have no defense, they can’t get on base, and their pitching isn’t very good either. (Gee, what else could go wrong?)

Of the three, the Mariners may be in the worst shape. They’re currently under .400. The Angels have been as good as most of us expected, even dealing with some injuries to rotation mainstays John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar. The A’s have proven the computers right. Even the wild n’ crazy Texas Rangers, who are on pace to allow something like 950 runs this season, have still managed to stay out of the cellar thanks to Seattle. It’s hard to see the Mariners making the moves necessary to right this ship during 2008; their to-do list is a mile long, and they’re 9.5 games out of first already.

Detroit’s offense has been the best in the AL Central. Unfortunately, they have one of the worst pitching staffs in the American League. Plus, their infielders are playing “musical bases” as Jim Leyland tries to find places to stick defensive liabilities Miguel Cabrera and Carlos Guillen. But to climb back up the standings, they’ll need to get better pitching. Staff ace Justin Verlander, who struggled early, has been working on his mechanics and seems to be back on track. But Jeremy Bonderman has been a huge disappointment to fans (and fantasy owners) counting on him to be a strong No. 2, and the other starters aren’t really worth wasting the pixels on at this point. To really contend, the Tigers will have to acquire more pitching. But how will they get it? Despite their horrible start, they’re still “only” 6.5 games out of first and just two games behind Cleveland. I don’t expect the White Sox and the Twins to be able to hold off both the Indians and the Tigers much longer.

The New York Yankees are also shocked to find themselves in the cellar of the AL East. But maybe it’s not as bad as it seems. A year ago today, they were 9.5 games out of first, yet ended up making a run at the pennant in September. Today they’re just 7.5 back. Not so bad, right? Mmmm, maybe.

Last year, 9.5 games back still got them second place. This year, the landscape of the AL East has changed. The Tampa Bay Rays are five games ahead of New York and while they don’t have a Steinbrennarian budget, they’re playing with a lot of great young talent. While the Yankees do have a great lineup on paper, they may be forced to deal with more injuries than they’re used to this year. It’s one thing to lose A-Rod for a stretch; it’s quite another if they have to keep juggling hurting cornerstones such as Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. Some of their other guys are struggling at the plate—Jason Giambi just barely clears the Mendoza line, and they only have two guys hitting over .300 (and both are hitting .302).

With their offense on the fritz, they needed to be able to rely on their pitching. Yet their only reliable pitcher has been staff ace Chien Ming Wang, who somehow doesn’t get the respect he deserves—even from his own catcher. If the Yankees want to contend this year, they’ll either have to deal some of their prized chips in a midseason trade. Does anyone really expect Carl Pavano is to be the team’s August savior? Even if by some miracle can be effective when he returns, and even if Kennedy, Hughes, and Joba-as-starter can all pitch well, none of them are going to address the Yankees’ biggest need: innings. In the AL, Yankee starters are dead last in innings pitched. If they want to oust the Rays and the Red Sox, they are going to have to acquire themselves the sort of innings-eater who can give their bullpen a rest every fifth day.

Of the League’s three cellar dwellars, New York has the most potential to claw their way back to the top of the heap. The Tigers are floundering so badly, not even Jim Leyland quite knows what to do other than scream in frustration. The Mariners? They’re just SOL. But the Yankees, on the other hand, they’ve got an owner who doesn’t know the meaning of “wait ’til next year.” They’ve proven themselves practically indestructible. You can never count them out. Even if they’re mathematically eliminated, Derek Jeter could still fly backwards around the earth, turning back time to give them just one more chance. Yes, after the nuclear Armageddon, the only things that will be left on earth are cockroaches, styrofoam cups, and the New York Yankees.

Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus Unfiltered thinks people (or at least, Peter Schmuck) aren’t publishing The Truth about Barry Bonds. Some of his points are duly noted—Bonds is not the slow, broken player Schmuck casts him as. But with other points, you get the feeling that Schmuck just got deeply under Sheehan’s skin and then couldn’t get out again—such as when Schmuck claims that Bonds would create “a chronic public relations problem” and Sheehan responds, “Barry Bonds doesn’t create a public relations problem…Barry Bonds has a media relations problem.” That’s pretty weak hair-splitting. And Sheehan’s dismissal of Barry Bonds legal problems looks a bit different now that the indictment as been refiled. Nonetheless, if you’re looking for a spirited defense of Barry Bonds (hard to come by these days), it’s worth a read.

Respect Jeter’s Gangster weighs in on the Jobagate fist-pump controversy with some situations in which it may or may not be appropriate for you to pump your fist.

The Padres’ struggles have inspired a debate over at Gaslamp Ball about whether professional ballplayers even need coaches. I say they do. What do you say?

Ever wondered what happened to the old Tiger Stadium? Joe Lapointe has an article in The New York Times and Fabrizio Constantini an eye-opening slide show. (Did you know that they auctioned off one of the dugout urinals last year? I somehow missed that story. And somehow, my life was complete without that particular piece of information.) It’s weird to think that the Tigers have been in Comerica for almost ten years, and that Tiger Stadium has been mouldering scarcely a mile away the entire time. My one beef with the slide show—I like artsy detail shots as much as any amateur shutterbug, but I would have liked a picture of the entire field included, to serve as an establishing shot. And some “before” shots would have been nice to go along with the “afters.”

Bleeding Blue and Teal weighs in on Griffey-to-Seattle trade talk and how such a move might actually make sense.

As draft day approaches, Minor League Ball looks at some high school hitters of interest. If you root for a craptastic team with a high pick, you can start drooling over them now. If you root for a great team with a lot of money, you can start hoping they develop “signability issues.”

Yanksfan Soxfan brings us a blind item from the NY Daily News about a “formerly awesome” pitcher whose shoulder woes are actually due to “years of smoking pot” and “one drug-addled incident in which he had to carry a passed-out date up three flights of stairs.” Guesses in the comments range from the preposterous (Schilling, Pedro) to the “hmmmm…maybe” (Gagne, Zito, Pavano). Got a better guess? Let ‘em know!

If you’ve got cabin fever because it’s a gorgeous May Day and you came into work today like a good doobie instead of calling in sick and going hiking like you really, really wanted to, maybe you should take a look at Slate’s series on baseball in the Dominican Republic (with, of course, an accompanying slide show).

Dan Graziano of the Star Ledger prints some email correspondence with Carlos Delgado’s agent. Neither man comes off looking very good (hint: someone calls someone a retard). Yes, these men are professionals! Do not try this at home!

Razzball takes a look back at Pete Rose’s 1983 season, a year “Pete evaded success like it was the taxman.”

Joe Posnanski brings you Brian Bannister’s crazy day-night splits.

And I said Over The Monster’s picture of Mike Lowell (above) looked like “George Clooney-meets-Humphrey Bogart-meets-UFH.” Paul countered, “He just looks like he’s giving Tek the ol’ stink eye.” What do you think, UmpBumpers?

What else should I be reading? Help me procrastinate better!

Kenji Johjima’s contract extension (three yeras, $24 million) surprised many, including MLB Trade Rumors’ Tim Dierkes:

I didn’t see this coming; I thought the Ms would hand catching duties over to Jeff Clement in ‘09 despite questionable defense. Instead, they’ll apparently use him as a DH/1B or trade him. He’s hitting .375/.500/.688 in 19 Triple A games.

Neutral observers may be shocked, but the reaction in the Mariners blogosphere is downright despairing. I’d estimate that 50% of the angst is due to Johjima’s struggles, while the other 50% results from the continued blocking of hot-hitting catching prospect Jeff Clement. Let’s go to the blogs:

Read the rest of this entry »

This is one of a series of posts in which we eviscerate each team’s lambastable offseason blunders and laud their miraculous hot-stove coups.

In 2007, the Seattle Mariners shook off three straight losing seasons - during which they had a winning percentage of .432 - to finish second place in the AL West with a surprising 88 wins. Since then, the M’s added one of the best pitchers on the planet in Erik Bedard plus a good back-end-of-the-rotation guy in Carlos Silva to replace the sterling performances of Jeff Weaver (6.20 ERA in 2007), Horacio Ramirez (7.16), Cha Seung Baek (5.15) and Ryan Feierabend (8.03).

Consequently, PECOTA projects the Seattle Mariners to be one of the worst teams in the American League in 2008 with a record of 73-89.

Wait, what? Come again?

On the surface, it appears like a gross error on the part of the computer. It gives the baseball fans who decry the use of electronic projections for human performances a huge opening to cite its ridiculousness. How is it possible that an 88-win team that, at least on paper, improved drastically on their starting rotation be expected to revert back to a 73-win team? What went wrong?

Well, I have some ideas. For one, the 2007 Seattle Mariners should not have won so many games to begin with. For the season, the team was actually outscored by their opponents by 19 runs, making their Pythagorean record 79-83. Hogwash, you say? Not to me, it isn’t. Run differentials can be beaten over the span of a single season. Just ask the 2006 Oakland A’s. But it’s very unusual for it to happen two years in a row. Just ask the 2007 Oakland A’s. So at least in the eyes of those who believe in the importance of run differentials, Seattle went into the offseason as a franchise with the talent-level of a 79-game winner.

Secondly, it appears that this PECOTA projection was calculated prior to the acquisition of Bedard. It’s difficult to overstate how much better he and Silva were over those who painfully ate up innings for the M’s in 2007. Their new ace had a VORP of 54.9 over 182 innings and Silva clocked in at 35.5 in VORP and logged 202 innings. The aforementioned quartet of Weaver, Ramirez, Baek, and Feierabend had a combined VORP of negative 41.9 over 367 innings plus. And yes, that’s abysmal.

Despite this influx of actual talent in their rotation, I still believe that in 2008 the Seattle Mariners will be closer to PECOTA’s prediction than the record they had last season. And here’s why:

Offense. They ain’t exactly a youthful bunch. Catcher Kenji Johjima is turning 32 this year and there’s a lot of miles traveled in both his knees. He played his first pro game in 1995 and caught 1063 games before he came stateside. As a point of reference, fellow-catcher Johnny Estrada was born just three weeks after Johjima in June of 1976 and he’s caught 571 games in his entire career. Jason Varitek is turning 36 in April and he’s at 1142 games caught. Including his two seasons in Seattle, Johjima’s at 1340. So unless he’s Jorge Posada, that slight offensive decline that Johjima had in 2007 probably won’t be corrected. Richie Sexson’s 33 and he was a total mess last year with a sub-.300 OBP while slugging below .400, giving him the worst OPS among first basemen who had at least 400 plate appearances. It’s a pretty good bet that he won’t be as bad in 2008, but given his frame, I have a hard time seeing him becoming even a league-average first baseman ever again. This basically leaves Raul Ibanez and Adrian Beltre as the power bats. Ibanez in particular had his two best offensive years in 2006 and ‘07 at the ages of 34 and 35 respectively. Can they rely on him once more as he turns 36? It’s certainly possible, I suppose. But it’s not a bet I feel entirely comfortable making. And at this point in his career, Adrian Beltre is who he is. The one-time super prospect of the Los Angeles Dodgers has pretty much cemented his reputation as a guy with pop who doesn’t get on base nearly enough. And the fact that Jose Vidro is currently penciled in to be the starting DH (think about this - Vidro is considered a hitter) speaks volumes. In addition, the only notable acquisition they’ve made to their lineup during the offseason is Brad Wilkerson, who is replacing Jose Guillen in right field. Although Wilkerson’s not a terrible hitter, and even though I’m no fan of Guillen, this still has to be constituted as a downgrade, especially considering that Wilkerson’s leaving the hitter friendly confines of Arlington into a pitcher’s park.

And of course, there’s Mr. Ichiro Suzuki, a man who, rightly or wrongly, is considered one of the best leadoff hitters of the past decade. I’ve professed my admiration for his skills before, so just know that I have a pretty big bias in favor of my fellow countryman. But his Achilles heel is and always has been his confidence in his own ability to put the bat on the ball. As a leadoff hitter who doesn’t strike out often, he puts the ball in play far more often than pretty much anybody else. Which basically means two things: 1) His ability to beat the throw to first is very useful, and 2) he doesn’t walk a ton, thus relying on his batting average to hold up his OBP (look at his career stats and notice the small difference between his AVG and OBP). So once the speed goes, his value is diminished quite a bit. I don’t expect this to happen in 2008, but this is a 34-year old we’re talking about here. And it’s going to happen at some point. In addition, it’s nearly impossible these days to hit over .350 in consecutive seasons. Teams have gotten far too smart with their defensive positioning and the skill level of the fielders themselves have become too good for this to happen. Remember, in 2004 he batted .372 and followed it up with an “off” year in ‘05 where he hit .303.

I would also be remiss if I didn’t at least mention the main piece the M’s had to send away to acquire Bedard. Adam Jones was slated to fill that RF slot, and it was expected that he would do so very admirably. In fact, PECOTA had projected him to lead the Seattle hitters in VORP with 21.8 at the age of 22. While his plate patience leaves much to be desired at this stage in his development, bringing Bedard on board had a fairly significant impact on their offensive capabilities, as well as their defense. An outfield with Ichiro in center and Jones in right would have been a god send to pitchers. But now that’s just wishful thinking.

Of course, it’s not all bad for the Mariners. Their young middle infield tandem of Jose Lopez and Yuniesky Betancourt still have room to grow. And if Bedard and King Felix are healthy enough to log 200 innings a piece (a feat neither of whom are yet to accomplish), they should have a decent rotation that’s supported by the criminally underrated J.J. Putz finishing games.

Projected Batting Order:

1. Ichiro Suzuki - CF
2. Jose Vidro - DH
3. Raul Ibanez - LF
4. Adrian Beltre - 3B
5. Richie Sexson - 1B
6. Brad Wilkerson - RF
7. Kenji Johjima - C
8. Yuniesky Betancourt - SS
9. Jose Lopez - 2B

Pitching:

1. Erik Bedard
2. Felix Hernandez
3. Jarrod Washburn
4. Carlos Silva
5. Miguel Batista

CL: J.J. Putz
SU: Brandon Morrow

Off-Season Grade: C

This was probably the hardest team to evaluate for me because so much depends on your perspective. If you had considered the Mariners as pennant contenders last year, then getting Bedard and Silva made all the sense in the world and would have given them a B. But I’m not one of those people. In my view, they gave up one of the top prospects in baseball and paid a league-average pitcher (Silva) $48 million for the chance to win 80 games. These are two big changes that the organization has made but they stood pretty much still when it came to their offense. Sexson’s contract is up at the end of this year and not a minute too soon. I hope the Mariners at least took a long hard look at Barry Bonds. Talk about a lineup that could have used him at DH. They’re very righty-heavy and are lacking in OBP and power. Why didn’t they? Oh wait… Never mind.

-Hot Offseason Action Index- 

The Seattle Mariners - Erik Bedard

The good folks over at the USS Mariner wrote a post this week suggesting that the Mariners’ pursuit of Erik Bedard is foolhardy and what they actually need is more offense, not more pitching.

But I disagree.

The Mariners actually had the sixth highest OPS in the American League last season, behind only the Yankees, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, and Devil Rays - all teams full of real mashers. Four of those five teams were legitimate playoff contenders, and the Rays would have been if they had had even league average starting pitching.

No, what was really the Mariners’ downfall last season was pitching, specifically starting pitching. The Mariners were 10th out of 14 AL teams in ERA last season, and even that mark was only that high thanks to a passable showing by the bullpen - the Mariners starting pitchers were actually 12th out of 14 in ERA, ahead of only the execrable Baltimore and Tampa Bay squads.

What the M’s really need is starters who can put up quality innings, and replacing Horacio Ramirez and his 7.16 ERA with Erik Bedard and his 3.16 ERA would go far toward addressing this need.

Anaheim Angels of Anaheim - A power hitter

The Endless Quest Continues. The Angels have been searching for a legitimate power hitter to pair with Vlad Guerrero for years now - the piece which many feel is the only thing keeping them from another World Series title. Last year they threw offers at everyone they could, but the best they could come up with was Gary Matthews, Jr. This year they chased hard after Miguel Cabrerra, only to have the Tigers pull the rug out, and then panicked and overpaid for Torii Hunter despite already having 5 other Major League quality outfielders on the roster. Hunter does have a bit of power, but he’s not really quite the piece the Angels were looking for, and they continue to search for better options such as exploring a trade for Paul Konerko.

Ultimately, the answer may come from within if Juan Rivera can return to his 2006 form after battling through a broken leg last year, or if Casey Kotchman continues to blossom at the plate. But even without that power hitter they are still questing after, the Angels are otherwise totally stacked up and down the lineup, in the rotation, and in the bullpen, and should continue to dominate the AL West standings for years to come.

Oakland A’s - Takers for Joe Blanton and Huston Street

It wouldn’t really be fair to evaluate Billy Beane on what he’s not trying to do, which is win this year, so I’m going to evaluate him on what he obviously is trying to do, which is build a team which can contend in 2010, having already shipped out Dan Haren, Nick Swisher, and Mark Kotsay. So with that in mind, what the A’s need to do is find teams who are willing to overpay for middle-of-the-road starter Joe Blanton and upper-tier closer Huston Street.

Waiting until 2010, or perhaps more realistically 2011, is going to eat up the prime years of Blanton and Street, so even though they are cheap there is no real reason to keep them around if Beane can swing a trade on a down year for free agents while their value is uber-high due to how cheap they are and how many years away from free agency they are.

Some commentators (including myself), have wondered if Beane couldn’t have gotten a bit more for Haren and/or Swisher, but in any case if Beane can move Blanton and Street for some more high-grade prospects, he is going to have a truly monstrous stash of talented young players set to be ready for the big time by 2010 or 2011.

Texas Rangers - Surprise, Surprise, Starting Pitching

It seems like the Texas Rangers have been in desperate need of some real starting pitchers since the formation of the Earth. Yeah, I know there wasn’t technically any baseball back then, but even so the Rangers somehow still found a way to be last in the league in ERA.

This team has a lot of other holes, but there is nothing like the black hole that is the starting staff, a black hole which seems to grow bigger every year. I almost didn’t have to look, but I did anyway, and sure enough, the Rangers’ starting staff was dead last in the American League with a horrific 5.50 ERA last season (even worse than the Devil Rays!), and the team has done absolutely nothing to address this need.

This year, the Rangers will run out the exact same staff that compiled that record last season. Just to give you an idea, Brandon McCarthy led all Rangers starters with a 4.87 ERA. Ooof.

When the Mariners traded for oft-injured Nationals 2B Jose Vidro over the winter, it raised a lot of eyebrows. When the M’s announced they’d be using Vidro as a DH, everyone laughed. Everyone, that is, except Seattle fans.

Vidro had always been an above average hitter — compared to other second baseman. But compared to other designated hitters, he fell short. He had no power. None. And his career on base percentage of .365, while good, had been declining in recent years.

In short, Vidro was old, slow and getting older and slower. It looked like an awful acquisition.

So Vidro and the Mariners’ front office should feel pretty good about the today’s story on ESPN.com, which describes the Vidro experiment as an unlikely success:

After a modest first half in which his .286 batting average was supported by a paltry .349 slugging percentage, Vidro has been scorching since the All-Star break. His .387 second-half batting average (55-for-142) is second best in the American League, behind only Chone Figgins (.388). Overall, Vidro is hitting .318 with an on-base percentage of .384.

Vidro says his legs, battered by years on the unforgiving Astroturf of Montreal, feel better than they have in many seasons (he credits diligent work by Seattle’s training staff for his improved health).

But is Vidro’s hot streak for real? And does a good batting average make up for a total lack of power?

The folks over at the blog U.S.S. Mariner aren’t sold on Vidro:

There’s a lot to be wary of. For someone with no speed, he’s getting a lot of infield hits (7.1% right now) and his batting average when he puts the ball in play is a ridiculous .346.

As the blog points out, speedy players often have high IFH%. But Vidro is no speedy player. Quite the opposite. The U.S.S. Mariner has crunched the numbers and they say that over the last few months, Vidro has been very, very lucky. Shallow flies have been dropping. Grounders have found holes. He’s been lucky:

If Vidro got hits at his career rate, and his infield hit rate was a little more reasonable, here’s his line: .286/.351/.355

Not bad. Is it enough to justify $6 million per over two years? Take a look at these other DHs and their 2007 OBP and salary:

David Ortiz .436 / $13 million
Travis Hafner .379 / $4 million
Gary Sheffield .383 / $11 million
Jim Thome .408 / $15.6 million
Frank Thomas .374 / $5.5 million
Sammy Sosa .307 / $500,000

If you just look at OBP, Vidro looks like he’s getting paid fairly. Of course, Papi, Pronk et. al would probably be quick to point out that their slugging numbers are much better than Vidro’s. And they’d be right.

So was Vidro a good acquisition? If he stays hot, yes. But don’t hold your breath.

Jumping on Nick’s bandwagon, here’s a look at how the teams in the AL West are looking so far in 2007 and “what they need”.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim: Reliable Power Threat Not Named After An Impaler

The Angels of Wherever There’s A Big Market are currently tops in the AL West. They have one of the most talented starting rotations in all of baseball (Lackey, Escobar, Weaver, Colon, and the lesser Santana) with a decent bullpen anchored by K-Rod and the underappreciated Scot Shields (although the less innings given to Darren Oliver, the better).  The entire corps of young arms have thus far compiled a team ERA of 3.68, good enough for 6^th out of the 30 teams.  

They could, however, use more power at the plate. Their undisputed best hitter is of course Vlad Guerrero. But who’s their second best? The answer could be second baseman Howie Kendrick, but he has just returned from the DL where he spent over a month rehabbing a broken finger. But how much can a playoff contender rely upon a hitter with only 321 at-bats in his big league resume? The front office probably expected Garret Anderson to fill this offensive void but he’s been gone for the past month with a torn hip flexor tendon (which makes me cringe even writing it), and it can easily be argued that counting on him was a mistake to begin with since he has not been a major offensive threat in quite some time. I’ve been surprised by the offensive output thus far from Orlando Cabrera and Reggie Willits, without whom the Angels offense, I suspect, would be among the bottom third in MLB. Can those two guys keep up their high levels of performance? It’s certainly possible, but even if they could, neither would ever be considered power threats.  

Many teams in baseball would love to be in the position that the Angels currently find themselves in as a team leading their division with a roster full of promising players such as Casey Kotchman, Kendrick, Kendry Morales, and Brandon Wood. They could possibly decide that they have a great chance to win this year and trade away either Morales or Kotchman for another power bat. Perhaps Toronto, who must know that 2007 is all but over, would be willing to trade Troy Glaus (who would then have to waive his no-trade, and in turn, would most likely demand a contract extension to do so). Unless Chone Figgins proves that he can still be a productive player, the Angels do have a hole at third base until Wood is ready.  

It would also help if they picked a name and stuck with it. 

Texas Rangers of Arlington: An Idea About How To Build A Pitching Staff 

Even in the mediocre AL West, the Rangers are already out of it. And it ain’t the offense’s fault. The Rangers have thus far scored 235 runs, good enough for fifth place in baseball. But when your team ERA is 5.12, wins are going to be few. Among their SPs, the lowest ERA currently belongs to Robinson Tejeda, who sports a 5.18. He’s their best. Their worst belongs to Kevin Millwood, whose $60m contract signed in late 2005 has given the team a 2007 ERA of 6.62.  

The problem is that this is not an isolated instance. Since the Y2K phenomenon died out, the Rangers starters (there were 57 different pitchers) have combined for an ERA of 5.37.

Before we blame The Rangers Ballpark at Arlington (which is a 2007 nominee for the stupidest name for a baseball field) for its propensity to be a hitter’s park, let’s sit back and think of one good starting pitcher to wear a Rangers uniform over the past eight seasons.  Not easy to do, is it? The closest you’ll find is Chris Young (and no, Chan Ho Park does not count) or possibly Kenny Rogers, but neither are/were legitimate aces. The team appears to be unable to lure any of the top free agent pitchers in any season and is paying mediocre pitchers like Millwood and Padilla top money, making them nearly untradable unless they swallow a majority of the contact, which is unlikely since they’re still paying for a good chunk of A-Rod’s contract. Perhaps their younger guys like Tejeda, Cameron Loe, and Brandon McCarthy could grow into the core of the staff. But judging by their past front office moves (I still don’t know why they traded away Chris Young), they may not be given the chance to grow.  

Oakland Athletics of Oakland: Health 

In what is becoming an annual off-season ritual, Oakland let go one of their highly regarded pitchers in Barry Zito figuring they can sufficiently replace him with far cheaper options. Once again, they have been proven correct. Anchored by Joe Blanton, Chad Gaudin, Danny Haren, and Joe Kennedy they have managed to compile the second best team ERA in all of baseball at 3.40.  What’s even more amazing is that they’ve succeeded even without unquestionably their most talented pitcher, Rich Harden.

Their list of injured players goes on: Milton Bradley, Mike Piazza, Justin Duchscherer, Huston Street, Mark Kotsay, Esteban Loaiza, etc, etc, etc.  And yet, the A’s are in second place and certainly have the talent to make a run a division leading Anaheim.

Dan Johnson is beginning to look like he was deserving of the hype. Jack Cust fulfilled his baseball destiny when he was traded to Oakland from San Diego earlier this month and is already regarded by some as one of the top DHs in the league. Even Travis Buck has contributed, slugging over .500 so far. If Huston Street, and Rich Harden can come back healthy (always a big if), they should be all the help that the team may need. 

Seattle Mariners of Seattle: Less Bill Bavasi 

On paper, the Mariners have a decent lineup: Ichiro, Beltre, Sexson, Johjima, Ibanez, etc. In actuality, three of those five names have been less than, well, good.

Beltre, Sexson, and Ibanez have hit a combined .227 AVG, .300 OBP and .371 SLG. Oh, and did I mention these three are earning $31m this year? 

The man responsible is their GM, Bill Bavasi, who has been in the position since November 2003. He signed Both Sexson and Beltre in early 2005, committing $114m for these two players.  In addition, he signed Jarrod Washburn for $37.5m/4 yrs, gave Miguel Batista $25m/3yrs, talked himself into “gambling” on one year-deals for Jose Guillen and Jeff Weaver for a combined $13.825m, and actually traded for Jose Vidro and in doing so agreed to pay $12m out of the remaining $16m on his contract.  

All in all, the team has a $106m payroll and is yet going nowhere. In fact, over his 4 years as GM, Seattle ownership (Nintendo) have given him $363.69m to spend on his baseball team. He inherited a roster that had averaged over 100 wins in the three seasons prior to him taking over. Since he’s taken the helm, they’ve averaged 70. Only in baseball can a man so inept at his job keep it for so long.