Personally, I would NOT.

What scares me, though, is the fact that there are about 29 other General Managers that are going to try to SELL him several of the aforementioned commodity before the MLB Winter Meetings end on Thursday of this week.

Why my trepidation, you might well ask?  Let me see, there is last year's perfectly awful Horacio Ramirez for Rafael Soriano deal.  The Braves get one of the better setup men in the League, and the M's get--you guessed it--an oft injured pitcher who can never win on the road, and only occasionally at home, with a 7+ ERA.  Then there was the mostly failed Jeff Weaver experiment--who is going to benefit from that this year, now that he is no longer in Seattle blue?  (Of course, I would be more than happy if someone just kind of sent his brother up here, but we all know that ain't gonna happen either).

Then there is the fact that he/the M's front office did absolutely NOTHING at the trade deadline--a time at which the M's were actually in contention for the AL West, and after which they slid back down to second, never to recover. (Yes, I know that they won more games last year than they have since 2003 but that is really beside the point, now, isn't it?)

Rumors/leaks went out over the past week or so that the Mariners had discussed a Johan Santana trade with the Twins.  And they probably did, but they had to have known what everyone else seems to know--Santana has a full no trade clause, and he wants to go to the AL East, not West.  Besides, who were they going to give up to the Twins for Santana?  Felix Hernandez?  I think NOT. So that was a pretty useless conversation, especially if it lasted more than two minutes. (And don't get me wrong here, I can salivate over the prospect of a Santana/Hernandez one two in the rotation as much as the next person, but I'm also sane enough to know that it wasn't going to happen).

Kuroda, anyone?  Those who are in the know say that the soon to be 32 year old Japanese pitcher projects to be no better than a middle of the rotation starter, and would probably be better of in the NL than the AL (see Matsuzaka, Daisuke under the subheading "not quite as good as advertised for the monies paid out").  So the M's offer him 4 years/$45MM.  I say they would be better off giving (and I do mean GIVING) Richie Sexson to the Giants, along with maybe Wladimir Balientien and Rob Johnson, and bringing Tim Lincecum home to pitch.  Less salary, younger, hometown boy, and the probability of being able to fix those funky mechanics under the stern tutelage of new pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

Eric Bedard is not going to come cheap, and I'm not sure Andy McPhail wants much, if anything, that good ole Bill could/would offer him in return.  Same for the former Seattle Pilots and Ben Sheets.

The Cubs are said to be interested in left fielder Raul Ibanez, but only to convert him to a right fielder (see Soriano, Alfonso under the subheading large contract and "heck, no, I ain't moving out of left field").  What would the M's get in return?  I'm hearing Mark Prior.  Doesn't he have a glass arm?  Raul may be losing a step or two with his bad back and bad hammy from last season and he doesn't have the strongest arm from left field, but he is a left handed batter who can still more or less hit, particularly with the short right field porch at the Safe.

Despite my early thoughts to the contrary, both Jose Guillen and Jose Vidro were good pickups for the M's last season, but Guillen is now gone, so that takes 20+ HR's and 100+ RBI off of the game for this year.  Vidro is not exactly comfortable in the DH role, and his knees won't let him play the field consistently.  So, I guess that I have to give Herr Bavasi credit for those.

In short, Bill, wise up this winter.  DON'T come home with a bunch of broken down vets who probably can't get it done at Safeco Field.  If you can't come home with at least one good, young top of the rotation pitcher, then don't come home with anyone.  Start using those good young arms that are waiting in the wings.  Brandon Morrow, Ryan Rowland-Smith, Sean Green and the other 20 somethings will be ready in another year.  Don't mortgage or trade away the future for someone(s) that are not going to put a winning product on the field come spring.

I don't like the team not winning, but there are young players in the system who will get better if allowed to develop here and not be traded away for player or players who really aren't going to help.

Restrain yourself this year, OK?  (Fukudome, though, you could come home with and we would be at least a little happy about that).

In his column in this morning's Boston Globe, Nick Cafardo says that he has been told by baseball insiders that the Mariners are on the block, with the likely purchaser a group headed by (former Mariners and current Phillies) GM Pat Gillick, seen below.

Mariners Chairman Howard Lincoln immediately responded that this was "nonsense," according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

In a way, this sounds to me kind of like the pronouncement of public support that GM's make with regard to field  managers just before they fire them.  "Yeah, John Doe is absolutely our manager of the present and future."  Within a week of that being printed and filmed by the media, Mr. Doe is out and looking for work. (That's certainly how it worked for Bob Melvin, who even had his contract extended just before being shown the door after his second season as M's manager).

There was also some mild speculation of this nature in the local papers abuot a month ago when Nintendo America announced that it was moving part of its sales force out of its Seattle headquarters--wondering if they were going to move more (or all) of their operations out of the area and, if they did so, would they want to continue to own a baseball team in a city in which they were no longer headquartered.

Hmmmm.  Another case of "methinks he doth protest too much?"  Connections to the Sonics fleeing the city because of no public support for their new arena plan?  Lincoln, Armstrong and their partners tired of being the target of public ire for the teams three plus losing seasons?  Mr. Yamauchi no longer interested in owning the team if Ichiro walks at the end of the season?  All of the above, some of the above, or none of the above?

GM Bill Bavasi was soundly (and loudly, and for quite some time) booed when introduced at Edgar Martinez' Mariners' HOF induction yesterday evening.  There are more and more fans coming to the ballpark dressed as empty seats as the team's losing ways continue.  The bottom line, while certainly not in dire straits as of yet, is not as rosy as it was in 2001-2003, and the bottom line has been Lincoln and company's announced primary concern.

If, indeed, this is less nonsense than Mr. Lincoln pronounces it to be, why on earth Pat Gillick?  Did he not make enough of a mess of the team and its farm system when he was here before?  Whyever would he want to come back here when he is busily doing the same thing to the Phillies right now that he did to the Jays, the O's and the M's before?

I doubt that Paul Allen wants a baseball team, since he already has a football team and an NBA team to occupy his time and money.  Mark Cuban did want a baseball team, but he wanted the Cubbies and was shot down on that deal, and now he wants to join in a new NFL challenging football league. But there are a lot of Microsoft and dot com millionaires in this area.  Surely some of them are baseball fans and probably know the game better than some (or most) of the present ownership group. (Is Bill Gates a baseball fan, does anyone know???)

If Mr. Lincoln's "nonsene" pronouncement is just a delaying tactic until a sale is announced, I hope that the current group has better sense than Howard Schultz does, and sells to a local group that is committed to keeping the team in town; committed to IMPROVING the team; and who understands that Safeco Field is state of the art, and in just fine shape, thank you very much, not to mention well on the way to being paid for.

This is NOT a sign I want to see hanging on the doors of Safeco Field, either in regard to the team or the vast majority of the players (now, I am more than perfectly willing to see it applied to Jeff Weaver, and maybe even Horacio Ramirez--unless they switch him to just a sixth pitcher to pitch at home only (where he excels) and not on the road (where he does NOT).

Much has been made in recent days of the fact that Dusty Baker has not been offered an extension to his managerial contract with the Cubbies, and speculation runs rampant that he will be the first MLB manager to be told to "hit the road, Jack, and don't you come back no more" this season, in view of his team's lackluster record over the first month and a week of the season.  Will he be? Hard to say, but the possibility certainly exists.

If we base our speculations solely on the basis of team's performance to date this season, who else might be on that growing list of managers who are sitting on the firing hot seat?  Starting with the National League, since we were discussing Dusty and the Cubs:

Joe Girardi, Florida Marlins:  Sucky team record to be sure, but the guy's only been there about six months.  I don't see them telling him to leave just yet.

Frank Robinson, Washington Nationals:  Now that the team has a new ownership group, I can see both he and the GM being asked to pack their bags. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but perhaps before the end of the season.

Jim Tracy, Pittsburgh Pirates:  He, too, has only been around for about six months, but is a more experienced manager and the Bucs might be expecting more out of him than the current  11-27 record that they are sporting.  I really can't say one way or the other about this one just yet.

In the American League:

Mike Scioscia, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Azusa, Cucamonga and all points east:  The Halos have had a tough first six weeks, but Scioscia has had a winning record all of the rest of his years with the club. I don't see it happening unless HE wants it to, at least not right now.

Mike Hargrove, Seattle Mariners:  The fact that the front office/ownership won't provide him with the players that he needs to field a consistently winning team is not his fault. But the fact that he doesn't get into their faces often enough and loudly enough is. I think that Lincoln should go first, Bavasi second (yeah, right, like those two things are going to happen in my lifetime) and then Hargrove. But something has to be done, and sooner than later would be better.

Buddy Bell, Kansas City Royals:  Probably, and probably soon. The team's owner is railing at anyone and everyone about how bad things are in KC. Buddy and the GM are probably very  near to laying their necks on the chopping block if things don't improve, and soon.

Ron Gardenhire, Minnesota Twins:  This one is a hard one to call at this moment. One day they suck really badly, the next they are blowing out teams with winning records. I think he sticks out the season, and then we see how it goes.

Eric Wedge, Cleveland Indians:  Same situation as Gardenhire.

Sam Perlozzo, Baltimore Orioles:  Again, they just took the interim off of his title. If they improve over the next several months, he stays. But we all know about the capriciousness of this team's owner, so he could prove me wrong and fire him tomorrow.

Joe Maddon, Tampa Bay Devil Rays:  Though better than past years, the D-Rays are still lurking in the cellar of the AL East. But, with their absurdly low payroll, I don't think he is going anywhere just now.

Opinions, gentle readers? Who will be the first to be called onto the carpet and given his marching orders this season?

Sitting here in my semi-weekly despair after the Mariners' 12-7 rout at the hands of the also sub-.500 Los Angeles Angels of Anheim, Azusa, Cucamonga and all points east, I have come up with an idea to (perhaps) restore some of the fun and excitement to the otherwise dreary season being had by fans of those teams who look to be in the doldrums for the balance of the season, and headed to 90-100 losses.

To whit, that MLB split out a third league and populate it only with teams carrying a less than .500 win percentage. The current denizens of this league (name....Losers League sounds so bad, any better ideas out there?) would be:  Orioles, D-Rays,  Indians, Twins, Royals,  A's, Angels, Mariners,  Braves, Nationals, Marlins,  Brewers, Cubs, Pirates, and the Giants.

Since baseball doesn't ever play to a tie (well, unless it's spring training or one All Star game, at least) SOMEONE would have to win the games played in this league, thus raising some of their win percentages above .500.  This would help (hopefully) to restore confidence to some of the downtrodden players who are mired in hopelessness right now, thus (again hopefully) improving their overall performance.  It would help to restore some of the hope that there is life in baseball to fans of these teams who can't stand just sitting at home (or in the ballpark) watching their teams lose all of the time. It would even make life tougher for the "elite" teams left in the traditional leagues, because we all know that some of them get their winning records by playing losing teams.

Once a team regained a winning percentage over .500 and maintained it for at least a month, they could return to their normal division, and the teams previously there who had fallen below .500 due to the extra-competitive nature of their current play would go down to the new league.  This constant rotation of teams into and out of the sub-.500 league would make for increased competition, more excitement for the fans, and maybe even increased attendance.

My 25 year old daughter made a suggestion the other day (with tongue firmly in cheek but, hey, it sounded good at the time) for adjusting player compensation, as well. She thinks that ALL players should be paid the league minimum and then given incentivized contracts calling for bonus monies for each productive hit and/or run for position players, and for each strikeout for pitchers. Drug tests would be held monthly for everyone to ensure that all bonus monies were paid out for legitimate hits/strikeouts. Imagine the fierce spirit of competition if baseball players actually had to earn their large salaries (merit based pay? what a novel idea....why didn't I think of that?)

I, for one, would pay to see a game played under such conditions. What about you?  (Perhaps we could start a petition and send it to the Commish? Oh, wait, the Commish is Bud Selig, what was I thinking????)

.... Adrian Beltre hits his first home run. Not like it's been a long time or anything (unless you count all of the ones he hit in the WBC), just last season is all.  He has been more patient and hitting better the last week or so, so this may be a hopeful sign that he will at least start hitting up to his career average (even THAT is a lot better than being barely over the Mendoza line, which he has  been since opening day).

....Eddie Guardado comes in for a save situation and doesn't blow it. Don't get me wrong, it was nail biting time when he got the bases loaded with only one out. But he dug down deep somewhere and got the next two batters out without the O's adding on any runs and/or winning the game.   Maybe this will be a confidence booster for him and he'll be emotionally and physically ready the next time they need him (hopefully it won't be two weeks from now) and get the job done a little more easily for all involved.

....Mike Hargrove took the team to task rather forcefully after their loss to the O's on Friday, something he has been needing to do since about the middle of the first week of the season.  They are actually only 2.5 games back of the A's and the Angels and a half game back of the Rangers, but all that says is how bad the entire AL West has been this season, because the A's and Angels are only playing .500 ball. At this rate, the AL West will be this year's version of last year's NL West, the division winner being at or slightly below .500--how bad is that for what has traditionally been the best division in baseball?  I think Hargrove has been too mild mannered to date--bring the attitude to the team early and often, until they wake up and develop a winning attitude of their own. The Mariners have been too totally lacksadaisical for the past two seasons, it's time to shake off the lethargy and play like you mean it.

....The Mariners actually got a run before the seventh inning in yesterday's game with the O's, and actually got 6 in one inning (the sixth).

....Felix Hernandez finally won his first game. He's still a little shaky out there, and looks like he might need some more time in the minors unless Raffy Chaves can get inside his head and straighten it out a bit.

....Mark my words, Gil Meche is on borrowed time.  He obviously doesn't have any more options, so they can't send him down again, and his trade value is questionable at best, but they can sure send him into the bullpen--and he might actuallly even be effective in a middle relief role.

Here's to the fourth week being better than the first three.