On this date two years ago, the Mariners named former Brewers vice president Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager. His defense-heavy approach resulted in a 24 win increase in his first season at the helm, though team scoring dropped by 31 runs. The Mariners won just 61 games and scored a mere 513 runs in 2010, the fewest by any team in the DH era. Unsurprisingly, there's already talk that Jack Z. is on the hot seat.
These links don't have to worry about being on the hot seat, they've made this week's edition of BBWI…
- Speaking of the Mariners, Prospect Insider discusses the possibility of trading Ichiro.
- DRays Bay speculates about what the Rays could get in return for Matt Garza.
- Meanwhile, The Process Report looks ahead to Tampa's 2011 bullpen.
- The Tao Of Stieb wonders if the Blue Jays should get involved in trade talks for Zack Greinke.
- Redleg Nation asks the same Greinke question for the Reds.
- The Friarhood debates whether the Padres should trade or extend Heath Bell.
- Disciples of Uecker re-lives the history of Nelson Cruz.
- Monkey With A Halo reviews Angels GM Tony Reagins' 2010 moves.
- Royals Review wonders if Robinson Tejeda turned the corner in 2010.
- Yankeeist breaks down Cliff Lee as he approaches his massive payday.
- River Ave. Blues writes that Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood have gone from spare parts to important pieces for the Yankees.
- Cubs Packs wants to know if Jim Hendry can fix the team's bullpen.
- 1 Blue Jays Way offers up a quick take on Toronto's options.
- The Hardball Times looks at some players whose best position is DH.
If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.
I don’t know about trading Ichiro. This is a franchise that has shown they can let go of cornerstones of their franchise (The Kid, A-Rod, Randy Johnson), but Ichiro is more than that. He’s kind of a mix of those guys (all-world talent) and Buhner (good but not elite talent, but still possibly THE fan favorite). I guess it comes down to if Ichiro wants to be traded. Let’s face facts, he’s an older guy, and the Mariners don’t appear that they’ll be able to take the AL West within the next couple years. If he wants to stay, then great. If not, I’d have to seriously consider offers…he still has high value even at his age, so it makes sense from a business perspective.
All that said, I understand fan sentimentality. I can look at most moves with a business eye, but I also make biased exceptions to my own rules. Seattle fans wanting to hold onto Ichiro is similar (but not the same) as me wanting to keep Jeter at all costs. I know there’s a LOT of difference between the situations…but how can I argue when my viewpoint isn’t exactly the most rational anyway?
Um….Ichiro is not a good guy. Pretty much all players that play with him can’t stand him and he has rubbed his last 2 managers the wrong way many times.
Ichiro is also very overrated as a player. Gets tons of hits but his OBP is never elite. He’s not close to being on the levels of A-Rod or Junior as far as talent.
Issue really isn’t if the Mariners want to trade him though. Ichiro has full no-trade rights now as he’s got his 10-5 rights (just completed his 10th ML season). So it’s all up to him.
Personally think the Mariners would find trading him very difficult. Guy makes way more than he should. I mean, a team like the yanks would work since they can absorb any salary pretty much, but not a ton of other teams out there with the pockets for him.
The difference with Ichiro is hes very loyal to the team Randy Johnson wanted to be traded because he thought the Mariners weren’t going to get him that title and JR wanted to play in Cincinatti. A-Rod wanted too much money but Ichiro has stated that he wants to stay with the mariners
Ichiro is not going anywhere, is the best hitter in the M´s, in the MLB, and maybe of all time, is great, I don´t think any package would be enough for Ichiro, is like Pujols or Josh Hamilton for the M´s
Best contact hitter, best overall hitter still goes to Pujols.
Ultimately I’m guessing Ichiro is worth far more to the Mariners than what a fair package could be got for him. That’s why they won’t trade him. Though it would be funny seeing the already pathetic Mariners offense without their best hitter.
Best hitter of all-time? yikes
Not even top 100. Maybe top 5 singles hitter of all time, but again, singles mean nothing more than a walk…especially when you’re hitting leadoff. Sooooooooo many better hitters in baseball history than Ichiro.
Ichiro has never been a top 5 hitter in baseball in any one season!
Except that one season where he totaled more hits than anyone, ever.
Hey man just a couple stats to throw out there…
Tony Gwynn played 19 seasons. he has 3141 hits and a career avg. of 338
Pete Rose played 23 seasons. has 4256 hits. .303 avg
Ichiro has played 10 seasons. 2244 hits. .331 avg
Ichiro racked up 1278 hits in 7 seasons in Japan. that’s 3522 hits in two fewer seasons than Gwynn. If he has 200 hits in his next 3 seasons, he will have 4122+ which is right next to Rose’s record in only 20 seasons. Anything that comes after those three seasons (it is said Ichiro wants to play well into his forties) will destroy Rose’s record and will be virtually untouchable.
Is Ichiro the best hitter in the MLB? not by a long shot. Is he in the top 100 in history? Absolutely. And in 3 years, we will see if he is not only in the top 5 singles hitters, but the number 1 singles hitter of all time.
Are you being facetious? You can’t possibly be serious when you call Ichiro the best hitter in MLB. And he’s not on the same level as Pujols and Hamilton.
Ichiro=consistency. He may be older but he’s delivering a level of consistency that few, if any, can match. He just finished his 10th year in the US. His career low BA was .303 back in 2005 and just last year at age 36 he hit .352. Sure he may not drive in runs, but he gets on base. Not to mention he had 42 steals this year.
I’d say the Mariners are crazy to get rid of him. It’s like they refuse to hold onto talent (Jr., A-Rod, Randy Johnson, Cliff Lee, Tino Martinez, Miguel Cairo, Rafael Soriano, Derek Lowe, Mike Hampton, Jason Veritek, and David Ortiz even though he was only a prospect at the time in ’96 and had a different last name). The list could go on further, but you get the point.
They’ve made decision after decision showing the baseball world that they refuse to pay to keep guys around. Instead they tend to make horrible trades that either just never work out or are only done to dump guys who are due for a pay raise. Hopefully they’ll recognize that Ichiro can continue to put up great numbers and will keep him around. If not, there are about 29 others teams that could benefit from him.
the yankeeiest brokedown Cliff Lee vaule…it’s scary…i hope his contract does not get that high…but i hope the Yanks get him…and hope he is great for most of his contract…
Same here coming from a die hard Yankee fan. I’m sorry CC but if the Yankees need to offer Lee 30 million a year to get him then it better so be it lol. He’ll be what 37, 38 when his deal expires so he’ll probably lose around 2 mph on his pitches but with his awesome movement and command he’ll still be great. I say that because look at Andy Pettitte. He’s 38 and look at the year he had and don’t get me wrong I as a 15 year long Yankee fan since I was 9 years old love Andy Pettitte but Cliff Lee is just better and I think he’s better then CC to be honest. I say sorry CC there because didn’t he want to be the highest paid pitcher in baseball. Well he was for 2 years at least lol.
Had to add this in here…today is Ichiro’s 37th birthday…kinda weird that this is appropriate for a different post entirely when there’s actually a post today about birthdays.
M’s have to suck it up like the Yanks have to do with Jeter. It doesn’t seem like his salary is crippling the M’s and preventing them from making other improvements. He’s also still very productive so he still helps the team. Hopefully they can rebuild the team into a contender before he retires.
Am i the only one who thinks that the Yankees hey day of spending massive amounts of money to every free agent is over? GMS has passed away and his kids are running the show and one of them really would rather play with horses and the other just wanted his dad happy, now that the “pressure to win” guy is not around the kids will have 2 options, one would be spend like their dad, or two they can look at all those zeros and go oooooh lets spend that on what i want, the team should do fine, watch how Cashman is going to go but…but..but.., seriously watch this prediction.
Beleive me the Yanks make a lot of money because they invest a lot of money. The fact that they are the Yanks and have mega star power and are always contending allows them to capitalize and make multiples off of what they spend with their network, etc. I think the sons will be “fiscaly sound” (please not the ” “) by not exceeding the range of 200-215 mil but they can play around that area for a while and field a good team. And if ppl pay attention they haven’t added signifigant amounts to the payroll as much as re-investing the salaries they had coming off the books.
another thing on top of that is the fact that they have a lot of money commited to players that goes up and up every year, and i mean a lot, which is why i think they are taking their farm a little more seriously, when the two sons look at what they have to pay and the end result in what they get to take into their bank account, this will be a different franchise with free agent spending, and this is not saying they wont keep Jeter and Mo, they will be around in pin stripes, but i bet Jeter doesnt get 25 million a year
Not sure who you’re refering to.
Arod topped out @ $32 mil in 2010 and goes down every year by at least $1 mil starting next year and end in 2017 @ $20 mil @ age 42.
Tex goes from $20 mil in 2010 and holds steady @ $22.5 from 2011 to the end of the contract in 2016 (age 36).
Sabathia holds steady at $23 from 2010-end in 2015 (age 35).
Burnett hold steady @ $16.5 mil from now until the end in 2013 (age 36)
Posada end in 2011 @ age 40.
Contracts that do go up are slight increases.
Cano goes from 2010 ($9 mil), 2011 ($10 mil), 2012 ($14 mil opt) and ends in 2013 ($15 mil opt) @ age 31.
Granderson goes from 2010 ($5.5 mil), 2011 ($8.25 mil), 2012 ($10 mil) and ends in 2013 ($13 mil opt) @ age 32.
Swisher goes from 2010 ($6.75 mil), 2011 ($9 mil) and ends in 2012 ($10 mil opt) @ age 32.
Gardner is under control. Cervelli and Montero will probably take over for Posada after 2011. Hughes and Joba are headed to arbitration soon. Jeter will probably have to take a slight paycut down from $21 mil. Mo will probably get the same annual of $15 mil in a 2/$30 mil deal.
2010: Nick Johnson, Vazquez = $17 mil off
2011: Posada, Pettite (assuming he doesn’t retire this year), Igawa, Marte = $31 mil off
Yanks definetly are trying to grow their own and hopefully they’ll have some options to turn to so they won’t have to spend wildly in 2012 and beyond.
i wish the Yanks would use some of there chips to get Hanely Ramirez…that would result in a better more productive ss for just 11 mil next year…and his salary tops out at 16 mil in 2014…a Stephen Drew would be even better in terms of dollars at least for two years…he will only get 5 to 5.5 mil in his second arb…a move like this makes more sense than resigning Jeter…but i haven’t heard anyone in the Yanks administration make any statements like they did when Johnny Damon and Hedeki Matsui were going to free agency…Is the Jeter brand so important to the Yanks that he is more important than actual wins…and who is going to buy his jersey and want him in comercials if he is not playing well…it baffles my mind.
And really MLBtraderumors? trade Ichiro? who next Felix? I believe the Mariners are going to try to pry Dice BB from the Red Sox to appease Ichiro and give him the WBC feel and maybe kick the team into a different gear, they had a horrile year but they will be better, the other guys left on different circumstances, JR and ARod hated each other and made ach other miserable but at the same time brought out their best, they werent going to click and it was one or the other, problem was they made the wrong(albeit right) choice and went with ARod who spurned them with FA, and Johnson left because he wanted more money and it was taboo to pay a pitcher what he wanted at the time, before Zito’s contract set a new standard for over paying.
The thing is, Mariners are re-building and realistically, how many good years does Ichiro have left? It’s going to take at least 3 years before they become a contender and Ichiro wouldn’t really be as good by then. If you think about it, he can provide great value and speed up the re-building process by getting blue-chip prospects who are MLB ready. You get a cheap young team with great talent.
But I can also understand Mariners keeping Ichiro. He is the face of that franchise and really loved there and sells tickets… so you just have to weigh the pros and cons and make a decision.
Ichrio being traded from the Mariners is like Albert Pujols being traded from the Cardinals, Derek Jeter being traded from the Yankees… You just CANT do that. You’re looking at a consistent player who has been one of the only guys to be able to produce SOME KIND OF OFFENSE (go ahead, people jump my case on that one) for a team who, lets face it, hasn’t had any offense apart from him. The chances Ichrio gets traded are about as good as the chances of Albert Pujols being traded.. I’m not saying Ichrio is as good as Pujols, or Jeter for that matter. But a guy whose been around for 10 years for one franchise and is capable of 200 hits per season, just isn’t given up in my mind.
I would love to see the Pirates offer a package of prospects to the Rays for Garza, as well as Jason Bartlett. The Pirates need serious upgrades in the rotation and at SS. The Rays currently have 6 starters to fill five spots, so one of their starters will be available this offseason. With the emergence of Reid Brignac, the Rays will be looking to shed Bartlett’s $4M+ salary for 2011. I think the Pirates should offer Jeff Locke, Quinton Miller, Diego Moreno, and Robbie Grossman for Garza and Bartlett.