So what's the deal with the Mariners PR/Marketing folks and Franklin Gutierrez?   It's bad enough we're playing poorly, the PR and Marketing efforts this season seem as ham-fisted as I can remember...   This FanPost is set off by today's email from the M's, which reads as follows:

Vote Ichiro and Griffey to the 2010 All-Star Team

May 24, 2010 – Ichiro Suzuki is one trip away from tying Ken Griffey Jr.'s club record 10 All-Star selections, and both Mariners are in position to extend their totals. After the first update of voting, Ichiro leads all American League outfielders and Griffey is third at designated hitter, according to figures released today. Keep voting for your favorite Mariners, including Ichiro, Junior, Guti and more at Mariners.com/vote!

Now I realize that Junior has a long and very real legacy here.  I understand he's got name recognition.  I clearly understand that many fans will "vote for Junior" because they remember him in is prime. 

But Franklin Gutierrez is in his prime.  He is going to be here (at least we hope) for years to come.  How in the world can they be so short-sighted as to not be building major campaigns around him?  In fact if I were Guti, I'd be awfully frustrated by the ridiculous handling of this all...

Griffey Bobble Heads:  3 (!!!)   vs. Guti: 0

Griffey Addtional Promo events:  2 (T-shirts, and Caps) vs. Guti 2 (T-shirt and Poster) 

A truly cynical part of me believes that part of the pressure to keep Griffey is coming just because all these promotional nights were put on the calendar before the season began.  This is horrible planning by a Marketing/Events team that is sleepwalking through it's job.  It's a pervasive failure -- not only did they make pre-season mistakes (promotional nights) they're compounding it with in-season mistakes (passing mention of "Guti" in todays mail, while trumping up Junior's un-deserving candidacy).  

These clowns should get the axe. 

So there's been some discussion here and elsewhere about the challenge that Eric Bedard's return presents to the roster.  With Felix and Lee entrenched at the top of the rotation, you have Vargas, RRS, and Fister -- one of whom will be the odd man out.... But to me it seems crazy to force one of these guys out of the rotation--on a team full of replacement value bodies, why under utilize a genuinely valuable one?

So I ask -- why are we not trading a starting pitcher?  Soon.  If Bedard can be even a #5 pitcher, you have one too many starters and the current situation seems like it demands turning one into a catcher who can hit, or a corner infielder with pop.   San Francisco or San Diego might make good partners.  

Is this crazy?

John, 

This has been my second season mostly lurking here, but I wanted to be sure to say a huge THANK YOU for all the time you put into Field Gulls.   I learn something every time I come by, and I find the writing -- especially the details on OL and DL play -- to be fascinating and instructive...Please keep up your excellent work, and I think I speak for a lot of folks when I say we all enjoyed this pretty awful season a little more, because of the work you do.

Kudos!

Brian

From this link in the Times, Brian Russell is taking reps preparing to be the 3rd string quarterback for this weekend...  He was a QB in college thru his Junior year... 

Yeah, that's the ticket!  We replace him at Safety so he can get some reps with the offense!  It's not a benching, see?  It's an OPPORTUNITY!   Plus he can work out with our two kickers on our double-secret-dual-kicker trick plays.

Apologies if this was covered elsewhere, but why in the world did Perlazzo hold Ichiro at third base on Sunday?    It was 2 outs in the bottom of the 8th, Ichiro represents a KEY insurance run, and he's off on contact when Lopez doubled into the corner.  I'm watching on TV, and see the ball hit off two walls, and then the RF has a tiny bit of trouble picking it up.  With Ichiro flying from first, I thought there was 100% chance he'd score on the play, but he's held up at 3rd....

Did anyone who went to the game see why he was held?

After all the "aggressive baserunning" talk this year, this sure seems like the defining situation where you should be aggressive, yet he's held up.

What is Perlazzo thinking?

[Edit:  It's Eddie Rodriguez who's coaching third now, since Perlazzo's surgery]

Is this for real?

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