Heh.

ＷＢＣ日本代表候補のマリナーズ・イチロー外野手（３５）が１１日、神戸スカイマークスタジアムで４日ぶりとなる自主トレを行った。姿を見せなかった理由に７日、ブルペンで行った５６球の投球練習を挙げた。「肩がパンパンになって動けなくなった。調子こいてピッチングしたらエライことになった」と苦笑い。ただ外野ノックでは本塁にダイレクトストライク返球と、元気なところを見せていた。

　［2009年2月11日17時10分］

http://www.nikkansports.com/baseball/wbc/2009/news/f-bb-tp0-20090211-459602.html

 

Apparently Ichiro didn't show up to practice for 4 days after pitching off a mound. He explains that his shoulder swelled up and he couldn't move.

 

"My shoulder swelled up and I couldn't move. I pitched a little hard and I paid for, " Ichiro said.

 

For the relief of like two of you out there, other articles say he'll stick to being an outfielder.

Joking? No.

ブルペンに入り力強い投球を披露するマリナーズ・イチロー＝スカイマーク

ＷＢＣ日本代表候補のマリナーズ・イチロー外野手（３５）が７日、神戸市内のスカイマークスタジアムでブルペン入りし、５６球の投球練習を行った。「今日はそれが目的で来ました。遊びじゃない」。その言葉通りに１４０キロ超えの速球を連発。延長タイブレーク制があるＷＢＣでの緊急登板を見据えて、「備え」にも余念がないイチローだ。

Translation: Ichiro throws 56 pitches in the bullpen. Busts out his fastball to the tune of around 90 MPH. "I ain't shittin' you today. This is fuckin' serious," Ichiro said. Reports say he also busted out a forkball.

"I expect to be closer for the Mariners," continued Ichiro. "Roy Corcoran? Tyler Walker? They traded J.J. for a 4th outfielder and a pair of socks. WTF. I'm just making sure we're better than that."

With extra non-translation translations...

Daily Sports

Baseball star Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in 2003, sources tell Sports Illustrated.11 minutes ago from CNN Alert cnnbrk CNN Breaking News

In 2003, when he won the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player award as a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids, four sources have independently toldSports Illustrated.

Rodriguez's name appears on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's '03 survey testing, SI's sources say. As part of a joint agreement with the MLB Players Association, the testing was conducted to determine if it was necessary to impose mandatory random drug testing across the major leagues in 2004.

When approached by an SI reporter on Thursday at a gym in Miami, Rodriguez declined to discuss his 2003 test results. "You'll have to talk to the union," said Rodriguez, the Yankees' third baseman since his trade to New York in February 2004. When asked if there was an explanation for his positive test, he said, "I'm not saying anything."

http://twitter.com/cnnbrk/statuses/1186482707

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/07/alex-rodriguez-steroids/index.html?eref=T1

Oh my. Can't wait to see this after the whole Madonna thing too.

 

Via Jayson Stark...

 

The Phillies have agreed to a three-year contract with free-agent outfielder Raul Ibanez, pending a physical. The deal is believed to be worth $30 million over three years.

Raul Ibanez

The 36-year-old Ibanez will become the Phillies' new every-day leftfielder, and his signing means the Phillies no longer will pursue their long-time leftfielder,Pat Burrell, who is also a free agent.

 

Ibanez had drawn significant interest from a number of teams, including the Cubs, Mets, Angels and Braves. But he had been sending signals through friends that the Phillies were his first choice. And the Phillies stepped up their efforts to sign him Thursday after it became known that the Angels were also negotiating the parameters of a deal with Ibanez as their No. 1 alternative if they lost out in efforts to sign Mark Teixeira.

Draft Picks!

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3764268

Not a big surprise, but this article by Olney (which is actually about the Yankees sucking at developing youth talent) has an interesting set of numbers for us to munch on...

Hitters and ABs from Homegrown Talent

T-28th out of 30 MLB Teams

Mariners

13

3,268

Pitchers and IPs from Homegrown Talent

T-27th out of 30 MLB Teams

Mariners

15

2,375

Now, the numbers aren't really absolute. The numbers lack International FAs and other non-June Draft picks. And in both categories, the M's are sandwiched by other competitive teams, such as the Twins, Indians, Phillies, Tigers and Dodgers.

But it's interesting, to say the least.

I think.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=3589629

BEIJING (AP)—A marquee pitcher such as Boston’s Daisuke Matsuzaka wearing Japan’s colors come 2016: That’s the image international baseball organizers are conjuring in their efforts to get the sport back on the Olympic program.

Okay, so the idea is that they're trying to get MLB to lend their players during the pennant run to play in the Olympics, much like the NPB now does.

(Have I mentioned recently that Team Japan under Hoshino totally sucks?)

Anyways, I'm not a big fan of the idea. Disrupting league play for an international event like a better designed WBC makes sense, but the IBAF simply doesn't know how to pull it off. I'm not even a fan of tournament baseball for MLB-level baseball. 

The Olympics simply isn't the highest level of the sport/

SURPRISE, Ariz. – Erik Bedard’s grace period ended Wednesday afternoon, amid the light desert air and beneath a high sky, a soft breeze angling toward right field, in a place where fat fastballs and imprecise curveballs hold no true significance.

EDIT: It's 4 AM JST. I can't read worth shit.

Basically, writer decides to write bloated article on how Bedard has been shittacular this spring, making it sound like our trade was a hunk of crap. At least, it sounds like that when it's 4 AM and you're inexplicably awake at that time.

Huh?!

Continue reading this post »

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3193556

Yeah, boring day. Basically, Braves send a pitcher, A's eat cash and send back oft injured player.

Continue reading this post »

Video of Bavasi Talkin' Poo

What you thinks? Jones as the ONLY offensive change? Horacio Ramirez a worthy cause? Willing to only trade relievers?

Huh?

(I didn't actually watch the whole thing. Stole some notes from DOV. Thanks M-Pops)

Continue reading this post »

Via the Late Show with David Letterman...

http://rawstory.com//news/2007/Letterman_Show_George_W._Bush_vs_0928.html

According to Dave, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad briefly played shortstop for our Seattle Mariners...!

Continue reading this post »

*Caveat: Not actual prediction I will be held responsible for.

But I do believe that the M's 2008 will be similar to... The 2004 Kansas City Royals.

In 2003, the Royals pulled an 83-79 record out of their ass. The world looked on as awe, thinking that the Royals' first record above .500 in 9 years would signal the end of the spiraling mediocrity in KC.

Then they lost 310 games in 3 years.

Accounting for CG (Crappy GM), VORP (Valueless-Veteran over Replacement-Level Player), ERA (Exonerate Ramirez transAction) and FIP (Fuckup Independent Powerplays), I would guess the M's will...

Not get enough upgrades

"Oh, Sexson will bounce back and we'll leave Ibanez in LF even though he runs like a glacier."

-Bill Bavasi

Cut the wrong black holes

"Well, see ya later Lopez. Hope you have a good time with your brother."

-John McLaren

Overpay for mediocrity, underpay for superiorty

"We felt our 8 million dollar offer for Uehara was fair, given his situation as a non Major League (TM) player. And the Twins didn't seem to think Willie Bloomquist was a hall of famer, like [Johan Santana]. So, we have acquired Jon Garland for Wladimir Balentien, Jose Lopez, Jeff Clement, George Sherrill and Adam Jones as a throw in."

-Howie & Chuckie

Mmm, you gotta love these guys!

A failed attempt by humor by IceX.

Continue reading this post »

M's fans fear addition of further WAR EXPERIENCE!

Poll

Who will the M's trade to Atlanta for Bob Wickman?

2%

Jeff Clement

2 votes

2%

Tony Butler

2 votes

7%

Wladimir Balentien

5 votes

0%

Jose Lopez

0 votes

14%

Carlos Truinfel

10 votes

14%

Willie Bloomquist

10 votes

11%

Austin Bibens-Dirkx

8 votes

28%

Combination of X of the above

19 votes

10%

Adam Jones

7 votes

5%

Chris Tillman

4 votes

67 votes | Poll has closed

Continue reading this post »

World Yawns.

The Oakland Athletics are engaged in serious negotiations with the Los Angeles Dodgers about pitcher Joe Blanton, a 26-year-old right-hander who would help fill in the injury-ravaged L.A. rotation if the deal is completed. One person familiar with the talks doesn't think a deal will be struck, but the teams are currently talking.

LaRoche, Kemp, Kershaw being mentioned.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2955237

Cupcakes!

C'mon, who drinks only two beers at a game? Especially if Jeff Weaver is pitching?

Other National Media M's Prods included!

"Put down another K for Beltre's at-bat, Josh." And we also teach them valuable social skills such as shouting "You suck, Adrian!" at Beltre after he strikes out AGAIN with runners on second and third and two out. Brought to you by the occasionally Steve Kelly Infected Jim Caple.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/070425&sportCat=mlb

Three Hundred Character Minimum Is Detrimental To The Production of Intelligent and Interesting One Liners.

Its on the right side here...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/preview?gid=270407205

I don't like throwing in the towel, but Mateo is the most expendable...

Wahahaha. The Wrath of Mateo.

Coming Sunday.

To a TV near you.

Rambling to meet limits.

Still trying to get there.

Not quite there yet.

Hey guys.

So.

We're thinking...

Auction for top 50 (or 60... 50's just a cleaner number) players in the league.

Weekly Auction for ALL players on waiver wire.

100 LL dollars for first draft, additional 100 for waiver wire.

20 teams.

6 keepers.

What thinks you all?

And we still need eight more players.

The Roster Today:

IcebreakerX
Fett42
Scruffy Lefty
Garces
Coach Owens
i want junior
John Morgan
Matthews
JDS
Frerken
mabalasek

Let's get this off the ground, eh?

Hey all,

Was just wondering if there would be some interest for a keeper and/or dynasty league.

Though it'd be tough for me to administer it, I wouldn't mind trying again. I used to run leagues at SportSpot as well and still work as a sub-commissioner on SS's main keeper league.

Please post if there's any interest. Any help commissioning would be great too.

Tee Hee.

Aaron's announcement that he was signing with Seattle caught many by surprise.

Classic Jim Caple.

Bringing the West Coast Bias to ESPN since... I don't remember. Anyways, always good stuff.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=caple/070208&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2

Cold Plate Special: Miguel Batista, M's

Let's leave aside the easy pickings; plenty's already been written about the bizarre contracts that Gil Meche's and Jason Marquis' agents were somehow able to extract from presumably intelligent general managers. Here's one that's been mostly under the radar this winter ...
Miguel Batista turns 36 next month. Over the last three seasons, he started 64 games, and his ERA in those 64 starts was 4.73. He's a decent innings-eater, and of course there's some value in that quality alone. But a three-year deal for $25 million from the Mariners, who will be lucky to finish as high as third place at any point in those next three years? Mediocrity comes at a high price these days, and only contenders can justify that cost.

And in an article about Matsuzaka, nonetheless.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/hotstove06/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=2733626

Poll

Who will be better in 2007?

75%

Daisuke Matsuzaka

89 votes

24%

Miguel Batista

29 votes

118 votes | Poll has closed

You don't fucking make GMs work with a gun to their head or their asses on the line.

Kill or be killed. That is the only thing that happens on the battlefield of baseball.

Bill Bavasi has been killed the last three years. It doesn't matter if year 1 wasn't his fault, because he didn't fix year 2 or 3 either.

Bavasi needed to have the door shown to him the day the season ended, along with Hargrove.

And with that, I give you a post from earlier in the year by the most honorable Mariner Wheelhouse...

Building a Fly or Rebuilding on the Fly?

The Mariners have been insisting they could rebuild on the fly - given the team's resources it wasn't necessary to go through a teardown as Cleveland was doing under Shapiro.

I think that may have been theoretically possible, but if so the management team was not up to the task. The Mariners have stumbled through three successive last place finishes - a period of performance that rivals the worst stretches in team history. And despite three years of "rebuilding", the fabric of the team yet has tatters, frays, and some gaping holes in embarassing locations.

The biggest hole, of course, is the starting rotation. Had the Mariners fully committed to rebuilding and traded away some of the now faded and gone vets while those players had value, it's likely we would be talking about the young pitchers the Ms have who will be competing in ST to be #2/#3 starters instead of competing for #5/long relief. We wouldn't be pinning our hopes on giving huge contracts to pitchers who likely have passed their glory days, but will be paid for the next to three to five years for what those pitchers were two to three years ago.

We would be sitting here thinking about how Matz would be the last piece to fill out an awesome rotation, not about how he would plug one of the holes. And the Mariners would have the money to go out and get Matz without needing to worry about other holes that need to get filled.

A Peckian View of the Mariners?

"Life is difficult." That's Scott Peck's opening sentence in his excellent book, "The Road Less Travelled". Peck goes on to say that once you accept that life is difficult, the difficulties become less, but if you try to evade difficulties, the problems only intensify.

In "The Road Less Travelled", Peck describes how many people in life, when faced with a painful decision, try to evade the necessary pain and instead find a less painful expedient to address the problem. But the expedient doesn't solve the problem, and because the problem isn't solved the problem comes back again. And since the problem has festered, the pain of dealing with it is greater than it had been previously. Some people will yet again look for a less painful way out so they can avoid the pain of dealing with the basic problem, and the cycle continues until the person finally does deal with the situation or utter disaster befalls.

Scott Peck would recognize our current version of the Mariners. He would see the decision to "rebuild on the fly" for what it was - an attempt to solve a problem while evading the pain of doing what was needed. The Mariners admitted the expediency - they admitted they were avoiding the pain of a rebuild - and rationalized with the hubris of believing they were smarter than other teams in baseball.

So, consider the question. Have the Mariners truly recognized their problems and addressed them? Have the Mariners admitted that they're really not smarter than other teams? Are the Mariners willing to admit that, in fact, they might just be mediocre in building a MLB club? Would the Mariners even consider the possibility that if teams such as Kansas City, Cincinatti, and Pittsburgh had the same payroll as the Mariners, there wouldn't be any real differences between the Mariners and those teams?

The man who is most likely to be deceived is the man who believes he cannot possibly be deceived. If the Mariners can't admit the possibility that almost every other team in baseball is consistently generating better results with less resources - not just Oakland and Minnesota, but at least half the teams in baseball - there's a pretty good chance that hubris yet reigns at Royal Brougham.

Three years was enough to test Bavasi's prowess as GM, like MW has said in other places.

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=sports&d=20061129&a=20061129-00000001-nks_fl-base

More later. I'm at work.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

"This is a dream job with a team that's going places, a team that's definitely in championship contention," Speier said Tuesday on a conference call. "It was an opportunity I could not pass up. It was intriguing to me when they came calling."

Speier will earn $3.75 million next season, $4.25 million in 2008, $4.75 million in 2009 and $5.25 million in 2001.

Link

Fun with typos! :D

The Hanshin Tigers have officially announced that Kei Igawa will be posted.

Following the postings of Matsuzaka and Iwamura, Igawa will be the third player posted for what looks like a record offseason for Japanese players crossing the Pacific Ocean.

As reported by the Daily Sports, the newspaper for all Hanshin fans.

http://daily.jp/newsflash/2006/11/10/0000163135.shtml

Rumors are flying about here in Japan that the top bid for Matsuzaka may not have exceeded 20 million dollars. There are also reports that the top post may have been too low for Seibu to accept.

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=sports&d=20061110&a=20061110-00000004-spn-spo
http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/hl?c=sports&d=20061110&a=20061110-00000056-sph-spo

If the posting fee was really that low, it's probably a result of teams like the Mariners and Dodgers running away like the pansies they are.

Matsuzaka. FA 2008? Possible.

Yamauchi. You better let the M's bid if Matsuzaka is on the market next winter.

All over Japanese reports.

Too Bad.

Iwamura has also been officially posted by the Yakult Swallows. Most are expecting the Padres to win.

The Hiroshima Toyo Carp are a professional baseball team in Japan's Central League. The team is primarily owned by the Matsuda family, led by Hajime Matsuda. Mazda is the largest single shareholder (34.2%), which is less than the portion owned by the Matsuda family (about 60%). Because of that, Mazda is not considered as the owner firm. However, the company connection is highlighted in the club name--until 1984, Mazda's official name was Toyo Kogyo Co., Ltd.

A poster by the name Spectator brought up this excellent point over at DOV...

I felt the need to amplify it.

Lowe had surgery on Oct. 6. Obviously they found out about the "bone on bone" situation then. Judging by the above, Cruceta was claimed on waivers on Oct. 11.

Wouldn't they have known that Lowe would probably start the year on the 60-day DL, in which case even if FC was out of options couldn't they have kept him on the 40-man roster at least until Lowe comes off and a roster spot is needed?

I'm asking: was there a need to put FC on waivers in Oct in terms of 40-man roster or could they have waited until spring? Like I said: please enlighten me.

This question requires a big answer. And the Mariners had Cruceta pegged for the bullpen anyways.

What the hell, eh?

US Military Definition of Cowardice

As a legal definition, according to Subchapter X, Section 899, Article 99 of the United States Uniform Code of Military Justice, cowardice is defined as "Misbehavior Before the Enemy" and includes such acts as:

Running away from an enemy; (Check)

Abandoning, surrendering or otherwise fleeing any post that the soldier is tasked with defending; (Check)

Willfully failing to do all within the soldier's power to fight or defend when it is his duty to do so, while in combat; (Check)

I would write some interesting stuff, but Mariner Wheelhouse already did an awesome job of doing so.

The Mariners run from the fact that they are a medium-high payroll team with the 5th largest market base available to them. They pretend as if they're not a team fully equipped to be able to match dollars to donuts with the Yankees on a few occasions.

Then they run from the opposite, of being a prudent and intelligent team to maximize the output of their dollars to runs. They fail to see that the Athletics and Twins run circles around them with a smaller payroll. They ignore the fact that the Cardinals, White Sox, Angels and other teams dance around.

The Mariners are cowards. They pretend that they have the secret formula, the way, the light, the treasure map, the holy grail. But they don't.

Audentes Fortuna Juvat - Favor the Bold

Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighter LH Reliever Okajima Hideki will apparently declare FA and is reported to want to cross the pacific. has declared FA status and will pursue a career in the MLB. Chances of Okajima remaining with the Fighters is considered low.

His stats this year for the NPB Champs...

54.2 IP, 55 G, 2 W, 2 L, 4 SV, 14 R, 13 ER, 63 K, 14 BB, 2.14 ERA

220 BF, 46 H, 5 HRA

Lefties hit a George Sherrill-esque .186 off of Okajima. Righties a more mortal, but acceptable, .254.

Okajima was traded to the Ham Fighters right before the season started from the Yomiuri Giants. With the Giants, he posted very similar stats the last 2 years, though with inflated ERAs.

Okajima will be 31 this Christmas Day. Pitches include fastball, curve and a forkball that he added this last season. The forkball from a lefty is pretty encouraging too, but the few reports I have report a wild-in-the-zone type pitcher. Curve is supposedly big, with the fastball clocked in the low 140s, good for about 85~90 MPH.

Personally, I think he might come in as a good LHP option behind Sherrill as a middle reliever. His stats in the Pacific League were pretty impressive and he might come in under the radar like Otsuka did a few years back.

Fuck.

Surgery performed last month on rookie Mark Lowe, the Seattle Mariners' minor league pitcher of the year and a midsummer big-league sensation, will keep the right-hander from pitching when the 2007 season begins.

...

?In essence, what they found was a bone-on-bone situation in my elbow,? Lowe said from his Arizona home. ?They did a procedure that helps with the regeneration of cartilage. Now the only thing I can do is rest and let the healing process occur.?

...

The medical staff monitoring Lowe say they won?t know for months how successful the surgical procedure was. In many cases, one doctor said, a type of cartilage regenerates and the player resumes his career.

In others, the injury is career-ending.

The Messenger