According to Hickey:

The Mariners have reportedly looked at the three available White Sox pitchers -- Jon Garland, Jose Contreras and Javier Vazquez -- the Reds' Kyle Lohse, the Giants' Matt Morris, Jason Johnson of the Rockies and Octavio Dotel of the Royals, among others.

Should someone tell Hickey that Jason Johnson has been pitching for the Seibu Lions and the last time Jason Johnson took the mound for the Colorado Rockies was never?

Even the best closers of all-time have had a miserable day at the office. Just don't make a habit of it.

Oh, and it's high time someone passes a letter to Guillen informing him that Mike Scioscia's BFF is Raul Ibanez and let nature take it's course. Yes, he had a lucky day at the plate, but his inability to cover ground in LF cost the M's an early run and potentially/probably ruined the J.J. streak.

And yes, I know that's far fetched, but Raul's an easy target.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA /deep breathe HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

At least Ken Rosenthal says so. Also adds a deal could be done tonight. I've got mixed feelings on this. Part of me says a rubber armed Weaver on a one or two year deal could be a pretty nice signing. The other part of me saw what he did in LA last year. Please Bavasi, don't give him an albatross.

Rockies acquired Rodrigo Lopez in exchange for RHP Jim Miller and RHP Jason Burch.

Rockies gave up nothing of value although Lopez could be a disaster in Coors.

I've been dealing with one of those internal monologues on whether or not I wanted to post these next few articles. My general feeling was that I was being too negative. I wasn't necessarily happy with the fact I couldn't think of anything good to write and the age old adage of "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" kept ringing in the back of my head. Needless to say, rational thought won out and this will be the first of a few posts that look beyond the disastrous off-season and into 2007 and beyond. So without further ado...

Ichiro is, well, Ichiro. He's an amazing talent on the field and he's the most marketable player the M's have had since Junior. He helped a Mariner nation forget about A-Rod, RJ and Junior. Through a variety of ways, he's made a ton of cash for the owners. His influence opened the door for other Japanese players to make their pilgrimage to the Major Leagues more than any other player before him. Quite simply, he's the best investment and player the team could have ever hoped for.

At 33, Ichiro has made it very clear that winning is his top priority. Last off-season, for the first time in his tenure, we caught wind that Ichiro was unhappy. We learned that he felt the team lacked leadership (without naming names) and a commitment to winning. He's made the comment that he doesn't know how much time he has left in baseball and how he wanted to play for a contender before he was done playing. Of course, he mention that he wanted the M's to be a contender.

Ichiro's as frustrated as he's ever been and, I believe, there is a good chance that Ichiro will be playing elsewhere in 2008. Here's why:

• Ichiro's agent, Tony Attanasio, mentioned earlier in the off-season that he will not approach the Mariners about a contract extension for Ichiro. He made it clear that they would listen, but they were comfortable going into the season without a new contract. Bavasi rarely talks about contracts with the media and is really good about defusing those contract questions so it's impossible to know where the M's stand. I'm sure they will talk extension with him, but is it possible that Ichiro wants to try to win a ring in the Major Leagues before he retires and might seek greener pastures?
• Gary Matthews, Juan Pierre, JD Drew, Vernon Wells. $10 million, $9 million, $14 million, $18 million. Big money was given to center fielders this off-season and of course Carlos Beltran in the 2004 off-season (7 years, $119 million). While part of me wants to believe that Ichiro's slide to CF was because he was a team player and wanted to do whatever he could to help the team, I see his sudden willingness to slide over as a contract driven decision.

  Ichiro will make $13.5 million in the final year of his contract in 2007 (which by this markets standards, turns out to be a bargain). If the CF market stays similar to what it was this season, how much is Ichiro worth going forward? 3 years, $54 million? What about 4 years, $80 million? Ichiro fills two key roles for a ball club (CF and leadoff) and is one of the best at both. Who knows what he might fetch on the open market and you better believe his agent is fully aware of that.

  And what about a hometown discount? The M's didn't get one last time and with the current pathetic state of the organization; definitely don't expect one this time around.

• Adam Jones and Jose Guillen. The 21 year old CF is one of the bright spots in this team's future and he'll be starting his second season in AAA this season. If his progression continues on the same path, he could be ready to start collecting full time AB's by the end of the year or at worst, the start of the 2008 season.

  Jose Guillen was brought in to fill the void created by Ichiro shifting to CF for 2007. He's a risk, but if his elbow is healthy and he puts together a solid season, the M's hold a mutual option for 2008.

  How does this factor into the M's decision making process? They have a young kid who is just waiting in the wings and a RF on the roster with an option for 2008. If Ichiro starts to price himself out of the M's market and does decide to move on, they've got options.

• The 2008 budget is already tight, with nearly $64 million paid to nine players (including YuBet). Factor in the likely multi-year deals or significant raises to guys like Putz, Lopez, Betancourt, Broussard (if he's still here), Ramirez and your easily approaching the $75 million-80 million mark on thirteen players. Throw in the possible Reitsma and Guillen options and you're closer to $90 million.

  Yes, a lot can happen between now and the end of next year. Salaries could be dealt or added, signed or released. But assuming that everyone who is currently under contract for 2008 returns, there isn't a lot of wiggle room in the budget.

• There will be a new front office staff and manager in 2008. Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment. While this team could surprise and win 90+ games this season, it's just as likely that the club struggles to win 70+. Let's assume that we split the difference and this team wins 80 games. That's not going to allow Bavasi and Hargrove to keep their jobs and the possibility remains that Lincoln and even Armstrong get the boot.

  With a new front office, will they share the same affinity with Ichiro? Will they want to take the front office in a new direction and shape the team in their own vision? Will Ichiro be a part of that vision? These are all questions that no one has the answer for. Hell, I'm not so sure that if the team collapses, that Ichiro will still be here in August.

It's difficult to envision a Mariner's team without Ichiro at the top of the line-up card and patrolling the outfield. While I've always been a fan and will always be a fan of Ichiro, I'm not so sure that signing Ichiro to a large extension is currently in the best interest of the team. With the current internal options that are available and the difficulty that may arise with the payroll constraints, it may be difficult to justify giving a 33 year old a long-term deal. But then again, the marketability that Ichiro brings to the M's is huge.

Will the M's make a baseball decision or will the M's make a business decision? Or better yet, does Ichiro even want to return? Time will tell.

Update [2007-1-12 17:5:7 by Trent]: There is a Japanese article today that apparently talks about Ichiro leaving at the end of the season. I can't read Japanese and the internet translation is almost as difficult to decipher as the Japanese itself. I personally didn't see this article until about thirty minutes after I posted this morning, so my intent wasn't to start a mass panic thread. Just something to think about.

Normally, this news would be considered diary worthy. But as I said in a comment the other day, misery loves company so lets pour some more salt in the wounds.

John Thomson agreed to a one year, $500,000 (plus incentives) contract with the Blue Jays today. $500,000. It didn't cost them a multi-year deal. Or their best reliever. It cost them about $50,000 more than what the M's will be paying Horacio Ramirez this year. And $7.5 million less than what they will pay Batista. And about $100,000 more than the M's will pay Baek and Woods (whoever wins the 5th spot).

162 Game Averages (per career stats):
Thomson - 202.0 IP, 222 H, 127/58 K/BB, 4.69 ERA
Batista - 161.3 IP, 165 H, 101/69 K/BB, 4.46 ERA
Ramirez - 208.3 IP, 212 H, 99/80 K/BB, 4.13 ERA

All three are GB pitchers. All three are average pitchers. None of the three are anyone to get really excited about.

Just one costs a whole lot less than the others. Good times.

Update [2007-1-11 14:20:19 by Trent]:: Just to update this post, Thomson will actually earn a base salary of $1.5 million if he makes the roster out of spring training, with the possibility of earning between $4-5 million in incentives if he pitches all year. This doesn't change my opinion of the deal one bit. It's a terrific signing by the Jays and if they do in fact pay him between $4-5 million, it means he pitched above expectations and will still be a bargain in this market.

The favorites make it and rightfully so.

According to ESPN, the M’s and Chris Reitsma have come to terms on a one year $2.05 million contract (includes 2008 option buyout) with a club option for 2008. He also has the ability to earn performance bonuses in both 2007 and 2008.

Reitsma is similar to all the other pitchers the M’s have brought in so far this offseason, in that he’s nothing spectacular, is a groundball pitcher and has a lot of questions surrounding him. Last year, Reitsma sucked. Twenty five percent of his fly balls went for homerun’s and the guy struggled to get anyone out. His K/9 was a lovely 4.18 and his K/BB rate was an abysmal 1.63.

In July, he underwent a season ending surgery called ulnar nerve transposition to repair a condition known as ulnar neuritis which is caused when the ulnar nerve in the elbow becomes compressed and creates numbness and sometimes pain in the fingers. In this particular case, an ulnar nerve transposition procedure (which Reitsma underwent) moves the ulnar nerve into a new tunnel of tissue created from the flexor muscles in the forearm in the hope of relieving the pressure being placed on the nerve itself. Whether he battled the problem all year or not is obviously a concern, but one would hope that the issue has been resolved.

From what I understand, Reitsma should be ready for the start of spring training and if he can somehow rebound from surgery and his disastrous 2006 season and pitch like the pitcher he was in 2004 and 2005, he’ll be useful. He posted solid 6.78 and 5.19 K/9 rates in ’04 and ’05 (respectively) and averaged 3 K per BB over both seasons as well. Factor in the defensive infield upgrade from Atlanta to Seattle. Whether or not he can rebound from last year remains to be seen, but at least the M’s aren’t going to be paying him a lot of money to find out.

There were cheaper options out there, but knowing what we know about this FO, there was very little chance that they would've taken a cheap risk when they could've paid a little more for someone with some name recognition. Would I have signed him to the deal he got, no. But there were much worse options available.

He’s not going to replace Rafael Soriano in the bullpen, but at $2.05 million in 2007, he’s got a good chance at possibly being the best free agent signing Bavasi made this offseason. Which makes me wonder if that illustrates Reitsma’s possible potential or just how bad this offseason has been.

It's been pretty boring in Marinerland over the past couple weeks, especially since Bavasi hasn't found any mediocre free agents to overpay or declining veterans to trade for. This was the perfect time for Jeff to take his vacation, spending four weeks gallivanting around Europe rarely, if ever, thinking about Mariner baseball while the rest of us still cautiously check sports websites throughout our day hoping that there won't be any new Mariner news.

So with the lack of any new Mariner related news or topics, there hasn't been much for those handling the reins of LoL to talk about. Which leads us to today's post. Yesterday, Positive Paul and I were passing time at our respective jobs shooting the collective breeze when Paul made up a humorous Mariners baseball slogan (listed below) and an idea struck me like JJ Putz fastball to the temple. I figured that with today being a Friday on a short work week following the holidays, it would be a good idea to have a little creative fun and allow everyone to release their frustrations from the current offseason (and even past few seasons) and create their own version of what they believe the 2007 Mariners slogan should be.

So have fun. Here are a couple thrown out there to get those creative juices following:

"Mariners baseball..."

• "The sound of one-hand clapping." - courtesy of PositivePaul
• "You'll come for the Willie." - courtesy of PositivePaul
• "My, oh my." (Actually, this was last years actual quote and it ironically fits)
• "If the raw fish in the IchiRoll doesn't kill you, the baseball will."
• "What a show...of incompetence."
• "Haven't you had enough?"
• "Sodo Notto." - (Weak translation - Baseball south of downtown smells like crap).
• This is more of a TV commercial but allow me to set the scene anyway.

  An older woman is sitting in a rocking chair watching a Mariner game. The camera zooms in on the television, showing the bases loaded with Mariners and Adrian Beltre up to bat. The opposing pitcher makes his pitch the screen goes black, the crack of a bat is heard. Dave Niehaus' excited voice follows with:

  "Get out the rye bread and the mustard, Grandma," and the television screen comes back only to show an Adrian Beltre foul out to the first baseman to end the inning. Niehaus continues:

  "and invite the family over for Matlock reruns over salami sandwiches and save them the $200-300 they would've spent at the ballpark."

• "Get all of it...and then wish you could give it all back."
• "Come for the baseball, leave with narcolepsy."
• Enter Don LaFontaine's voice - "Every so often a team of destiny emerges to take the nation by surprise. No, it's not the Mariners; I'm just making an open-ended statement. But please come spend your money anyway."
• "45% of the time, we win everytime."