If Pat Gillick is coming back to Seattle as part of ownership change, perhaps he is thinking of bringing one of the Phillies top prospects with him? One rumor just posted has the Mariner scouting Carlos Carrasco for potential trade value. The article goes on to mention that the Phillies might be interested in Bedard. Anyone know anything about Carrasco? Hard to part with Bedard for anything not approaching what we gave up... Jones, Tillman and Sherrill. Seems hard to imagine we'll get anything like that. Apparently Mariner scouts will be in Philadelphia checking out some of the other prospects too.

Update: here is the original source for rumor.

I've been living in Boston for the past 6 years. A few weeks ago my wife and I went to see Felix pitch six shutout innings against the Red Sox in Fenway. That was a good day.

After the game we were leaving Fenway when a number of drunk Boston fans started chanting "Beat LA". I laughed and shook my head in disgust. My wife noticed and asked me why. This got us to talking about the nature of sports fans.

It has been hard these past few years watching Boston fans celebrate success after success of their local clubs. But the reaction to the recent Celtics success has been particularly hard to watch. I explained to my wife that it's hard for me to see all these bandwagon fans who for the past six years were absolutely silent about the Celtics all of a sudden come out of the woodwork and paint the city green. I haven't so much as had one conversation in the past six years with any Boston sports fan about the Celtics, but now this year, overnight, you can't walk down the street without seeing a sea of green t-shirts.

So this led to a discussion about exactly why this bothered me and I found myself struggling to explain. I recounted the the reasons why I've been a Mariners fan all these years even while living in Boston and watching everyone celebrate the RedSox and Patriot's successes all the while watching the M's flounder in the basement of their division.

I'm a Mariners fan now, because my Grandfather is. And because my cousins are and my uncles are. Because my whole family is from Washington and that is how I grew up. I can no more change my allegiance than I can change my family. And what's more, I love baseball.

My wife countered with something along the lines of, "But the team you were watching as a kid is gone! The team -now- is not the same team! And the current team... sucks. So why are you still a 'fan'?"

My reply? That's exactly backward! The team has not changed. The players have changed. Yes, the players are important and I have fond memories of many past Mariner players. But I have no emotional investment in the day-to-day play of Jamie Moyer for instance since he left the Mariners. And Jamie is my all time favorite Mariner. The same is true for dozens of former M's who are now playing for different teams. Sure I might look back fondly on certain guys (some more than others), but my team is still the Mariners.

All of this points to the title. For me, Ichiro is not the Mariners. He's a great player and my late Grandmother's favorite Mariner of all time. On the other hand, he is an aging player who is assuredly going to be declining in the next few years as almost all players do. And the M's are now all about the future. Or should be. That's why it is disturbing to see a frontpage post on U.S.S. Mariner which flat out disowns the mere thought of trading Ichiro, but nonetheless seriously entertains the idea of trading Felix.

And I've seen many similar sentiments expressed on this site and others as well. I get that some of this is just a response to certain anti-Ichiro articles in the media that place blame on Ichiro for the teams recent failures. But Ichiro, a thirty four year old right fielder who hits singles should be untouchable while Felix Hernandez who is still a kid and getting paid pennies is not?? And for a team in need of major rebuilding?? I just don't understand.

To be clear, I'm in favor of entertaining all serious offers. For any player. I think any front office that fails to do so is incompetent and deserves to be fired. Unlike some I don't think any current player should be completely untouchable. Now, whether I trust the current front office to pursue such offers is an entirely different matter!

For me, no one player is more important than the future success of this team. I enjoy watching Ichiro and don't want to see him go. He is currently one of the few remaining things that make the M's enjoyable to watch. However, he is not the Mariners. He's just a player and one that is getting older at that. It is just not clear that a future M's team with a real shot of postseason success can be put together with Ichiro as a central piece.

I was a Mariner's fan long before Ichiro came along and I'll be a Mariner's fan long after he is gone. For better or worse. I trust that holds for the majority of the people on this site who really don't have a choice in the matter either.

So ask yourself this, if the Mariners hired your personal favorite for GM and gave him the keys to the club and along came another Bavasi representing another club and offered up his choicest of Minor League prospects for Ichiro, wouldn't you want the offer to be seriously looked at?

The Yankees pitching sucks.  Joe Torre just inked a new contract, but I think it is at least possible that Torre's head will be on the block before long if the Yanks can't get out of the cellar.  Just look at how Steinbrenner is reacting now.  You can't blame A-Rod.  They won't blame Jeter.  I can see Torre becoming the scapegoat for the highest paid team in baseball sinking to the bottom over the course of the season.

Poll

Torre for Hargrove?

33%

Yes.

18 votes

28%

No.

15 votes

37%

Pie.

20 votes

53 votes | Poll has closed

"He had everything going on tonight. He was just impossible," Boston's David Ortiz said.

"There was no room for error the way Hernandez was throwing," Red Sox manager Terry Francona told reporters, calling the Seattle pitcher "borderline unhittable."

ESPN has "King of Fenway" on main page and someone reported "Dice King" too!

Continue reading this post »

Horacio Ramirez, it seems, has an arm attached to the left side of his body.

"A left-hander in our park is a good fit."

Sure, Bavasi also says that he is young and has "plus stuff" (cough cough), but he is the same age as Soriano who could also throw a pretty good baseball.  

Good to know we have a GM like Bavasi to spot these incredible nuances.  If only everyone would realize that Horacio has a left arm I'm sure everyone would see the wisdom in this move.

19th --> Cameron Nobles - RHP - Jackson HS

20th --> Johan Limonta - 1B - Miami Dade CC South

21st --> Brent Gaphardt - LHP - U Delaware

Jason Churchill has a rundown of the first day here.

USSMariner has some good posts on the first day too: here, here, and here

22nd --> Fabian Williamson - LHP - Kennedy HS
23rd --> Marcos Villezcas - SS - Brigham Young U
24th --> Terrence Parker - RHP - U Washington
25th --> Tyson Gillies - CF - R.E. Mountain SS
26th --> Gregory Moviel - LHP - Vanderbilt U
27th --> Bryan Ball - RHP - U Florida
28th --> Everett Collis - RHP - Cornell U
29th --> Gregory Nesbitt - LHP - James Madison U
30th --> Matthew Vogel - SS - Lewis and Clark St Col

Looks like the rumored trade that will have Livingston starting is on hold at the moment.

JasonAChurchill Says: April 24th, 2006 at 4:56 pm

Apparently, the Mariners want to start Bobby but until they have a spot for him they are claiming to "need someone who can get through 3 or 4 innings in relief.
"We don’t have any trades on the table at the moment and nobody is going on the DL anytime in the next few days, unless something happens tonight or tomorrow." Jason also says in comments and in a follow-up post that Livingston is not suited for relief work, but that they might use him there until the rumored trade goes down. I think Eddie just took a dump on this potential trade.

Update [2006-4-25 11:58:38 by manyoso]: This article seems pretty sure that Livingston has been called up for relief, NOT for a start: So far Livingston has done that, going 1-1 with a 2.12 earned run average in three starts with the Rainiers, walking just two in 17 innings. He becomes the Mariners' fourth left-handed reliever - joining Eddie Guardado, Jake Woods and George Sherrill - and will pitch in long relief situations.

"You don't see four left-handers in the bullpen very often," Hargrove said. "It doesn't matter if you throw left-handed or right-handed, if you throw strikes and get people out, that's OK."

Livingston is fine with that.

"It's tough at any level to throw balls and be successful," he said. "They've preached to us to get ahead strike one, then work your way from there. What I've always been able to do is throw strikes."

My guess as to what is going down:

This will be a Red Sox/Mariners trade.

Going to Boston: Eddie Guardado and Joel Pineiro.

Coming to Seattle: Matt Clement. Perhaps others.

The reasoning: Matt Clement has continued to struggle with his location while his K rate has never recovered from what it was in the NL. The Red Sox are looking for a way to start Papelbon in lieu of Wells/DiNardo, but they can not do that without finding another option for closer besides Foulke. Hence they get Eddie.

This allows Boston to start Pineiro and Papelbon instead of Clement and DiNardo.

The M's get rid of Eddie allowing either Putz or Raffy to take over as closer and seemingly sell Piniero at his high water mark. Perhaps other players are involved, but I'll bet this is the gist of the trade.

link

Beltre talk: Hargrove said he sat down with hitting coach Jeff Pentland and third baseman Adrian Beltre before Saturday's game to discuss Beltre's recent hitting woes. Beltre is batting .132, hasn't driven in a run this year and is 0-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

 "He needs to just try to be Adrian," Hargrove said. "Everyone has spells like that, where they want to do well so badly that they don't do well."

 But Hargrove said he liked Beltre's final two at-bats in Friday night's game.

 In the fifth inning, with Richie Sexson on second base following a leadoff double, Beltre worked a seven-pitch at-bat against Curt Schilling before grounding out to shortstop, a play that advanced Sexson to third. Then, in the seventh, Beltre hit the ball hard, drilling an opposite-field fly to right that was caught by Wily Mo Pena.

 "Those were really good, solid at-bats with good approaches," Hargrove said. "It was really encouraging."

I wonder how Grover feels after today's game where Beltre went without a hit or BB.  To be fair, I can't blame Grover or Pentland for Beltre's AA batting, but I CAN blame him for wasting the 5th spot in the lineup on him.

It is time to move Adrian.  I don't care at this point what his problem is.  Some people think it is all in his head.  Others think 2004 was a fluke.  I personally think his eyesight has diminished.  Whatever.  It is time to move him in the lineup and appreciate him for the way he plays 3rd unless/until he can figure it out.

The Yanks are playing the A's tonight and if the Yanks win we're going to be occupying first place all by ourselves in the AL West...

But, isn't it morally evil to hope the Yankees win?  I am really wrestling with this.

1. 
   
2. Hope the hated Yanks win thereby giving the M's sole title to first place in the AL West.  Especially given we face a series against the A's next...
   
3. Hope the hated Yanks lose which is morally correct, but then we have to share first with the A's...
   

What to do... What to do??!!