GEOFF, what do you think the Silva acquisition does for the prospects of landing Santana? Does in become as likely as the chances of getting Bedard?

ScottM

I can't believe this signing, we have the stupidest GM in Baseball, Minnesota was offering 3 years 18 million for him, why the heck give him 12 million a year for a below average or average pitcher. Bill Bavasi you guarenteed yourself that I won't be going to another M's game next season until you are removed you piece of trash!

I think it's a good pickup that can really help our bullpen in the long run. Who cares how much money they spent - it's their money and it's right around market value. It would be nice to hear the sweet sounds of Santana next!

Kevin...But let me guess...you were a BIG Kuroda supportor right?!

Kuroda in the AL would of been like Igawa stats, but in the NL will be closer to DiceK stats.

Now a Bedard signing, with buying out his 2008 & 2009 arbitration years & extending him an extra 4 years to 2013...and we can BUILD around that rotation!

Next offseason with Sexson/Ibanez/Vidro/Johjima gone...saving $31.5M...will get us Texeira @ 1B with TONS of money to spare to fill any other holes we "might" have in 2009.

I would even take a flyer on Colon this year on an incentive laden deal with a team option year for 2009!

Even with Bedard, we arent going anywhere in 2008, but 2009 & beyond will be another story!

AND "if" somehow Bavasi can pull off trading for Bedard without giving up Jones & Clement...which is the latest rumor I've heard...I'd say that we'll be a competetive team in 2008, despite NOT making it to the playoffs...but LOOKOUT next offseason with Texeira, I think Seattle will be willing to match any offer that he gets out there!

Reports say Mark Prior is looking for a 1 year deal.

Similar to the Mariner's offseason past, do you think the signing of Carlos Silva, a Toyota of ballplayers, gives the team flexibility to explore new fronts like the one mentioned above? Last year's signing of Miguel Batista and the 1 yr contracts to Jose Guillen and Jeff Weaver come to mind.

I find it much easier to project us as a playoff threat if a gamble like this pays off then by subtracting from other areas to acquire pitching by trade. With the American League West a 4 team division, Oakland and Texas rebuilding, and the Angels getting older this offseason, I think the smartest course of action would be maintain the organizational strength and follow Bavasi's plan.

Not to forget, our farm system isn't the richest, somewhere in the middle, and to make a trade for Bedard, Santana, Kazmir, etc we would nearly deplete it of major league ready players just to fight Anaheim in 2008. Bavasi stated earlier that the Mariners' plan is to add a player from the farm system every year. Maybe that could change if we were legitimately in a position to go for a World Series title, but a front end starter will not guarantee that with the current roster.

But maybe a few things go right next year. Sexson rebounds, Felix stops a losing streak, and Ichiro doesn't slump in April. Add to that a healthy Prior and I think the Mariners win the West. But it will take luck, just like 88 wins this year. I'd be excited about that team.

And maybe we only need Prior around to give Marrow several months polishing at AAA anyway.

Does that sound Bavasi-esque?

Lance says:

To borrow from Adam's analytical playbook, Towers sucks.

For those who don't believe Safeco will help Silva, I've got a couple of thoughts that say it will.

1) Silva gave up 20 hrs last year, 14 to LHHs, and 6 to RHHs. That's better than one every ten innings. That's not bad. He doesn't need Safeco to help him keep the ball in the yard. Still, the cooler air will help, except when he throws a fat one to a LHH.

I'll give the second thought once I know this comment gets posted. I hate having to type a lengthy comment twice.

Secondly, his infield should be just as good, and arguably defensively better, as the one Silva had in Minnesota last year, with the exception of Sexson, and even he is a nice target to throw to. Provided Yuni doesn't have the rash of throwing errors he had last year. And, he showed that that problem seems to have been solved.

Except with Morneau, I don't know why the Twins are considered to have such a superior fielding infield over Seattle. They've already traded two of the other three guys, Bartlett and Castillo (Castillo, of course, at the mid-season point).

Silva will be in trouble if Sexson is behind him. Sexson's range is painfully bad. Worst in the AL.

Ok - I'm getting a bit annoyed with the "Captcha" feature to the right. That's twice that I've supposedly typed in the wrong characters. It's not easy to read.

Lance - The next step is to prove that Towers sucks. I make that step; feel free to do the same.

Geoff - Innings pitched and quality starts are not good ways to evaluate a pitcher, just like ERA and wins. Too much outside of a pitcher's control.

Jeff over at Lookout Landing has entered a rebuttal to your argument. He even took out the 2005 stats, which is completely unecessary. The bottom line remains: Silva and Towers have similar skill sets. Yet one gets $48 million and the other is basically free for the taking. That makes no sense.

Further, If you want to bring up Towers' 2006 season, be sure to bring up Silva's as well. In that year, 17.8% of Towers' flyballs allowed were hit for homers. That is well above his career norm. Also in that year, 17.5% of Silva's flyballs went for homers. Yes, Silva gives up a few less flyballs, but he's not Derek Lowe or Chin-Mieng Wang.

As Jeff at LL points out, Towers could be washed up, or he could be a victim of bad luck. After all, in 2007 he posted the best swinging strike percentage of his career (a rate which is superior to Silva's, by the way). So, he still has the stuff.

I'm not arguing Towers is better than Silva. I'm not arguing that we should sign Towers. It just doesn't make sense to spend this kind of money on Silva, when a pretty similar pitcher is out there who would work for pennies on the dollar.

Lance, I'm not sure why you'd compare the M's infield to this year's edition of the Twins. The 2007 Twins are relevant. And their infield defense had a better zone rating than the Mariners'. As a team, Minnesota had only four more errors than the Mariners. So why do you think the Mariners' infield defense will be better than the Twins' 2007 infield?

Geoff -- Question: Who was in the bidding for Silva and how much were they offering... other than the Twins? Did the M's just pay what they had to pay to sign him quickly or did they really negotiate the best deal they could?

He'll also be helped by the fact that Safeco's rightfield gap is 21 feet longer than the Metrodome's. And, Carlos knows it. He doesn't need to feel like he has to throw that perfect pitch.

Adam, I'd love to answer your question, but I'm sick and tired of typing out a simple comment and half the time it doesn't post and I'm told there's a submission error.

Believe what you want. I really don't care.

Lay off Sexon's range. What he lacks in Horizontal range he makes up for it in his overall target size. He gobbles up so many one hoppers and other poor throws. The man is a GIANT!

Adam...I'm just glad you and your Towers analysis aren't in our FO this year!

Let's see where Towers AND Silva are at side-by-side come next September. If I were a betting man, I'd bet Towers will not even be on a MLB roster, and Silva in the 12-14 Win category!

Geoff, with the signing of Silva, what is the M's current and projected payroll for 2008? I'd really like to see this team/organization in the 80k-90k range MAX, and be competitive with either a young, or mixture of young talent and age, vs. a hodge podge, thrown together mix of "b" free agents - that formula never seems to work, and KILLS the long-term prospects for the team being successful. I guess too I just hate the "desperation" mode the M's always seem to find themselves in.

helpFelix - If you are judging a pitcher on wins, you don't really understand player evaluation.

Here you go Seattle right from Minn...
That's it, folks. It's the end of the world. Now I lay me down to sleep . . .
The Seattle Mariners have agreed to terms with our very own Carlos Silva. They are going to pay him - be sure you are sitting down before reading further - $48 million over four years. Forty-eight million for Carlos "My Tummy Hurts" Silva.
Holy buckets!
"What a country," Twins general manager Billy Smith said.
I don't know, Bill. It's times like this I might prefer Bulgaria.
"Aww, good for him," Smith said. "He's a nice guy."
Well, it occurs to me that if Silva is worth ... worth ... forty ... I can't even type it into my laptop. My hands shake. Anyway, if he got that much, then Johan Santana's value just shot out of the stratosphere and into orbit

opps forgot to add this Seattle...
Geez, $48 million for Mr. Carlos Silva, a one-pitch pitcher whose one pitch often deserts him. Here's a guy who, a couple of days before the playoffs two years ago, was trying to learn a new pitch because his sinker wasn't sinking. I'm sure that inspired great confidence.
I'm not saying the guy is a total slug. But if Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson were paid by the hour for all the time he put in with Silva last season, he'd be able to buy the Twins. Or the Yankees. Or Costa Rica. We're talking high maintenance. Plus, Silva is quick to glare at teammates and throw tantrums in the dugout when things don't go his way.
Anyway, I don't know what they're smoking up there in Seattle. But it must be some powerful stuff that slipped in from Oregon. The Seattle "forever 500" Mariners.

opps forgot to add this Seattle...
Geez, $48 million for Mr. Carlos Silva, a one-pitch pitcher whose one pitch often deserts him. Here's a guy who, a couple of days before the playoffs two years ago, was trying to learn a new pitch because his sinker wasn't sinking. I'm sure that inspired great confidence.
I'm not saying the guy is a total slug. But if Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson were paid by the hour for all the time he put in with Silva last season, he'd be able to buy the Twins. Or the Yankees. Or Costa Rica. We're talking high maintenance. Plus, Silva is quick to glare at teammates and throw tantrums in the dugout when things don't go his way.
Anyway, I don't know what they're smoking up there in Seattle. But it must be some powerful stuff that slipped in from Oregon. The Seattle "forever 500" Mariners.

/The good news about the Silva signing should mean that the M's can forget giving up the future for Bedard and let one of the promising youngsters [White, Morrow, R-Smith, Baek] have that fifth spot].

Silva was a good sign. Bedard is next best to go for. Santana doesn't want to play or live in Seattle. And Santana's fastball can leave the park much faster than Silva's sinker or Bedard's off speed pitches.

"But maybe a few things go right next year. Sexson rebounds..."
.
If Sexson rebounds, it will still be unsatisfactory, probably .222. Wow! Pay him and send him.
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Lance, try copying your entire post before you submit it. Then if it fails just paste and try again.
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byebyeSexson

Geoff, you know I love you, right? (Wait, what? You don't? You have no idea who I am? Well, never mind...) It's because I love you that I feel I can rip off this quote from Sports Night and say the following to you.

This kind of bugs me:

"Towers especially had a season -- now almost three calendar years ago -- that stands out in stark contrast to the rest of his career. We can all guess why that is and some of it might be accurate."

Dude, if you want to say that you think Josh Towers was using PEDs in 2005, say that you think Josh Towers was using PEDs in 2005. Don't hint around at it--that kind of sucks, and it isn't worthy of you.

That's all. I still love you.

A few thoughts for M's fans.

If we only had a crystal ball and monopoly money we could solve all the M's problems.

The M's don't seem to do well in trades; the exceptions are probably the "Unit" and "Bone".

They seem to only do marginally better buying free agents. Hopefully Silva will live up to his numbers. Come to think of it; that seems to be how professional sports goes in Seattle; no one lives up to their billing.

The M's need pitching; but that is only part of it. They also need consistent defense and less streaky hitting; both of which helps pitching. We weren't exactly sterling up the middle last year on defense and hitting. Well, there were too many errors at short and there was a lack of hitting throughout the club. Hopefully that will improve.

Even the Yankees are having problems buying a World Series lately. At least we didn't get taken by A-Rod. The man exemplifies the word "greed". I am sorry but I don't think any man is worth that kind of money.

Hindsight is usually 20/20. I am sure every GM wishes he had a crystal ball and could predict exactly how well each player is going to perform each year. But alas, to be human is to be imperfect.

I want the M's to win as much as the rest of you; I am just not going to stress over it. It's not my money! If you don't like what they do, then don't buy their tickets or anything else. That's called free choice. You have that power.

I hope you all have a successful new year and a great season.