Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Scratch off Delgado

 
But....now this is juicy....the Boston Herald says Manny Ramirez is interested in coming to the Mariners. I love that on so many levels:
 
1) Manny is a beast and wouldn't have to play LF in Seattle
2) We'd be denying the Angels a Vlad-Manny middle of the order
3) Manny is hours of entertainment even if he doesn't hit.
 
If the only reason the M's aren't interested in Manny is that he's right-handed, that would annoy me. He has his issues, but he is still an elite hitter and I don't think you can pass up an opportunity to get someone like him.
 
Back to the real world....the Denver Post brings up the possibility of the M's and Rockies swapping Yorvit Torrealba and Larry Bigbie. I like that idea. Bigbie would be a nice 4th OFer to have. He didn't hit much after being traded to Colorado, but he put up decent numbers with Orioles. Plus he's a lefty. Maybe coming back to the AL would do him some good.
 

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:10 AM

    Yes to Manny--he's the all time great Garucla and deserves to be reunited with Grover..and he's a hitting machine --right.left.switch -you name it --may be the first to hit a ball into Royal Brougham !--but will Bill and hte boys open thier wallets for what they may think is a malconent ?--its just Manny being Manny/--Manny.Sexson,Beltre batting 3-4-5-whoa Nelly--but we may be truly dreaming--that's what the Hot Stove League is all about

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  2. There's some good debate about whether bringing on Manny would be a good idea. I may put up a post about why I think the M;s should do it.

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  3. Anonymous4:18 PM

    Who would the Bosox want for Manny--who would we be willing to give up--

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  4. I apologize for being off-topic, but I found this item from rotoworld.com interesting re. the Yankees:

    The Yankees reportedly asked the Mariners about Ichiro Suzuki, but were told he's not available.
    If the Mariners have a change of heart, Ichiro is one player the Yankees might part with both Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang to get. Newsday's Jon Heyman says they had talks with the Rangers about Alfonso Soriano and the Marlins about Juan Pierre, but wouldn't give up Cano or Wang for either. Heyman also reports that Jose Mesa was uninterested after being contacted by the Yankees and that GM Brian Cashman is competely against a possible Milton Bradley acquisiton.

    Rotoworld also said that Lopez isn't putting up particulary good numbers at the plate in winter ball... so how about sending them Ichiro for Robinson Cano and Chien-Ming Wang, then getting Ramirez from the Sox for.... ? Hmmm. I haven't had time to stew on this one much, but it's a scenario that might have some possibilities. Again, I don't really advocate trading Ichiro, but I wouldn't mind it if we can get good players in return, or if we kept Ichiro and had him batting 2nd and playing CF so he could hit behind the leadoff hitter and so we could plug a power-hitter into RF.

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  5. Interesting that it's up on rotoworld now. Wang and Cano are two major league ready youngsters, but I'm not sure I'm ready to give up on Lopez yet. I think Cano is a little overrated, but if we did that trade, and included Lopez in a trade for Manny, I might be slightly interested.

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  6. The NY Post says John Flaherty may be leaving the Yanks, and they mention Torrealba as a possibility for a backup catcher. If Ichiro and Yorvit went to the Yanks for Cano and Wang, maybe the Red Sox would take Pineiro, Lopez and a prospect for Manny. But then there would be a next step:

    I'm also not sure about giving up on Lopez right away, but If I was going after a second baseman, I would go after Alfonso Soriano rather than Robinson Cano. It seems like Soriano's name is always coming up in trade rumors... So, Cano wouldn't be a Mariner for more than a few hours. Cano, Gil Meche and a prospect or two would then go to the Rangers for Soriano.

    An infield of Beltre, Betancourt, Soriano and Sexson would be nice. So would an outfield of Ibanez in LF, Reed in CF and Ramirez in RF. Johjima and Rivera can handle the catching duties. The rotation would include Moyer, Wang and Hernandez. After that? Not too sure... The bullpen would still be pretty decent.

    It would not bother me that Ramirez and Soriano are both right-handed hitters when it comes to being able to hit the ball out of the park... I don't think Safeco Field affected Sexson all that much.

    So, if we did:

    1. Ichiro and Torrealba to New York for Chien-Ming Wang and Robinson Cano
    2. Jose Lopez, Joel Pineiro and a prospect to the Red Sox for Manny Ramirez
    3. Cano, Gil Meche and prospects to the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano

    ... where would that leave us?

    Heavily right-handed in the lineup, for sure. We would still have to look for some LH hitting, I suppose. I still think the lineup would have all the power it would need.

    Sexson - 39 HR last year, .910 OPS

    Ibanez - 18 HR/yr the last three, career OPS of .801

    Beltre - 30 HR/yr over last three, declined last year but is only 26

    Ramirez - career OPS of 1.008, SLG of .599, OBP of .409. 45 HR last year, with 144 RBI... age 33, might be good to sign for three years?

    Soriano - 36 HR last year, 102 R, 30/32 SB. Tends to strike out, doesn't walk much, but has career SLG of .500 and OPS of .821. Age 29.

    Johjima - who knows what he will do? I'm going to guess 15-20 HRs and about an .800 OPS, with good defense and good game-calling.

    Betancourt hits the ball hard, and I think he will continue to get better. Reed should continue to increase his skills at the plate as well. A couple of good gap-hitters in the lineup? Fine with me.

    Morse and Choo might still be around to DH, although I would prefer to sign Jacque Jones for that duty, to share with Ibanez. Jones has a history of striking out a fair amount, but he hits left-handed and averages about 20 homers a year.

    What would the lineup look like?
    Maybe like this:

    1. Reed
    2. Ibanez
    3. Ramirez
    4. Sexson
    5. Soriano
    6. Jones
    7. Beltre
    8. Johjima
    9. Betancourt

    Doesn't look like we would have a bonafide leadoff hitter, does it? Hmmm. Maybe somebody would emerge. Ugh. Not a perfect lineup by any means... but good for generating discussion, I guess.

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  7. Very interesting stuff snave. Soriano scares me a little. I'll have more to say about this when I'm back in town.

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  8. Manny in right scares me but still a fun scenario. As mariners fans we have been spoiled in right field with guys there having absolute cannons. Lets face facts that would come to a screeching halt if manny were out there. One thing is for sure we would see a lot of Home runs!!

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  9. Manny had a gun in Cleveland, so I don't get what happened in Boston. It seems he's lost all mobility since moving to the Red Sox. He was a damn good right fielder for the Indians.

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