The Mariners aren’t winning anything…

Their next move ought to be moving Montero to another position, then bring up Zunino.

Keeping Hernandez makes sense. The money is huge, but they have some real nice pieces on their way up. Cheap and team control is on its way. In a few years, I think it is a strong possibility that they are happy Upton rejected that trade.

The mariners really had one thing going for them: King Felix. I think a Ryan Howard motivation in a signing like this seems valid… But King Felix much more. I know he only pitches every fifth day but I doubt the other days of the week people who have bothered showing up if he were to leave at any point.

Also, did you miss the part where Felix is himself only 26 and the best pitcher in baseball? How do you replace that?

Secondly, which team has a farm system that can possibly produce enough prospects to be worth Felix? Seriously, who? Especially given that whoever gets Felix also would have inherited a $20m/year obligation. Give me a single farm system where even the top five players are worth Felix.

The M’s cannot do better externally than internally. Furthermore they are one of the wealtheir franchises who repeatedly has spent when they felt they were close to contention, and stated repeatedly that they will continue to spend when they feel its warranted. They do not have a serious payroll cap.

Ms have 2 of the top ace caliber pitching prospects coming up in a year or two. And the overall 9th best ranked farm system currently.
They moved the fences in at Safeco.
Felix will be a Mariner for the foreseeable future.

The future is looking bright for the Ms.

You are correct that yes, they likely considered the financial return an additional five years of Howard would bring. Unfortunatly for them, they were dead wrong. He has returned little of that value. Either on the field or off it. And people pointed out ahead of time that he would not be, that he was old for that kind of deal, and that even in his prime he was not as valuable on the field as others who would be available by the time of his extension.

Your statement about people coming to the game for Howard is itself ludicrous. The reason people stopped coming to the park is that the team is bad. No other reason. When the team is good they will show up, when the team is bad they will not. It really is that simple. In the case of King Felix, however, attendance is measureably higher when he is on the mound. Over the past couple years he has often been the only reason to go to a game outside of just wanting to see a game. As the team improves, that effect will likely be magnified.

As for your statements on payroll sustainability, the Phils did not become big spenders until a few years ago when the pieces came together that permitted them to become competitive in thier division. Would you have looked at them then and said they could not afford to sign Cliff Lee or extend Roy Halladay or Chase Utley because “based on their payroll over the past few years they can’t afford these guys”? Wins tend to bring in more fans, increase merchandise sales and if timed right, increase the size of tv deals. All those things can lead to higher payroll. The Phils payroll went up as the team performance increased and their young players became vets and got into free agency, and will likely decrease over time as the vets age and they need a new crop of younger players to replace them(who, incidentially, will come far cheaper than the vets they replace).

Verlander likely gets a 5/ 130 extension through his age 36 season, which is, scary as it may be, a hometown discount.

” Player salaries are based on profits the player brings in. Felix will bring in substantially more than $25 million worth of value to the M’s, which is why they pay him that. ”

My bringing up Ryan Howard’s contract wasn’t just out of thin air. It was to respond to your statement above. Ryan Howard was signed for the same reason. He brought in far more money to the Phillies than Felix did throwing every fifth day. Ryan Howard basically is the reason CBP sold out three years in a row. And his injury is the reason it stopped selling out. He is overpaid, but LIKE YOU SAID, he brings money to the Phillies far more than his worth on the field. Which was a concept guys like Keith Law never understood.

But again, The Mariners spend half the money the Phillies do. They can’t afford this contract. In my opinion. No offense dude.

Well, maybe not just because of the baseball game, the beer at Safeco is pretty awesome.

The only thing remaining to be proven is that as they improve will they add the key pieces in free agency that they will need as some of their hoard of prospects surely will not pan out.

They are following the textbook model for how to rebuild a franchise intelligently.

Since 2005, he has been one of two players that consistently made it a pleasure, or at least bearable, to watch the Ms. Since last summer, with Ichiro! gone, he’s it. And it’s only once every five days but he always makes it worth the price of admission. Every year, we get a couple of guys who are fun to watch (brendan ryan’s defense is insanely fantastic, his bat is the polar opposite), but knowing Felix and his crazy ass filthy stuff is going to be there every year….love it. Yeah, we suck. We won’t always suck, though, and in the meantime, happy felix day.

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