Homage to the Mariners Offseason
The Seattle Mariners hold a special place in my heart, even as a Giants fan. They may not have the history we have, but they sure do have the heartbreak. Living in Seattle and talking with their fans, it’s easy to see similarities in the pain we mutually suffer through on a daily basis. Before 2008, it could be argued that their GM Bill Bavasi was one of the worst of the last two decades, namely when he shipped out Adam Jones, George Sherrill, and Chris Tillman to the Orioles for Erik Bedard. And then something interesting happened.
He looks like Goldfinger, probably because he has the golden touch
The powers that be had enough of Bavasi’s front office shenanigans and cut him loose after the 2008 season. As a replacement, they brought in a guy with a long track record of successful talent evaluation, Jack Zduriencik (pronounced Zer-ren-sik in case you were wondering). Quickly he got to work completely reshaping the organization from the top down. He unloaded popular but oft-injured closer J.J. Putz in a deal that landed them Franklin Gutierrez (who incidentally was locked up to a long term deal after this last season). Then he went to the reliever scrap-heap and traded a spare part for David Aardsma, who became one of the top closers in the AL.
After a tumultuous 2009 season that saw definite improvements, Jack Z got to work again this last offseason. First he signed Chone Figgins, which is largely accepted as a steal for the Mariners. Then he managed to trade three B-grade prospects for uber-ace Cliff Lee, and then locked up Felix Hernandez for lots of years and lots of money. After this, it was hard to imagine how he would top himself. Then he topped himself, unloading the hellish contract of Carlos Silva on the unsuspecting Cubs for the much more useful Milton Bradley. Admittedly, trading Brandon Morrow for Brandon League was a curious move, but at this point it’s hard to doubt Zduriencik’s ability to scout out talent.
After these major moves, a series of minor but equally as important ones followed. The M’s picked up Eric Byrnes for the league minimum. Then they signed Ryan Garko for a shade over the minimum after the Giants inexplicably cut him loose on the basis of 130 isolated at-bats.
If your head’s not spinning right now trying to keep track of all this, it should be. The M’s front office spent a whole offseason dictating the terms of the market. Brian Sabean spent it reacting to smarter GM’s like Jack Zduriencik. That said, the aftermath of the 2009-10 offseason has seen a stark contrast in competent front office management between the Giants and Mariners. The Mariners are ready to compete now, but still managed to keep their farm system’s prized gems intact. The Giants are blocking younger, better players with veterans who will break down midway through the season but still receive playing time.
So to you pained Mariner fans, I say congratulations; you have a smart GM calling the shots who likely has vaulted your club into AL West contention in a few short months. To Giants fans, I say stay strong; Brian Sabean can’t be around forever. Can he?
Excellent post! One can only hope that Zduriencik is one Bill Neukom’s radar.
A couple of small points. Had the Giants retained Garko it would not have been for the 650 grand he got from the M’s. As a Giant he was eligible for arbitration. That would have likely resulted in a much higher salary. The M’s got him cheaper because he was a free agent.
Eric Byrnes is certainly a low risk, low cost option but it is important to note the the D-Backs were willing to eat 11 million bucks to release him. If they thought he had much left they wouldn’t have done that. In addition, you state that the Giants are blocking younger, better players already. Byrnes is an older player. Would he no be blocking younger better players as well?
Finally, could you list the younger better players who are being blocked? Personally, I think the Giants should not have signed any vets and gone fully into the rebuild mode. But, it would have meant a lot of losses because the Giants really don’t have a lot of good young players ready to go. Posey, to be sure, but no other guy is close in the minors. Schierholtz appears to be the current choice to man rightfield. Are you arguing that Frandsen is better than Sanchez ? Is Ishikawa better than Huff? Velez better than DeRosa? Maybe they are, likely they aren’t, but they certainly haven’t shown much yet.
My point with guys like Garko and Byrnes is that the Mariners didn’t sign them to be primary contributers–rather the M’s front office brought them on board to supplement an already completed lineup. Had the Giants signed Byrnes, you can bet that he would be penciled in by Bochy to start on a regular basis. A lot of my argument here stems from the purpose of the signing as much as the signing itself.
As for younger blocked players, there’s Posey as you mentioned at catcher. Personally I’d like to see John Bowker get an opportunity to play every day without having to worry about getting yanked from the lineup if he doesn’t hit for a week. It seems as though Bruce Bochy judges players based on small sample sizes–essentially, Bowker had very few chances to prove himself last season. Bowker, Schierholtz, and Fred Lewis all should get shots to play every day.
Huff is an option I like at first, but combine that with the rest of the vets picked up this offseason and it’s a recipe for disaster. DeRosa projects to be a league-average hitter, meaning we could have signed any schmo for the league minimum for the exact same production.
As for Frandsen, he’s another guy who hasn’t got a real chance to prove himself. He got 50 sporadic AB’s to prove himself last year, so it’s no wonder he couldn’t settle into a rhythm. Conversely, Eugenio Velez got regular playing time based solely on 75 good at-bats, followed by 200 or so awful ones.
Of the youngsters you have mentioned Bowker actually had an everyday job for half a season in 08. Bochy does have a quick trigger but he kept Bowker in there for 326 ab’s. John did hit 10 jacks which is good but not much else. His OBP was just 300 and his slg% was 408. He k’ed about 4 times for every walk. He was replaced after a poor spring by Ishikawa in 09. To Bowker’s credit he made good adjustments in the minors but he is close to 27 and unlikely to get much better.
For him to get the everday job this year he would probably have to bump Schierholtz. That is not the worst idea in the world because Nate has not been a very productive hitter over his 450 or so big league ab’s. But it would mean bumping the younger player.
Of the vets signings I am okay with Huff. He is reasonably priced and if he has a good year he will be a bargain. I am not nuts about the other guys they signed. Even were Sanchez and DeRosa to have career seasons their numbers would not warrant 6 million bucks worth of production. I would not have retained Molina or Uribe. However, the Giants just don’t have a lot of internal options. It was going to be pay these vets or pay other vets. Damned if you damned if you don’t.
The problem is the Giants simply don’t have enough good young players to compete. I don’t see too many kids who are close either. Good free agents want no part of AT&T and the Giants are correctly reluctant to trade away good, cheap and young pitchers. The team is in a bit of a Vortex with few options. Hopefully, Neukom will make changes in the front office and fully embrace a true rebuild but I am not holding my breath.
Our current high-minors are pretty god-awful admittedly. That said, our lower minors are actually halfway decent. Eric Surkamp and Craig Clark are two young pitchers who had sensational seasons in A-ball. Thomas Neal is a power-hitting outfielder who could be a useful player in the near future. Recent draftee Zack Wheeler is about to get his first full season of pro ball. On top of this, a couple interesting bats in Roger Kieschnick and Tommy Joseph also seem poised to breakout.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that all hope isn’t lost, as the last 3-4 years of drafts have completely revamped the farm system.
I have hope too. Neukom is not going more than 2 years for anybody, including Sabean and Bochy and in 2 years the Giants could have a number of kids ready to go.
http://www.paapfly.com/2009/12/mariners-making-moves-in-al-west.html
Hey Nick, check my take on the Mariners’ earliest offseason moves I posted on in December. I too have a soft spot for the Mariners as my girlfriend hails from the Seattle area. I only hope Neukom has the brains to swap our Bavasi for a more intelligent GM sooner rather than later.