Bill Bavasi

Under 2nd year skipper Bob Melvin and new GM Bill Bavasi, brought in from the Angels' organization, the 2004 M's imploded. They had a team full of old players who over-performed the previous three years, and a minor league system depleted from Gillick. With the exception of Ichiro who would go on to break the MLB all-time hits record of 257 with a mind-blowing 262. '05 and '06 were just as hopeless with Bavasi making trades and signings that rarely worked, most notably the signings of Richie Sexson, Carlos Silva, the trade for Jose Vidro and quite possibly the 5 for 1 trade that brought Erik Bedard to the M's in 2008, which ultimately saw him go on the DL permanently half way through the year.

Continue reading "Are Lincoln and Armstrong that bad?"

classy player's hard work, so long as they don't break the bank doing so.

And unless they re-hire Bill Bavasi as GM, that's not likely to happen.

Continue reading "Waiver Update"

way the cookie crumbles for Lee Pelekoudas, especially when the crumbly cookie was handed to him by Bill Bavasi. He needs to balance the desire to simply shed Washburn with whatever he might get in return (reportedly, the earlier deal with the Yanks fell through because the Ms insisted Vidro be included in the package--Vidro has, of course, since been DFAed). And if he can get a good price for Ibanez, that's great, and Pelekoudas should be more motivated to deal Raul, in the light of his expiring contract.

Continue reading "More Waiver News"

future in the field and see what you've got than keep your past out there, just because some idiot (Bill Bavasi) signed him to a big contract. Sometimes the cost of a move isn't purely financial, and this is a good example of that.

Continue reading "Jose Vidro, No Mas"

As I expected, Richie Sexson was signed by the one team in major league baseball who signs every single castoff, just in case he might turn it around in pinstripes: the Yankees. The temptation of that short porch in Yankee Stadium right field, combined with Sexson’s power potential, was too tempting to the team that claimed Jose Canseco off waivers in 2000, just to be sure he didn’t go to a division rival.

Continue reading "Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner"

I've been howling for the head of Bill Bavasi since before I started hollering for it on this blog--and last month, he got the sack from ownership. Even more than Bavasi, though, I've been hollering about the Big Mistake that was Richie Sexson, a ballplayer with declining skills who, even at the height of his high-strikeout longball powers, was a poor fit for Safeco. 

Continue reading "Sexson Becomes Ex-Son"

training expecting to make the playoffs.  Who would've guessed halfway through the season that Bill Bavasi and John Mclaren would be handed pinkslips?  After numerous bad moves and bi

Continue reading "Mariners making a turnaround?"

The dominoes continue to fall in Seattle, as John McLaren was handed his walking papers yesterday, three days after GM Bavasi tried on his own pink slip. In some ways, this was handled better than the Mets’ embarrassing and insulting firing of Willie Randolph. At least McLaren wasn’t dangled for weeks before a midnight assassination, and there were suitably kind words for McLaren upon his dismissal, with new GM Lee Pelekoudas obviously distressed about having to fire his longtime friend and colleague.

Continue reading "Down Goes McLaren"

more housecleaning moves to come in the wake of getting rid of the biggest dust bunny of them all, Bill Bavasi.

Continue reading "Two Brief Bits"

e Mariner community on this site (and Seattle fans across the NW) I've been howling for the head of Bill Bavasi, and that chorus of angry villagers only became more raucous as the Ms have stumbled to the worst record in baseball this season, and the siege on Castle Frankenstein had begun. Miraculously, Mariner management saw the light (or perhaps the flickering torches) and fired Bavasi yesterday, a move that began joyous celebrations across the tri-state area.

Continue reading "Buh-Bye Bavasi"

If Bill Bavasi had a lick of sense, he'd see the writing on the wall, but he's too busy trying to deny reality and pretend that Seattle's still got a chance this season, or that he's got a chance of saving his job.

Continue reading "Two Big Injuries, Day Two"

Well, it was all over ESPN last night, and the Seattle bloggers and sportswriters are buzzing about it: the normally cool-headed John McLaren lost his temper in yesterday's news conference. His Mariners are 18 games below .500 in spite of a $120M payroll, and they play like a team of Little Leaguers, or at least overpaid Little Leaguers who are just waiting for their candy bar and Gatorade at the end of the game. McLaren railed about how tired he was of losing, how tired his players are of playing hard but getting nothing for their efforts, and of how something was going to have to change--and soon.

Continue reading "McLaren Blows His Top"

In case you haven't been closely following the box score, you may not have noticed that Richie Sexson has not seen action in 3 straight games. Miguel Cairo has instead been taking the duties at 1B. Could it be that Sexson has seen his last action in Seattle? I believe so.

Continue reading "Believe It: Sexson is Gone"

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On another note, Mariners President Chuck Armstrong told MLB.com that both John McLaren's and Bill Bavasi's jobs are safe. I cannot say I understand this. This team was supposed to win 90+ games, and will not even win close to that at this rate. Someone is the leadership role needs to become accountable for this. The only way this will probably happen is if Armstrong himself is fired, which he needs to be. But we all know this will never come to fruition with the ownership sitting on their asses in Japan. As long as the team turns a profit, ownership will not do anything to change that.

Continue reading "Dear Mariners: Feel Embarrassed"

t history of evaluating player would be great for the organization with that problem lately.

Once Bill Bavasi is fired, this team will finally be able to improve itself once again.

Continue reading "Shaking Up the Mariners Front-Office"