Bye, Bye Wolf

[NWinAZ]

Mariners tell Wolf he makes team and then say you have to sign a 45 day out clause and he tells them to shove it. Good for him. What a B.S. move, but that doesn't surprise me anymore.

We also re-signed Chavez to a minor league deal after releasing him today. Good move for insurance.

 

[NWinAZ]

Sorry, I didn't realize seahawkfan already mentioned this on the Baker thread. I was at the game at the time and missed it.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Sorry, I didn't realize seahawkfan already mentioned this on the Baker thread. I was at the game at the time and missed it.

No problem. I would've posted a thread for it, but I figured it was equivalent to releasing Scott Baker.

 

[PolarVortex]

Mariners tell Wolf he makes team and then say you have to sign a 45 day out clause and he tells them to shove it. Good for him. What a B.S. move, but that doesn't surprise me anymore.

We also re-signed Chavez to a minor league deal after releasing him today. Good move for insurance.

Yep. Once they realize nobody in the Mariner outfield can hit left-handed pitching, Chavez will be getting a callup

 

[SeattleCoug]

Meh, there are a lot of reasons to bash this organization. I don't really consider this 45 day waiver thing one of them. I hear it happens frequently around the league.
If you need to blame this organization for something, blame them for not addressing the starting pitching need this offseason which put a guy like Wolf in position to make the rotation. That's what bothers me honestly.
The reality of the situation is Wolf would have been cut or released when Walker and Kuma were back anyway, so why not position yourself in the best way to prepare for that.

I mean I don't think this is any less shady then outright cutting a guy, its a business at the end of the day.

 

[cezero]

Yeah, I agree.

Wolf is closer to 40 than to 30, and is a barely decent placeholder while we wait for Kuma and Walker to come back.

I'd rather see a youngster get a chance to make 4-5 starts. Even putting Beaven in there wouldn't make that huge of a difference compared to Wolf.

NOTE: This is not a defence of the front office regarding anything else. This fact must be expressly understood.

 

[NWinAZ]

I don't think the point is keeping him or youngsters. It is the fact they negotiated a contract that paid him X amount if he made the team and after they tell him he made the team they say, 'But you have to take a cut and then are only guaranteed for 45 days. You think other veterans who have mutual offers from teams aren't going to remember this? It is bad faith negotiating and it isn't done a lot though GMZ wants you to think it does. Name another time but any team or any player? This is different than cutting a guy then offering him a minor league deal.

 

[cezero]

He was a spring training invitee. From what I can see, the M's were going to just cut him, but offered him a short-term deal so he could make some money while we waited for Walker to come back. Without the 45 day deal, when Walker came back, there would likely be no place to put Wolf on the pitching staff (and even less so when Kuma comes back), and he would most certainly refuse a minor league assignment. The M's would be fucked at that point no matter what they do...most likely release him.

Wolf's argument was that he pitched well enough to earn a permanent rotation spot. It's fine that he's silly enough to think that, and maybe some suckers out there will think the same and offer him a contract. If so, good for him.

Just a slow news week for MLB...it's weird that tabloid garbage like this generates so much.

 

[dude82]

Meh, there are a lot of reasons to bash this organization. I don't really consider this 45 day waiver thing one of them. I hear it happens frequently around the league.
If you need to blame this organization for something, blame them for not addressing the starting pitching need this offseason which put a guy like Wolf in position to make the rotation. That's what bothers me honestly.
The reality of the situation is Wolf would have been cut or released when Walker and Kuma were back anyway, so why not position yourself in the best way to prepare for that.

I mean I don't think this is any less shady then outright cutting a guy, its a business at the end of the day.

The Mariners probably didn't count on both Iwakuma and Walker getting hurt at the beginning of Spring Training and facing the possibility of being without them until mid-April at the earliest. If Iwakuma and Walker had been healthy, they'd be looking at filling one spot in the rotation right now instead of three. If they have one spot to fill instead of three, a guy like Wolf becomes the guy you bring into camp for his veteran presence/knowledge to help the younger guys along and to serve as a cattle prod of sorts for the younger guys to make sure that they're not going into this thinking they have anything wrapped up and don't need to work hard to earn their spot.

He only seriously enters the conversation for a spot on the staff in a worst-case scenario, which is that a couple guys you expect to be in the rotation get hurt badly enough that they might have to start the season on the DL and you have to push everybody else up a couple spots, turning a veteran presence/cattle prod into a legit contender for a spot on the team. If the M's sign a bigger name in the off-season, they're still left trying to fill the spots Iwakuma and Walker would have taken had they been healthy and a guy like Wolf probably still factors into the conversation.

 

[SeattleCoug]

Rosenthal: Bottom line? Mariners took stingy path, so Wolf walked | FOX Sports on MSN

Here is an article from Ken Rosenthal this morning. No specific examples. But an agent was quoted, and said the practice has become "much more widespread" in recent years. Advance consents have been permitted under the collective-bargaining agreement since 1997.

I agree its a slimy thing to do but I understand why they did it. They didnt break any rules. At the end of the day its a business, like in any sport. Decisions like this are made to benefit the team not the player.

If a team like the Cardinals or Redsox did this, no one would bat an eye lash. But because its the M's we get to use it as another reason to hate on the front office. Im fully aware of how inept the front office is but I think this particular situation is a non story that I'm not going to waste my time on or blame them for.

 

[NWinAZ]

I disagree. If Wolf was right, they didn't say you will be cut unless you take this new deal. He said they congratulated him for making the team and then said we will need you to sign this paper about the 45 day clause. His point was by saying he made the team they should pay him his negotiated contract and not follow up the promotion with a 'by the way'.