Game Thread: Let The Games Begin.....

[wazzu31]

You got me on this one. I am sure you are remembering correctly, but I can't think of anyone off hand.

All-Time Mariners Player Pitching Stat Leaders

The official source for Seattle Mariners all-time player pitching stats, including wins, ERA, and strikeout leaders

www.mlb.com

Jerk hole, made do research. I found out who I was talking about, Rafael Soriano was the dude I was thinking of. And damn, google makes me think I am nuts because I don’t remember his Mariners days the way it actually played out. I thought he was a solid reliever and eventual closer who they traded for scraps....so my bad.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

Jerk hole, made do research. I found out who I was talking about, Rafael Soriano was the dude I was thinking of. And damn, google makes me think I am nuts because I don’t remember his Mariners days the way it actually played out. I thought he was a solid reliever and eventual closer who they traded for scraps....so my bad.

Ya I remember him but don't remember him being a fielder but you called it. Played 70 games as a fielder in rookie ball over two years.

That was the great Horacio Ramirez trade...

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic reports that the Tigers are nearing an agreement with Nomar Mazara.​

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that he'll get a $1.75 million salary for 2021. Mazara was non-tendered by the White Sox after hitting just one homer with a .228 average last year, but was able to hit 19 roundtrippers with a .268 mark in 2019. Once considered among the very best prospects in baseball, he'll be a reclamation project for the rebuilding Tigers, and isn't likely to hit enough to have any kind of fantasy relevance this spring or summer.

Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extrabase reports that the Indians have signed OF Billy Hamilton to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.​

Montes reports that the deal is pending a physical. Hamilton, one of the fastest players in baseball, was awful at the plate in 2020 with a .125/.171/.219 line, but that was over 32 at-bats. Unfortunately, his career slash of .241/296/.325 is not a small sample, and he just doesn't provide much value outside of the steals and defense. That being said, those things can certainly help Cleveland, so he has a great shot of making the Opening Day roster after Cactus League play.

Mets signed INF Jonathan Villar to a one-year, $3.55 million contract.​

Villar also has the ability to earn more in incentives. The 29-year-old switch-hitter hit just .232/.301/.292 over 207 plate appearances last year with the Marlins and Blue Jays, but has had prior success, and has a chance for fantasy relevance if he can carve out enough playing time. Because it's unclear what kind of role he'll have to begin the season, however, it's probably best to take a wait-and-see approach. Brad Bach was designated for assignment in a corresponding move.

Angels signed OF Jon Jay to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.​

Jon Morosi reported on Thursday that Jay was close to picking a new team, and an hour later, the new team was picked. Jay, 35, appeared in 50 games for the Diamondbacks over the truncated season, and hit just .160 with a .451 OPS in 50 at-bats. He'll have a chance to win a backup outfield spot with the Halos, but is unlikely to be anything more than that at this point in his career.

Indians signed OF Ben Gamel to a minor league contract with an invitation to spring training.​

Jon Heyman of MLB Network first reported that an agreement had been reached and now the Indians have officially announced the move. It's a non-guaranteed deal, but Gamel should be able to win a spot on the Opening Day roster in Cleveland as an active fourth outfielder. He has a .720 OPS in 442 career MLB games.

 

[NWinAZ]

Mariners career winning percentage. .470. Looks like another average year coming.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[wazzu31]

Ya I remember him but don't remember him being a fielder but you called it. Played 70 games as a fielder in rookie ball over two years.

That was the great Horacio Ramirez trade...

He was a SS/2B the few times he made it to Tacoma when I was there. Next thing I know he is throwing upper 90’s. But I swore he much better than he was for the M’s. Not quite the Michael Pineda season then dealt but good enough thinking Atlanta went no lube on the Mariners.

 

[NWinAZ]

According to Jon Heyman of MLB Network, the Diamondbacks have agreed to a one-year, $1.75 million contract with free agent infielder Asdrubal Cabrera.​

The 35-year-old will also have the opportunity to earn an additional $1.05 million in incentives. Cabrera was an everyday player for the Nationals during the truncated 2020 season, slashing .242/.305/.447 with eight homers, 31 RBI and zero stolen bases in 52 games -- splitting his time between first base, third base and designated hitter. If there's no designated hitter in the National League, he'll wind up as more of a utility infielder type, rather than a full-time player.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that Jake Arrieta has agreed to a one-year deal with the Cubs.​

Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic adds that it's likely to be a one-year deal while Jesse Rogers of ESPN notes that it's expected to be in the $6.5 - $7 million range. Arrieta did the best work of his career with the Cubs after arriving from the Orioles in a mid-season trade in 2013. He went on to dominate for the next four seasons -- including winning the National League Cy Young Award in 2015 with a phenomenal 22-6 record, 1.77 ERA, 0.865 WHIP and 236/48 K/BB ratio over 229 innings. He has struggled mightily over the last three seasons with the Phillies, but reportedly looked good in a recent showcase. The right-hander claims that he had offers elsewhere for more guaranteed money, but loved the idea of a reunion with the Cubs. If there's indeed magic in a return to Wrigley Field, Arrieta could wind up being a steal at his current average draft position which sits outside the top 650 players overall.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

In case you are planning not to watch...

 

[Tapey]

Looks like the Ms are bringing back the big maple

 

[Tapey]

Looks like the Ms are bringing back the big maple

 

[NWinAZ]

There goes any chance of Seager to LA.

Justin Turner announced via his personal Twitter account on Saturday that he is re-signing with the Dodgers.​

Jeff Passan of ESPN adds that it is a two-year contract and worth more than $30 million. Turner had multi-year offers on the table from both the Dodgers and Brewers, but it looks like the defending World Champions won out in the end. The 36-year-old hit .307/.400/.460 with four homers and 23 RBI over 42 games during the truncated 2020 season. His return to Los Angeles is a major blow to the fantasy value of Edwin Rios, who could have been a major breakout candidate had he been given everyday at-bats at third base.

 

[seahawksfan234]

A. I agree completely.

B. Is where I am not 100% sure. I just remember Hansen saying his version of the Sonics would increase revenue for the Mariners. But Ballmer had an interview shortly after he bought the Clippers asking why he didn’t just toss another 500 million to a billion on that offer. IIRC that was when tv negotiations were going on. I am not an economist at all, but the argument kind of goes along the line of Root Sports has to pay rights fees for NHL games or NBA games that aren’t picked up by the primary carriers. Kind of back to my original Root Sports was a great idea on paper but the Pac 12 Networks really did a number on them because they can’t air those games, have the rights to all of the Big Sky games that bigger networks don’t take and get the Gonzaga games no cares about. The business model for the network was solid but unforeseen that nearly every single piece of content that would make them a boat load of more money they don’t have the rights too. Root Sports could be a west coast MSG but, they have to spend close to a billion dollars to essentially purchase Pac 12 WA and OR, and buy the Blazers rights and truthfully the most important piece would be to buy the Gonzaga rights.

C. This is where I figured we would disagree. I think it fair to use SeattleMetro when speaking of population for market size, shares and viewership. But I can’t ever consider any Pierce County city a suburb of Seattle. Tacoma has their own legit war going on with Seattle and the more and more remote working is done the less and less I think the Mariners could have selling out. All the hipsters on Queen Anne for some reason love hockey, the city of Seattle sport is basketball, but football, soccer and baseball fans aren’t. In the Metro area yes, but I can possibly say Bellevue or Tacoma a Seattle suburb. I’ll dance with like a Tukwila or Des Moines where it is within an hour rush hour drive. But that is just a different of the definition of the word suburb. Because we got houses up here that are going for 800k that has no business being that high because how far it is away from any local amenities but lots are getting bought the second it goes on the market.

I know you were kidding, that’s how essentially all of my family is about telling my kids don’t ever go in their field. But my girls are way ahead in school so hopefully they can get a full ride to choose anything they want.

I get the whole investment issue of sports. But every sports franchise appreciates (I think that is the word) every year. You won’t ever lose value in a sports franchise. But problem comes when you have the two paths of spending cheap and get just maintaining minima profits or spending money to make more money. Which in turns allows you to spend more money to make more. I know on a different thread we broke it down to where one ticket is essentially worth $100 to the Mariners pre them slicing up the pie just with money for the ticket, parking, food and drink and merchandise. And they averaged what like 13,000 in 2019 and most of the year Stubhub had boat loads of tickets all year they couldn’t give away at $5.

Their marketing team is great but the luster is off. The last two games I went to was a Cano bobble head and Kuma bear hat thing. My buddies and I showed up like 5 minutes before opening pitch and got them and there were still boxes and boxes. So you are right, they are at the point where bribing no longer works and either have to spend more money on the big club (which they won’t) my other strategy would be to promote the hell out of the Rainiers for this upcoming year. Get Gilbert, Kelenic, Kirby, Trammell and whoever else a solid fan base. Essentially when calling up the player you call up an extra 5,000 fans of the guys and when you get 5,000 baseball fans that generally means 15,000 new one because a guy will bring his buddies, or wife/gf/trying to hook up with girl. Sucks for the Mariners hardcore fan but make fans not of the Rainiers but make die hard fans of the players. Which means the gen z’s or whatever this new generation is labeled follow them all on social media and maybe attend a game to see the guy behind the camera or behind the post they liked or whatever. I don’t know. Old way of promoting the product isn’t working and like I said prior, my fear is it will be too late as they aren’t created new fans, just tugging on the heart strings of older fans with the constant 95-2001 promotions. My kids weren’t alive for the Sonics, haven’t watched a meaningful September game for the Mariners and my girls have seen 2 Coug wins and my son hasn’t seen one yet in the Apple Cup. So basketball, baseball and the Cougs aren’t high on the list of things to do on the weekend and that sucks.

Sorry I suck at responding in a timely manner. As far as my employer knows I'm snowed in and have no power so I actually have some time to relax.

A. You agree? Shit I should probably just end here.

B. I think we're on the same page here as well. It really is hard to determine the financial impact of another competing franchise in town. I keep going back and forth on this and I'm really not sure. The only thing I can say with certainty in terms of television viewers is that ROOT having the rights to broadcast the Kraken games at least ensures that Kraken broadcasts and Mariners broadcasts won't overlap, which at the minimum ensures the television revenue doesn't drop as the result of having a competing franchise in the same market. The impact on gate revenue on the other hand is hard to determine. My initial thought is that since Kraken games will be more expensive could result in the consumer base spending more on going to a few Kraken games as opposed to paying less money for a ticket to a Mariners game.

I do sincerely believe that if the Mariners lowered ticket and concession prices, it would increase the amount of revenue they take in. I could be biased on this because I've been getting cheap/free club level tickets from a friend who works in the organization, but knowing I only paid $10-$20 for a great ticket makes me feel more inclined to pay a bunch for concessions and in the end spend a ton of money in the stadium on drinks and what not.

C. Definition of suburbs aside, I do think we'd agree that with so many people working remotely it will impact gate revenue. It's somewhat unrelated but what's going on with real estate right now in this area is absolutely insane. It's fueled by people working remotely who have high income looking to purchase a home outside of Seattle and people capitalizing on the absurd amount of equity in their homes and using that equity to purchase an investment property. I have clients who are purchasing homes (as an investment) $100k-$200k over the appraised value because the rates are so low right now. I had a friend who put an offer in for a modest home valued at $450k in Bonney Lake for $500k and it sold for $600k cash.

I want to shoot myself wasting close to $2,000 in rent on a one bedroom apartment, but home prices are absurd and for some fucking reason every condo on the market charges like $300-$500 on HOA dues a month. My sister pays $600 a month for HOA dues on the condo she's renting out and doesn't even break even after taxes and the mortgage she has on the property. I'm going to stop now because I could go on for hours about the absurdity of the housing market in this area.

You are completely correct regarding the franchise appreciating substantially each year. The team was purchased for $100m in 1992. Purchased for $1.2B in 2016 and Forbes has it valued at $1.6B as of April 2020. I completely agree that the franchise value would exponentially increase if they put more money into the team, but I'm assuming ownership doesn't look at it like that. From a financial perspective, unless they spent enough to build a playoff team, they would have a poor return on investment. Additionally, given the state's COVID restrictions, people leaving Seattle, etc. I can see why ownership neutered Dipoto when it comes to spending (from a financial perspective).

I think MLB needs to do something to make baseball cool again. It could just be my generation, but I feel like nobody I know talks about baseball. All of my friends love the experience of going to the game, but most of them can't name more than a few people on the team.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I like the Paxton signing. Honestly I didn't see it coming given the restrictions that ownership placed on spending and the fact that I would've figured Paxton would get more money, or at least a two year deal.

Realistically speaking it doesn't make us a playoff contender, but at a very minimum he can be valuable trade bait if he performs well.

 

[Duders]

At Pax's age, I'm guessing he's along for the ride basically for trade with ownership hoping he does well enough to pull in some younger talent on the hill. I also think ownerships has hopes he'll excite fans and increase their revenue. Bottom line, ownership, as expected, is really in it for the money. Why not, Seattle fans have loaded their pockets for years with mediocre teams. If it ain't broke, it sure doesn't need fixing.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[Duders]

The Padres are going all out this season. They look to be a solid force to be reckoned with. It's nice to see ownership putting up the bucks to get talent for a winning team. Wish the M's ownership would have opened their pocketbooks a couple years ago instead of now still waiting for "next year". Tired of being strung along again and again. Sorry to bitch but it's just the same old carrot being held out there.