Official Mariners Spring Training Thread 2018

[NWinAZ]

Cool moment just now; It is my birthday today and my daughter was trying to buy me this M's hat I saw Dave Sims wearing on a pregame show last week. She couldn't find it so I just tweeted him and asked him about it and he replied and told me where it came from. Pretty darn nice of him to take out the time.

Just now I found out from Kevin Martinez (SVP For Mariners) that the hats are coming out again this Fathers Day, so I will get another shot at getting one since there is only 1 available on all the internet at it is for a small headed man. The M's do have fan friendly people.

 

[jerseyhawksfan79]

Christ, they seriously can't get out of their own way.....

I knew there would be a huge price for me with my Eagles winning it this year, its my baseball team that will suck the rest of my life!

Maybe by 2030 the M's will fight for a playoff spot. Honestly, there's just isn't any hope so while I love/hate my shitty Mariners I hope the Phillies do something this year.

 

[wazzu31]

It is 100% PR. Watch spring training games and you see empty seats all over the place. I have no idea how regular season sales have gone, but I doubt there was a rush on them outside of bobble-heads games. If they truly wanted OF help, there are better options out there, but none of them offered the sales potential of Ichiro. Do people understand he is older than the freaking franchise? He isn't Ichiro of 2001. He wasn't even considered a great clubhouse guy. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

This is where I am out on an island on the issue. I don't feel it is 100% PR. He is signing at a backup OF. The rest of the FA are either too expensive or won't take the role Ichiro would. I'm just not upset like a ton of people are over a guy who is a backup outfielder.

 

[wazzu31]

Um no, you make a valid point about Motter being the only option, Taylor drove me crazy last year with some of the stuff he pulled on the field. At first I thought, "he's young and he'll learn" it just kept going all season though

I don't hate Motter and think he has a role on the team but I'd prefer him as the utility guy not a stop gap guy. I mean it's not preferable that Ichiro would start a week straight either but just not a fan of having the only guy who can play OF isn't very good at it (just a small sample size of him playing in the OF last year)

 

[wazzu31]

Ohtani said he didn't want to go to a team with an Asian star (or even a former star) DIP played his best 'We don't want this guy so please come here' move. He distanced himself for the Ohtani sweepstakes. Now that the team has been blah in fan attraction he needed to make a Mariner of old move (see Richie Zisk, Willie Horton, Gaylord Perry moves).

This is a joke so I'm prefacing this, Jerry screwed the organization up to get Ohtani, swang and missed so horribly that he is saying f you to him and will have Ichiro come and pitch and hit first.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[SeattleCoug]

 

[mcnabb7542]

Clearly it's a long season, and maybe they can hover around the .500 mark and make some noise at the end...


One can hope...

 

[wazzu31]

I wonder what the Mariners offered him.

 

[NWinAZ]

I wonder what the Mariners offered him.

Nothing. He doesn't bring in the butts to fill the seats. He only plays the role they needed.

 

[NWinAZ]

The biggest International player signs...

Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that the Rangers have signed Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez for a bonus of $2.8 million.

Badler notes that the 21-year-old Martinez will slide into the No. 60 spot on Baseball America's top-100 prospect rankings and also now ranks as the No. 3 prospect in the Rangers' farm system, behind Willie Calhoun and Leody Taveras. Martinez batted .333/.469/.498 in 264 plate appearances during his final season in Cuba, with 52 walks, 30 strikeouts, and 24 stolen bases in 29 attempts.

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I guess we were spending too much time on a 44 outfielder instead. Remember all that International money?

 

[wazzu31]

The biggest International player signs...

Ben Badler of Baseball America reports that the Rangers have signed Cuban outfielder Julio Pablo Martinez for a bonus of $2.8 million.

Badler notes that the 21-year-old Martinez will slide into the No. 60 spot on Baseball America's top-100 prospect rankings and also now ranks as the No. 3 prospect in the Rangers' farm system, behind Willie Calhoun and Leody Taveras. Martinez batted .333/.469/.498 in 264 plate appearances during his final season in Cuba, with 52 walks, 30 strikeouts, and 24 stolen bases in 29 attempts.

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I guess we were spending too much time on a 44 outfielder instead. Remember all that International money?

Did they deal away alot of that international money? I thought I read after he missed he made a deal involving a bunch of money

 

[NWinAZ]

Did they deal away alot of that international money? I thought I read after he missed he made a deal involving a bunch of money

They gave it away after Ohtani debacle. They called it a trade but for what??? They just don't sign the top International guys.

 

[Tapey]

Just found out I have the opener off, so you know what ill being doing that night? You guessed it, drinking heavily.

 

[NWinAZ]

 

[Tapey]

 

[wazzu31]

They gave it away after Ohtani debacle. They called it a trade but for what??? They just don't sign the top International guys.

I'm not sure and could be completely wrong but I thought I heard Jerry made a deal that involved giving away some international money. I don't know, he has made so many useless moves I might be mixing them up.

 

[NWinAZ]

I'm not sure and could be completely wrong but I thought I heard Jerry made a deal that involved giving away some international money. I don't know, he has made so many useless moves I might be mixing them up.

From what I remember is that he traded high for the money then sold it for pennies on the dollar after the Ohtani crud. Not sure why he didn't just keep it and go after this Cuban outfielder but he didn't.