Rosenthal: Bedard to Mariners 1 player from completion

[DrungoHazewood]

I agree it's a pressing need. But, that doesn't mean I'd rush to fill that spot either. We aren't playing for '08. If we don't find the one we want for the right price, I'm OK with a Uribe-type guy for a year while we continue the search.

If you're ok with Juan Uribe, you should be fine with Luis Hernandez. They're equally offensive in slightly different ways. Uribe has more power, but Hernandez is here, is free, and is probably better defensively.

Of course both go through outs like John Candy went through butter mashed potatoes at the Country Buffet. But if someone's decided to punt on a shortstop in '08 you might as well go with the cheap one you can discard on a moment's notice without anyone caring.

[Dr. FLK]

If you're ok with Juan Uribe, you should be fine with Luis Hernandez. They're equally offensive in slightly different ways. Uribe has more power, but Hernandez is here, is free, and is probably better defensively.

Of course both go through outs like John Candy went through butter mashed potatoes at the Country Buffet. But if someone's decided to punt on a shortstop in '08 you might as well go with the cheap one you can discard on a moment's notice without anyone caring.

I see the 2 differently. I see LH being viewed as a long term solution. And that makes me ill. I see Uribe as a stop gap while we find a long term solution. And, I'm more OK with that.

But, I think there are better options than either of them out there, even as a stop gap. I didn't mean Uribe specifically, but he was the first stop gap example that popped into my head.

[PoorMike]

I see the 2 differently. I see LH being viewed as a long term solution. And that makes me ill. I see Uribe as a stop gap while we find a long term solution. And, I'm more OK with that.

But, I think there are better options than either of them out there, even as a stop gap. I didn't mean Uribe specifically, but he was the first stop gap example that popped into my head.

I agree with the other post.

Either LH or a long term solution. I don't want to go from LH (now) to a stop gap (that we have to pay for) and then to a long term solution.

[RShack]

But, I think there are better options than either of them out there, even as a stop gap. I didn't mean Uribe specifically, but he was the first stop gap example that popped into my head.

People keep saying that, but they somehow can't come up with anybody except older AAAA util-guys. I'm *still* waiting to see the list of "dozens" of guys who are way-better than LH and who can be had for nothing...

[JTrea81]

Here's a good one:

Churchill has started up a grass roots effort to e-mail the Mariners telling them the Bedard trade would be a mistake:

FYI –

I sent an email to Howard Lincoln last night in the name of all fans that care about sustaining long-term success.

I was nice and cordial and avoided talking down to him and ridiculing the organization.

A few of the points I made included a few paragraphs on how smart the fans in this town are now, and that the fans do and will recognize when the ball club is doing the right thing, even when it means making a choice not to necessarily be better immediately.

The fans in this city want a smart baseball team who puts a four or five-year span ahead of one or two seasons.

We’ll show up in droves to see Jones, Clement, Morrow and company develop, all the while making the team more competitive in the long run and for a longer period of time, and for a lot less money on the books.

If Howard has ever heard of me, he doesn’t like me, but we’ll see how he responds.

I urge all of you to use to use the feedback email address to express your concern about the mortgaging of a very promising future.

Click Here to Email The Mariners

It certainly cannot hurt.

http://prospectinsider.com/2008/01/07/ms-getting-closer/#comment-6158

Hey Cindy and blueberry stopped the Roberts trade, so anything is possible I guess...

[orifan]

Here's a good one:

Churchill has started up a grass roots effort to e-mail the Mariners telling them the Bedard trade would be a mistake:

...and in the opposite corner, Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times:

Bottom line? A team does not have to be a 90-game winner one season in order to make the World Series the next. Which, to me, is why using that "player or two" away argument to negate dealing for one of the better pitchers in the game is not convincing. Want to argue that Adam Jones is the second coming of Ken Griffey Jr. or Mickey Mantle? Fine. I'll counter that you have to give up talent to get talent and grab any window you can see opening. We'll agree to disagree.

Sorry. I know that will leave some of you feeling out of sorts. But there's a time to value your prospects and a time to use them to better the present. Not all of Seattle's farmhands are going directly to the Hall of Fame. I can live with the names I'm seeing bandied about.

Especially since the next two years have yet to be carved out in stone. Not in the AL West. Not in the AL wild-card race. Not with a pitcher of Bedard's abilities up-for-grabs.

[DrungoHazewood]

People keep saying that, but they somehow can't come up with anybody except older AAAA util-guys. I'm *still* waiting to see the list of "dozens" of guys who are way-better than LH and who can be had for nothing...

A lot of "older AAAA util-guys" are better than Luis Hernandez, who could be accurately described as an "8th-place hitter on a 4th-place AA team." Especially as a stop-gap. The Orioles would do well to scour the last cuts and waiver wire in late March to find some of them. That's exactly what they did to come up with LH.