The Reign of Terror has Ended
Behold the awesome power of Hotdog & Friends. Since our first-ever post, we have been lobbying for the dismissal of one Mr. Bill Bavasi. Finally, the club has bent to our awesome will.
Longer post to follow (maybe). Please comment below.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Now the 4 year rebuilding process can begin! Mariners have a fluke winning season last year, one of the few in baseball history to almost make the playoffs whilst having a negative run differential.
Bavasi then hedges the entire future of the team on 2 key moves, as a result the team is the worst in the league now.
Weaver, Beltre, Vidro, passing on Jay Bruce, passing on Tim Lincecum-
If professional sportswriters and fans can see that the team was not really 1 pitcher away from making the playoffs why, I ask, why cannot these people, Bavasi in particular, whose entire CAREER is devoted to following said trends?
Rejoice? In that this will perhaps not continue, but in the greater sense we are years away from watching solid Mariners teams. Meanwhile our sonics are being taken away from us potentially, our Huskies have a pitiful excuse for a coach, and our Seahawks are- well they are doing pretty good.
Maybe I should just move away and come back, hoping that things will have improved at least slightly. I suppose its impossible for them not to.
June 16th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
I just want to know why we waited until AFTER the draft to fire him. It’s been a bad year for the Bavasi’s…I only hope the trend continues with a blood-letting of Sexson, Vidro, Bedard (yes, Bedard…he’s a pitcher who can’t pitch unless it’s meaningless), and Wilkerson, et. al.
June 16th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Bavasi inheretted an old team five years ago, but good god, it’s about time he was fired.
“If professional sportswriters and fans can see that the team was not really 1 pitcher away from making the playoffs why, I ask, why cannot these people”
A reminder Sweeden, to be fair, many a sports writers/casters picked the M’s to win the West this year. Although last year was a huge fluke and a proven barstool fact that Bavasi is a moron with some (many) of his aquisitions and contracts, until about May, it was not crystal clear that he needed to be shown the door. He had a punchers chance of keeping his job going into this year… I hate saying it, but based on the media’s preseason reviews, he did.
June 16th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
There’s hope for this team. There’s some talent in the minors, and we may be able to stick some other suckers with Bedard for less than we got for him, but something nonetheless. Other than Johjima and Andre the Silva, I don’t think we have any shitty long-term contracts. Realistically do I think we’re competitive in 2010? No, but if you look at what Florida and Arizona have done recently, there’s no reason we can’t be with the right guy steering the ship, especially when he’s gonna have $120 million to play with. I nominate Hot Dog, so he can hire Carter.
June 17th, 2008 at 9:57 am
As long as Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong (not to mention an absentee owner) are running this team, the Mariners franchise will continue to be stuck in the mud. Those guys just don’t get it.
Geoff Baker asked Lincoln yesterday who signed off on the awful Johjima deal. He said that Hiroshi Yamauchi-san, Armstrong and himself were the ones who worked out the deal with Johjima — Bavasi had a limited role, if any. Bavasi was incompetent, but even he wouldn’t give a 33-year-old catcher who pitchers dislike a three-year, $24 million deal.
This team’s problems start at the top. As long as Yamauchi continues to exert his authority when it’s convenient and involves one of his favorite Japanese players and as long as the two ignoramuses continue to run the team, the Mariners will never appear in the World Series.
June 17th, 2008 at 10:19 am
The thing to do now is unload the veterans that have value. That presents two problems:
1) Many of our veterans have little trade value (Sexson, Vidro, Washburn, etc.)
2) You generally trade vets for prospects, but under the Lincoln-Armstrong regime, young players don’t get a chance to play anyways.
So perhaps we can get rid of Bedard, Beltre, and, I don’t know, Putz?
June 17th, 2008 at 11:08 am
I agree with skdub, but I think the primary reason he hates the Johjima deal is because Johjima is Japanese.