am i crazy or did the mariners just sign a left-handed richie sexson with less power? jose guillen was one of the best producers on this team last year. at this point, there has to be question about this team's ability to drive in runs. can beltre continue his upwards trend? can richie rebound? can raul be healthy AND produce at his age? will ichiro never lose a step? will jose lopez rebound? will betancourt take a step forward with his power? i hope so. only time will tell...

I know the idea is for Wilkerson to play RF, but it is interesting that he has more experience at 1B. Maybe this is an unspoken plan for a backup in case Sexson has another Sexson-type year. His numbers aren't much better, but he is LH and in our park that is a huge plus.

Would like to see Balentien in RF if he is truly ready...might be rushing him a bit.

You mean to tell me we don't have anything better in the Minors than a 230 hitting strike out King? I would rather go with three CHeap young, HUNGRY, triple A guys than this.

He is a waste of a roster spot! (On any major league team)

Here is a story by Buster Olney that puts another twist in this story. I have not heard this until today. Sorry if it is old news. I know they are saying something about a bad hip, but why be afraid the deal would have to go through. If he fails his physical it is done, or is there a way around this?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3224091

Obama/Divish in 2008!

Letting go of Jose Guillen was STUPID, but then so is Bavasi when it comes to evaluating Major League talent.

I've said this before, Bavasi would make an excellent director of the farm system, scouting 7 the draft. He seems to be as good at evaluating very young players as he is AWFUL at evaluating Major league talent.

In all seriousness while I doubt Bavasi would accept the demotion, I'd really like to see him kept on as farm system director with a new GM.

Not likely to happen Moo, but I like it. I think the worst move of the offseason was made a long time ago when Bavasi was retained for another season. The sad thing is that he may be doing just enough to have us a "pretender" but in the hunt, and keep his job.

Then again, they do say that pitching wins championships. If this Wilkerson deal IS a precursor to getting Bedard, we may have a rotation to compete. How many "quality starts" by the rotation will be coughed up by the bullpen?

It's been a week. I hope every major league team takes notice. DONT DO TRADES WITH PETER ANGELOS! He lets his ego get in the way. I am assuming this is payback for Adam Jones saying the deal is done.

since when are we giving up tillman and butler?? ouch.

aren't both shannon stewart and corey patterson still available?

Still no news on Bedard. Our rotation should be better even if the deal doesn't happen. We got rid of Weaver, and brought in Silva. I think Washburn can be better than last year. Felix should continue to improve, and the consensus seems to be Ramirez may be helped by new pitching coach, and new workout program.

Divish, you going to spring training?

Someone explain to me why we signed this guy and what it's going to get us? $3M + incentives, give me a break. I'd bet his $3M paycheck that one of our minor leaguers could play RF and do better than this guy. Oh that's right, he's a left handed hitter and we need one of them since we dumped the good one because he was too expensive. Good thing Wilkerson can hit .240 against RH pitching. Wow, now I can see the huge impact that bat is going to have in the M's lineup. The opposing pitchers will be shaking in their shoes when Wilkey and Sexson come to the plate. And, if Wilkey hits behind Sexson big Richie will probably strike out another 20 or 30 times.
We already had an overpaid, underachieving slug (not slugger) that can't hit .240. Why add another one?