Mariners Central

Putz Hurt, Again

2008-06-12T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are again. The Mariners are started to win after taking two of three from the Jays. But they lost a big one in JJ Putz going down to another injury.

Putz suffered a rib injury back in April, and it's not been said yet if it has flared up again. The M's say that they will be playing it day by day.

Just a heads up, I've started a new sports blog called Tyler's Take, where I take events from the sports world and give my opinion on them.

Yeah

2008-06-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

Finally the M's can pull one off. It took ten innings, but hey, a win is a win. And win it's the Mariners, they have to take whatever they can get their hands on.

Vidro hit a nice two run bomb four pitches in to the game off of Toronto's Jesse Litsche. But that was it for the Mariners offence untill number ten. The M's got a huge oppurtunity in the tenth, and Miguel Cairo dropped a perfect squeeze bunt to score the winning run. It got tense in the bottem of the tenth when the Jays loaded up the bases a couple of times, but luckily for the M's, they held off the Jays.

Posting has been down lately, and I apologize for that, but right now, I'm not sure about what I'd like to do with this blog. I was thinking of maybe oppening this blog up to more baseball, not just the Mariners, or starting up a general sports blog with more opinion included in it. For right now I'm just going to keep going on with this.

!@#$%^&*()

2008-06-05T21:34:00.000-07:00

That's about it. I probably would've use better terms, but Geoff Baker does a good job with this one.

"We're playing our (bleep) off every day and got nothing to show for it. I'm tired of (bleeping) losing, I'm tired of getting my (bleep) beat, and so have those guys. We gotta change this (bleeping bleep) around and get after it. And only we can do it. The fans are (bleeped) off, and I'm (bleeped) off, and the players are (bleeped) off. And that's the way it is. There's no (bleeping) easy way out of this, can't feel sorry for ourself, we gotta (bleeping) buckle it up and get after it. I'm tired of (bleep) losing this, (bleeping) every night we bust our (bleep). It's gotta be a total team (bleeping) effort to turn this thing around, and that's it."

MLB Draft Day 1: M's take Georgia Righty

2008-06-05T20:57:00.000-07:00

Day one of the MLB Draft took place today. The Mariners held the 20th pick in the first round. With that pick, they took 22 year old right hander Joshua Fields from the University of Georgia.

The 6'0" 180 pounder was a second round draft pick of the Atlanta Braves a year ago, but Fields and his agent Scott Boras failed to agree on a contract with the Braves, so he rentered the mix for this year.

Taking a look at the scouting report for Fields, I find him to be fairly close to major league ready, and he looks like he could be a dominent pitcher in the future. He has a 92-95 MPH fastball that he can through consistantly at 94, and a very good curveball with excellent break that he throws at about 80 MPH. I'll look in to this guy a little bit more over the next little while. Geoff Baker has Bob Fontaine answering questions about their first rounder.

66 Overall; Raben, Dennis; U Miami; RF; L/L; 6'03"; 220; 1987-07-31; JR
98 Overall; Pribanic, Benjamin; U Nebraska Lincoln; RHP; R/R; 6'04"; 200; 1986-09-01; JR
132 Overall; Hensley, Steven; Elon U; RHP; R/R; 6'03"; 195; 1986-12-27; JR
162 Overall; Lorin, Brett; Cal St Long Beach; RHP; R/R; 6'07"; 245; 1987-03-31; JR
192 Overall; Burgess, Jarrett; Florida Christian School (FL); RF; R/R; 6'02"; 1990-08-10; HS

Well, What Now?

2008-06-03T20:41:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that Tempe Diablo Stadium is a real nice Spring Training location, but the scoreboard looks like it's going to fall over. As I've mentioned I will be included Spring Training pictures in my posts for the next little while.

As for the lack of posting. No excuses. I have been busy with other things, but I've started about five posts in the last week that never got finished, so there you have it.

You Know Your Not Doing Well When...
Kind of an old saying, but when your team is looking to start it's own club, and not a good one, you are not doing well ---holy crap. 5-3 the M's are coming back. Some clutch hitting and luck pulling through---. I hadn't heard of the 100/100 club before, and I wasn't sure of what it would be. Now that I know---5-4, another botched play---I don't really want to keep going. Yes, $100M should buy you more than 60 wins a season. In that respect, $200M should buy you something close to a World Series, and $22M should buy you a top five pick in the June draft. It's starting to look like a backwards year. The Mariners set to compete for the AL West, the Tigers ready to dominate, the Yankees spending a lot of money and still never winning more than the first round of the playoffs, and the Marlins only a couple games out of first place.

Yes, these times aren't very good. I guess we can find a brightspot in, uhhhh, the light above my head. Yeah, that looks pretty bright right now. Not too harp on the Mariners, but when the 2008 Mariners are doing as well as they are, heck, why not trade for Babe Ruth?

Lowe of the Derek Variety
Derek Lowe getting interest from the Mariners? Yes, the link says that scouts watched him, but why would you scout someone if you weren't interested in that player? Maybe he could help the M's out a bit.

There is Always Someone Worse Off
Big Papi won't be so big for the next little while. He'll be out anywhere from three weeks to the end of the season after having surgery on his wrist, more specifically a tendon. Not a pretty thing. Although you can argue that the Red Sox are still in a better position than the M's are, imagine the M's without Ichiro.

Big Unit Passes Big Mouth
Randy Johnson has moved past Roger Clemens for second on the all time strikeout list after whiffing his 4,673rd batter tonight. The future Hall of Famer and former Mariner, still has Nolan Ryan above him, but the Rangers' something-or-other looks a bit out of reach.

Two in a Row

2008-05-29T21:15:00.000-07:00

Now that I've finally gotten my Spring Training pictures somewhat up, the Mariners won their second game in a row. For the first time in a long while, it looks like the Mariners finally woke up a bit.

Erik Bedard gave it a solid seven innings. He's starting to find some form. Yuniesky Betancourt hit a homerun, the only run of the game.

Mariners Shopping Batista, Washburn?

Jayson Stark says that the Mariners are expected to be interested in atleast 'window shopping' Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn. Both have had not the greatest starts to the season and are under contract untill 2009. But there is no chance that they would trade Erik Bedard. Not unless 'they fire the general manager'.

Scott Hatteberg Getting Interest

It looks like Mr. Hatteberg is starting to pick up some interest around the league. The Mariners appear to be actively pursuing the first basemen. Miguel Cairo has been playing some first base of late. Sexson is starting to ride the pine more and probably should be doing so.

Back to Reality and the Mariners Inability to Win Much

2008-05-28T20:57:00.000-07:00

Life and the Mariners not winning have kept me away from this blog for a while now, and after their win last night, I feel inspired! Okay, not really, by the win, but probably more so by Ichiro's Griffey-like catch the other night.

Last night's victory snapped a losing streak of a number not worth thinking about. Jose Lopez has to be the Mariners most underrated player so far this season, although he has struggled at times, in terms of clutch performance. A crucial base hit to end the game ninth and give JJ the win was his accomplishment for last night. Manny Ramirez and his long (can you call it hair?) dreadlocks hit number 499. The M's are up 1-0 on the Red Sox right now, so no number 500 for Manny, yet.

I'm going to wait a little while longer to make a mid season report card for the Mariners, but as of right now, I don't see many getting too many votes for the trip to the Big Apple for the last All-Star game at Yankee Stadium.

In other news, Cha Seung Baek is now out of the Mariners organization after, well, what did he do here again? He was shipped off to San Diego for right hander Jared Wells. Not sure of any relation to David Wells.

Maybe Bavasi's job is still pretty secure. According to president Chuck Armstrong, Bavasi will not be let go of any time soon. It's not like he's done anything to get fired, but how much has he done right?

Going, Going, Gone

2008-05-15T21:28:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned, I'm going away to Seattle this weekend, I will be catching an M's/Pads game during the weekend, and won't be back untill Monday, so probably no posting.

Off day for the Mariners today, and I would've liked to have a little bit more up, but time is a bit of a factor in this. I'm populating the 'Mariners Blogs' list, so if your blog isn't up there yet, don't worry it will be there soon.

Peace.

Problems

2008-05-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but right now I'm experiencing problems with my computer and this Blogger stuff, so posting may be down for tonight and maybe tomorrow. I will be going away this weekend, so I'll try and get something up tomorrow for the weekend.

Money Not an Issue

2008-05-14T20:56:00.001-07:00

It looks like Ken Griffey Jr.'s contract won't be an issue for the Mariners.

That should come with some relief. Maybe it won't take as many prospects to get Jr., because the M's probably won't ask for money in a potential deal. ProspectInsider looks at Adam Moore in this week's Farm Report (in the PI), and how he could become a better player than Jeff Clement.

Back to the Griffey stuff now. He has about $8M left for this season and a $16M option with a $4M buyout. This season's money probably won't matter that much, but it was thought that the option would become an issue. Ken Rosenthal dissmissed that. As of know, we can pretty much only do some educated speculating. Something that I was doing, but without the educated part.

Late Inning Dissapointment

2008-05-12T21:25:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, the Mariners couldn't complete their ninth inning heroics. It was a better effort, and they did score 12 runs, but it was the starting pitching that killed them.

I'm not going to harp on Erik Bedard, but he was awful. Six runs in two innings isn't the kind of quality that we need from Erik "The Interview" Bedard.

Overall, the team looked somewhat alive out there. Obviously there didn't quite make Jabu happy enough to get a win. At least Cha Seung Baek kept them in it with three scoreless innings of relief. I can't quite say the same for Mark Lowe though...

Ichiro pulled a nice 1-6, and so did Jose Vidro I think. It might have been Pepe out there, but I wasn't sure. Joh had a nice day, 3-4 with four RBI's and his first home run of the season. Wlad also hit a home run, number four of the season. Rauuuuuuuul Ibanez continued his underratedness (I did just make that word up) with a 2-5 performance, including a homerun, number seven, three RBI's and two runs. Seven homers and 28 RBI's. He may not be up there with the top of the pack, but he isn't that far behind them. Jeff Clement also had a couple hits.

Brandon Morrow did blow it, but he did strike out the other four batters that he faced, so does that even out the loss. Maybe yes, maybe no, but at the end of the day, the M's didn't come out with a win. It would really be nice to see this team have a late summer rally. Let's try and take the good out of this one, if possible.

News and Notes

2008-05-12T20:44:00.001-07:00

A little bit of randomness before I wrap up the Mariners probable loss to the Rangers.

Mac held another team meeting today. If it hadn't helped the M's break out of their slump a while ago, why would it help them now? Whatever, if it works, you don't ask why or how, you just go with it.

Jarrod Washburn has started to work on a splitter because 'he never had an out pitch'. Personally, I've always liked the splitter. It comes in as a fastball than completely sinks. It's effective when you've got something good. JJ Putz has a nice splitter. I can't think of anyone else off the top of my head who throws a really nice splitter.

The Mariners had sent Duane Shaffer, Bavasi's 'special' assistant to New York to watch Ken Griffey Jr. play at Shea Stadium this weekend. I briefly and SPECULATIVELY looked at the possibility of a reunion with Jr., that I don't really want brought back up again... John Hickey looks at the Mariners need for a left-handed power bat for the middle of the lineup, and the fact that the M's have drawn some their worst crowds lately, and how Jr. would take care of both. I'd like to see Jr. back here, but not at the price of Jeff Clement.

The Mariners have tied it up in the ninth. Once again, I should probably be negative more often. There has been a little bit of mouth battling going on tonight. Nothing has resulted from it as of yet. I'd like to see another brawl.. Give the M's one more excuse not to play Jose/Pepe Vidro. Just don't let Felix try and get in the middle of it this time.

Series Preview: SEA @ TEX 5/12-14/08

2008-05-11T20:58:00.000-07:00

Sorry but I'm not up for much blogging tonight, so this will have to do for a series preview.

Not Sure of What to Say

2008-05-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

The Mariners won today, 6-3 over the White Sox, and I'm not that sure what to say about it.

The offense showed up, the pitching was good, and the bullpen was very good. I don't know what else to say right now.

Ok, Ok

2008-05-10T12:55:00.001-07:00

Alright. Time to clear this up.

I was mentioned in MLBTR, blah, blah, blah. Ok we got that. What I don't get is all the crap being thrown at me for what I said. Here's what the post was about. I was briefly, not in depth, going over what the Mariners would have to give up to land Ken Griffey Jr. Pure speculation on my part. I went with what I knew. I knew that the Reds needed some help at catching, so I threw Jeff Clement's name out there. I'm not an idiot, and if you think that Jr. will only cost you Miguel Cairo and Rob Johnson, I'm sorry. The reality is that in this market, if you want something you have to give up something for it in return that is valuable to the other side. Clement would be valuable to the Reds. Am I endorsing trading Jeff Clement, no. I said that Clement for Jr. straight up would make sense. nothing more. And it would in more ways than one. That's where this Rene Rivera crap comes in. How was I comparing Clement to Rivera when I said that I didn't want to see Clement end up like Rivera: a wasted prospect.

Naturally when you are talking trade the high end prospects come in to play. Carlos Truinfel and Phillipe Amounte. I put there names out there because that could be something of the asking price. Can anybody see in to the future and predict exactly what the Reds want? No. Do the Reds even know what they want for him? Probably not. Have they even decided that they where going to trade him? We don't know that yet. I threw out names that I thought could make sense in a Jr. trade. I used the knowledge that I had, and didn't look up anything. In hindsight I probably should've done more research, but I wasn't expecting to get mentioned in MLBTR, and was unaware of all the crap I was going to get because of it.

There are more people out there who would like Griff back in Seattle, including the Mariners. It just so happens that all the haters show up and voice their displeasure with trading for Griffey. Did anyone complain when the M's trading Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Kam Mickolio, Chris Tillman and Tony Butler for Erik Bedard? Not really. It's amazing how Mariners fans would rather trade a boatload and a half of highly talented prospects for a pitcher that has had one amazing year, and other than that a mediorce career, but can't come to terms with giving up a, that's one, top prospect for a player that has probably meant more to the franchise than anyone else.

I can't believe all of the negative feedback that I've recieved on this. I expected their to be some against acquireing Griffey, and that's what I had expected, but come on. How would you like it if you said a couple words and everyone shot you down because of them. Especially WHEN I WAS FLIPPIN SPECULATING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How do you figure that I think Cork Gaines is a 'god'? Unbelievable what the people of today can come up with. What's next, because I don't care to hear it, unless it has something positive in it.

Close, Kinda, but no Cigar

2008-05-10T11:57:00.000-07:00

Another dissapointing loss for the Mariners. 4-2 was a better effort than what we've seen, and the bullpen didn't even allow a run. What went wrong this time...

Carlos Silva is now 3-2 after a great start to the season, and a not so nice last few starts. He let in all four ChiSock runs on eight hits and two walks. That isn't a terrible performce, but when you get two runs of support, it looks awful. The bullpen was almost perfect in two innings. Sean Green and JJ Putz each gave up one hit in an inning pitched each. Green had one strikeout. I doubt that they were playing Thunderstruck last night. I haven't heard that in a while, but when you've gone something like 1-9, your closer doesn't get too many chances.

Wlad Balentien was sort of a bright spot. He hit a homerun, showing his excellent power, and had one outfield assist, showing that his defensive abilities are inproving. He struck out once and left four men on base, and finished 1-4. Nice to see the power and fielding, but you can't be that productive when you leave four on. Jeff Clement's line looked alright. He caught last night, and went 1-3 with a walk, but struck out twice. His .154 AVG so far this season isn't that nice, but he's still learning. Ichiro's still getting closer to that .300 mark. He went 1-4 with a stolen base and scored the Mariners other one. Adrian Beltre stole his fifth of the season as well.

What can I say? It wasn't great, but atleast it was only a two run gap this time. There has to be a better effort put out there, or this ship wil continue to go down.

Felix Fined Too

2008-05-09T21:45:00.000-07:00

I just finished on Richie Sexson's suspension, and when I went over to the Seattle PI's website, I noticed that King Felix was also hit with a fine.

Back to the Caffeinated Confines post:

1. If you’re a key pitcher, especially the staff ace, and you are not the one actually throwing the pitch, do not get involved in the fight. Felix Hernandez–stay in the dugout.

No info on the fines for you as of yet, and those amounts may never be known. What exactly was Felix thinking out there? He's been having a great year, why do something stupid like that?

Poll Results: What's Your Opinion of the Kenji Johjima Extension?

2008-05-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Our latest poll brought in the highest total of votes ever for Mariners Central, 31. Here's how they went down.

What's Your Opinion of the Kenji Johjima Extension?

Great. Lock up a great catcher for a reasonable price. 4-12%
Terrible. Clement is ready and he shouldn't be blocked. 18-58%
Status Quo. 9-29%

Seems like not many of you liked the signing, or thought whatever. Personally, I was on the statas quo wagon. Right now I'm not going to complain, but we'll see a few months or years from now.

If you have any ideas for polls that you would like to see, hit me up at marinerscentral"at"gmail.com.

Sexson Hitting the Pine, But Not Till Later

2008-05-09T16:38:00.001-07:00

Richie Sexson was slapped with a six day suspension and fined an undisclosed amount for his actions in last night's bench clearing brawl. Sorry I didn't have this up earlier, it was started but not completed but I thought that I'd get in up.

Sexson is appealing the suspension and is playing in tonight's game. Why do athletes have to appeal their suspensions? And it's only really in baseball. In hockey, your suspended and that's that. I'm not a huge NBA or NFL guy, but I think that you can appeal in that. The fine won't matter. It's like me seeing a nickle on the ground; I'll probably pick it up, but I don't need it. I probably shouldn't pick it up. The six day suspension won't make a huge difference, although he is in a contract year. The suspension could end up as a bit of the problem considering the potential 30 AB's or so that he'd miss, but it shouldn't matter too much.

Caffeinated Confines has a few rules for us to abide by for brawls. USS Mariner looks at Bryan LaHair, a left handed first baseman, and how he could be a replacement for Richie Sexson. I see him as a fit. I'd look at a replacement if it was more in the 10-15 day range for an absence, but for 6, I think that I'll have to pass this time.

Series Preview: CWS @ SEA, 5/9-11/08

2008-05-09T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wanted to give you a heads up about the Mariners next series before the first game starts. Not much commentary from me this time though. I'll save that for my post game remarks.

May 9
CWS: Jose Contreras, RHP, 2-3, 4.08 ERA
SEA: Carlos Silva, RHP, 3-1, 4.20 ERA

Scouting Report

May 10
CWS: Javier Vazquez, RHP, 3-3, 3.30 ERA
SEA: Jarrod Washburn, LHP, 2-4, 4.81 ERA

Scouting Report

May 11
CWS: Gavin Floyd, RHP, 3-1, 2.50 ERA
SEA: Miguel Batista, RHP, 2-4, 5.66 ERA

Scouting Report

Mentioned in MLBTR

2008-05-09T16:25:00.000-07:00

As many of you may know, Mariners Central was mentioned in Cork Gaines' latest 'Baseball Blogs Weigh In' post over at MLBTR. Cork linked up my post about Ken Griffey Jr. and what it would take to acquire him.

Mariners Central speculates on some of the names that it might take to land Ken Griffey Jr., noting that the M's are not likely to part with either of their top two prospects, Wladimir Balentien and Jeff Clement.

Glad to see that this blog is starting to go places. This link from MLBTR has brought visitors from all over the world. Right now at about 300 and counting. We are also looking at a record for votes in a poll as we are coming up on 30. Although some of the comments to the Jr. post weren't very nice, I would still like to thank MLBTR, Cork Gaines, and all those who commented on the post and voted in the polls for their supprt which is much appreciated. Keep on reading. I see biggish things in the future for this blog.

5/7 Game Thread

2008-05-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

Time for a little play by play from me.

8:41 - Mariners down 2-0 going in to the top of the seventh inning.

8:45 - Bedard getting up over the 100 pitch mark. One on, one out.

8:53 - Bedard strikes out two to end the inning. His night in probably over with 109 pitches thrown. Mariners turn to try and get some offence going.

8:57 - Ibanez battles through six pitches for a walk

9:00 - Beltre battles through six pitches for a walk. (not a typo)

9:03 - Jeff Clement strikes out looking

9:10 - Wlad strikes out swinging to end the minimal Mariner threat

9:21 - Back from a break, Author Rhodes takes over for Bedard, gets two outs but know has walked the bases loaded.

9:27 - Sean Green replaces Aurthor Rhodes

9:32 - Green gets a flyout to right, ends the threat

9:36 - Padilla replaced by Benoit; Burke walks but Cairo (why is he still here) flies out

9:43 - Ichiro flies after a ten pitch AB. Nice work

9:46 - Jose Lopez flies out to end inning. Morrow coming in

9:57 - Catalanotto on second, two down

10:03 - Top of the ninth over, so am I. Hopefully the Mariners can pull out some runs...

5/7 Ranier Watch

2008-05-07T21:33:00.000-07:00

Time to look at a couple players making some noise in Tacoma.

Jeremy Reed-OF
AVG: .362 H: 42 2B: 8 3B: 1 HR: 5 RBI: 19 BB: 13 K: 11 SB: 6 OBP: 423 SLG: .578

Reed has played well so far this year, and probably will get a call-up some time or later. He is out of option.

Oswaldo Navarro-SS
AVG: .307 H: 24 R: 15 2B: 5 3B: 0 HR: 0 RBI: 9 BB: 12 K: 13 SB: 0 OBP: 411 SLG: .373

One of the Mariners underrated prospects, if he still is. Looks like a mostly career backup, but could get a chance sooner or later. If Yuni and Cairo fall, so if Yuni falls, he could be on his way up.

Ryan Feierabend-P
W-L: 3-1 ERA: 1.70 IP: 37 HR: 2 K: 27 BB: 10 AVG: .227

Feierabend is a guy that I've always liked, but never hasn't seemed to have gotten a chance. He's been dominating AAA for the last year plus now, and deserves a call-up.

RA Dickey-P
W-L: 1-4 ERA: 3.25 IP: 36 HR: 1 K: 21 BB: 5 AVG: .294

Dickey has gotten a couple shots, but the M's keep sending him down. I like him more than Baek, but maybe once he evens out the record and gets the AVG down he'll be back up here.

The Nasty Attendences of Late

2008-05-07T20:53:00.000-07:00

Barely getting over the 15,000 mark, which is great for a hockey game, or for the Florida Marlins, but for a Mariners team that was suppossed to be raking in the wins and putting bums in the seats are doing much of either. A little bit from the PI:

''You expect some ebb and flow,'' Armstrong said. ''The weather hasn't been good. We haven't played as well as we wanted. And this is the worst schedule ever.

How much effect will the whether have when you play in a stadium with a retractable roof? I guess the whether would have an effect on those travelling to the game, but it shouldn't be that significant.

''I'm optimistic, but when you see 15,000 against a division rival, yes, you are disappointed.''

Of course you should be dissapointed. If those are the lame crowds you'll pull in come September when the Angels come to town? I hope not. I see these points as an arguement for the fans who don't show up:

When your team isn't doing very well, you probably don't want to go and watch that team. I understand that, but when everybpdy else thinks that you might want to pull out that fifty and go support your team.
It is May and some people have jobs to do that might not allow them the oppurtunities to go to the games that they might have during the summer months.
School. My excuse. It's still Spring and people still have to go to school. Homework and that garbage takes up more time than it should. Also those with kids in school will likely find it just as hard to get to the game as those in school for six hours a day learning stuff that they will probably never use.

Now that my points are out there, it's time for my points that the fans who show up will say.

Support your team. Thirty bucks for a decent seat isn't bad. Four bucks for a Coke is.
Get away for a few hours and hang with your buds at the ballpark.
It's usually fun, and when there's nobody there you can sneak down to better seats!!

Atleast there will likely be more than 15,000 next Friday night seeing as it's JJ Putz Bobblehead night.

Junior and Seattle

2008-05-07T16:04:00.000-07:00

Ken Griffey Jr. has been rumored to be traded for a while now, and the rumors of him returning to Seattle are heating up.

Personally, I've always like Griffey, as a player and as a person. He was a termendous player who would likely be chasing down Barry Bonds right now if it weren't for all of his injuries. Not to say that he was or is injury prone by any means, but when you break your wrist jumping in to a wall to make a catch, that shows who much you're willing to wisk for your team. That's the type of player Griffey was with Seattle and will always be.

Back to the trade rumors. The money could become an issue at one point. Jr. is owed $12.5M for this year, and has a $16.5M option for 2009 with a $4M buyout, which makes his option worth $12.5M (in a theory that I don't feel like explaining right now). The M's are throwing $16-something-M at Richie Sexson this year, I'm sure that they would spend that on one of the franchise's greatest players. Richie Sexson's contract comes off of the books, and Raul Ibanez and Jose Vidro will become free agents, although Vidro has a vesting option, giving the Mariners two places where Griffey could play easily. Or switch Wlad in to left and insert Griffey in to right.

What it's going to take to get Griffey over here is the biggest question. Would the Mariners give up Wladimir Balentien or Jeff Clement? I don't know. The Mariners would probably be hard pressed to part with their top prospects. Other than those two, guys like Phillipe Amount and Carlos Truinfel come to mind. Cha Seung Baek and Jeremy Reed apear to be extra parts, and are still young and have some potential, so maybe Baek, Reed and another high-ish level prospect would get the job done?

Would there be any liklihood of the Mariners sending Richie Sexson or Jose Vidro over to the Reds in a potential deal?