Oakland

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Dr. D was quite taken aback Monday night, when the M's took over the game and the national TV color guy started whining about the lefty hitters.

SSI thinks that this was more than a throwaway comment.  Like, when Peter Gammons called Brad "Logo" Miller the best player nobody has heard of, I think that was more than just a throwaway comment.  Behind that comment is a "buzz" among the industry's scouts, that they are seeing something really special in Miller.  (So is Dr. D.  and so DID Gordon and Spec.)

Before Opening Day, we had done a 30,000-foot view courtesy of BaseballHQ, and warned y'all "Hang on, hang on.  The prospectus is kinda scary for the league's RHP's here."

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Q.  How many WAR do the Mariners gain from this deal?

A.  There was a time when sabermetricians tried to apply the WAR/$ paradigm even to closers.  "Yes, the Mariners spent $7 millions per annum, and received 1.5 WAR.  That will do.  Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?"  

Yowch.  It's 10 years ago that J.P. Ricciardi buried himself by shedding Billy Koch, and he had to spend like $40 mill (in 2005 money) to recover from his "Closers via WAR/$" paradigm.  The bloggers are still judging Closers by simple WAR, but they're a good decade behind the sabermetricians who actually draw paychecks.

If Theo Epstein or Billy Beane ever grant you a job interview, I suggest you point out to them that Mariano Rivera and Joe Nathan have only accumulated 4 WAR apiece over the period 2011-13, and that GM's are behind the Fangraphs curve.  It'll do wonders for your career chances.

A Wipeout Closer is a good example of the difference between (1) a collection of WAR and (2) a ballclub.

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Those dilwads are so mind-numbingly hypnotized by WAR that they haven't noticed we just gained our lynchpin #3 hitting Straw that Stirs, a Real Closer, and Oh By the Way (imminently) a .500 slugging Cleanup Hitter, who bats from the right side of the plate.

They don't think in terms of cleanup hitters and closers.  They're dilwads.  I mean it in a nice way.

Q.  Is Rodney a "real closer?"

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Here's the YouTube of Tatum's hit.  Best view is the slo-mo at 0:38.

In his autobiography They Call Me Assassin, Tatum says that Oakland had the lead, but that Minnesota caught fire and was mounting a dangerous comeback.  "We needed to cool them down," he wrote, and he'd been looking for a way to do that for half a quarter or so.

On the play to White, Tatum recalled, "I got my chance.  The ball came over the middle ... I could have easily intercepted."  Instead he delivered the hit.

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Kevin Mather = President

Sez Spec,

Kevin Mather to be named M's president. Has been VP for finance & ballpark operations. No need to state obvious about priorities. LaRussa snubbed.

Follows on SABRMatt, adroitly,

I have been convinced, actually, that it might be better for the Mariners' GM if the club made its Team President do primarily financial stuff. It could be that whoever replaces Zduriencik after this season gets a lot more room with Mather at the helm than with a guy like LaRussa. I still think Mather is a classic Seattle move...but there are silver linings to ever cloud.

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Dr. D's crunch?  We've already riffed about Tony LaRussa.  What we said IN THIS ARTICLE goes double today.  It adds a poignant touch that La Russa himself was mystified about the M's snub, enough so to complain nationally.

I think Matt's right about the silver lining.  Impossible to imagine a promoted bean counter (no disrepect intended) having the "hallway cred" to walk into Zduriencik's office, uninvited, and start writing on his white board.  (Which is precisely what senior execs do to junior execs, and precisely what Chuck Armstrong did to GM's.)

Blengino complained that Zduriencik hit a point where he wanted to do it His Way.  SSI is quite optimistic that, in the critical 2014-15 seasons, he will be able to do it His Way.

It is possible that Zduriencik has been a closet genius, hamstrung by circumstances.  That scenario is plausible.