At the Times, they have a reporter who has been around the block a few times, who knows the American League, who knows how things are done in Seattle and how they're done out of Seattle.

One of the things I enjoy most about Geoffy's analysis is that he has the East Coast feel for the game, a sense for turning points, a feel for strategic crises, a 30,000-foot perspective.  The city will get six inches of snow and wring its hands about the "snowstorm" and Geoffy will roll his eyes and tell us how big cities handle 'em... just a f'r instance.  Seattle is a long ways from other major cities and, in some cases, completely blind to how things are done in other places.

Right now, he's telling us daily that a legit contenda wouldn't have held a parade around the field in 2009 for finishing 3rd.  And that it wouldn't be trying to win the AL West with this offense.

Right or wrong, I love the camera angle.  :- )

..............

Geoffy had a light bulb on with respect to Ian Snell:  hey, of the four scrubs in the rotation right now, Snell is the one making $4M.  He is the one that they have invested so much time in (last September, over the winter, etc).  He is the one that they invested all the trade chips in, including their #3 overall.  And he's the one with no options left.  Don't get your undies in an uproar as to that guy being removed from the rotation in preference to a group of rookies.  That ain't the way things are done.

..............

Wakamatsu, with no hesitation, evidently provided his recommendation to Zduriencik.  And Zduriencik showed no compunction about putting the best players on the field -- keeping Fister and Vargas in the rotation because they give the M's the best chance to win.

It's interesting to note, through the camera angle at the Bakery, that this surgeon-calm objectivity transcended what we would have expected even from the Red Sox, Yankees, or Blue Jays.

One more standing ovation for Jack Zduriencik, boys.  This organization is sending a clear top-down message:  you play good, you keep playing.

..............

SSI has never seen a manager / GM who was more about MLB (TM) entitlement than Hargrove.  We don't know if there has ever been a manager more about "you pay your dues, you've earned your place" than him.  And here we have a transplanted small-market GM* who is so much the opposite of that, it's just hard to absorb. 

We keep expecting the ML seniority to play into the decisions -- Vargas vs Snell, Teixeira, Moore vs Bard, Tuiasosopo, etc -- and the M's just keep going with the best decision they have available at the time.

Hargrove's philosophy permeated, and so does Zduriencik's.

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Part 2