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Dr. Peter Venkman: This city is headed for a disaster of biblical proportions.
Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?
Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath of the Deity type stuff.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.
Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies! Rivers and seas boiling!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness! Earthquakes, volcanoes...
Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave!
Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together... mass hysteria!
Mayor: All right, all right! I get the point!
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The best remaining free-agent outfielder is switch-hitter Melky Cabrera — and many in the industry believe he will sign eventually with the Mariners.
That might happen, but Cabrera, 30, is seeking a five-year deal believed to be in the $60 million range, while the Mariners appear unwilling to move beyond three years.
The Mariners are also unlikely to offer Cabrera a higher annual salary than what Cruz received — $14 million over each of the next four years. If so, that means a three-year offer to Cabrera tops out at $42 million.
Reminds of last year, when we found out the Mariners refused a 1 year, $8M Cruz deal with an option. And it reminds you that the M's set their jaw on the David Price deal; they wouldn't give up Taijuan even for him. And it reminds you that the M's walked away from Matt Kemp and Justin Upton deals.
Yet the Seattle blog-o-sphere STILL runs screaming into the night on every tweeted rumor they don't like. Wake up and smell the peppermint latte, kiddies.
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Did you catch the line about the M's still leading on Melky, while holding the line at THREE years?
No, SSI is not guaranteeing a peachy-keen outcome. But give the M's credit here. They have in fact walked away from a lot of win-now deals.
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Hardball Talk, among 9,000 others, tweets
#Mariners interested in #WhiteSox outfielder Dayan Viciedo http://wp.me/p14QSL-2ioG
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First of all, it sez here that Viciedo isn't that much different from "sexy" trade target Evan Gattis. That's point one. He's young, has kewl component skills, and tons of upside from the RH side. BaseballHQ likes Viciedo a lot. UP = 30 HR
But secondly, Zduriencik sez "You go through talks on your primary targets until they play out. Then you go to your alternatives." What, now we are asking the M's not to talk to midrange alternatives?
The M's give a phone call to this or that player, lining up the maximum options possible in the maxium scenarios possible. Then some wag tweets that the M's are interested in Joe Shlabotnik. Then the M's blog-o-sphere (elsewhere) goes stark raving mad. "Thank the Immortal Deity Zeus they weren't about to give up Iwakuma for Viciedo. See Divish at URL XYZ."
I don't know if it's art, but I like it :- )
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And Dutton says, same link as above,
Club officials now downplay reports of renewed interest in Chicago White Sox outfielder Dayan Viciedo, whom they asked about in the past, but continue to see free-agent Alex Rios as a bounce-back candidate.
Justin Upton is a slower-moving target. The Braves have time to relent, and we're sure that Zduriencik will call with a final offer before a Melkination much less a Riossification.
Dr. D is not an Alex Rios fan, but Baseball HQ is. They forecast a league-average slash line, with excellent speed and a big platoon split vs LHP.
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It’s easy to look at the package that the Padres gave up and say, well, the Mariners should’ve just given up Zunino and three prospects and it automatically would have happened.
That’s flawed thinking.
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It is, yes, although it explains the Russell Martin rumors.
Objectively speaking, Grandal had to have a good bit more value to the Dodgers than Zunino would. Grandal hasn't had an OPS+ below 100, and he's an NL West player the fanbase will love as much as LA and G-Money does.
Dr. D was psyched about Kemp's upside. But objectively speaking, the Mariners wayyyyy lowered their white-knuckle factor. At D-O-V we point out that the M's have the "safest" franchise pillars in the game.
Sweetener for the M's fan cofee: the image of the M's signing Russell Martin and then paying for Matt Kemp into the bargain.
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So some "targets are off the board," as Dutton aptly put it. The Nelson Cruz grab --- > becomes more and more of a no-brainer as time goes along. There was one target left, and the M's had $260 roto money rotting on the table, and they deployed it at a reasonable overpay. For once, they're now negotiating from a position of "We like our ballclub as it is."
Be Afraid,
Dr D
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