Seattle Sports Insider

About a Contract - Chemistry 2010-11

Posted by

7/23/10

Q. Would this kerfuffle have happened if Mike Sweeney had been on the ballclub all year?

A. 3:1 against, vigorish going to SSI.

Fangraphs amigos have the luxury of coaching baseball cards. It makes the game pretty simple. (I love fangraphs.com.) Real 25-man rosters have to provide against mutiny, ghost clippers and oil spills.

Q. Can chemistry turn a 100-loss pile of "talent" into a winner?

A. No.

Q. Can chemistry turn a 100-win collection of "talent" into a loser?

A. No. The Miami Heat are going to win 60 games next year, whether the chemistry melts or not.

Q. Can good chemistry turn a 75-win collection of "talent" into a winner?

A. Yes; Griffey, Sweeney, and Wok did precisely that last year, right in front of your eyes.

Q. Can bad chemistry turn a 75-win collection of "talent" into a 100-loss train wreck?

A. Yes; it's happening this year, right in front of your eyes.

Q. I thought that Jack Zduriencik had brought in his kind of player?

A. Brandon Morrow is an example of the kind of talent who was powerflushed specifically because of personality issues. Back channel, it has been clear that the administration was simply disgusted with Morrow's makeup, that they wanted him gone, and took a discount for chemistry purposes.

The M's have put a whale of a lot of effort into flushing out the "losers." It must be maddening to find out you've lost yardage.

It doesn't show that Z doesn't know what he's doing. It's one more illustration of the fact that life is too hard sometimes. :- )

Q. Lesson learned?

A. If Zduriencik emphasizes "his kind of player," do you think three months' face up with Figgy -- under these hard conditions -- has caused any reassessment behind the mahogany desk?

Q. What has to happen from here to get the 2009 chemistry back?

A. Bobby Valentine is the shortcut.

The long way around: get good players in here, sure, try to get some winning going, rebuild the Brewer Way To Play Baseball from the first brick again.

Not easy, now. Remember you had Felix, Cliff Lee, Jason Vargas, Doug Fister, Ichiro, Guti, etc this year. You're going to have more than that next year?

Tell you this, though. Would be interested to know whether some team would be willing to take Figgins' contract. He was a great player in 2009, one of the ten best in the league.

Lot of teams see themselves as being able to fix Mariner (or, Safeco?) problems. Wonder if they feel that way about Figgins.

Cheers,

Dr D

Comments

Now is the Time to Move Figgins

Even if you totally discount Figgins outburst after he was removed by Wak, now would still be the best time to move Figgins. The concern would be if Figgins is brought back next year and is a flop again his appeal to other team would have fallen even further making him extremely tough to offload.
On the flip side, if Figgins is brought back and does perform well, well what asset will the M's have saved a powerless player with a low 700 OPS, manning 3B. So why would Z even want him back next year?
At one time I thought his veteran leadership presence may be beneficial, but after his display this evening I'm having some serious doubts if he even offers any value on that front.

Leadership?

Right now it looks like he's the core of the problemo. And it didn't start with last night's antics. The smoke has been there quite a while - the hitting 9th rebellion and so forth.
One more player who didn't make it in Safeco, am afraid.

Figgins isn't going anywhere

TAD, What exactly are you doing with Figgins? Nobody is taking that contract with roughly 30 million left to pay for a guy who has had a miserable season.
He needs to come back next year and have a strong season before that contract gets remotely moveable.

Who could have forseen that

Who could have forseen that Figgins would turn into such a disaster performance-wise and personality-wise?
Unfortunetly, he can't be very tradable unless the Ms eat some of that deal.. I wonder if the Angels would still be interested (if we eat $1-2mil per year)?

I actually think Wak needed

I actually think Wak needed to go regardless.. Its unfortunate, but since hes not a good tactical manager and not a guy that commands respect from umpires or the players.. Theres just no upside there anymore.

Who needs Figgins, Now Z needs earn his keep

Hey NYMariner05,
I agree it will probably not be simple thing for Z to move Figgins, but hey that's what Z gets paid the big bucks. It is relatively easy to bring back big returns when you have valuable commodities that others want i.e. Lee and Putz. Now is the time to see if Z can admit a mistake regarding Figgins and move on. Can Z find a taker for Figgins well that's what he is paid to do - if it were an easy job well Bavasi would have succeeded and he would still be our GM.
If the M's do decide to keep Figgins it better because he pulls a Bradley and begins to march lock step in tune with Wak and the culture the M's are attempting to build. But even if he does do that I'm unsure if his talent and actual performance will be what the M's need over the duration of his remaining contract. The other risk if you keep him he may have another poor season next year which would reduce his value even further. Potential buyers may believe this could be just a one year blip and it’s due to Figgins needing to move off position and having to adjust to a new environment while if this continues into next year it would be tougher to convince anyone this has not become an issue with diminishing physical skills.

Wak is the wrong guy.

If you are trying to pull a Billy Beane style reload...you need someone who'll use the freakin' bench. Wak refuses to do this in any useful way. Z has tried to give Wak multiple players worth trying out at various positions and Wak has demonstrated no ability to run the roulette wheel. He's a weak-willed loser in the eyes of the umps...his players and this fan. Classy? You betcha. Class, grace, intelligence and charm get you very far in most jobs, but not in baseball management. You need to be able to stand up to 25 gorillas in your locker room and you've got to get results or at least demonstrate that you are TRYING to get results. Wak has none of that going for him.