PTI: Third Base for 1H-2012 (6 - Wright)
Q Spectator: David Wright and Andre Ethier are trade targets.
PTI Jemanji: Both names that, as fans, we'd love to see the M's get involved with ... whether they would be good moves in the cold light of reality is another question. One we'd love to debate :- )
Here, just quickly, Bud Hot Seat style:
WRIGHT PRO: You are talking about a 29-year-old player who has posted 7.1 and 8.9 WAR (!) seasons. In 2007-08, Wright was as valuable then, as Jose Bautista, Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez are now. Maybe more. Possible buy low.
WRIGHT CON: Presents a Sexson-like situation ... as Sexson's shoulder was before he got here, so Wright's back injury would be for any team taking him in for 2012.
If the doctors cleared him, then oh yeah.
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ETHIER PRO: Proven LH production (in contradistinction to the speculation around Trayvon, Wells etc). Likely untapped potential. Sabermetrics indicates some possible MVP-candidate seasons in him going forward.
ETHIER CON: Can you even deal with the Dodgers this offseason? ... also, could be showing Eric Davis-type fragility at age 28, not in terms of games per year but in terms of power-sapping leg injuries.
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Q DaddyO: Does the recent revelation about Chris Larson's financial situation mean they're less likely to spend money?
PTI Jemanji: Granted, I don't run in the financial circles these guys do...
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Generally, the Mariners as a company can borrow against their (huge) equity.
It's like you own a condo worth $800,000 and you only owe $200,000. The bank will cheerfully lend you $300,000 more on that condo, and it won't affect your personal accounts -- you can even pay the new mortgage with the borrowed funds, temporarily (granted, that's super aggressive).
The Mariners as a company have no cash flow problems -- and as a company they can spend a lot more if they're so inclined.
The decisions that a Boeing CEO makes, for Boeing, are disconnected from his own savings account. He's a shareholder, fine, but that only means he wants the company to do well.
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Larson's preference for a super-tidy P&L sheet at Seattle Mariners Co. has little to do with his own private finances. The report on Larson's financial travails should, in a vacuum, not affect the Seattle Mariners' financial operations. Larson is never going to have to shore up the Seattle Mariners with his personal cash. That's not the way it works.
The Mariners run nice yearly cash flows. Most teams don't (and don't have to: profit comes from equity and the sale of the club). The big positive cash flows are an indulgence on their part.