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Now we have some idea what its like to be an Orc fan. Except, JeDi hasn't traded Josh Donaldson for parts. . .yet. The ride is guaranteed to be fun but nauseating. As in, too extreme for Disneyland.
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The Shout Box is getting to be like a Google Glasses hybrid car or something. Drives itself. And, with a perfect operational record. Not much for Dr. D to do any more, is there? :: sob ::
One thing, though. The thought was floated that DiPoto is making trades just to make trades, and that only the Karns deal did anything to improve us. Okay, Dr. D occasionally may return to the role of snapping amigos back to reality.
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NATE KARNS
Stipulated by the amigos.
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JOAQUIN BENOIT
Forgotten by the amigos, apparently.
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THE CATCHER POSITION
Chris Iannetta was one of those "flip the coin and you'll know what you want when the coin's in the air" dudes. When it looked like the M's might miss out, we were thinkin' OH NOOOooooooo what are we going to DO at CATCHER
Instead of a hole, we have a starting catcher, and ... for my money Iannetta is a plus Opening Day catcher, one better than most teams have. We plowed through a hole bunch of tiers there. And, somehow, Iannetta signed for peanuts plus incentives. That's no doubt a result of relationship-building.
Again, this "grizzled vet catcher as team captain" is a "lineup legitimizer" concept. The dysfunction was addressed and in one of the best possible ways.
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But! To pair Scioscia's baby with Steve Clevinger? This ain't your Lloyd's 50 OPS+.
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WE FIXED THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD, FIRST
Oh, and Dr. D approves of the early decision on Ketel Marte.
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CLEAR THE DECKS AT 1B
Logan Morrison was the anti-quality AB and Mark Trumbo, even at his best, offered a lot of outs and a lot of lousy defense. Youse mooks always ask what Dr. D would do? He would play Jesus Montero & Field over Mark Trumbo even steven, much less saving himself $9M in a hard cap.
Recent memories die hard. But Jesus Montero has all of 806 at-bats in the major leagues. We've heard it said that if you want to prove you're a real GM, then give talented players a real chance. How long did it take Alex Gordon or Mike Moustakas?
But: supposing you don't agree with that. You've still got kludgy players at 1B and you've got D.J. Petersen, Patrick Kivlehan, and WHOEVER your best minors hitter is. You've got any number of replacement-type players who can fill in. Your mileage may vary, but Dr. D is glad that LoMo is vapor. And Mark Trumbo's glove woulda been tough to synch with the Run Prevention Model.
... no, seriously, look at any team that transformed into a champ and you'll see entrenched vets who needed to be flushed the deuce out of there. Trumbo was debatable; Morrison wasn't. Not if you ask me. And, yes, if the Mariners commit to Jesus Montero for 2016 there will have been worse things that happened to them lately.
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ANTHONY BASS
DiPoto's thing is 7 K and 2+ BB, as opposed to Danny Farquhar.
Now, Dr. D isn't sure about this "fewer walks even at the cost of fewer K's" thingie. But! We are in Safeco Field, gentlemen, and the corporate mission is for glove men to absorb what the fences don't. So, it's consistent, and chessplayers like consistency.
Who was that reliever who came up on Twitter? Justin De Fratus? Same exact idea. Sinker-slider guy who throws 65% first pitch strikes. Doesn't get punished for it. :: shrug ::
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SIDEWAYS TRADES GENERALLY
That's the way Dr. D plays roto. If you believe you're right 55% of the time and the other guy's wrong 45% of the time, then you want "infinity" trades. So SSI is going ahead and giving DiPoto credit for the massive number of sideways Boog Powell-instead-of-Ramon Flores shufflecups. There's a certain amount of faith involved, as there was with Pete Carroll in the first two years.
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COACHING STAFF
There are like four guys under Servais who woulda been MANAGING the M's in lesser offseasons.
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IT'S ONLY DECEMBER 2 YOU NIMWADS
How soon we forget the days in which we waited until February (yes, really) to see if the Mariners were going to do anything.
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Leonys Martin
You got me there.
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Being cheapskates
Like Grumpy said, it LOOKS like they're positioning themselves to surprise on a Jason Heyward or something. 'course, when they pull the rug out from under our feet we're going to have plenty to complain about. Didn't they just score that TV deal? Didn't they just see some mid-market team "bet on itself" and win?
There are 30 teams in baseball who could afford to sign Iwakuma and Chen from here. The M's continue to pretend they're team #31. Dr. D continues to chafe about it.
Enjoy,
Jeff