Peabody: Life, Friends Baseball

One of my favorite phrases is an old movie title, not really old, but older than some: Accidental Tourist.

It is a phrase that captures someone moving through their life not intentionally going to a specific place, but finding themselves accidentally in a place of unknown and unfamiliar rules and ways of life. There is a movement and pace that is not that of the tourist. I was told to never look up at the tops of buildings in Manhattan, because only mooks do that and to do so would be seen doing it and thus make me a target for people that preyed on tourists and visitors. The baseball world has the same kind of thing going on too. Tom Hicks and Arod and Scott Boras, Scott Boras and Bill Bavasi, or Scott Boras and Jack Zduriencik. Chuck Armstrong and anyone else.

The Amazon is a wonder of green upon green and orchids too and there are panthers and pythons too, crocodiles and piranhas. Jack Zduriencik was hired to replace Bill Bavasi as the general manager of the Seattle Mariners after the 2008 season. It is hard to write about really how bad a job that Bavasi did at all levels, young talent, trading at the major league levels…other teams knew more about his organization’s talent than he did. It would be unfair to say the team was loaded when he arrived as the minor league system had been scrubbed and ignored by his predecessor Pat Gillick. But terrible drafts ensued, foreign talent that was good was given away. If his last name was different, it is doubtful he would be in baseball.

From 2009 to 2010 and 2011 and on the cusp of 2012, Zduriencik has drafted well and traded very well for prospects. The most significant free agent signing is a bad one in Chone Figgins which deal is being hung around Zduriencik’s neck like a brick of limburger cheese.

There have been more things written about business process and baseball over Chone Figgins in the last four days that I thought possible. It is a lot like the shell game of Presidential Politics underway again, all kinds of noise around things unimportant. Please no notes on politics.

Simply, Figgins probably can’t play any more, or he tanked the last two years because he did not get to bat leadoff. Or more realistically his skills are done and all the rest is bilge-water…It seems that Wedge speaks for Chuck and Figgins will be the leadoff hitter and bat first. Sort of a high wire act to fool other organizations into trading for him to pick up his $18 million in salary. I listen to GMs and have talked to them on occasion. Most of them are not stupid. If the Mariners trade him they will eat most of his salary. No matter what, they will pay that money. To include it in your plans to build a winning team from ashes is really bad thinking. Whatever you do its there. It is unlikely he can play, so if he plays it hurts the team’s chances to win and probably hurts its attendance and probably then takes money from the team’s top line.

Amidst the twelve foot high rubber plants and vine orchids the point to the opportunity to be admitted to paradise has been lost. The chance to run a baseball team is the paradise. We are looking for truth amidst noise and bright lights, Chuck is lost and thrashing about like a wounded dragon, with blood in his eyes. What is the point he screams?

Here is the point, maybe even some corollary points.

If you win baseball games people will flock to the stadium buying tickets.

Good players win games.

There are fewer and fewer good, old players. Signing a bunch of them and guaranteeing them spots is really, really stupid. Why not sign Tim Wakefield?

Opportunity lies with young players.

There is opportunity with free agents, if you will spend money, but the Mariners are slashing payroll, which means they will not spend money on great players. Something they have never done. But I confuse.

It is possible to promote young players and get people to come and watch them and spend money on tickets and beer.

The Mariners do not have to be run like a carney shill.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 21st, 2012 at 12:11 am by terrybenish and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.