Josh Hamilton and Nick Swisher
November 9th, 2012 by terrybenishRyan Divish is on the Mariner’s beat for the Tacoma News Tribune. He’s been around the Mariners off and now on again. He brings some experience as a guy who played in college and he is conversant in Sabermetric stuff and has a lot of energy, good writer. Very well worth checking out day to day.
Link to his comments which touch on similar issues that have been touched on here the past couple of days. He suggests reading Dave Cameron and Jeff Sullivan on this for their take on this.
Like Geoff Baker’s stuff, with a little less zing, there is the issue of credibility, which he poses as what translates from some GMs or agents or reporters suggesting the Mariners are players to actually being players in the free agency activity.
Zduriencik’s playing the cat and mouse thing as with Fielder. It is free PR for the Mariners as people settle into the off season. The winter meetings will be next.
Dave Cameron says sign both Hamilton and Nick Swisher. It is a deceptively smart statement. Both guys are 31. There are no right fielders or left fielders in the system that should play or project to play. Put Saunders between them, trade Gutierrez for anything, eat most of his contract and move on.
What you then have is the first legitimate, three and four hitter on this team since Griffey and Arod or down a rung, Olerud and Edgar. Defense with them would be fine.
The team’s attendance winds back up towards 3,000,000, money flows like water, Howard and Chuck keep getting paid, they get a TV contract, the young players take a deep breath and get better with some pressure relieved. What is not to like?
Zduriencik would stop making horrific trades where he gives away great pitchers and gets nothing back that the manager can or will play.
But it’s thirteen days until Thanksgiving, the sun is out, ducks on the pond and it will be a long while before either Hamilton or Swisher sign anything. We know the fences are coming in and we’ll see if the Mariners step up to something like this or as Geoff put it yesterday, “hover around” hoping Hamilton and Swisher will sign a low ball offer.
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