Seattle Mariners Fan

Posts Tagged ‘trying’

Williams trying to get Dunn without disrupting Sox
When discussing the trade market Monday, Ken Williams chose his words carefully, using phrases like, ”We’ll see how that develops,” and ”… right now, I don’t see anything materializing.” It hasn’t been from a lack of trying. According to a major-league source, Williams spent the last few days trying desperately to pry Adam Dunn from the grasp of the Washington Nationals.

Read more on The Naperville Sun

HNT College Baseball Notebook: ACL expands despite trying financial times
The Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League is proving expansion is possible in this economy, as long as it is done wisely.

Read more on MyCentralJersey.com

There are times when, despite the “common wisdom” of the day, it’s a good thing the Mariners are still running their own ballclub. A few weeks back, there was a significant outcry, on this blog and others, for the Mariners to dump Mike Sweeney. The reason given was that the team’s roster was already handcuffed enough and could not afford to carry a guy who could wasn’t contributing and could not play a position in the field.

First off, let me say I agree with the overall logic of that premise, if not the conclusion it raised.

A team that is struggling on offense and has a short bench should never be carrying guys who are one dimensional and not producing.

The problem I had with the whole Sweeney thing, however, is that he was not being given a chance to produce. Sweeney did not start in two consecutive games until a few weeks back. And when the team is being pressured by outside forces — fans, media — to bring in guys like Jermaine Dye, Jose Guillen, etc., at a cost of several million dollars, it kind of made sense to at least try the veteran right handed hitter already in-house for $600,000, didn’t it? Well, some people thought it made sense. Most importantly, the Mariners came to this realization.

Yes, the Mariners are the ones who got themselves into this offensive mess in the first place, so we’re not letting them off completely free. But on the Sweeney thing, they made the right call keeping him over Ryan Garko in spring training and in holding on to him despite not using him. Now, finally, they are using him the way he should have been used weeks ago.

Especially given the evidence at hand.

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View full post on The Seattle Times: Mariners Blog