With a payroll of ~$117 million, the 2008 Mariners may be among the worst teams in MLB history in terms of money spent and wins achieved (I suspect some of the Orioles teams from the late 1990s when Albert Belle was on the roster, but not playing, would be up there, too).
Canning Bavasi was the first step of what should be a complete overhaul of this team. If I were the new GM, I’d advertise the following players as available to trade:
Adrian Beltre
Raul Ibanez
Richie Sexson
Yuniesky Betancourt
Kenji Johjima
Jamie Burke
Willie Ballgame
Ichiro
Jose Vidro
Miguel Cairo
Jeremy Reed
Wladimir Balentein
Any pitcher except Felix, Morrow, and Green
If Sexson, Vidro, and Burke don’t get traded by the deadline, I’d DFA them and start auditioning the best and brightest from Tacoma. And despite the injuries, I’d put money on the notion that there are at least a few teams out there that’d be interested in having J.J. Putz in their bullpen down the stretch.
The M’s went from being an upstart, near-contender in 2007 to a mediocre team in your church’s softball league. The only major subtraction from last year was Jose Guillen, and while he’s an above-average player, this year’s collapse can’t be blamed entirely on his departure. The team needs to establish base of good, young players and set its sights on contending for the playoffs in 2010.
Trading franchise players like Ichiro and J.J. will kill attendance in the short-term, but names like that will get desperate teams to cough up the solid young prospects the Mariners need and do more to help the team in the long run than any of the current squad of aging, increasingly punchless veterans.
