Winter Meetings, Day One Wrap: Mariners

It’s finally that time of year, folks. This is what we’ve been waiting for since the Mariners fell out of the AL West race back in July: the winter meetings are finally here.

Day one was relatively uninteresting, with no major news taking place. There were a few minor signings and arbitration decisions—however none of them involved the Mariners so I’m not even going to talk about them.

There were a few developments on the Mariners front, though.

It sounds like what Felix and his agent Alan Nero are looking for is somewhere in the six year/$100 million range. Even for Felix, six years is a really, really long contract, and when dealing with starting pitchers, giving out extremely long term contracts is pretty risky.

However, we are talking about Felix Hernandez here, who happens to be a 23 year old ace. And although it could be pretty risky, if he were to stay healthy, we’d probably get at least $100 million in value from him over the course of six seasons.

Another development, which Taylor already mentioned, is that the Mariners are apparently showing a lot of interest in Nick Johnson. That’s awesome—and unsurprising. Let’s hope Jack Z locks him up.

Another day, another 40 people calling Jason Bay a “great fit for the Mariners”. Reports are still that the Mariners are interested in Bay, but I remain completely faithful that Jack Zduriencik is way too smart to give a butt load of money over multiple years to a player like him.

It just wouldn’t make sense. I’m not sure why that’s so hard for some people to grasp. He can’t play defense, he’s going to cost significantly more than he’s worth, and he’s a right handed power hitter who would be playing at a park that murders right handed power hitters. It seems simple enough to me.

Other names the Mariners have been linked to today: Orlando Hudson, Miguel Olivo, Josh Willingham, and Mark DeRosa.

I’m pretty much indifferent towards all four of these guys.

Hudson would be nice, but only if we trade Jose Lopez. I don’t want him moving to first base.

Willingham is a good player, but he’s a right handed power hitter who plays slightly below average defense out in left and he'd be blocking Michael Saunders. I just don’t think it’d be worth it.

Miguel Olivo isn’t bad, but I don’t know if it’d be the best idea to bring in a veteran catcher when you have Adam Moore ready to seize the starting job—especially now that Gregg Zaun is off the market. He would have made a lot more sense than Olivo.

And finally, I just don’t think DeRosa makes much sense now that we’ve got Figgins. The difference in value between him and Jose Lopez would not come close to being worth the difference in price.

That pretty much sums up today’s action.

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