Dear Nintendo: Please sell the team to somebody who cares

By Kshell

As I'm sure most Seattle Mariners fans are aware by now this offseason has been a complete bust. We have watched our division rivals the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim sign C.J. Wilson and the best hitter of the past thirty plus years in Albert Pujols. Meanwhile the two-time defending American League champions Texas Rangers just signed Yu Darvish from Japan. While the Mariners despite losing 196 games the last two years are in no hurry to do anything. They offered Prince Fielder supposedly a five year 90 million dollar deal which is PR move. That is the type of offer that isn't serious about landing the power hitting first baseman. Mariners beat writer Geoff Baker has already revealed that the Mariners are having some financial troubles lately and our wishes could be coming true very soon. The Mariners ownership who also owns Nintendo could possibly be selling this franchise which is exactly what this franchise needs.

This organization has been ran by morons since day one. Chuck Armstrong leads that group of morons in fact he's been team president since 1993 and was part of the team in the 1980's as well. Howard Lincoln is also part of the ownership group as well. When this ownership group first bought the team there was great success in fact from 1993-2003 the Mariners record was 933-780(.544) which in those 11 years including four playoff trips and eight winning seasons. Considering prior to 1993 this franchise had seen just one winning season that was impressive. The fans started to turn on ownership around 2002 and 2003 when they refused to expand payroll to make significant deadline moves to improve this ballclub. Which meant future hall of fame manager Lou Piniella and hall of fame general manager Pat Gillick left the franchise in disgust. That is when the franchise started to fall apart and the heat on this current ownership group grew.

The Mariners turned to failed Angels General Manger Bill Bavasi to run this ball club from 2004-2008. During the Bavasi years the Mariners were horrible sporting a 359-451(.443) record which saw the Mariners finish in last place in four of those five seasons. Bavasi didn't value sabermetrics at all and ignored age. The Mariners ownership also stepped in by extending Kenji Johjima and Ichiro to a five year 90 million dollar deal. Ichiro has only led the Mariners in WAR during one winning season which was 2007. Translation Ichiro can't be your best player on a successful team. The Mariners fired Bavasi after 2008 hoping to find the next quality GM. Several people said at the time it won't matter who the Mariners hire as long as Armstrong and Lincoln are running the show.

The Mariners replaced Bavasi with Milwaukee Brewers old scout Jack Zduriencik. Zduriencik could do no wrong that first year taking over a club who had lost 101 games the Mariners won 85 games that first year. Since then the club has regressed under Jack Z's watch as the team is just 213-273(.438). The Mariners are actually worse off record wise than they were under Bavasi. Zduriencik is building the team the right way but he is also making plenty of mistakes at the major league level. He signed a 31 year old Chone Figgins to a four year 36 million dollar deal. He is constantly going for the cheap bargains and that is why the Mariners offense under Jack Z has been terrible every single season. Then he traded away Doug Fister despite the fact he is pretty cheap and under club control. Fans still believe in Jack Z but if he doesn't sign Fielder this offseason that will be the second straight offseason where Jack Z failed to improve a team who lost over 95 games.

In conclusion, you don't win titles with bargain deals. You win titles with position players whether you find them at a discount or overpaid for them. There is no salary cap in baseball and if these owners don't want to spend they should do the right thing and sell to a guy who will. Nintendo should be thanked first of all for saving baseball in Seattle back in 1993 and providing the Mariners their only taste of the postseason. I feel like they don't get enough credit for doing just that. The Mariners ownership has come now to finally let it go as they tried and failed to deliver a World Series title. First thing new ownership will do is clean house which means no more Armstrong, Lincoln and probably Zduriencik who has proven he is just a scout only not a general manager. So I'm begging you Nintendo please sell the team to a passionate billionaire in Seattle who wants to win a title as much as every fan does. The problem with building with prospects is you are constantly building while the Angels will have bad contracts they'll stay competitive every single season because they spend money. Hopefully the Mariners sell the team to a guy who has no problem dishing millions and millions of dollars to provide a winner in Seattle finally.

Felix Hernandez wins American League Cy Young award

By Kshell

When the Cy Young award results were announced I was surprised Felix Hernandez had won by such an overwhelming amount. Not that Felix didn't deserve the award but it shows how the baseball writers mindset has changed. Felix Hernandez won the Cy Young despite a 13-12 record and the writers got the vote right. Somewhere out there Harold Reynolds and every other former baseball player is banging his head against the wall because reality has sunk in. The baseball writers know more about the game than these former players despite not being able to hit a ball out of the infield. I'll trust Geoff Baker's, Dave Cameron's or Buster Olney's opinion over John Kruk, Harold Reynolds or Bill Krueger. For stat geeks like myself this Cy Young is a great victory. Also Felix did put up some amazing numbers and is a pitcher who you must see in person at least once in your life.

Growing up I never got the opportunity to see Randy Johnson pitch in a game which was a huge regret of mine. Due to the Mariners being good in the late 90's and my parents working during the week we had to buy tickets in advance on weekends. The starting pitcher was usually a Bill Swift or Ken Cloude type. I did get to see Roger Clemens in person and that was a great thrill even though the Mariners were killed to see such greatness. Well now the Mariners are terrible and you can drive up on gameday to watch them play. That is what I've done with Felix in his career three times.

Back in 2005, for my brothers birthday I took him to the Mariners game on August 15th, 2005. His birthday is actually August 13th but I wasn't going to pay money to see Ryan Franklin pitch instead I opted for the Monday game against the Royals and called in sick for work. I witnessed greatness in Felix's third career start where he went eight innings, allowed just one run and struck out 11 for his first career 10+ strikeout game. I would see two more starts from Felix throughout the years including 2007 saw him pitch against the Minnesota Twins. I went to that game with a group of friends because Felix had pitched a one hitter the previous start against Boston Red Sox. Well Felix got hurt in the first inning and lasted just one third of an inning allowing three runs. I immediately went to the bar the rest of the game as I couldn't believe Felix got hurt. Then this year I went to a game against the Baltimore Orioles on April 21st which was a Wednesday. Felix pitched a complete game going nine innings, allowing no earned runs and striking out six. When he went out for the ninth inning I was pumped up to see Felix. I'm glad I saw Felix pitch two gems so far. He has been pretty stellar this season regardless of his record.

The controversy will be Felix Hernandez winning the Cy Young with a 13-12 record which looks pretty average. It is the worst record of any Cy Young award starting pitcher in major league history. Felix other numbers were amazing he posted a 2.27 ERA while David Price posted a 2.72 ERA, C.C. Sabathia posted a 3.18 ERA. Felix had a 1.06 WHIP while Price had a 1.19 WHIP and Sabathia also had a 1.19 WHIP, Felix also held opponents to a .212 batting average which is the lowest in the American League. Felix also led the American League with 249 2/3 innings pitched compared to Price throwing 208 2/3 innings, Sabathia threw 237 2/3 innings. Felix also beat them out in strikeouts finishing second in the American League with 232 strikeouts, Sabathia had 197 strikeouts and Price finished with 188 strikeouts. Take away wins and this Cy Young race isn't even close or up for debate. Why should Felix get punished because his team can't score runs. In 10 of Felix 34 starts the Mariners scored just one run or were shutout. In nine no-decisions Felix had an era of 1.69 meaning his team gave him no support. This is the Cy Young award not the best pitcher on the best team award.

For me I've never been more into a single postseason award than I have this one. During the All-Star game when Felix was wrongfully snubbed I remember arguing with some Yankees fan on my facebook blog page how Felix was snubbed. He felt Verlander deserved the All-Star game over Felix because of his record. Several people told me I was wrong to defend Felix since the Mariners were terrible and I argued that it shouldn't matter. I even wrote a blog post how Felix should have made the All-Star team which you can read right here. I feel vindicated today as I'm a stats guy. The stat crowd always gets belittled because most of us aren't very good at sports. So the jock crowd like the former players resent the media crowd because the media is usually smarter than them. Like I said when I watch these networks I'll listen to Buster Olney and Jason Stark before I care what Dave Winfield or Curt Schilling have to say. Today was a huge win for the stat nerds that baseball is finally evolving. Oh yeah just because you like sabermetrics you can still watch the game like with my eyes I saw that Felix Hernandez was by far and away the best pitcher in the game. Would Felix crap the bed in the playoffs like Sabathia and Price did? Who knows but I have a feeling he wouldn't since he is the best pitcher in baseball this year.

All in all Seattle Mariners fans should thank beat writer Geoff Baker. Although Baker didn't have a vote he has been campaigning for Felix since July. Baker isn't a homer either and is often critical of the Mariners when mistakes are made. I can think of some political parties that could use Baker for campaigning. It wasn't hard to campaign for Felix as he was the most dominant in every pitching category that you could control. He couldn't control the Mariners dreadful offense who scored just three runs a game for him in his starts. All Felix could do is take the ball every fifth day and pitch deep into ball games. In 16 of his 34 starts Felix pitched eight innings or more which is incredible for today's game of pitch counts. Yes it is funny to think the Mariners have a Cy Young pitcher, two gold glover winners and still lost 101 games this season. Thank you Felix for giving me a reason to watch Mariners baseball even in September ever fifth day. Felix Hernandez has finally arrived and he has officially been crowned the king!