Mariners Pursuing Jon Garland

Jim Hickey mentioned yesterday that the Mariners have been all over White Sox pitchers lately. Assuming Jose Contreras isn't helpful and Javier Vazquez doesn't want to go west, that leaves Jon Garland as the most reasonable target.

The Chicago Tribune's Phil Rogers adds some color to that scenario, noting that one of Bill Bavasi's henchmen used to work for the White Sox and loves Garland.  Rogers believes the right match would be 23 year-old right fielder Wladimir Balentien.  Wlad has a robust .310/.381/.557 line in Triple A this year.

The two GMs roles were reversed on June 27th, 2004, when the White Sox acquired Freddy Garcia, Ben Davis, and cash for Miguel Olivo, Jeremy Reed, and Michael Morse.

No matter what you think of Garland, there's no arguing that he'd be a huge improvement over Horacio Ramirez.  Plus, he's more than just a rental.  This appears to be a move that makes sense for both teams, though Kenny Williams may require more than just Balentien.

The Tribune's Mark Gonzales notes that the White Sox have scouted the Yankees' entire farm system, and they're still in the mix for Garland as well.

Comments

[H0RAT!0SANZSERIF]

This is the same Balentien who hit .230 and struck out every 3.67 plate appearances last year in AA? Ugggh.

Maybe this is the M's' retribution for the Garcia-for-Reed/Olivo debacle.

[Blutarski]

The Sox might require more than Balentien ? Are you kidding ? Kenny Williams would get shot for that trade. Garland on 18 games last year and he won 18 games the year before. He's young and could get better and you think a good not great outfield prospect is waht they'll get ?

The Sox don't even want to trade Garland but if they do it will be for far far more than that.

[buehrlebro]

Wlad has a lot more upside than Reed ever had...he could be Wily Mo with walks. That said, I'd rather see them go for Clement, or hell, both if you add someone else than Garland.

[Blutarski]

If the Sox are actually considering trading Garland to Seattle the conversation has to begin with Adam Jones.

I'd consider Jones, Clement and a reliever. Otherwise, I'd rather keep Garland and have him continue to win a lot of games for the Sox for many years. There's no need to trade him.

[beauhoopman]

Garland will be traded, I just hope its to the Dodgers for Matt Kemp. I said I hope.

[buehrlebro]

Bill Bavasi would have to be retarded to trade Jones. Garland isn't worth Adam Jones, sorry. That would be like trading one of the Upton brothers or Delmon Young.

[touchmymonkey]

Any chance of an uptown trade? Cedeno/murton/marshall for garland?

[Tim Dierkes]

That's not true, the conversation would not have to begin with Adam Jones. Garland is valuable but not that valuable.

[boomshwa12]

i'm not getting why sox fans are so down on balentien. his number are actually comparable to jones's, except for slightly less power and roun production. idk much about his defense in the outfield, but his numbers are solid.

[Hammondsbird]

Does anyone have any confidence left in Bavasi? Jones would be too much, but would it really surprise anyone if it happened?

[gatling]

Blutarski,

I really hope you were kidding about a return of Jones, Clement, and a RP for Garland-that is absolutely absurd. Garland's walk rate has risen quite a bit this year, his K rate has fallen to a terrible 3.94 K/9, leaving him with an awful 1.35 K/BB rate. He's a bit of a groundball pitcher, but not an extreme one like Webb, Halladay, or Wang-although maybe moving to a pitchers park like Safeco could really help him out some.

You mention Garland "winning a lot of games" for years to come-you do realize he won 18 games last year largely based on run support, and even in 2005 the Sox offense helped him a good bit. He'll likely win 12 games or so this year, like he has every year except the last two. Garland is a solid #3 starter in AL, but that's it. He's not an elite guy at all, wins are the most important thing for a team, they aren't a very good way to evaluate a pitcher.

I think a Balentien for Garland swap is slightly tilted towards the M's, but not much. You're talking 6 years control of a mashing OF/DH type who would kill the ball at the Cell for a year and change at a cost of $14 million or better. That's really a pretty sweet deal for Chicago the more I look at it. I could understand if another piece was added on the M's side, but it certainly wouldn't be anything major as a guy like Wlad would be the centerpiece.

For the first poster who replied here, I'd strongly consider the .230 AVG last year an outlier, since Wlad has hit .277 or better at every other stop in the minors. The thing you missed about last year was Wlad finally gaining some patience, as his walk rate rose dramatically. As for the K's, that's something you get with big time power hitters. If you notice though, Wlad has cut down on the K's this year by a good bit(K'ing once every 4.57 AB's vs. every 3.17 AB last year/or once every 5.11 PA's vs. every 3.67 PA's last year if you prefer). Basically, Wlad has corrected the problem areas he had, while maintaining every thing else.

[boomshwa12]

actually scratch my last post. balentien and jones have identical numbers, except balentien has a better stolen base percentage and better plate discipline

and say what you want about bavasi, but who would have thought at the beginning of the year that the mariners would be playing as well as they are. the ramirez trade was dumb, but vidro, guillen, and batista have played well. morrow's been a walk machine, but didn't bavasi draft him too?

[boomshwa12]

sorry my point was that those guys have been intrical to their success this season. you can't criticize him for that

[mymrbig]

Any thoughts on whether Garland or Wandy is more valuable?

They are about the same age, but Wandy is a lefty and is very cheap, whereas Garland is a righty and is $10 million per year.

Garland does have a longer track record and some playoff experience, but he has never had a K/9 or K/BB ratio even close to what Wandy has this year. I know, moving to the AL would hurt Wandy's K/9 a little, but he'd still be better in this regard than Garland.

I think their values are pretty similar for a team that can absorb Garland's salary. For a cost-conscious team, Wandy is probably a better fit.

It will be interesting to see if Seattle can swing something. They definitely have some nice MLB-ready top prospects to work with and the have reasonable depth at those positions (outfield and catcher) to trade a prospect without killing themselves in the future.

[Blutarski]

# 1. A quality starting pitcher is worth a heck of a lot more than a good outfielder.

# 2. Balentien is hitting .175 in his last 10 games with 1 rbi, 12 k's and 4 bb's.
Last year he hit .230. He's far from a can't miss perennial All-Star.

# 3. The Sox can do much better if they wanted to trade Garland.
For me, it would have to be Jones plus atleast one more player or move on to another team.

# 4. Better yet, keep Garland.

[beauhoopman]

1. A 12 million dollar starting pitcher is less valuable to a team than a young, cheap Ofer.
2. Last 10 games?
3. The Mariners would be crazy to trade one of the four best Of prospects for one more year of a SP.
4. The White Sox need hitters, and Contreras has no value. It'd be nice to keep Garland, but I don't want to see Jerry Owens anymore.

[gatling]

Blutarski,

1. Garland is a bit less than what I call "quality"-he's pretty much a league average pitcher. He's not old, but he's not especially young. His peripherals are trending downward. He has some type of potential shoulder issue that will be with him the rest of his career(serious or not, it's there). He's signed to a contract that is in line with similar players or so, but he's only locked up for a little over a year.

2. You've got to be kidding citing a 10 game sample, that's just dumb. As I said before, he's never hit less than .277 at any other stop outside of last year, that kind of makes last year's number a bit flukey. No one said he was a can't miss perennial All-Star, but I don't think it takes much imagination to see him being a 30 HR guy who could put up a .270/.340/.510 line in a year or two, with better production possible in his peak years. Maybe not an all star, but a better bat than any prospect the Sox have other than maybe Carter or Fields.

3. Maybe, maybe not. Again I said that Balentien plus another guy would be fine for Garland, but you're not going to get two top prospects for him-from any team I doubt.

4. Unless KW signs Garland to an extension, I'd really try and move him now. If his peripherals continue to trend downward, his value will be less next year when he walks at the end of the year. The Sox really don't have enough talent to retool on the fly, so adding some good young talent would be the best course of action truly. Trading guys like Iguchi, Garland, and maybe Uribe/Contreras/Dye if someone is truly interested is the smart move-I wouldn't turn down a good offer on Konerko or Thome either to be honest.

[boomshwa12]

on the other hand, if garland's peripherals continue to decline his free agent value will probably follow. but you'd probably want to get rid of him anyway if he keeps declining like that

[gatling]

boomshwa12,

I assume that was in response to my last post. I agree, I wouldn't sign Garland to an extension until sometime next year, and then only if he showed some improvement or at worst leveled off a bit.

[buehrlebro]

Thing is, the White Sox have excellent reliever arms in the minors. They've just sucked big time. We saw what they're capable of this April until they fell off. I still say Jenks, Thornton and McDougal has serious potential as a pen. There are so many options beyond that it's mind boggling-Haeger, Logan especially, Day, Wasserman, Aardsma, Sisco, Masset, Broadway, Bukvich(he's surprised me), all quality arms. It should be the thing that pulls them out of this tough stretch, plus guys like Gio, Floyd and some of the previously mentioned to fill out the back end while we have Vasquez and Buehrle locked up. I'm cautiously optimistic about next year but they'll contend in 09.

[gatling]

buehrlebro,

I do agree that KW has assembled some nice arms, but he really needs to add some bats for this team to compete with the likes of Cleveland, Detroit, and Minnesota. Thome and Konerko are truly the only reliable bats in the lineup for next year, with Fields looking like a solid guy also. That leaves holes at SS, 2-3 OF spots(still not sold on Sweeney 100%), and likely C(AJ needs to go). I assume that Richar will be the heir at 2B, but I'm not 100% sure what he'll give them. Without trading for some young hitters, it will be a patchwork FA group, not exactly the type of offense that can keep up with the rest of the AL Central.

[beauhoopman]

Lets never mention Masset or Sisco again. They are so very very bad.

[buehrlebro]

I have faith in Masset more so than Sisco. They both have outstanding stuff, it's just a matter of locating and getting outs as well as confidence.

[jaysfan]

Garland to the Dodgers seems all right to me becuse the dodgers NEED pitching mabe they could work somthing for Matt Kemp