Selling Off The Mariners

i honestly just can't see varitek's full-time replacement being kenji jojima

Hmmm...I guess I can't see the M's selling(and forgive the pun) low on Lowe, heh. He's only about a year removed from major surgery and is only beginning to come around(having struggled a bit with his velocity, thus getting hit rather hard). He's still one of the top 7-8 arms in the organization.

But sure, sell off Rhodes and Green, by all means.

The Yankees have ZERO interest in anyone being mentioned here. ZERO.

They need a stiff like Sexson who can't field or hit a beachball...like they need a tabasco enema. Ibanzez is a 36 year old lefthanded hitter. They have 32 of them already. Bonds? Not chance in the world they sign a 44 year old who hasn't played all year, has serious legal issues and a bum knee.

Who writes for this column?? A Red sox fan or a Mets fan?

Any chances Clement is up for sale? I'm sure the Sox would be interested; along with other teams.

fgsfs ... Kei Igawa for a bucket of balls and you have a deal

oh and P.S. typepad is horrible. i cant do two posts without logging out and back in.

"I think the Sox are still hoping that George Kottaras will develop into their next everyday C." I think they realize its a pipe dream with Kottaras, he needs to improve his defense and average. Luis Exposito and Mark Wagner are possibly on the horizon. I am really excited about Exposito's talent, he is putting it together.

If he hits .233 in AAA, then he'll probably hit .200 in the MLB. Not starting catcher performance, especially for a team like the Red Sox. I also hear he plays bad defense.

I couldn't see the pirates trading Ryan Doumit. They would be hard pressed to find another catcher that is as young and productive as he is, and as far as I can tell, the upper management se him as a fixture of this lineup for years to come. Now, Ronny Paulino is a different story. Even though the numbers aren't there this year, he has a nice upside that was seen his rookie year (batting average of .310). I don't know what kind of value he would bring, but he is almost certainly available.

Can Boston please just go to Texas and get this settled?

The Rangers already have Jarrod Saltalamacchia at catcher long term, but they also have Teagarden and Ramirez in the minors. Thats 3 stud young catchers and a team building for the future.

Michael Bowden for Taylor Teagarden.

There. Now Texas gets another prospect to add to Hurley, Main, Kiker, Feliz, Harrison, etc.

Boston gets a legit long term catcher who will be ready to take over in 2009 in Taylor Teagarden.

Everyone is happy.

Let's see here...

Sean Green isn't arb. eligible until 2010 season, so he's a league minimum reliever that pitches 3+ times a week while still having one of the lower ERAs for a bullpen pitcher in the majors. I've speculated on him being traded, but more as an add on to make the other team give closer to fair value on some bad contracts or to put with a player that can moved to get a younger player... Like for instance Ichiro, Yuni Betancourt and Sean Green to the Mets for John Maine, Jose Reyes, and Marlon Anderson.

The same thing for Mark Lowe, there's no way they are going to trade a guy who's 25 years old and is two full seasons from being eligible for arbitration, that's just dumb. Green would be more likely because of the age, but there are ups and downs to arguments with Green. On one side if they were to compete sooner than later, he could be a more veteran guy at a young players price, but it's better to get the young talent in return if it'll be three years before they contend.

As for Rhodes, this one I would bank on, especially with the way Cesar Jimenez has pitched every time he's been called up, I can't see them keeping Rhodes when they have this option. Rhodes also offers good return value when packaged to a team.

Jamie Burke going to Boston sounds likely, but I would be surprised to see them trade Johjima unless they are getting value in the trade like he is putting up his career averages. In all fairness, from the 1st of May Kenji has raised his AVG 50 points, so he's been hitting around .280 for the last two months. Ibanez is going nowhere, he's the leader of the clubhouse and will be re-signed to DH next season. Sexson isn't going anywhere unless the other team is willing to eat at least half of his remaining contract and give fair compensation... The fact that he's showing power again and hitting well, yes he's hitting mid .220s, but he's a career .264 AVG, so it's anly .40 points below his norm and 30-40 points higher than where he was when he came back from the extended benching, so he's actually been playing close to his career AVG or higher and he's a second half player, look for a good 2nd half from Richie.

All in all Rhodes is the only player that makes sense besides Burke, and there is no way the Mariners just give Sexson away when they can possibly offer him arbitration and based off his age, I think Sexson will probably try and use this offseason to secure his last long term deal, so it's a safe guess they can get sandwich picks for him. As for the Johjima it's wait and see and sell high... He'd also clear waivers and that means they could trade him for non 40-man roster guys once he clears in August.

Wow, Jose Reyes AND John Maine??? Well, at least you're not being greedy.

Scribbletone- Thank you! I've been saying we should target one of the Rangers catching prospects for some time now. We have very strong pitching prospects and they have a ridiculous amount of catching.

I see absolutely no way the Red Sox trade for Johjima. His offense is worse than Tek's, but Tek's value is primarily derived from his game prep and game calling. Tek's bat has been miserable, but this lineup when healhty will be able to withstand one subpar bat (don't get me started on Lugo, please don't do it. It won't be good for any of us). Varitek is the leader of this team, the Captain, and a Francona favorite. There's no way he gets replaced this year, let alone with Johjima.

I like the idea of Bowden for either Teagarden or Max Ramirez. They both look promising and the Red Sox are well built to be able to deal off a very good SP prospect in Bowden with the emergence of Lester, Buchholz and Masterson.

Ranger fans, would you trade one of those guys for Bowden? He was a #3/4 type coming into the season, but his "stuff" has improved this year and he's really improved his stock to a solid #3, maybe 2 if everything falls into place.

Wow, this is really long, sorry about that.

Man Willie Randolph Sucks,

We already know "guru" is an idiot. He knows it, so just do what I do: Ignore him or Make fun of him. Don't argue with him. It makes him feel better.

Here is a good take on the M's...

http://marinersofseattle.blogspot.com/