So who on here pays attention to MLB? The Ohtani Sweepstakes have been very interesting. I'm really hoping Ohtani goes to Seattle. I'm a Seattle Mariner fan (I know there's a lot of people that will say "Fuck Seattle" for no reason but...) Seattle just made a great trade to land Dee Gordon who they're transitioning to CF. The lineup with Ohtani would be awesome: SS Jean Segura CF Dee Gordon 2B Robinson Cano RF Nelson Cruz DH Shohei Ohtani 3B Kyle Seager 1B Ryon Healy C Mike Zunino LF Mitch Haniger If the Mariners landed Ohtani, I could see them going after Darvish. Darvish/Paxton/Ohtani/Hernandez/Leake would be a great starting rotation. I think this Seattle team could win a World Series. Where is Ohtani going...? How good would Seattle be with him?
What's also big about the Dee Gordon deal is that it got us 1.5 mil in IL money... we now have the most out of any team. Also remember that Iwakuma is still with us. I'm not the biggest fan of him, but he's still a solid 2/3 guy. I'd almost say that it would go Felix/Ohtani/Iwakuma/Paxton(Darvish)/Leake. That lineup has a lot of good. Hangier hitting 9th would be sick. Haniger was raking last year before he got hurt. That killed us, he was leading the league in hitting before he went down. Felix needs to find his form again, but it may be too late... he's still a #1 but it may be his last year at it. I reallllly want Ohtani... I'd actually put Healy 8th and zunino 9th to put Haniger at 7. Just imagine that 3-7 slot with Segura healthy for an entire year and Gordon... I'd actually put Gordon 1 and segura 2... if gordon can get on and with Segura hitting to all fields... GOD THE OPTIMISM.
Iwakuma is a wild card. Not a bad guy to have in case of injury or in case we don't land a starting pitcher in free agency. I read that we only landed $1.0M, but either way it puts us in the lead. Makes me think that either we have the inside track to Ohtani, or we're making a last-ditch effort. Haniger would potentially be the best 9th hitter in the league. Felix would be our #3 with Ohtani and Paxton ahead of him, maybe our #4 if we landed a good SP. That's a great role for him. I put Haniger 9th because I like him hitting before the lineup turns back over to Segura and Gordon. I also put Segura 1st because he draws more walks and has a higher OBP. Gordon doesn't draw a lot of walks but puts the ball in play a lot so hypothetically you'd have singles from Gordon that Segura could stretcth to 3rd. That puts Gordon in a good position to use his speed to steal 2nd to put two runners in scoring position after a simple combination of walk/single or consecutive singles. I'm sure there's other reasons having a player who draws a lot of walks is better in a leadoff role with a player that gets more hits behind him, but I don't know enough about baseball to list them. The optimism is real.
Bear Kuma is no longer a 2/3 guy, even if his shoulder comes back 100% to whatever a 37 y/o can pull off physically. Now, is he better than Ariel Miranda when healthy? Sure. I just peed a little thinking of that lineup. And thinking that Gordon's gonna have to beat out the Han-imal to bat 2nd instead of 9th. Ohtani-san, sign here!
How about for those who have no clue what the fuck a Otana is and why don’t you know if your Mariners are getting it or not?
That's fair on Segura/Gordon. I don't know if Paxton is ready for a top 2 spot and I always hesitate putting a pitcher new to the league as a #1... I wouldn't mind putting felix at 2 or 3. And I read up wrong on Iwakuma... he could be a back end guy. Eh. The only thing I would like is a new play-by-play guy. I have grown way tired of Simms. If he went, I'd be able to watch more mariners games... I just listen to the radio with Rizzs/goldsmith. I see why you'd want Hanigan at 9 but that'd kill his numbers, IMO. He may hit, but his other numbers would decline. Zunino at 9 makes so much more sense, IMO.
Think about if a really, really good 23 y/o 3-and-D guy was sitting in Europe right now. Playing for Real Madrid or something. Dominating. Not only the chance to be a DPoY, but also to be a lights-out scorer. Someone like a combination of CJ and Kawhi Leonard, if he pans out. Then imagine that he's an unrestricted Free Agent. Then imagine that the most any team can pay him for the next few years is the rookie minimum (with a max of 3M signing bonus). Every team in the league would at least kick the tires. In this case, there's a 23 y/o guy who throws 103mph with 2 other plus pitches and who just dominated the Japanese league harder than Yu Darvish or Mats Tanaka ever did. And OBTW he plays some DH and hits dingers at a rate that would've led the National League. And he's available for the minimum, and all you have to do is pitch him that you're the team he should come to. Hell, even the Padres have a shot.
I've been posting on message boards about Otani for years now. He's really the next Babe Ruth of baseball and will bring baseball into television relevance again with the younger crowd to have a guy who will play every day as a batter and hit .300 and hit 40 HRs, and then also go out and pitch every 5th start and throw 100+MPH fastballs and be a 20 game winner. He will do more to the game than anything we've seen in decades for a dying television rating sport. http://ftw.usatoday.com/2017/09/sho...wo-way-star-pitcher-hitter-extremely-good-npb
No I’m saying who is this person you are talking about and why do think you will or will not get them? Free Agent? In the draft. Whenever that is in baseball?
Thanks for the link. The HCP is not a baseball fan, but he likes stories like this. Just swatched a 60 Minutes piece on him.
Fuck Seattle (for very good reasons). I have absolutely no doubt that Ohtani will pitch in Seattle next season.....when the Giants roll into town for a 3 game series with the Mariners. I hope you’re looking as forward to it as BG and I are......we can pick you up in Vancouver on our way up to the games.........just think, you’d be one of the rare Mariners fans at Safeco for those games.
Welcome to the intricacies of baseball's overseas talent acquisition program, coupled with their agreement with the Japanese Baseball League to "post" players rather than let them go as Free Agents in their early prime.
Hory Mory......the move will cost this kid 9 figures in gaurenteed money!! And I love that his team is called the Ham Fighters!
You know what I love. That this is a baseball thread and you take the time to post multiple comments. Yeah. That help makes my day.
If that would happen I would jump over the moon. But I am also hoping that the pace of play changes and the NFL losing viwers will help as well. Part of the reason baseball lost viwers was the never ending quest of ofher sports to demand primetime news coverage from major sports networks. When ESPN signed a contract with the NFL.... football owners would be like "You owe us this much of lead-in coverage." It became easy to say for sagging rating to blamed on baseball itself because it marketed the sport over the players, had the steroid scandal, and lost a generation of athletes to football/baseball. Now tbat thd NFL suffers from so many negative influences that the media has stopped harping on baseball. And with the cheapest, best valued online streaming package, they aren't tied to the national audience the NFL and the NBA are. I don't worry so much now every March, that my favorite sport will die before I do!
