Seattle Sports Insider

Jarrod's First Choice? There's a Shocker

Posted by

11/5/09

Mariner Central amigos chuckling about the fact that Jarrod wants to come back to Seattle.

I don't doubt it (the Washburn wanting to be back, that is). I have also been in situations where the surroundings made me look much better than I was :- ) and was aware that with a little change in the scenery outside the picture windows, I could flop horribly. So I picked the context I could succeed in. Anything wrong with that?

So Washburn realizes his limitations and knows he needs Seattle. I respect him more, not less, for his self-awareness.

Q. You're not serious.

A. No. But the easiest thing in the world is to point to Felix-RRS-Snell-Morrow-Fister-(Bedard, Harden, etc), wave off Jarrod and go from there.

That's a first look. Why not a second one? If you're a GM, you take all permutations seriously. Under what circumstances could Washburn be a good idea?

Q. What kind of discount could you ask for? The guy's coming off 4/$40M -- and being a celebrity in the final year.

A. Jarrod has also made noises to the effect that he's made his money and now wants to win.

Well, think about it. He had been planning to retire before the Adair Air-a. So why wouldn't he consider a Bobby Abreu contract -- um, the last one -- to win in Seattle, as opposed to just going home? Or, as opposed to three more years of sickening failure like in Detroit?

Yeah, I'd ask his agent if he's ready for an Abreu 1/$5M deal.

In July, he was looking at another 3/$30M deal, maybe. He just ran a 7+ ERA with the Tigers. I'd say his agent would have been disabused of the big-money notions.

So you might start to wonder -

Comments

What I don't like

About Jarrod coming back is that I don't think he could possibly surprise us with a better-than-expected performance.
This year was the apex of Washburn. The liklihood that he will reach the performance level he did earlier this year is miniscule. The liklihood that he'll come close to it is low. The liklihood that he'll disappoint is high.
I'd rather go with a Petit plate of spaghetti, personally. There you got some 7k/9 actual MLB production that could gel at age 26 or 27.

OK I get it. I thinks.

So we need to log on to not be Anonymous? Is that how this works now? This is a test.

No I guess not

That didn't work either. And here I thought the other Anonymouses were just being rude. ;-)

:- )

Or until it starts rolling the right way, you can sign a post like G does...

yup, me too

So it's not just me.

Watcher, the anonymous...also

I would have to throw Roy

I would have to throw Roy Hobbs in that list as well. Left handed smoke out of Nebraska, he was a natural I tell ya:).

If we're bringing folks back ...

Re Washburn: The Johjima distraction is gone, too.
But on the sentimental journey front, I assume we could get the Phillies to eat a lot of the $6.5M they will owe left-off-the-playoff-roster Jamie Moyer. His peripherals don't really look any worse than they've ever been. And if all we want is 150 IP +/- of less-than-disastrous LH starter . . .
Howzabout that one?

No. No. A thousand times no.

The key to Moyer was *never* his peripherals. The key was his hittability (as measured by his impact on the batted ball in play results). And those have tanked. For a reason. He's old and the velocity difference between his change and fastball is now precisely zero miles per hour.

Re: Moyer

I mostly put that up just to get that reaction from you, Matt. That, and solidarity with late-40s dudes.
If salary is no issue, in what order would you draft for a one-year 2010 deal: Washburn, Moyer, French, Olson, Vargas.

In this order:

Washburn
French
Vargas
Olson
my grandmother
my other grandmother
me
Moyer