Scottemojo":iwavkunw said:
IMO, this has a grenade's chance of blowing up. Not because Cano is awful, career 309 hitter at Safeco. No, it's because I have an inherent mistrust of general managers who make a big splash to try and save their job. And make no mistake, Z's job is on the line.
This comes after Z went balls out for Hamilton last year and Fielder the year before that. The $240 million blows the Yankees offer out of the water- Z was desperate and didn't want to go 0 for 3 knowing this is almost certainly his final chance.
He's not done either- he's also trying to trade a bunch of good/elite prospects for David Price, and there have also been Billy Butler rumors. I like Butler and Price is a perennial Cy Young candidate that Seattle stupidly passed on in the draft a few years ago. I will say this, while Z is overpaying and that is always bad, at least he isn't targeting crappy, over-rated players.
I see this signing as being a bit like Keynesian economics, in the sense that the Mariners are spending more when some of the economic factors say they should spend less. Or to put it another way, in a rich get richer league where the crappy teams struggle to have their way in FA, it is in your long term interest to build a winner as soon as possible, even if that winning team is overpriced. Overpaying for Cano is obvious. What is less obvious is how they would likely have to overpay even for guys like Matt Garza or Corey Hart or David DeJesus. Hell, the Mariners just had to pay almost $6 million for a 36 year old Willie Bloomquist, who was terrible when he was 26.
It's a big if, but if the Mariners can buy their way to an 80+ win season next year, it won't just give Z a reprieve, it will give the team image a huge shot in the arm, not to mention added revenue and finally some ability to work some moneyball magic in free agency as well. The only question is, is Z a moneyball GM? Because the last three offseasons, he's looked a lot more like Billy Bavasi than Billy Beane.
I'd be kind of excited if they got Price. They'd have 3 Cy Young candidate pitchers in the rotation with some good prospects to fill behind them. They desperately need outfield help, but if they can manage a low-cost outfield with good defense and non-terrible bats, though could be an 80 win team no problem. But there is still a ton of work to be done, and I have no idea how they are going to fix that outfield, especially with all the resources they are putting elsewhere.