Nope

by Jeff Sullivan on Jan 10, 2012 4:39 PM PST in Seattle Mariners Rumors

As many of you have already seen - Crasnick:

Two agents say the #Mariners are claiming they only have $3-4 million left to spend on the roster this winter.

According to one of those agents, Prince Fielder-to-Seattle speculation is "extremely overblown.''

This is really pretty simple. Last season, the Mariners had an end-of-year payroll of about $98.1 million. The season before that, it was 93.4 million. The season before that, it was 102.3 million. We've been given no indication that the Mariners are going to lower payroll in 2012. By my calculations, the Mariners currently project to have a 2012 payroll of about 78.2 million.

Give or take a million dollars. Even if you add in some or all of Hisashi Iwakuma and Brendan Ryan's incentives, it doesn't change things. The Mariners aren't limited to another $3-4 million, unless they're in the business of driving fans away faster than they already have, which I can't imagine they are.

If the Mariners are limited to another $3-4 million, which I guess isn't impossible, okay, but people wouldn't respond very well to that. In fact, a lot of them would be pissed off. The Mariners can't afford to piss people off right now. What's more likely is that the Mariners haven't been completely honest with the agents, or that the agents are trying to use the media for some selfish purpose. Baseball's big business. Honesty does not run amok. Honesty sits locked in a trunk in the attic, used when absolutely necessary, and no more often than that.

I don't know how involved the Mariners are in the Prince Fielder sweepstakes. Very few people do. The way they've conducted their offseason suggests that they're very much in the mix, but that's me speculating. Maybe the Mariners get him. Maybe they don't. Whatever the case, I have to believe the Mariners have more available money than these agents suggested. The Mariners can trim payroll, but only if they believe Safeco's seats are painted a magnificent shade of green.

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Prince Fielder really needs to sign because wow I'm tired of this.

Reporters should just admit they have no clue what is going on.

by Mariner Melee on Jan 10, 2012 4:48 PM PST reply actions 15 recs

But if they did that then no one would pay attention to Geoff Baker and Jon Heyman

And god forbid that happen

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

by cdlewey on Jan 10, 2012 4:51 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs

No kidding.

I can’t imagine a world where I don’t get all of my baseball info from writers like Baker and Heyman.

by ToddK on Jan 10, 2012 6:11 PM PST up reply actions

All you nerds with your numbers and logic are ruining baseball stats!

by ToddK on Jan 10, 2012 6:13 PM PST up reply actions

He's gotta sign by the end of next week

this is taking forever!!!

by Eric Wedge's Mustache on Jan 10, 2012 6:56 PM PST up reply actions

I think the idea that he is waiting for Darvish to sign makes a lot of sense.

by wetzelcoal on Jan 10, 2012 9:12 PM PST up reply actions

It makes me a little sad that you, Larry, and Shannon all had to write articles explaining why this is so obviously bullshit.

@Goose1701

by Goose on Jan 10, 2012 5:00 PM PST reply actions 3 recs

Crasnick went on the Kevin Calabro Show and said this about his tweets:

I guess you can interpret this two ways, do they have 3 or 4 million left in the budget or do they have 3 or 4 million left in the budget after they have set aside 20 million for Prince Fielder? I don’t know that

by Cascadian Man on Jan 10, 2012 5:00 PM PST reply actions 3 recs

Interpret it another way, too. Crasnick's pedostache has led him awry once again.

by abender20 on Jan 10, 2012 5:04 PM PST up reply actions 12 recs

Well that makes it about the most useless piece of news in a sea of useless news.

You could interpret it many ways. The Mariners currently have no money left in their budget after they set aside any amount of money that they plan to spend on any various free agents. It’s like saying I have no more days to live, after I count the many more days (hopefully!) that I will live. It says absolutely NOTHING!

by ATM's34 on Jan 10, 2012 5:30 PM PST up reply actions

Then why the fuck did you even tweet it?

I’d rather have no information than misinformation.

by Benne on Jan 10, 2012 10:16 PM PST up reply actions

But Crasnick didn't say the agent (probably Iwakuma's) didn't say $3-4M left

Whether you interpret it as with or without Fielder is up to you, but if we don’t get Fielder we honestly might not bother signing anyone else. Not that there’s anything left on the market.

Remember we supposedly lost $7M or so last season? Well a $93M payroll – $7M – maybe another $3M expecting another decline = $83M…the number the “$3-4M” adds up to. It’s not impossible to think they did slash payroll after running a loss and projecting more losses.

by valencia on Jan 10, 2012 5:11 PM PST reply actions

Just because we don't get Fielder (if it so happens)

doesn’t necessarily mean the team isn’t working on other options that may include trades and/or straight FA signings that keep the payroll roughly the same or more. While there may not be another big splash guy like Fielder on the open market, there may still be stuff on the burner that improves the team without a huge initial cost.

by ToddK on Jan 10, 2012 6:36 PM PST up reply actions

Maybe the agents said, "The Mariners only had three to four million to spend."

The “$” is likely implied. It could be anything. Maybe we have 3-4 million english pounds left or 3-4 million baseballs to spend.

by Edgar for Pres on Jan 10, 2012 5:28 PM PST reply actions

Good parse.

Also, the agents didn’t say “three to four million additional to spend.” And we know the Mariners will spend much more than that on Chone Figgins alone. Hence, false.

by Paytheline on Jan 10, 2012 5:47 PM PST up reply actions

Perhaps they're planning a decorative tarp for the entire 300 section

They don’t need to believe the seats are a “magnificent shade of green”, they’ll just lower payroll and use that remaining 3-4 million to cover some of them. Like, cover all the seats in the 300s and only sell seats in the 200s and 100s this coming season. Crowd everyone in, make it cozier…

Oh, and the tarps covering the 300 level sections could be trompe l’oeil’s that make it look like the sky or city line in the background. Instead of the depressing block of seats that have been empty e.g. in the right field 300s for about a decade.

Christ defend us… Prince, just SIGN somewhere. Anywhere.

by Chris_FB on Jan 10, 2012 5:36 PM PST reply actions

They could sell advertising on the tarps they use to cover the empty seats.

Sometimes I act irrationally.

by dslagg on Jan 10, 2012 6:07 PM PST up reply actions 5 recs

Or they could put up a tarp with an enormous picture of Pat Onstad for some reason

by Nick S on Jan 10, 2012 6:28 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

Why don't they just use a tarp with fake fan pop ups

We can even utilize a few of those “wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men” they use at car lots. That way we can have a packed house.

by datboyeddiep on Jan 11, 2012 12:29 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs

I'm reminded of quotes from Z earlier in the offseason

He said that there was additional money that could be made available for the right player, if the situation was right to make a big push. Maybe this 3-4 million figure doesn’t include that war chest. Or maybe it indicates that we won’t be opening that chest this year. Who knows.

by chaney on Jan 10, 2012 6:10 PM PST reply actions

Maybe the agents heard it wrong and actually they have $20-$30 million left to spend.

Or, maybe they are going to go all Angels on us and have $200-$300 million to spend.

Maybe it was $3-$4 dollars and Jack was explaining how much change he had left in his wallet for coffee.

Maybe someone threw out a tidbit since nothing Fielder had come down the pipe for a few minutes.

Maybe a month from now this will all stop.

by PackBob on Jan 10, 2012 6:13 PM PST reply actions 2 recs

Most likely it's what Z told Sosnick to get Iwakuma for so cheap

Maybe it was a lie. Maybe it wasn’t. Negotiation wooooo.

by valencia on Jan 10, 2012 6:14 PM PST reply actions

I like Crasnick..

But he’s got to realize that when you put something that you may or may not have misinterpreted from agents on twitter, people will shit themselves. Who knows what context the agents said that in?

by AckAttack on Jan 10, 2012 6:16 PM PST reply actions

Works out well for him.

He gets more attention and exposure for his work, we’re all talking about it. Reporters are incentivized to pass on shit like this by dumbasses like us.

by mebpenguin on Jan 10, 2012 6:28 PM PST up reply actions

He probably does realize that, and he probably does realize that his readers will eat that stuff up

by Nick S on Jan 10, 2012 6:29 PM PST up reply actions

Damn homophones, screwing everything up again

Jack obviously meant to communicate that the Mariners “only have three two four million left to spend.” #wurld sereez

by fiftyone on Jan 10, 2012 6:51 PM PST via mobile reply actions

ESPN Needs To Get Thier Reporters On The Same Page

You know I’m starting to think that ESPN dosen’t know what the hell they are talking about. The other day Buster Olney said the Mariners are the team that is willing to pay big for him and now Crasnick says the Mariners only have 3-4 million to spend well what is it because it can’t be both.

by Jeff Skaar on Jan 10, 2012 7:24 PM PST reply actions

Olney was stating an opinion; Crasnick was reporting his sources

not the same thing

by valencia on Jan 10, 2012 7:30 PM PST up reply actions

Also,

they both have an agenda (readership). Writing, for them, is not what reading is to us. I doubt you’ll find any writer, good or bad, that doesn’t play the fence eventually. There are a few (I tend to put Divish and Stone in this category, though I may overlook certain articles due to my bias) that are almost always more straight-shooting.

I’m sure that I’m not saying anything new. I just think that, sometimes, it’s good to be reminded that we’re not all on the same page.

by ToddK on Jan 10, 2012 8:03 PM PST up reply actions

Heard This: Realiable source says Mariners might sign player before season starts.

my website

by Ballard Erik on Jan 10, 2012 8:39 PM PST reply actions

New theory is Boras is the one who leaked it

to incentivize other teams to jump in.

by valencia on Jan 10, 2012 8:41 PM PST reply actions

If other teams rely on a Tweet about anonymous agents before they jump in on Fielder then other teams are very stupid.

...and now I'm here

by CapSea on Jan 10, 2012 10:12 PM PST up reply actions 2 recs

Too many fans dressing up as magnificent green seats already

But between Nintendo’s devaluation and Leveraged Larson’s divorce, who the hell knows.

by lemonverbena on Jan 10, 2012 8:55 PM PST reply actions

Maybe if we all go out and buy 3DS-es, we'll help the team?

Yeah, sure.

by Two Rs and Two Ls on Jan 10, 2012 10:16 PM PST up reply actions

Baseball tickets and $9 beers probably a more direct subsidy

by lemonverbena on Jan 11, 2012 10:35 AM PST up reply actions

There is going to be a meLLtdown soon over all this "will he won't he" bullshit as even the most ardent fan just wants it to end.

FUCKING DO SOMETHING YOU MISERABLE SHITSTAIN GOD I AM SICK OF READING THIS GARBAGE

How come you can do all this other great shit, but you can't lie the fuck down and sleep?

by JAH on Jan 10, 2012 10:08 PM PST reply actions 1 recs

I don't know that a meLLtdown is necessary.

It may happen, if for example, Fielder signs with either the Mariner or Texas (direct impact) and in the immediate aftermath there’s a lot of conflicting information about the duration and cost. But if he signs with the Nats or whoever else is out there, I don’t think that we’d flare up much more than we already as the story has become absurd.

One of the reasons the second Cliff Lee trade prompted a meLLtdown was because in a very short span of time, we thought he was going to one team, then found out that he was going to a different team, and the packages outlined turned out to be far different from what expected. It all went very quickly and with a lot of peaks and valleys in a short span.

Now you might bring up Bedard as a counterexample, but that was weird in that we knew all or most of the details and it just dragged on in spite of that. The situation with Fielder isn’t perfectly analogous in that we don’t know where he’s headed or for what terms, for one thing, and for another, teams are still making moves that either put them in the running or pull them out of it, the Cubs acquiring Rizzo being the recent example.

This is all a long and roundabout way of saying that we shouldn’t try to create meLLtdowns, just let them happen. There was some joking, for example, of a potential meLLtdown on draft day last year, and guess what? IT HAPPENED, because all of the information we thought we had turned out to be bad. But that wasn’t a situation in which we had a meLLtdown because we said we were going to, we did it because that was what followed from the situation.

by JY on Jan 10, 2012 11:00 PM PST up reply actions 3 recs

I wasn't implying that we should try to generate an artifical meLLtdown.

You’re right, that would reek of the kind of insincere wankery of trying to be funny. Best to steer clear. I’m just of the opinion that every time one of these non-stories that don’t really tell us anything, ratchet the frustration level a little higher. My poor brain can’t take it. When I was typing in caps, I wasn’t trying to be ironic, I am just so weary of this whole thing and wish it to end so all of us to get on with our (baseball)lives. if it was the Angels who eventually signed Fielder, then yeah I’d wig out but I just want it over with.

God, I’ll just go read Sartre. At least then I’ll be the only one responsible for my existential uncertainty.

How come you can do all this other great shit, but you can't lie the fuck down and sleep?

by JAH on Jan 11, 2012 2:42 AM PST up reply actions