(As starters)

UPDATE: Larry Stone's source says that no Washburn/Bonser deal was ever discussed. And yet it's funny how, when you get down to it, that doesn't change a thing. If true, Bonser-specific points in this post are invalidated, but the argument stays exactly the same.

I don't know who Joe Christensen is but this is why sometimes people want to shoot the messenger.

The minute the Twins made the claim, they could have been stuck with the contract. That’s about $2.55 million for the rest of this year and another $10.35 million for next year.
...

But that wasn’t enough for the Mariners. They are convinced Washburn has value on the trade market. The Yankees were willing to take the contract off their hands in late July, but the deal fell through because the Mariners wanted talent in return.

I received indications that the Twins offered Boof Bonser.
...
Oh no. I have indications the Mariners insisted on getting one of the Twins’ current starting pitchers. Yeah, like Nick Blackburn or Kevin Slowey. That, friends, is sheer lunacy.

Boof Bonser is a 26 year old righty with two years of service time and a career 4.70 tRA that's 5% above the league average. His 2008 salary is $0.4325m and he won't be eligible for free agency until the winter of 2012. Evidently the Mariners came to the conclusion that, in exchange for Washburn, he wasn't enough.

To summarize, Bonser:

-is better than Washburn
-is younger than Washburn
-is cheaper than Washburn
-is under team control for longer than Washburn

And somehow we were the ones to turn down the deal.

I'm not sure what the Twins were thinking here. I guess they're so desperate to fix their bullpen that they want to bump one of their starters to relief for the stretch drive. That's dumb, but whatever. What's important for the Mariners is that the opportunity was there to get rid of Jarrod Washburn, and the organization didn't seize it, because they believe that a fair price for Jarrod Washburn is somebody better, cheaper, and younger. Well, no, scratch that - Bonser is already better, cheaper, and younger. So they believe that a fair price is somebody even more better, cheaper, and younger. You know those stupid posts you'll see on message boards all the time that consist of ideas like "hey we should trade Richie Sexson for Joba the Yankees need a first baseman"? You know how you just skip over those comments and roll your eyes in disgust? The Mariners are trying to make that sort of thing a reality. And - surprise! - other teams aren't having it.

This isn't about having to pencil Washburn into the 2009 rotation. There's still a chance that the front office will be able to get rid of him over the winter. But

(1) there are far more #4/5 starters available for low cost during the winter than during the summer, and there's less desperation in the market

(2) in what ought to be a winter of change the last thing a new front office needs is to have to deal with a problem for which we already had an obvious and easy solution

(3) apparently this organization doesn't believe Washburn is someone you just give away

Yesterday this team made a horrible, unjustifiable decision. And whatever happens with Washburn from this point forward does nothing to change that. I don't care that there still exists some sliver of hope that we'll be able to get rid of him over the winter, because while that's a valid point, we could have gotten rid of him yesterday and never had to worry about him again, and we didn't. Yesterday, this front office was faced with the question "do you believe Jarrod Washburn is a $10m pitcher?" and their answer was yes. Actually, by turning down a deal for Bonser, their answer was "we believe he's worth quite a bit more than that." Jarrod Washburn.

Those of you who didn't think this was so bad - do you get it now? Do you get that this is as much about philosophy as it is about execution? Yes, the Mariners may still get rid of Jarrod Washburn during the winter, but every indication is that, despite mistake after mistake after mistake, this organization still doesn't have a clue how to evaluate pitching. Not a clue. They've learned nothing from Washburn. They've learned nothing from Batista. They've learned nothing from Silva. Nothing. They have learned nothing. This is our team.

Stupidity compounded by arrogance is among the most destructive forces on the planet.

It'd been a while since the last time this organization made me legitimately mad. If anything, until today they'd been taking strides forward, having ditched Bavasi, traded Rhodes, made room for Reed, and hung onto Ibanez. They weren't behaving themselves like the smartest organization in the world, but they didn't act incompetent, either, which was a step up, and enough to earn them the benefit of the doubt when they held onto Washburn through the July deadline. The way I figured, yeah, it would've been nice to unload him, but there wasn't much harm in calling anyone's bluff. If the Mariners just wanted to give him away, they could do it in August.

Well August is here. And so is Jarrod Washburn. For good. Because apparently myself and the Mariners don't see eye to eye.

The Twins were willing to take on Washburn’s contract, and Seattle could have dumped it on them. But the Mariners also wanted the Twins to throw in one of their current starters.

The Mets are interested, too, and the Mariners want Niese and/or Martinez or another top prospect, and New York doesn't have that many of those.

The Rockies also have expressed limited interest in Washburn, but they are in a little shock that the Mariners would ask for center fielder Dexter Fowler (.337, nine homers at Double-A) and right-handed reliever Casey Weathers (2-1, 3.15 ERA in 41 games of Double-A relief) in exchange.

The Jarrod Washburn talks between the Mariners and Yankees hit a standstill late Sunday afternoon. The Mariners want a solid prospect in return from the Yankees, in addition to having the Yankees assume the bulk of the $14 million owed to Washburn for the rest of this season and next.

It's no wonder we couldn't get rid of Jarrod Washburn. The only team that thinks he has any real value was the team trying to trade him.

Look at those four blockquotes and then try to convince me that Lee Pelekoudas and the rest of these guys aren't complete and utter idiots. Jarrod Washburn is not a good pitcher. Jarrod Washburn is not even a decent pitcher. Jarrod Washburn is a below-average pitcher set to earn more than ten million dollars next season. More than ten million dollars for a guy for whom the organization already has at least one cheap, equally effective in-house replacement. But as it turns out, this team either doesn't know or doesn't care. Or both. God knows they're stupid enough for it to be both.

The Mariners had their chance to dump Washburn's contract on Minnesota today and wipe their hands clean. A chance to just give him away, no questions asked. A chance to give themselves ten million more dollars to spend this offseason on a team that badly needs fixing. And they passed on the chance, because Minnesota wouldn't trade one of its current starters in return.

What kind of thought process even goes into making that request? How do people capable of being so unfathomably irrational and dense ever end up running a Major League Baseball team? There are 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Give each one, I dunno, ten guys who know their shit when it comes to player evaluation, and you should be talking about the ~300 smartest player evaluation minds in the world. The top 300. The cream of the crop. There's so much demand for these positions that in theory every team should be run by some of the brightest baseball minds on the planet. But we know that's not how it actually works, because one of those 30 teams tried to get value back for Jarrod Washburn. I can't believe it. I can't believe these people are in charge of the Mariners. It's a wonder they can even tie their shoes in the morning without accidentally setting themselves ablaze.

The Mariners are living alone in a market that doesn't exist. To them, Jarrod Washburn is a heck of a pitcher who'd be a boon to any rotation, but then this is an organization that can't evaluate pitching, and hasn't ever been able to evaluate pitching for as long as I've been a blogger. Things don't work the way they think they work anymore. It's not an accident that we outbid the competition for Carlos Silva. It's not an accident that we outbid the competition for Miguel Batista. And it's not an accident that we outbid the competition for Jarrod Washburn. Even a few years ago, when Washburn first became a free agent, the Angels laughed at his desire for a long-term contract. And since then the league has only gotten more intelligent. Every team but ours has come to realize that you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a #5 starter. The Cardinals grabbed Kyle Lohse for $4.25m/1yr on March 14th. The Nationals grabbed Odalis Perez on a minor league contract in the middle of February. The Padres landed Randy Wolf for $4.75m/1yr and traded filler for Cha Baek. And so on and so forth. Teams aren't paying the kind of price for mediocre starters that they used to anymore because teams have come to realize that they're lousy investments.

It's not that guys like Washburn are devoid of any value. They do serve a purpose. It's just that giving them eight figures is such a gross and unwarranted overpayment that you end up doing yourself far more harm than good.

Steve: This sandwich is delicious.
Bill: It cost you eighty dollars.
Steve: But it tastes good.
Bill: You paid eighty dollars for a sandwich.

For some reason the Twins generously granted the Mariners a glorious opportunity to at least partially undo one of their greatest recent mistakes, and they passed it up. In so doing, they only confirmed that, while Bavasi may be gone, his legacy remains, and that this is an organization that doesn't understand the first, most fundamental thing about building a baseball team. This was a gimme. This was some higher power saying "hey you guys have been through enough, here, let me give you a break." And the Mariners didn't care. They just didn't care. Were this a college exam, the exam consisted of one question, and the question was "Spell the word 'blue'," and the multiple choice answers were (A) blue, (B) green, (C) yellow, (D) black, and the Mariners wrote "6" on their Scantron. This was the easiest test you could imagine, and the Mariners failed.

They failed.

Listen, Mariners. I know you're reading this. Fuck you. Fuck each and every one of you who either executed or stood idly by while somebody else executed any of the countless unforgivable decisions this team has made at the Major League level over the past several years. You don't deserve us. You don't deserve people who for negligible return pour their blood, sweat and tears into following your organization and writing about it every God damn day of the year. And while I'm sure you probably think there's nothing you could possibly do to jilt your most loyal and hardcore of supporters, keep pushing it. Keep pushing it and see. Before long there won't be anyone left.

Heyman.

Time expired on Thursday afternoon on waiver claims made on two Mariners, left fielder Raul Ibanez and left-hander Jarrod Washburn. Both players will be remaining with Seattle.

SI.com has learned that the Tigers won the claim on Ibanez and the Twins won the claim on Washburn. However, neither team was able to work out a trade with Seattle within the allotted 48 hours after making the claim.
...
...sources indicate that there were trade discussions ongoing between Minnesota and Seattle. However, the teams couldn't agree on a trade before the Thursday afternoon deadline.

I am going to let this sit and stew for a little while.

Matthew's Addendum: This appears to be confirmed now by the Seattle Times. Our last hope is that the Mariners put Washburn back on waivers this month. Yes, they still can do that. If a player is put on revocable waivers and is claimed, there is two days to work out a trade. If no trade was made, such as in this case, the player can be put on waivers one more time, but is automatically on irrevocable waivers. That is, if Washburn hits waivers again this month and is claimed, that's it. He's gone without even a chance for the Mariners to fuck it up. Please put him back on waivers.

Team sources have indicated that pitcher Jarrod Washburn cleared waivers and can now be traded without fear of a claim to block a move.

Source

This isn't horrible news, because Washburn could still be traded and it is actually good news in that sense since we are now free to trade him anywhere and if we do manage to get something back that person just has to be not part of the team's 40-man roster. However, I might have preferred someone to claim Washburn and have Seattle just say "okay". I want to be Washburn-free more than I want to hold out for something potentially useful far down the line in return. 

At least they were smart enough to put him on waivers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Asked earlier this year about what he expects in the off-season, he said he wanted a four-year-contract, and though he’s likely to get an offer or two in that range, a three-year deal seems more like what Seattle would request.

For how much? The bidding for a man coming off three consecutive 100-RBI seasons – and being a good citizen and clubhouse force, to boot – would probably start in the $10-$11 million a year range.

Source

Anyone still think Raul might accept arbitration? He won't. And while you're down there praying for the Ms to trade Washburn you might as well tack on an extra one that the Mariners do not hand Raul a 3Y/$36MM (my prediction since back in February) contract.

And so it's upon us. The big story is, of course, the whole saga with Manny Ramirez, but Pelekoudas shouldn't be worrying about that, because he's got a lot of work to do, and - as of this writing - less than twelve hours to do it. It's going to be a busy day. I don't think he'll be sleeping in.

If the Mariners are to get any value in return for Jarrod Washburn, today's the day it's going to happen. Not only would waiting until August reduce the amount of difference he could make for another team, but waiver rules make anything other than a simple salary dump highly unlikely. Waiting until the offseason wouldn't make much sense in this regard, either, since there'll be so many other arms floating around. Now's the last chance for Pelekoudas to try and turn Washburn into something useful for the future. I wish him luck. And I do think he can do it, provided he backs down from his unreasonable previous demands. Although I should take this opportunity to re-state that all I really want is for Washburn to go away. I just want his salary and roster spot to be available going forward. So I'll try not to flip out too much if he isn't moved today, just because it won't be our last chance to dump him.

Arthur Rhodes should be shipped away for the best offer. Hands down. No point in keeping him.

Raul Ibanez is drawing interest, but Pelekoudas has affixed a high price tag, and for good reason. Not because he's a good player, but because the Elias free agent rankings think he's a good player. If he gets moved, it's because another front office caved at the last minute.

Adrian Beltre is drawing interest, but there's maybe a 1-in-25 chance that someone out there ponies up enough to pry him loose.

JJ is drawing interest, but Pelekoudas isn't about to sell at a value trench, so he'll only get traded if another GM pays as if he's been pitching effectively.

Not much else going on. But being that we possess two of the most highly sought-after players on the market, today should be anything but dull.

Just don't do anything stupid, Lee. It's all I ask.

UPDATE 2: This team steadfastly refuses to complete trades in a timely fashion.

UPDATE: Jarrod Washburn has been traded to the Yankees. Not yet sure on the return.

Go to town.

Baker:

We're headed to the eighth inning, with Seattle down 8-3, but on the bigger news front, we're hearing buzz that Jarrod Washburn might not make it to tomorrow with the M's. A trade with the New York Yankees appears imminent. We're trying to peer into the dugout to see whether he's still there. We'll have an update after the game.

FSN's reporting a Washburn/Vidro for Cabrera/Igawa rumor.

Jayson Stark:

Even Ibanez may not be affordable, however. Seattle hasn’t asked interested teams for specific names yet. But the Mariners are one of many clubs saying that, because Ibanez projects as a Type A free agent, they would want the equivalent of a first-round pick and a sandwich pick for him.

Olney:

The Yankees are not expected to make a blockbuster deal before the trade deadline, but they are seeking ways to upgrade their rotation and are taking a serious look at Seattle lefty Jarrod Washburn.

His last ten starts:

3.03 ERA
62.1 IP
10 times made it into the sixth inning
7 times made it into the seventh inning
Faced, limited strong Boston, New York, Atlanta offenses

This team has been on the receiving end of a lot of crappy luck so far this year, but at least the universe is conspiring to make Jarrod Washburn tradeable at just the perfect time. That's a big deal, because ditching Washburn - even if all we get in return is salary relief and a busted prospect - is a vital step in any well thought-out plan to make this team a contender next season. They can just get so much more for the money than Washburn currently provides.

Make it happen, Lee. For the next week and a half, trying to move Jarrod Washburn should be priority #1. Okay, so if I had my druthers, moving Yuniesky Betancourt would be priority #1, but since no one's talking about that I doubt it's being considered, so realistically, Washburn is it. Move him. Put all of your eggs in this basket if you have to. It's not like you really have anything else to think about, since Ibanez sells himself and the Bedard front's gone cold. This is what ought to be commanding the bulk of your attention, and honestly, if you can't pull it off, that's not going to reflect very well on you. I know teams are getting smarter and all, but a hot pitcher's a hot pitcher, and come deadline time a starter like Washburn shouldn't be that hard to ship off.

Do it. Don't play hardball with anyone. Just do it. Do it do it do it, and don't look back.

Note: posting will be back to normal tomorrow.

(Game thread posted below.)

When my plane landed in San Diego, I turned on my phone to seven new text messages and two new voicemails. When I got home and booted up the computer, I found five new Bavasi-related emails. Needless to say, it was a bit of a deluge. I'm still waiting for a knock on the door from FedEx since that seems to be the next logical step.

Leone For Third first opened up about a week before Bavasi was hired back in the fall of 2003. For all intents and purposes, as a blogger, I have known no other GM. The four and a half years since have been fraught with disappointment and well-intentioned failure. Bavasi's always been a hell of a guy who only wanted what was best for the team and who's always been willing to talk with his harshest critics face to face, but while I commend him for that, at the end of the day, if the only people you're meeting are critics, that means a lot is going wrong, and too much has gone wrong for the organization to justify keeping him in his role.

Bill Bavasi is finished as a Major League GM. I mean, sure, I guess the slim possiblity always exists that he could luck himself into another situation, but baseball is shifting irreversibly away from the back-slapping old school approach to roster management, and as Derek(?) remarked about the soon-to-be-fired John McLaren on Saturday, no team with a vacant managerial position down the road is going to look at Bavasi and say "that's the guy we need." It just isn't going to happen. Teams are smarter than that now*. Don't get me wrong, Bavasi will always be able to land a job with some organization if he's so inclined - other failed throwback GMs like Cam Bonifay, Dan Evans, and Woody Woodward have been able to stick around for quite a while as assistants and scouts. But as the guy leading the show, Bavasi is almost certainly done. He's exhausted his opportunities.

I suppose it's appropriate that a regime that never once demonstrated a solid grasp of probability was done in by its greatest gamble. 2008 was supposed to be the year. This was Bavasi's fifth season at the helm, and this was presumably the roster that Bavasi had been trying to build. The roster sucks. I don't know if you've looked at the standings recently, but the team that Bavasi thought was a playoff contender has been, for eleven weeks, three and a half games worse than any other team in baseball. That's really bad. And with so little help on the way, it's not going to be a real easy situation for whoever comes next. I won't go so far as to say that we're completely ruined, because we're not, but this organization is a mess, in large part due to Bavasi's lack of foresight.

Say what you will about ownership's intervention. From things like the Carlos Guillen deal to the Johjima extension, I think we all know that Bavasi was operating within certain constraints. But with that said, over the years it's become abundantly clear what he's all about. He loves chemistry. Loves it. Loves talking about it, and loves trying to build it, even though he himself has said that it's nigh impossible to predict. He also loves veterans, labels, roles, and spending way too much money on marginal improvements. Throw in a crippling inability to evaluate pitching and defense and you have the makings of a disaster. To his credit, Bavasi's pretty good with acquiring minor leaguers and locking up young players to long-term deals, but the former has more to do with his scouts, and as for the latter, on the day of his termination Bavasi's front office found itself at a standstill in contract negotiations with one of the greatest young talents the league has to offer. While the man may not have been granted free reign to do whatever he wanted, given what we know about him, shouldn't we be thankful for that? Ignore the results and look at the thought processes. There is no reason to believe that Bill Bavasi is even a half-decent general manager, and the organization is better off now than it was this morning.

It isn't yet time to celebrate. When I read those messages and listened to my voicemail, I was interested, but I wasn't smiling. Remember the official LL slogan for 2008: It Can Always Get Worse. Today the organization released one of its heaviest anchors. That's good news. But until we know who comes next, I don't think it would be wise to party too hard. In the event that Armstrong and Lincoln stick around, are they going to interview some fresh new blood, or will they stick with the same pool of retreads that can't find work anywhere else? What about Bob Fontaine? What's he going to do? Will the new guy approach Felix with the same zeal that Bavasi did Yuni and Lopez, or will they remain at an impasse? There are a lot of important questions to be asked, and for the time being, we don't have any answers. And so I beg of you, do not assume that we'll come out of this all peaches. We could and we should, but until we know, it's silly to take future improvement for granted. If the Bavasi era taught you anything, let it be that.

I'm looking forward to the interview process. This is a team that could reasonably decide to either play for 2009 or blow everything up, and that's exciting, both for us as fans and for applicants as GM. It's kind of nice to have the immediate future so open-ended, if only because Bavasi was so eminently predictable. I'm excited and nervous. But I'm not nervous because I'm fearful of impending doom; I'm nervous because I don't know quite how to respond to this glimmer of hope. There exists for us and for this organization a glimmer of hope. Not false hope. Real hope. It's there and I can feel it, and for the first time in what seems like forever, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know the next step. I don't know who Armstrong and Lincoln will interview. I don't know if Armstrong and Lincoln will even be around for the interviews. I don't know what approach the new GM will take with this team. I don't know.

And that's what's so exciting.

* except for the Astros