Reflections...

Wow, I'm really having a hard time completing things at home. I'm finishing up my blogging app and my thoughts on what the M's can, should, and will do this offseason about as fast as I've completed that post on why I believed Richie Sexson was a better signing for the M's than Carlos Delgado. And, I just noticed that it's darn near been 2 weeks since I posted anything on this blog.

So, while I have flooded the typical blogs with my comments (and even added a few thoughts on the Seahawks, who finally totally rock this year), I still have many other thoughts that need to be down.

One thing I still can't get out of my head, even a week later, is that the M's jettisoned Bobby Madritsch. What a stupid, stupid move!

Back in 2002, Bobby Madritsch and George Sherrill were teammates on the Northern (Independent) League's Winnipeg Goldeneyes. Lead by Bobby's Northern League record-breaking strikeouts (and recepient of Baseball America's IL Player of the Year award), and George's 38 appearances, the Goldeneyes darn near won the Northern League championship! Brilliant scout Charlie Kerfield (now with the Padres) signed both Bobby and George to come pitch for the M's. It's no secret that Bobby and George are really good friends.

I realize that I'm probably a little biased, considering the connection between George and Bobby (and my general fandom for George in particular), but I'm still really disappointed in the M's for letting Bobby go. I'm sure there's more to the story than I'll ever know, but it doesn't entirely appear that Bavasi was merely trying to slip Bobby through the waiver radar.

Does this move mean that Bavasi didn't believe Bobby would ever pitch again, in any capacity? I'm not a fly inside the walls of Bavasi's skull, so I can't answer that. But, still, Bobby had scheduled surgery this offseason, and was in line to be rehabbed enough to give it a go in Spring Training. Certainly his injury concerns are quite high. He's battled injury forever, causing two MLB clubs now to give up on him, in spite of being an awesome pitcher when healthy.

I'm still perplexed as to why Bavasi saw the risk of waiving Bobby (to clear a 40-man spot) higher than:

• waiving a sucky, yet healthy, Matt Thornton, when Bobby clearly could've taken Thornton's innings as a more effective lefty reliever.
  
• waiving a totally sucky, suspiciously "healthy" Cha Seung Baek, when Baek's best hope is to become a poor man's Ryan Franklin.
• waiving an older, ineffective Masao Kida, when you've got a glut of righty relievers who can take his place.
• waiving an easily-replacable Ramon Santiago, who's slipped several times through the waiver wires already.

There are other alternatives, of course, but any one of these four moves would've been a much better idea, and an easier idea, than waiving an effective-when-healthy Bobby Madritsch. I would totally be shocked to see Bobby Madritsch throw 160+ innings in 3 consecutive years as a starting pitcher, even in Kansas City. But that's not the point. If you have concerns about Bobby's health, then move him into the bullpen.

I generally like Bill Bavasi as the GM for the Mariners. In this case, though, I want some answers to my disappointment.