It is on the players now. Jerry delivered.

[Donn Beach]

why not an update on santos

[Michael K.]

I can't do that. I can watch and have an interest in another team, especially in the playoffs since my team is usually out of it. But I can't just decide to be a fan of another team because the people who own my team suck. My guess is you and I are from different Eras. If that was the case? There is no way I could still be a Seahawk or Mariner fan. Too many lean years in the 80s and 90s between those two organizations for me to still have been around when the Hawks finally went to a Super Bowl and then later finally won one. No way I would have still been an M's fan in 95 when I hung on pins and needles during every game. Many on the radio because they weren't all televised.

I'm from the era of Spike Owen, Alvin Davis, Harold Reynolds, and Jim Presley with Langston on the mound. I'm from the era of Steve "bye-bye" Balboni.

I used to watch a lot more Mariners games, but all sports I watch a lot less now and mostly post season / playoffs. But aside from watching Ms games there's the general day-to-day, check the box score and follow along. I still do that. After these trade deadline pickups my interest is definitely up. I might watch tonight for Geno's debut. I guess that is about to start very soon.

I saw Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte in Mariner uniforms. Witnessed a lot of real bad baseball. IMO? Guys like me deserve more than someone telling them 54% is a great goal and I should thank them for doing it. I deserve better than someone no trades the heart and sole of their bullpen to the team they are chasing, just beat in dramatic fashion, and are in the other Clubhouse! Oh, and then when there is backlash, the snake that did it asks for patience, then doesn’t do Jack shit more.

You can be fine with this tight was Front Office and ownership group. I’ve never told you you can’t be. But calling me out for expecting a team in this position to do more than wait for the deadline to improve is horseshit. I think it’s weak shit when fans pretend they are better than the rest because they are OK with losing!

[harmony]

Unwanted memories surfaced from this trade deadline assessment at The Athletic:

Seattle Mariners

Do you remember the last time the Mariners traded for a corner infielder, then went back and immediately traded with the same team for another one? It was 2006, when they acquired Eduardo Pérez and Ben Broussard from Cleveland. The tandem combined for 198 games and -1.6 WAR, which is bad enough. Except the Mariners gave up Asdrúbal Cabrera and Shin-Soo Choo, who combined for 31 seasons, 65 WAR and a couple of All-Star Games.

Those deals don’t have much in common with the Josh Naylor and Eugenio Suárez trades, almost two decades later, but it’s an amusing note for amateur historians of general Mariners malaise. What else can you say about what they did at this deadline? They had obvious holes in their lineup, and they fixed them with two of the best players available at the position, without emptying the farm. As clear a win as there is. – GB

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/652884 ... -snoozers/

[Seattle or Bust]

The Brewers dropped a righty named Edgar Peguero who has very similar stuff to Santos. Sub-3 ERA last year. Walks folks but has 97-99 with a 90-92 mph slider.

Be interesting to see if he’s a look.

[harmony]

The Brewers dropped a righty named Edgar Peguero who has very similar stuff to Santos. Sub-3 ERA last year. Walks folks but has 97-99 with a 90-92 mph slider.

Be interesting to see if he’s a look.

Elvis is in the house:

https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/savant-p ... tching-mlb

Worth a look.

[DanielVogelbach]

Don't you understand though that by spending more money (assuming it was spent wisely) on roster construction that would result in higher revenues, especially if it resulted in playoff appearances or (heaven forbid) winning the division occasionally? It's an investment - spend more, make more. And it also helps build new generations of fans. It's hard to imagine how much future revenue they've lost in this 22 year run of futility because anyone born this century views the franchise as losers.

I'm forced to conclude that the problem isn't so much that the owners are penny-pinching tightwads as that they are paralyzed by their lack of confidence in the front office (they hired) to make good signings. If that isn't the case and Dipoto has had more flexibility with payroll then you have to conclude he is utterly inept at getting players to sign here.

I think you're vastly overestimating the ROI on winning. In fact, when the Braves won 15 straight division championships they couldn't even sell out their stadium for round 1 of the post season. You're basically dealing with a captive audience that isn't going to switch allegiances. You guys know damn well you're not just going to suddenly become a Mets fan because Dipoto isn't opening up his wallet. If you're gonna consume any baseball, it's gonna be Mariner baseball.

That being said, the Mariners spend plenty of money to win games. Their futility is not based on lack of spending. Spending more could help, but you don't need to be a top 5 payroll to win a World Series. The league is set up for small market teams to have windows of competitiveness. The key to this is the 6 years of club control on all new call-ups. Then if you sign to a small extension you get the player for 9 years before they can go to Los Angeles or New York. They can win more games without spending more money. It's called smart management. It's called player development.

[DanielVogelbach]

I saw Tom Paciorek and Bruce Bochte in Mariner uniforms. Witnessed a lot of real bad baseball. IMO? Guys like me deserve more than someone telling them 54% is a great goal and I should thank them for doing it. I deserve better than someone no trades the heart and sole of their bullpen to the team they are chasing, just beat in dramatic fashion, and are in the other Clubhouse! Oh, and then when there is backlash, the snake that did it asks for patience, then doesn’t do Jack shit more.

You can be fine with this tight was Front Office and ownership group. I’ve never told you you can’t be. But calling me out for expecting a team in this position to do more than wait for the deadline to improve is horseshit. I think it’s weak shit when fans pretend they are better than the rest because they are OK with losing!

Maybe get your head around the fact that Jerry Dipoto and the Seattle Mariners don't owe you a damn thing. They put a product out. It's your choice if you want to deal with the product or not. Nobody is forcing you to watch baseball. Nobody is forcing you to care about the Mariners. The fact that you are watching games just proves that they don't need to increase payroll. You're already sucked in.

[Captain 97]

That being said, the Mariners spend plenty of money to win games. Their futility is not based on lack of spending. Spending more could help, but you don't need to be a top 5 payroll to win a World Series. The league is set up for small market teams to have windows of competitiveness. The key to this is the 6 years of club control on all new call-ups. Then if you sign to a small extension you get the player for 9 years before they can go to Los Angeles or New York. They can win more games without spending more money. It's called smart management. It's called player development.

The M 's are not a small market team and they don't make small market revenue. They have the 12th largest media Market in the country and also control rights for Portland which is the 20th largest media market in the country. They are near the top in Profit Margin every year. There is no reason for them to be in the bottom half of the League in spending. Nobody is asking them to be top 5 in spending just be in line with your revenue.

[DanielVogelbach]

That being said, the Mariners spend plenty of money to win games. Their futility is not based on lack of spending. Spending more could help, but you don't need to be a top 5 payroll to win a World Series. The league is set up for small market teams to have windows of competitiveness. The key to this is the 6 years of club control on all new call-ups. Then if you sign to a small extension you get the player for 9 years before they can go to Los Angeles or New York. They can win more games without spending more money. It's called smart management. It's called player development.

The M 's are not a small market team and they don't make small market revenue. They have the 12th largest media Market in the country and also control rights for Portland which is the 20th largest media market in the country. They are near the top in Profit Margin every year. There is no reason for them to be in the bottom half of the League in spending. Nobody is asking them to be top 5 in spending just be in line with your revenue.

One reason might be if they are waiting to sign players. You don't want to tie up money on some new FA if you're planning to sign your own guys when their contracts come up. So, there can be an ebb and flow to the payroll.

My point is that you can't really just buy wins in MLB. Payroll is one factor, but you can have your own draft picks on the cheap for 9 years. Nobody else can have them regardless of how much money they want to spend.

I'm not saying the Ms are a small market team. What I'm saying is that small market teams can compete. Low payroll teams can compete. High payroll teams can struggle.

The Ms earn half as much revenue as the Yankees, and they spend half as much money on payroll.

[DanielVogelbach]

Team | 2024 Revenue ($M) | 2025 Payroll ($M) | Difference ($M) | Rank
------------------------|-------------------|-------------------|-----------------|------
New York Yankees | 705 | 311.0 | 394.0 | 1
Los Angeles Dodgers | 701 | 340.8 | 360.2 | 2
Boston Red Sox | 500 | 197.2 | 302.8 | 3
Chicago Cubs | 492 | 206.9 | 285.1 | 4
San Francisco Giants | 450 | 190.6 | 259.4 | 5
St. Louis Cardinals | 400 | 141.5 | 258.5 | 6
Minnesota Twins | 370 | 126.7 | 243.3 | 7
Detroit Tigers | 340 | 104.8 | 235.2 | 8
Atlanta Braves | 450 | 216.0 | 234.0 | 9
Houston Astros | 430 | 197.0 | 233.0 | 10
Los Angeles Angels | 400 | 173.2 | 226.8 | 11
Arizona Diamondbacks | 360 | 134.3 | 225.7 | 12
Baltimore Orioles | 325 | 106.9 | 218.1 | 13
Kansas City Royals | 330 | 113.0 | 217.0 | 14
Milwaukee Brewers | 320 | 104.7 | 215.3 | 15
Colorado Rockies | 350 | 136.4 | 213.6 | 16
San Diego Padres | 400 | 188.0 | 212.0 | 17
Cincinnati Reds | 310 | 99.0 | 211.0 | 18
Cleveland Guardians | 300 | 90.4 | 209.6 | 19
Pittsburgh Pirates | 300 | 92.2 | 207.8 | 20
Washington Nationals | 310 | 104.3 | 205.7 | 21
Toronto Blue Jays | 400 | 194.9 | 205.1 | 22
Philadelphia Phillies | 425 | 218.9 | 206.1 | 23
Texas Rangers | 400 | 197.3 | 202.7 | 24
Miami Marlins | 280 | 78.8 | 201.2 | 25
Seattle Mariners | 350 | 154.9 | 195.1 | 26
Tampa Bay Rays | 280 | 85.2 | 194.8 | 27
Chicago White Sox | 270 | 77.9 | 192.1 | 28
Oakland Athletics | 250 | 60.8 | 189.2 | 29
New York Mets | 400 | 323.1 | 76.9 | 30