Geoff Baker just posted on his blog, backing up the Shannon Drayer entry I mentioned yesterday. Baker adds some great quotes.
Based on the above quotes I have trouble believing the rumors that Adam Jones was the dealbreaker a week ago. Sure, maybe Baltimore is asking too much, but Bavasi is willing to get this done.First, Bavasi still expects to get a deal done for a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. He never mentions names, but it's clear he was talking about Erik Bedard. It's also clear that Bavasi feels this team is ready to challenge for a playoff spot and is ready to give up Adam Jones and plenty of other names to get a deal done.
"We're in a position now where we have to do our best to make those moves for a top-of-the-rotation guy so we can slot the rest of the rotation where it should be,'' he said. "We feel we have to make a move -- one more move."
Bavasi says he's already put his best offer on the table and that it's now a waiting game. He says there's been a genuine reluctance by some clubs to part with young prospects, but "we're not one of those clubs. We're prepared to move...but there is a limit.''
What would that be?
"I don't think you can give a club its terms and its price,'' he said. "We can move a premier prospect and numbers (of players), but we're not going to move a number of premier prospects."So, what's going to happen now?
"As I'm sitting here today, I think we will (get a deal done),'' he said. "I think there's a good chance of that."
MLB.com's Jim Street has just written about the same topic, adding some interesting quotes of his own.
"I might think we're going to make a move, so I'll go ahead and make other moves, assuming I will make that big deal," Street quotes Bavasi as saying. "But if I don't make that big deal, I'm in trouble."
What moves could these be? Acquiring another outfielder perhaps?
According to both Street and Baker, Bavasi is being realistic about his rotation, which is encouraging.
As quoted above, Baker has him saying, "We're in a position now where we have to do our best to make those moves for a top-of-the-rotation guy so we can slot the rest of the rotation where it should be.''
Street collected this quote from Bavasi, "For us, the most important thing is the top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher. Not a No. 2 or No. 3 or a No. 4. But there is a limit to what we will move."
Everyone knows we currently have a rotation that includes one ace-in-training and three back-end guys in Washburn, Silva and Batista, and it's nice to know Bavasi is on the same page.
There was rumors about a deadline at the end of this month, but Baltimore's Andy McPhail would just like things settled by the time pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training, just shy of three weeks from now.
It's very exciting to me to see these rumors spring back up, as anticipated, especially now that we know Bavasi will not be taken. I know many of you are attached to our prospects and are seemingly against the "win now" mentality, but it looks like Bill Bavasi will be able to keep some good, young talent in Seattle even with a Bedard trade.
Watch the complete press conference.
How does everyone feel about the latest happenings?
17 comments:
So much for Churchill's source.
I also never thought Adam Jones was holding this deal up.
Who are we talking about getting traded here?
i watched the press conference with bavasi and he hinted many times that made it seem like triunfel was untouchable and according to mlb.com jones and tillman are probably in the deal.
rob: i watched all 2 hours of this thing and I can't say I got the same impression. Bavasi did bring Triunfel up once, but I don't think he made it sound like he was unavailable. I did feel like he hinted that Tillman and Clement were both definitely available.
I also thought he hinted at a Brad Wilkerson type aquisition.
Morrow, Truinfel, Clement for Bedard, make it happen. It's more than reasonable and it allowing us to keep Jones and add Bedard for the next 2 years means 2 serious division races. That's a fair deal for Baltimore. I would not give up more than that.
i still believe that Clement is more valuable than Jones. Jones is the highly touted one with 5-tool potential, but as i mentioned quite awhile back in this post, it would appear much easier to find an Adam Jones than a Jeff Clement.
I still think Clement has some to prove with his bat.
I pretty much disregard Sept. callup numbers. It was nice to see Clement do well in his callup, and it was equally nice to see Bloomquist and Reed to very well in theirs. We know the offensive (double meaning) numbers they've put up since then.
Obviously Clement showed more power and is a different kind of hitter, but there are questions about his bat.
Dave at USSM talked to some that said he had a slow bat, or at least couldn't handle a good fastball.
Strangely, Clement hit LHP better than RHP in Tacoma and the thought was that he was feasting on soft-tossing lefties while struggling against hard throwing righties.
Clement '07 Tacoma
vs LHP .317/.427/.675
vs RHP .261/.348/.433
Overall his numbers look great, but as he moves to the MLB not all LHP are soft-tossers and the overall talent level goes way up.
I still say that Clement needs to at least start the year in Tacoma to work on such things as well as keep refining his defense. His ability to catch with a power bat makes him special, not his bat alone.
To me Jones is clearly the better player, but if Clement can stick at catcher (and being a LH power bat) he may have more value to the M's than Jones. Jones' value to the M's is somewhat diminished by using him in RF, and the fact that we do have Balentien as well if Jones is able to land us Bedard.
In any case losing Jones worries me only because of the available OF replacements. Trading for Bedard means we are going for it all, but we may be giving back much of our gain in Bedard by the loss of production (offense and defense) from the outfield.
It's going to be interesting.
with triunfel bavasi didnt mention his name in this part but he said that infield prospects are harder to come by then pitchers and outfielders and he can find good outfield or pitching prospects any year but it is very hard to find infield prospects. What i take from that is he would prefer to give up a jones, tillman or clement then give up a triunfel.
The article on mlb.com seems to think that jones and tillman are probably in the deal.
With regards to wilkerson, bavasi did seem like he already had a deal in place for a free agent or a trade to get another outfielder pending a trade for bedard.
Tony Clark has come up recently as being linked to the M's, and Churchill reported it awhile before this latest report came out.
He'd make sense as a power guy off the bench and insurance for Sexson. He's also said he can play some outfield, though I doubt very well.
buster olney said tony clark has narrowed his choiced down to the giants and the mariners.
rob: i felt he was just speaking in general at that point, but who knows. obviously triunfel is a special talent so it would make a lot of sense that they should protect him.
jp: i try not to be persuaded by September callup number either, but I am just looking how Clement projects. Can you really determine that Jones will be so much better based on his MLB numbers? No one really knows who will come out on top, but I feel that if Clement just tops out around Varitek he will be much more valuable then Jones, unless Jones blossoms into a top-10 outfielder (i don't see that happening).
ps. post your tony clark comments here
churhcill says that he talked to someone and when bavasi said there were other deals that they could do when they get bedard that jason bay is the guy we are pursuing and there might be a deal in place as when bavasi said we have the best deal on the table in a couple of trades he meant for bay also.
Im guessing bay would cost us clement as the pirates really need a catcher.
where did it say that? it's no where on PI unless he took it down already.
i would flip out if we traded Clement for Bay, even straight up. way too many strikeouts for this lineup unless we're planning on moving richie still.
it was in his comments because he doesnt have enough evidence for it, its just what he heard. He never said who he thinks would be in the deal, i was just speculating on clement.
Churchill made said that in the comments to the Jones/Bedard thread.
Jon, I didn't base anything off of either Clement's nor Jones' MLB numbers. At this point they are pretty much meaningless.
I'm basing this off of their minor league numbers, and the fact that Jones has had more success at a younger age than Clement.
I doubt you will find any scout in baseball that says Clement is a better talent than Jones.
Clement would have to reach the ceiling in all aspects of his game to become a better player than Jones. There are issues about his ability to stick behind the plate, and those issues simply don't exist with Jones being able to stick as a CF. Jones will likely be a plus bat, a plus defender, and have speed on the basepaths.
Jones' OPS was 100 points higher than Clement's last year while being a full two years younger.
Having said all this I'm a huge Clement fan so I put on the rose-colored glasses whenever possible with him, but Jones is simply the better player with the higher ceiling right now.
Topher. . . . . Churchills usually wrong. I havn't seen him be right on anything yet. He is a smart dude just maybe not as resourceful as we'd like.
i have a theory. The m's are now the favorites to land tony clark (since over at rotoworld it says the giants are no longer intersted)to be their left handed DH/backup 1B but we all thought that would be clement's job this year so i think bavasi has a deal with the pirates that would send clement plus some mid level prospects for bay which makes sense as to why we would want clark.
Clement shouldn't be in Seattle on the bench anyways, so I don't think that Clement possibly leaving is the reason that they have interest in Clark. They need a LH bat, but I don't think that they had Clement in mind for that role and are trying to replace him. It would be a huge waste.
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