Welcome to Scott Weber

I'd like to take a moment to introduce the newest member of Bleeding Blue and Teal, Scott Weber. Scott has been a reader here for quite a while, and I was pleased when he accepted my invitation to write here. He is extremely knowledgeable in regards to the team and baseball in general, and also has formal writing experience, writing music reviews at absolutepunk.com for quite a while. He should be making his first appearance here sometime after the weekend.

Weebs should be a very valuable addition to BBT. Welcome!

Question for the Readers

How do you want this site to run during the season?

Since this blog started during the offseason, I'm not sure how I want to go about doing daily games. I don't quite understand the point of having daily game threads and recaps, because anyone can pull up a box score or refer to half-a-dozen other Mariner blogs doing the same thing. The only point is to have a thread for readers to discuss the game before, during and after play. I was hoping the "Series Preview" thread would work for that, but it has already been buried by other posts.

What do you, the readers, think would be the best way to run the site on a daily basis and promote debate and conversation for the games?

MLB Predictions

Jon's Picks:

AL East: Boston Red Sox
Hard to pick against the defending champs. They have another good squad, despite a shaking rotation. A great lineup, a big year from Manny and a very good looking bullpen will put them at the top of the standings once again.
AL Central: Cleveland Indians
I was picking the Detroit Tigers to win the AL Central and was foolishly calling them the best team in baseball after their flurry of offseason moves. Their offense is the best in the league, but can they score enough runs to cancel the effect of a nonexistent bullpen? They have absolutely no quality relievers to get the ball from their starters to Todd Jones, their aging and oft-ineffective closer.
AL West: Seattle Mariners
I was skeptical coming into the season, but I think Los Angeles' injuries to their rotation and bullpen put us over the top. Our rotation and bullpen will be as solid as ever, and hopefully we'll get a mid-season offensive boost from one of two power hitting prospects and/or an available veteran outfielder.
AL Wild Card: Los Angeles Angels
I want to go with Detroit, New York or Toronto here, but I guess I'm buying into the theory that there are too many good teams in the East and Central for the Wild Card to come from either division. The Angels could end up with more wins, despite being the inferior team. The unbalanced schedule has caused an unfortunate glitch in the Wild Card system.
AL Pennant: Cleveland Indians (or Mariners, whatever works)
Is it wrong for me to pick against Seattle on my own Mariners blog? The Mariners, as of Opening Day 2008, are obviously not in the same level as the top AL Central and East teams, but I suppose they could be after some trade deadline deals. Seattle's one-two punch of Bedard and Hernandez would be deadly in the playoffs, but I'm not quite ready to make these bold World Series predictions until (maybe) the next couple of seasons. Basically, Seattle could surprise but I'm a coward and doing my best to appear unbiased.

NL East: Atlanta Braves
Everyone wants to pick the Mets after their Johan Santana acquisition, but I think the Braves are a much more balanced team. It may be a crapshoot between the Braves, Mets and Phillies, but I think Atlanta flies under the radar and steals the division.
NL Central: Chicago Cubs
The Brewers have a some firepower in their offense, but I doubt it's enough to plug the other holes on their team. The Cubbies have what it takes to try and end their World Series drought, and they'll only improve if they can finally acquire Brian Roberts mid-season. Good lineup, good rotation, good bullpen.
NL West: San Diego Padres
Maybe I'm not as educated on the NL West as I should be, but this appears to be another crapshoot between the Padres, Rockies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers. I was very tempted to pick Arizona, but then again I was also inclined to take the Dodgers. For now I'm saying that San Diego's rotation, anchored by Jake Peavy, Chris Young and Greg Maddux , will once again lead the league in shutouts and have just enough offense to get them by. Plus the late help they'll be getting from Mark Prior could prove to be huge for them down the stretch.
NL Wild Card: New York Mets
I dunno, they seem like they should find some way to get into October. If I use the same logic I did in the American League I would be picking the Brewers to win the Wild Card.
NL Pennant: Atlanta Braves
All of the contender's rotations look very good for playoff baseball, I just like the Braves this year.

World Series: Indians over Braves in 6
A rematch of the 1995 World Series, minus guys like Orel Hershiser, Greg Maddux, Fred McGriff, Jose Mesa and Albert Belle. This time I see the Indians taking the title, though. How can you pick against the American League anymore?

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera, DET
Is it stupid to pick against A-Rod? Cabrera will have the numbers, and if he gets Detroit into the playoffs and A-Rod's Yankees miss out on playoff baseball, I don't see him losing it.
AL Cy Young: Felix Hernandez, SEA
A little bias never hurt anyone. My gut is now telling me that this is going to be a breakout season for King Felix, despite my earlier preaching that his demotion from team ace would hurt him. With Haren and Santana moving to the National League his odds just got better, but he'll still have to fend off a fellow Mariner, Cleveland's big man, the top three guys in Toronto and top two in Boston, plus several others.
AL ROY: Evan Longoria, TB
This year's Ryan Braun, or was that Josh Fields? Longoria won't be in the minors for long, and he'll surely get lots of chances to contribute on a very good Tampa Bay team.
AL Comeback: Lyle Overbay, TOR
I was tempted to go with Big Richie here, and I have elsewhere, but that is a little homerish. Overbay had the worst season of his career last year, but is just one year removed from hitting .312 with 22 homers and 92 RBIs.

NL MVP: David Wright, NYM
This kid is great all around and could easily be chosen for the award, but there is a lot of stiff competition in the National League.
NL Cy Young: Jake Peavy, SD
Johan Santana is the easy pick for this one, but I'll go with Peavy here. Maybe he wants to prove he's still the best pitcher in the National League, and pitching his home games in Petco Park will only help him. However I will admit that I've picked Santana elsewhere.
NL ROY: Kosuke Fukudome, CHC
If he's half of what he's cracked up to be, he steals the award. I don't think that veteran Japanese players should be awarded the Rookie of the Year, but that's just how it goes.
NL Comeback: Nick Johnson, WAS
He's hitting 4th in a surprisingly solid Washington lineup. He'll hit for average, smack upwards of 40 doubles and around 20 homers. There are some other good choices in the NL though.

Go ahead and give your guesses. Will their be a prize at the end of the season? I doubt it. But it will be fun anyway. Maybe I'll send the people with the closest guesses some random Seattle Mariners memorabilia. If you want to try and win a $50 Amazon gift certificate then submit your answers here. I will be adding Patrick and Dustin's picks to this post when they get them to me, everyone else can post their guesses/predictions in the comment section.

I want to see some serious sleepers!

Note: Re-vote on the Poll

Go ahead and re-vote on the poll. I forgot that Wilkerson was already in a platoon, so he doesn't really qualify.

BBT Fantasy Draft Reminder

For those who are playing in our fantasy baseball league, the draft is tomorrow, March 18th, at 7:30 Pacific Standard Time. Please be there!

Anonymous Commenters (2)

posted by Jon

I posted something similar to this a while ago, but it seems like a refresher is needed. Please feel free to enter in a name when you comment on the posts. That way we don't have 5 comments all from anonymous, and we can also start to establish a community of sorts. It's very easy, just type your name in the box, you can leave the URL blank if you wish. It's much appreciated, and thanks for reading!

Legacy of Mariners Fans?

posted by Patrick

Before we move over to the new site, I want to know what our viewers think the legacy of the typical Mariners fan is so that we can design the site with the fans in mind. We know that Yankees and Red Sox fans are known to be loud and obnoxious. We know that A's fans can be awfully annoying and they don't pack the Colisseum very much. So what defines a Mariners fan. What are we known for?

With your help, we can make sure that the new site reflects Mariner Nation!

Improvements Coming

Just to let everyone know, posting may slow down slightly for the next week or two. Starting Monday or Tuesday we'll be prepping the new website so that we can be independant of blogger/blogspot. We could be ready as early next weekend, but it may take longer than that.

The new site may not seem like much of an upgrade at first, but we've got big plans and we will continure improving it once we launch it.

Thank you so much to all of you that have helped this upstart Mariners blog become a success this offseason!

BBT Fantasy Baseball League Is UP!

posted by Patrick

As some of you already know, we are hosting a free fantasy baseball league via Yahoo this year and the league is now all set up. You will need to have a free AIM screen name as well as a free Yahoo account to participate.

The live online draft is currently set to occur on Tuesday, March 18th and 7:30 PM PST but is subject to change.

Mitch, topher, rob t., brian, brandonwazzy, adam, and claude have first dibs since they responded to the last post. All of you guys as well as anyone else who is interested, instant message Jon or I on AIM. Our screen names are...

Patrick: VivoEnSafeco082 (that is a zero before the 8)
Jon: JonWTd

Spots are going quick so get on it!

Note: If you don't have a screen name, you can get one for free here

UPDATE: 2/7/08, 10 am PST - Jon: We're still waiting on brian, adam and claude as far as the people who reserved their spot on the original post. We're getting pretty full already, so we're going to set a deadline of tomorrow at 1:00 pm PST for those three to officially sign up, and after that we'll open it up to everyone else again. If you're interested just comment on this post and we'll use that order as a waiting list of sorts. After commenting, send Patrick or I an IM and/or email bleedingblueandteal@gmail.com so we have your email address to contact you with league info once a spot opens up. There will be spots opening up, so don't get discouraged if you want in.

UPDATE: 2/8/08, 3:40 pm PST - We have 3 spots left!

BBT Fantasy Baseball

Posted by Patrick

This year, Bleeding Blue and Teal will host a free fantasy baseball league through Yahoo for our readers. Dustin, Jon and I will all be competing and we want YOU to participate! I will update this post and un-bury it out of the archives once the league is created. For now, if you're interested, just leave a comment so we can gauge how much interest there is.

Note: To participate in Yahoo fantasy leagues, you will need a Yahoo account (free). We would also like you to have an AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) screen name (also free) to make communication amongst team managers easier.

Jon (6:22 PM): This will be my first ever fantasy baseball experience, so if you've never done this and would like to try it out, this could be a good opportunity for you.

BBT Reader Survey

I created a very simple and short survey that our users can run through here. It is anonymous and no email address is required. The purpose of this is to try and figure out who our audience is. This is mostly for our regular readers.

For additional comments please email bleedingblueandteal@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you! Let us know how often you swing by the site, if you are a RSS feed user, suggestions, anything at all..

And if you ever just want to talk Mariners, go ahead and send an email that way. There is a good chance you will get an instant response.

Thanks!

http://blueandteal.questionform.com/public/BBT-Reader-Survey

Angelos Out of Control

posted by Jon

Ken Rosenthal continues to update this particular entry with new info. I thought this paragraph was worth mentioning:

The Orioles are angry with the Mariners for allowing the trade talks to go public. Outfielder Adam Jones, the centerpiece of the M's offer, blurted to reporters in Venezuela that he was headed to Baltimore for a physical, indicating that a deal was near. The Orioles are so furious, another source says, they again might be insisting that the Mariners include 17-year-old shortstop Carlos Triunfel in the deal.

Mariners fans have been getting their first taste of Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos. We've been discussing his massive ego, poor business practices and history of deal squashing; traits that Baltimore fans know all too well.

Adam Jones spilled the beans, so what? He ruined your big announcement so you're going to try and get more in return? No wonder Baltimore hates you, Mr. Angelos. Way to run a baseball team.

I really hope this is resolved sooner than later, because this has gotten out of control.

BLOG NOTE: We have set consecutive traffic records for each of the last two days, blowing away the old highs. Wooooo!

"Minor" Help, part 2

Back in early December I posted an ad on here for someone to write about the Seattle organization from rookie ball to AAA. Chris Meer answered the call, and made his debut on December 15th with a post about Robert Rohrbaugh.

I was pleased with the post, but I haven't heard from Chris since December 23rd. I've decided it is time to start looking around for someone else. (Chris, if you're out there, send me an email!)

If you are interested in contributing 1-2 posts per month profiling minor leaugers, writing about transactions, who's hot/who's not, and all things minor leagues please send me an email at bleedingblueandteal@gmail.com. After you contact me be prepared to get write a post, and if it is what we're looking for it will be posted on the site and you will be added as a contributor to BBT.

You could be granted more than 1-2 posts depending on your content. If you can post entries that include more than a quick Google search and a glance through Baseball-Reference you are obviously more valuable.

If you have any interest at all, even if you feel under-qualified, please send me an email and we'll talk about it. Look forward to hearing from you.

Anonymous Commenters

Feel free to enter in a quick nickname on the comment forms. It gets a little confusing sometimes!

Dear New Readers,

Just wanted to pass on that we are cruising like never before here on BBT, traffic wise, and I want to say a quick hello to all the new readers on behalf of Chris, Patrick, Dustin and myself. Welcome to the site! Feel free to comment on the posts, because your responses are what make putting hours into some of these posts worthwhile. Once again welcome, and hope to see you back! Tell your friends!

BBT News: Added Authors, Expansion Plans

Dustin and Patrick of Mariner Nation have been added to Bleeding Blue and Teal, making four to go along with Chris and myself. Some other additions that you will surely be excited about will come later.

The reason for the added authors? We are working on a new site, independant from Blogspot, that will blow this one away. It will start small, but we have big plans.. Some stuff all Mariners fans can be excited about, and can't find on other Mariner blogs.

Any suggestions for the new site?

Bargain of the Offseason: Jorge Cantu

One month ago I brought up Jorge Cantu as a player that the Seattle Mariners should take a look at. Seattle never showed any interest in Cantu, who agreed to terms with the Florida Marlins today.

He signed for $500,000.

This is a fantastic move for the Marlins. How often can you sign a former 100 RBI guy for half a million? Sure he has struggled since his monster 2005 season, but he appeared to be on his way back with the Reds last year, and should be a valuable player for Florida next season. If he wins a starting job he could easily be viewed as the bargain of this offseason.

I think Cantu would have been a great player to bring to Seattle to challenge Jose Lopez at second and backup Adrian Beltre at third. Tally another "oh, well" for this offseason.

Blog Note: Today has already been by far the biggest day here at BBT traffic wise, which is amazing because we were at an all time low just nine days ago. I want to say hello to all of the new visitors, and I hope to see you back here soon!

Back in Business... For Now

In my last post I announced my move to the MVN network. I was supposed to write for Caffeinated Confines, Transaction Guy and Padres in Training. I've written a couple posts each for Caffeinated Confines and Padres in Training, but was never set up to write for Transaction Guy as implied.

MVN requested that I stop writing this blog so that there wasn't a conflict of interest or anything like that, but I think it's safe to keep writing about Hot Stove action, as my weekly Caffeinated Confines limit is too small to write about rumors and Transaction Guy is unavailable to me. If MVN has a problem with it I'm sure they'll let me know.

I hope some of you can re-find this page. It's amazing how fast you can lose readership. My daily visits dropped about 90% when I announced the move, which was good because I had a lot of regular readers. I hope you can find your way back.

I'll continue to write about the rumors and other Mariner related content, while still posting a couple times a week for Caffeinated Confines. So far I've only written two posts for them: One More Slot to Fill, regarding the Mariners need to fill one more rotation spot after the addition of Carlos Silva, and Seattle Counting on Lopez/Sexson Comebacks, addressing the Mariners need for solid seasons out of Richie Sexson and Jose Lopez.

Can't wait to hear from you again.

Dear Everyone,

I want to thank everyone for taking time to look at this blog. It hasn't even been a month and a half and I've already gotten a pretty decent following. Thanks for your support, but I have been approached by MVN (Most Valuable Network) and will begin writing for at least 2 pages on their network:

• Caffeinated Confines (Mariners)


• Transaction Guy (MLB Rumors) pending...


• Padres in Training (San Diego Padres minor league coverage)

I was skeptical at first, and talked to a lot of people around the blogosphere, including current and former MVN writers, about what I should do. If Bleeding Blue and Teal had been around longer I wouldn't have made the jump, but since this blog is so young I feel like I can afford to take a chance. If MVN doesn't work out, I can come back here and be at this same level in 40 days or less. It makes much more sense to do this now than a year down the road. Another reason why MVN seems like a good idea is the fact that I won't have time to be posting 10 blogs per week anymore. I'll be starting school and a new job within the next couple of weeks, so it's time to slow down a little bit. The other bloggers on MVN should make up the difference. Hope to see you over there.

PS: In all probability there will be a BBT revival/overhaul in the future. Stay tuned...

PS2: Seattle signed Silva.

"Minor" Help - Seeking Correspondent

Seeking one writer who follows the Mariners minor league system from rookie ball to AAA. I'm looking for just one or two posts per month chronicling what's happening with our future: transactions, who's hot/who's not, player profiles, rankings, player MLB ETAs etc. If you're at all interested at being a correspondent for Bleeding Blue and Teal, please send me an email at bleedingblueandteal@gmail.com, even if you feel you're under qualified. This is a perfect opportunity if you've never done much writing before, but want to give it a try.

The posts would start towards the end of Spring Training and continue through the regular season once a month or so. Thank you.

UPDATE 12/15/07 - This position has been filled by Chris Meer. If you are still interested in writing for Bleeding Blue and Teal in any capacity please send a Mariners writing sample to my email. I'll let you know what's going on and if you can help out, otherwise I'll hold onto it until I do need someone.