Mariners Off-Season Report Card
By Ty Bramlet
3/2/06

After two 90-plus loss seasons, the Seattle Mariners have had another off-season to regain their status as one of the best teams in Major League Baseball. Last year, they managed to sign two big name boppers: Adrian Beltre, and Richie Sexson. This year, the Mariners' main focus was on pitching and catching. General Manager Bill Bavasi signed a few big-name free agents, and a few big trades... But was that a good thing?

Carl Everett, DH, $3.4 Million for one year (2006) with an option for two (600k buyout)

C

Carl Everett is a switch hitting Designated Hitter/Outfielder that played for the World Champion Chicago White Sox last year. He hit .251 with 23 homeruns and 87 RBI last year in 135 games.

Age has changed Carl Everett's performance in the last couple of years. Once a 34 homerun hitter, Everett has declined to about half of his status at his prime. He's 36, and there is little room for improvement. If he were to have a year similar to last year, he would be a barely average Designated Hitter.

There really is no need for Carl Everett on this baseball team. With the extension signing of Raul Ibanez, Carl is a fish without a pond. He has nowhere to go. The signing bumps Raul Ibanez out of the DH role and into left field. Mind you, Raul is also in his late 30's, and was already a below-average fielder.

The danger of this signing is not that Carl Everett is a bad player. It's that the Mariners could have done much better. The market had players such as Jacque Jones that would have suited the team much better. Not only would Jones be a better hitter than Everett, but he would not force Ibanez to be a fielder, being that he is a left fielder himself, and a decent one at that. The problem is, this puts many players into positions they don't need to be in.

This signing get's a C.

Matt Lawton, OF, 400K for one year with performance bonus

B+

Last season, Matt Lawton played for 3 teams. He hit .253 with 13 homers and 18 stolen bases. Lawton is a good fielder with very good speed. So why was he signed for 400k?

Yorvit Torrealbe (right) was traded by the Mariners in December.

Simple: He got caught.

Soon after the season ended, Matt Lawton admitted to using performance enhancing drugs, also known as steroids, when he was with the New York Yankees. When all hope was lost that he would get a starting job somewhere, he signed a small deal as a bench bat with Seattle.

His statistics are worse than Everett's, so why does he get a B+ and Everett get's a C? Because with Matt Lawton, we've got nothing to lose. In the baseball world, 400k is about equivalent to the price of an ice cream cone. He's a bench bat, meaning he doesn't take a position spot from anyone. Anything is an upgrade from Greg Dobbs and Dave Hansen. It's a considerable upgrade to the bench. The Matt Lawton-Willie Bloomquist-Mike Morse bench is a very decent trio.

Marcos Carvajal, RP, and Luis E. Gonzalez, RP, traded for Yorvit Torrealba

Marcos Carvajal could be a nice addition to the bullpen if he makes it on the club. Luis E. Gonzalez, who is a lefty, is in the same position. If the Mariners are willing to lose Matt Thornton, one of the two will make the team, but if not, they will go back down to the Minor Leagues, likely AAA Tacoma. Since Torrealba would have no use here after the signing of Kenji Johjima, and the Rockies were looking for a backup catcher, the trade is a win-win situation for both teams.

Jarrod Washburn, SP, 4 years, $37.5 million

OUCH!!!!

Once again, Scott Boras manages to rip off our front office. 37.5 million for four years? Are you kidding me? That's one of the worst deals of the off-season, and there have been a lot of bad deals this off-season. Washburn played for the Angels last year, and compiled an 8-8 record with a 3.20 ERA. I know what you're thinking: "Ty, that's a really good ERA, are you crazy? We stole him!" Uh, no. One of the problems with modern day GM's is that they depend way too much on ERA and wins, and that's obviously what happened here.

Don't get me wrong, Washburn will be a huge upgrade over Ryan Franklin and will be a good addition to the pitching staff, but the money that he signed for was WAY more than he deserved. Washburn is about an average pitcher, and a humongous contract like this isn't something you would give a regular ol' Average Joe, especially considering he's only going to pitch in the number 3 whole this year.

A player that I would actually be able to tolerate for this money is Kevin Millwood. Millwood ended up signing with Texas, but the Mariners had as much of a chance as anyone at him. He was certainly interested in Seattle, but the gap between him and us is that he wanted a 5 year deal, and that is waaay too much for even him.

C-

Kenji Johjima, C, 3 years, $18.5 million

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

Thank you, Bill Bavasi, for making a good signing in this dreadful off-season! Kenji Johjima was a Gold Glove catcher in Japan. He has good power and can also hit for average. Johjima has the chance to hit 30+ homeruns with a .270 average. For a catcher at that money, this is a very good deal.

Johjima will fit in the catcher position that was so miserable last year. The Mariners used 7 catchers last season, including Miguel Olivo, Pat Borders, and Rene Rivera. This year, that likely won't be happening.

Kenji is going to play catcher for the Mariners until first round draft pick Jeff Clement is ready.

A-

This off-season hasn't exactly been ideal. There are a lot of things that the Mariners FO could have done to make this a much better team, but they failed to do it. This may just be Bill Bavasi's last year in Seattle. Whether that will be good or not, only time will tell. All we can do now is sit here, waiting and hoping that our Seattle Mariners will go back to that 90+ win form, no thanks to Bill Bavasi or the rest of our front office.

As we've said since Bavasi became GM: There's always next season.

Tyler Bramlet is the Owner and Creator of Mariners Mania.