Sodo Oh No

The M's are going to break camp with 12 pitchers to avoid eating Jarvis contract. Mike and I had a hallway discussion about this.

Mike: You can tell a lot about a team by the decisions they refuse to make. Modifying your roster in order to keep a pitcher on it that has no business being part of a club that is supposed to be in contention is amazing.

John: The M's have the 5th highest revenue in pro sports. Isn't it about time they started acting like it? I'm sure that the only reason he's on the roster is so they can try and make another team take on his salary as part of their next deal. It's going to be a we'll take Griffey if you take Jarvis situation. Even if he only pitches in blowouts (which will amply demonstrate to all clubs what the M's perceive his value to be) he'll be taking up a roster spot that could be used in so many other ways.

Mike: This is a team with an incredibly weak bench, with no backup shortstop, that has a huge number of off days in their early season schedule. Just eat the contract.

John: As long as they don't use the Jarvis money as an excuse later on in the season (we'd have loved to pick up Barry Bonds for the stretch run but we're still paying on that Jarvis contract), it'll be 1 paragraph in the paper for 1 day. There is no PR hit in releasing Jarvis. It's this Scrooge like mentality that seems to be pervasive in the M's.

Mike: I don't care how well he's pitched in his last 3 innings. He's amply demonstrated over the course of his career that he's not a MLB pitcher. Since young pitching is the M's strength it's not like we've got to save him for a disaster situation either. Eat the contract.

John: Carrying 12 pitchers means our "bench" is going to be Quinten, Willie, Hansen, Davis. It hurts me to say that.(ed: it hurts more to see it in print )

Mike: That's ugly....

posted by John @ 12:06 PM