Sodo Oh No

Read all about the M's Bill Bavasi bemoaning the lack of having a serviceable shortstop on the major league roster. Poor poor Bill. As you read the article don't forget to pay special attention to the part where it mentions the M's deciding to get rid of Carlos Guillen because he wasn't worth a long term "investment" and he was "fragile". How much was Carlos Guillen making when the M's traded him? $2.5 million, then during an all star year with the Tigers he signed a 3 year $14 million dollar deal.

The M's had their shortstop, signed at a decent wage, locked up for an entire year before they had to make any decisions on a long term investment. Instead Bavasi went for Omar (the emptiest .300 hitter on the planet) and Rich Aurilla. In 2004, at worst, the M's would have had a great utility player locked in at a decent salary to take over for either Spezio or Aurilla in case they got injured or failed to perform (as ultimately both did). At best they would have had Guillen's breakout year before deciding to pursue him into free agency. What did they get instead? A couple of non-prospects and a hole at SS for the next 3-4 years.

Since when does getting TB misdiagnosed by the medical crew on your team make you fragile? Even if Carlos only played his average of 130 games a year (over the last 4 years) his production of last year .318/.379/.542 towers over anything the existing M's shortstops have done or will do.

I'm sorry Bill. You don't get to cry to the press when you are responsible for the stupid decisions that got you into your mess.

posted by John @ 4:07 PM