Ynoa!

So I've been sifting through the Sickles an BP A's prospects lists, I think they're kinda nuts, but that's just me. Anyway, I came across this interview with Eric Kubota at BP, and its free! What got me was this part:

DL: Can you address Michael Ynoa?

EK: He's the kind of guy that any scout who just saw him play catch would almost get goose bumps over. I mean, he's this special talent who, literally, I was very excited just watching him play catch. Anybody who has seen him would say the same thing, I think.

That seems like the consensus on Ynoa right? People drool over the kid. But they drool only once they've seen him. Goldstein still likes him quite a bit it seems, and I remember last year he wrote something similar to Kubota's quote above. Sickles seems pretty cool on Ynoa, but then again, I doubt he has seen the kid throw. What I want to know is, why is it so mesmerizing watching Ynoa throw, and does this mean anything. I mean, is there something to this? You'd think that if there was one team in MLB to not be fooled by how good a kid looks in a baseball uni, it would be the A's, yet that's the only thing I can find when it comes to what makes Ynoa a great prospect. He's young, great arm, strong bloodlines, what have you. Nothing concrete since he hasnt played a game. It makes skeptics out of internet bloggers (myself included I guess) but believers out of "witnesses." Pretty much this whole post is trying to say "I want to see Ynoa throw sooooooo bad. Not some crappy youtube video, lemme see him throw in person!" I want to see in him what made the A's spend over 4 million in such a young kid. But that won't happen. Hopefully he doesn't flame out in the low minors, I really want to see this kid throw a damn baseball some day.

While we're on the topic of gifting Seattle talent...

Lets just give Milton Bradley, cranky yet talented outfielder, to them for Carlos Silva, cranky yet zero-talent pitcher. What the fuck man, just what the fuck. Maybe the M's new front office does know what they doing, only make deals with complete fucking idiots. Rebuilding and competing is a breeze when you get free top flight talent given to you fucking weekly; oh and also the idiots agree to take on your franchise crippling contracts. Seriously, what the fuck man.

It's late...cut me some slack...

but have you ever google'd yourself? I just tried it. Pretty boring. Lot of old ATDP rosters. But there is this gem. I stared at it for a while. Like. wtf is this? Then I remembered, I took debate for a year in high school! It even has my record! Apparently I was 3-6 for my career! Fucking awesome! I don't even remember ever winning a match! I thought it was amusing. I think one win was because my opponent didn't show. Let's just pretend I was awesome for 3 debates though...and ignore the other 6...

Taylor for Wallace

I've been trying to rationalize it. Still can't. Closest I've come was this Neyer post. Yea, we have a shit load of infield prospects. And it probably was incredibly optimistic to think Wallace may stick at 3rd.

The way I see it though, we have a suuuuuuuuper crowded outfield. Sweeney was awesome last year, he's going to play. Rajai played quite well last year, he's going to get a shot. Cunningham is a fantastic prospect, he's going to get a shot. Travis fucking Buck is still alive and begging for a outfield spot! Scott Hairston, as much as I hate him, probably will get a starting spot in our outfield. Sean Doolittle, even though he really is a 1st base prospect, will see time in the outfield, if only because he won't beat out both Barton and Carter for the 1st base job. Eric Patterson, who I guess conceivably could play 2nd, is very much deserving of playing time in the outfield.

And let me just mention, that is simply our major league ready talent. Our system is fucking flooded with outfield talent, Brown, Demel, hell even Sulentic could turn into something. 3rd base though, we have nothing. NOTHING. Be it in the bigs or in the minors, there is no one to play 3rd. If there was any slim chance, I mean any chance, of Wallace being a 3rd baseman, I prefer him to Taylor. Taylor is a fucking giant who suposedly plays a decent left field...I'm just saying, doesn't take much to play a decent left field, and that body is not built to run year after year. Health record isn't exactly encouraging seeing as he is diabetic. I believe the difference between positional adjustments from 3rd to left field is something like 10 runs. You have to be pretty bad at 3rd to give up one win. Yea, I don't like the trade. I guess the front office is just positive there is zero chance of Wallace sticking at 3rd for the time being.

As a depressing closing note, fuck the Phillies. Why the fuck did they just hand Cliff Lee to the M's. Merry fucking Christmas seattle, I wish we could get a free ace.

Bayonetta

I played the Bayonetta demo. I fell in love. Holy crap is that demo fun. Game appeared awesome before I played this, now that I've played it, I'm afraid I'm going to have to part with $60 in the near future. That combat is so fucking smooth. I can see it getting kind of easy with the dodge button, seems kind of imba, but I trust Kamiya to bring the challenge. Man I cannot wait for the American release.

I'll say it Again: FUCK SCHOOL

One final down. Did well, tho seeing as I have a D in the class, dont know if it matters at all. Makes me angry, actually studied this time, I'd be surprised if I don't get at least an A on this test. Well what's done is done. Two finals left on Thursday. Couldn't study at all today, emotionally drained is a fairly accurate way of putting it. Well, physically drained too. Tomorrow (or today I guess) = all day study day. Tired of this study thing. Looking forward to happier thoughts come Thursday post-finals time.

M's

Everyone seems to be applauding the Figgans signing by the Mariners. I suppose the contract itself isn't so bad, he is a good player after all. Actually, let me remedy that: in a vacuum, the contract isn't so bad. But this is clearly a win now move. They give up their first round pick for this guy. The AL West should be weak again next season. The M's have sucked for a while now. They want to win, I can understand this. I fucking hate this move though.

Figgans is going to be around for a while now, and he isn't young at all at this moment. The M's have a very middling roster. There isn't much talent on it outside of Ichiro, Felix, and now Figgans. Their farm system also, from what I can tell, is crap. Pretty much how I see it is that the M's are paying Figgans this long contract for a shot at next year, and that's it. I don't see how they can realistically compete after 2010. Ichiro is great, but must get old someday. Felix is great, but will get expensive as fuck sooner rather than later. Figgans is good, but old and comming off a fluke good season. Gutierrez is a fine player, but he also had a fluke good season last year. The big league team is mediocre at best, and the minor league system is crap. They just gave up their first round pick in the next draft for an old player comming off a career year.

Compare now to the rest of the division. Angels, pretty much always good, and have the money to maintain their roster. Plus they've been gifted first round picks like halloween candy recently thanks to free agent compensation, their system is improving. Rangers had an encouraging showing this year, and their system is still comparable to anyones in the bigs. A's, while we all know I'm biased in their regard, also having encouraging signs at the bigleague level, as well as an incredibly strong farm system. Bascially, by 2011, we are looking at 3 very strong contenders. Not contenders like we have now, these have the potential to be really strong teams, I'm thinking 90+ game winnners.

What I'm saying here is that the M's cannot compete in this cycle. They should not be signing type A free agents. If I am Zduriencik (...spelling?), I am looking to trade not just Felix, but Ichiro as well. Felix has immense value, even heading into arb I bet he could land a Haren-esque package. Ichiro is old and expensive, but some team will bite, given he still has that superstar label. Rebuild is what I am getting at here. The roster simply lacks talent, and unless they think they can compete with the big guys in the free market, this roster needs to be blown up.

I have not been impressed with this Mariner front office at all. They make encouraging moves (acquireing Branyan, Gutierrez, under valued folks like that), but they make quite a few short sighted retarded moves as well. Griffey comes to mind. That one actually isn't even shortsighted, just plain retarded. It screams emotional attachment, the quality I want absolutely least in my GM. I don't care if Ichiro is the face of the franchise, he needs to be traded before his value goes to shit. I don't care if Felix is a super prodigy and the only exciting player you have, he needs to be traded before his arm falls off/costs 100 mill a year. Putting your hopes into a few fluke season/luck with run differential is not the way to win your division. The other 3 teams in the AL West seem to have a very strong plan at getting that title, the Mariners, in my mind, are simply treading water, and in the shallow end of the pool.

ARGH

I am, without a doubt, happier here than I have been in a good many years. Yet whenever I sit and think to myself, I still feel miserable. My grades have been in a steady decline since last year. I'm starting to worry there really is something wrong with me.