4 years - $50 million dollars
http://graphics.jsonline.com/graphics/sports/brew/img/jun02/rich627.jpg

This guy is a natural basher. He can hit over 40 home runs when healthy. :eek:
We really needed a shot in the arm and I think he counts as one! :cool:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1947119

Ohmmmmmmmmm............

Good pick up, a bit overpriced though eh? Any other plans for the M's?

I shouldn't be talking though, the Mets overpriced on Pedro big time.

Thinking about it though, everyone's cashing in this offseason. Let's see if Beltran gets that $200 million figure he wants.

Its a great pickup for the M's, but 50 mil is a bit much.

The contract is backloaded......it's still a lot of money but we're only paying him 4.5 million this season with a 6 mil signing bonus (which is leftover Sasaki money) and the rest from there on....we should be able to make room for his contract in the future by using more of our young ones and letting go of underperformers like possibly Boone or Spezio the following seasons.

Next in line is hopefully Beltre - estimates put our bid at $62 mill for 5 years....:cool:

Well we know what Seattle neighborhood Sexson wants to live in:

M's sign Sexson (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/mariners/2002121150_ston16.html)

Not even last place was going to keep the pride of Brush Prairie, the tiny town near Vancouver, Wash., away from his dream of playing in Seattle. This is a guy, mind you, who's buddies with Ray Allen from their Milwaukee days, who grew up as a Jim Presley fan, and is a Huskies fanatic who wants to buy a house near Husky Stadium "so I can hear that horn every time they score."

Are the Mariners still pursuing Delgado even though they signed Sexson? I can't make sense of that.

^ It makes total sense. The Mariners need a lefthanded power hitter still. If they sign Delgado, Sexson will be moved to LF.

Since Sexson is a better defensive 1st baseman then Delgado and just as powerful I believe they will focus on another hole which is 3rd.....Beltre would fit the bill perfectly! :yes:

Beltre would be nice but it still doesn't solve the Mariners LH power problem. They did design Safeco Field with a certain LH powerhitter in mind...

Sexson is a great 1st baseman. Hes tall and got the long arms. If he stays healthy, he will hit over 35 hr this season. The M's are one of my favorite American league teams, so I hope he they do well in 2005. I still cant believe you guys didnt go all the way in the mid-90's. Griffey, A-Rod, Edgar, Jay Buhner! Wilson, Johnson.....the perfect team.

same could be said for the Yankees the past 2 years as far as thier lineup.....crazy I tell ya! :dunno:

We need our starting pitching to stay healthy this year! :yes:

well I hate the Yanks.......so good. Disapointing are the Seahawks though. I had them as a contender for the NFC title. Injuries and lack of motivation are killin them. Although they did beat Minnesota last week, which is always a good thing. :)
Maybe you should make this the official sports thread, because noone else really seems to care about it. Speaking of trades, I am kind of disapointed that we traded a former M, Scott Posednik . Carlos Lee is a better hitter, but Scotty was a fan favorite!! All of our fan favorites had some connection to Seattle. Sexson, Ray allen, Desmond Mason, and Scotty. I heard from the paper that Ray allen was actually wanting out of Seattle. However, i doubt this is the case now--seeing as this Sonics are just that damn good. He wanted to come back to Milwaukee, which I would be all for.

Woohoo We also get Beltre!!!!!!!!!! :bow:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6724728/

http://24.73.229.214:82/gosportscards/Players/CardPics/beltre_fleer99.jpg

Holy Crap the Mariners are legitimate BASHERS now.......murderers row! :eek:

That's 2 players hitting back to back with over 40hr proven power!

well I hate the Yanks.......so good. Disapointing are the Seahawks though. I had them as a contender for the NFC title. Injuries and lack of motivation are killin them. Although they did beat Minnesota last week, which is always a good thing. :)
Maybe you should make this the official sports thread, because noone else really seems to care about it. Speaking of trades, I am kind of disapointed that we traded a former M, Scott Posednik . Carlos Lee is a better hitter, but Scotty was a fan favorite!! All of our fan favorites had some connection to Seattle. Sexson, Ray allen, Desmond Mason, and Scotty. I heard from the paper that Ray allen was actually wanting out of Seattle. However, i doubt this is the case now--seeing as this Sonics are just that damn good. He wanted to come back to Milwaukee, which I would be all for.

Yeah the Seahawks are way underachieveing....I never liked Hasslebeck and it starts with him.....our D is playing like usual, very bad! :yes:

I like Posednik tons especially when it comes to Fantasy Baseball stats in the stolen base category......he's one of the elites! :cool:

yeah its sad he is gone, but he wasnt getting on base at all last year. He lead the leauge in stolen bases, but those didnt help the Brewers win games. What the Brewers needed was some right handed muscle to drive the ball--which they will get outta Carlos Lee.

Yea, finally the M's make some moves. NOw if they can get a pitcher and maybe get Carlos Beltran too. haha. this is an exciting time for seattle sports. m's making moves, seahawks in first place, sonics are killin, uw hoops is on fire, uw football jus hired a new coach. good times!

Do we dare start a "Will the Mariners win the pennant?" thread again at the start of the season? :D ;)

Let's do it!!! :D

Ohmmmmm.......

No! Maybe that's why they did bad last year.

It's the curse of SSC's pennant thread.

Ohmmmmm.......

Ohmmmm . . . .

:D

Hey check out my new sig. :cool:

:lol:

The ohmm is gonna work this time....fans don't feel jilted again...last year started with bad vibes from the fans because of the lame free agent moves and that's what type of cloud was held over the Mariners heads all year, there was no mojo. BUT THE MOJO is back and it's called this lineup;

Ichiro
Winn / Reed
Sexson
Beltre
Boone
Ibanez
Bucky
Lopez
Olivo / Wilson

Hey check out my new sig. :cool:

Bond look at mine now! :D

Hey neat!!! :)

Did you make that yourself?

naw snagged it off the net.....kinda swings like Beltre! :D

^Now that I look at it, it looks almost like Gehrig!

http://www.elmedico.net/gehrig1.gif

Do you think you can win the west?

Anaheim is hot. Oakland should be awful, Texas should also be good since they resigned Soriano.

^Now that I look at it, it looks almost like Gehrig!

http://www.elmedico.net/gehrig1.gif

weird it does! :uh:

Angels will stay hot....Oakland has lost a lot, Texas has the bats but a lot less pitching then Seattle....

Mariners at least 2nd American League West :yes:

Seattle P-I
Thursday, January 20, 2005

Sele returns home to Mariners
North Kitsap High grad among 15 non-roster invitees to spring camp

By JOHN HICKEY
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Right-handed starting pitcher Aaron Sele, who helped the Mariners to back-to-back postseason appearances in 2000 and 2001, is returning home.

Sele, 34, a former North Kitsap High standout who lives in the area, has agreed to a minor league contract that includes an invitation to the Mariners' spring training camp when it opens Feb. 16. Sele posted 32 of his 131 career wins in his two seasons with the Mariners.

Should Sele, who has spent the past three seasons with Anaheim, make the team, he would get a contract worth $700,000 with the chance to make another $400,000 in bonuses.

The move means there will be serious competition for spots in Seattle's starting rotation. Five starters are back from last year, including lefties Jamie Moyer and Bobby Madritsch and right-handers Joel Pineiro, Gil Meche and Ryan Franklin.

Lefty Ron Villone, who signed to a two-year contract Tuesday, started 10 games last year and should also get a look at starting again during spring training.

There have been persistent rumors that the Mariners want to move the versatile Franklin to the bullpen, and the addition of Sele would seem to support that.

However, manager Mike Hargrove doesn't go along with the theory, even though Franklin seems able to warm up quickly and pitch frequently, major assets in a reliever.

"I don't anticipate Ryan not having a shot at the rotation," Hargrove said. "Obviously the light is on him because it's an easy call, but it may not be the right call.

"Sele gives us more to choose from, and we'll have competition for the spots in the rotation. There are a number of other possibilities where Ryan doesn't go to the bullpen."

Sele was one of 15 players who have been offered invitations to the Mariners' big league camp. A few, such as Sele, infielders Benji Gil and Ricky Gutierrez and right-hander Dan Reichert, are veterans with extensive big league résumés.

One, right-hander Masao Kida, was picked up at the end of last season from Los Angeles and has a chance to make the Mariners' bullpen. The 36-year-old got into seven games with the Mariners last year (0-0, 8.38 ERA). He's pitched in the majors since 1999 after an 11-year career in Japan.

Others have much more limited big league experience, including left-handed pitcher Nate Bland, catchers Wiki Gonzalez and Kit Pellow and infielder Ramon Santiago.

Also on the list are Mariners minor leaguers with little or no big league experience, including touted starting pitcher Felix Hernandez, right-hander Rett Johnson, catcher Ryan Christiansen and infielders Adam Jones, Mickey Lopez and Matt Tuiasosopo.

Hernandez, just 18 but with a power fastball and a vicious curve, is considered one of the brightest pitching prospects in baseball. Because of that, Hargrove is eager to get a look at him in spring training.

"I'm looking forward to seeing him," Hargrove said, "but he'd be a real long shot to make the rotation. He's just a kid. He needs to get some more innings. But everything I've heard about him is that he's something special."

He seems to be.

Hernandez pitched for the World Team last year in the 2004 Futures Game and was named Seattle's minor league pitcher of the year, going 14-4 with a 2.95 ERA and 172 strikeouts in splitting time between Class A Inland Empire (San Bernardino, Calif.) and AA San Antonio.

Three of the minor leaguers -- Christianson (1999), Jones (2003) and Tuiasosopo (2004) -- were the team's top draft picks in the years they signed with the Mariners. There will be three other players on the team this spring who were former No. 1 picks of the Mariners, including Villone (1992), Meche (1996) and left-handed reliever Matt Thornton (1998).

Seattle is still in negotiations with a handful of other players, and there is a chance more invitations might be issued in the coming days.

I would probably prefer Sele in the bullpen rather then Franklin....but Sele does have one of the best curve balls in baseball and wins more then he loses....he's just not a postseason or second half pitcher! :dunno:

^Yeah I agree, Sele might be better for long relief.

Well, we'll see how it goes.

Ohmmmmmmmmmmmmmm . . . .

They won opening day!! :banana:

Sexson has 5 RBI's!! :banana:

^Two homers!

Forbes: Best-Kept Secret (http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2005/0425/086.html)

The small-market Mariners have been baseball's most profitable team the past five years. Part of their success is making sure no one knows it.

Last year the Seattle Mariners had an abysmal season, winning 63 games and losing 99. It was the worst record in the American League West Division. But never mind. During the past five years the team has averaged $163 million in revenues, behind only the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees and Mets. According to documents filed with a public stadium authority, which owns the Mariners' stadium, last year the team's operating income (in the sense of earnings plus depreciation and amortization, minus capital improvements) was $10.8 million. By contrast, baseball's most valuable team, the Yankees, had an operating loss of $37 million last year.

FORBES estimates the Mariners' worth at $414 million, the fifth highest in baseball, and 63 times their 1977 initial price tag of $6.5 million.

How can a small-market baseball team be so rich? Most of the credit goes to the Japanese. Fifty-four percent owner Nintendo ($4.9 billion sales) spent big bucks four years ago to sign Ichiro Suzuki, a speedy right fielder who had established himself as one of the best players in Japan. Last year Ichiro, as his fans call him, had 262 hits, breaking the single-season hit record (257) of St. Louis Browns legend Gorgeous George Sisler set in 1920.

Attendance at Safeco Field jumped 12% in Ichiro's first season. Since then attendance has averaged 3.3 million, the fourth highest among baseball's 30 teams. In late 2003 the team re-signed Ichiro for four years at $12 million a season. One of 25 players, he collects 14% of the team payroll. He also makes maybe $6 million a year by appearing in ads.

Ichiro fans, in both the U.S. and Japan, afford him rock star status. In one Seattle television ad campaign Ichiro hits the ball, then catches it himself. Ichiro trinkets adorn cell phones in Japan, where the Mariners' theme song is a popular ring tone. Dentsu, Japan's largest advertising firm, says Ichiro is the country's most marketable personality. Ichiro jerseys and merchandise have outsold those of all other Mariners, including former stars Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

The Mariners rank third in television ratings--measured as a share of each team's local market--behind the Red Sox and the Cardinals. Five years ago the team negotiated a ten-year deal with Fox worth $250 million. Only the Yankees, Mets and Braves generate more local media revenue. "I've never seen such a phenomenon," says Mark Shuken, general manager of Fox Sports Net Northwest.

Japanese tour operators specialize in Ichiro-watching trips to Seattle. Dozens of Japanese fans were in Safeco's so-called Area 51 (Ichiro's number) last October when he got his record-breaking 258th hit. The ballpark sells sushi rolls, and Seattle restaurants like El Gaucho, a steakhouse, have menus printed in Japanese. Tourists from Japan account for 6% of sales at the downtown Executive Pacific Plaza Hotel; pre-Ichiro their share was less than half a percent. "They are good shoppers," says Michael Cummings, head of Sports Den, a three-store chain in Seattle. Japanese buyers account for 10% of his baseball business.

(Click here (http://www.forbes.com/free_forbes/2005/0425/086.html) for rest of article)

More info:

Forbes 2005 MLB team valuations (http://www.forbes.com/lists/results.jhtml?passListId=33&passYear=2005&passListType=Misc&searchParameter1=unset&searchParameter2=unset&resultsStart=1&resultsHowMany=30&resultsSortProperties=%2Bnumberfield1%2C%2Bstringfield1&resultsSortCategoryName=Rank&category1=category&category2=category&passKeyword=)

Bump