Felix signs a NRI with the Braves

[DanielVogelbach]

The guy virtually steals $100 mil for 26 wins over 4 years, who cares what he does?

He's a Mariner legend and a crazy rise and fall story. I think that's why people are interested.

Ichiro's second contract was not good either. It happens with veteran players. Pujols contract is pretty bad. There are some posters on here that seem to have a particular disdain for Felix. Not sure why. Griffey left, A-Rod left, Randy left... Finally you get a kid that wants to be a Mariner for life and somehow he's enemy #1. In reality, bringing up a Hall of Famer out of your minor league system that ends up playing their whole career for the same team is very rare. Felix is frustrating, because he was on that trajectory but fell off. Edgar is still the only one for the Ms.

Felix deserves a lot of disdain for his unwillingness to change. Every mil player is constantly evolving, Ask any quality pitcher who lost velocity how they were able to continue. They either changed how they pitched or improved accuracy. Felix didn’t do either. He kept trying to use what always worked
He is either lazy or ignorant

He deserves a lot more love than disdain IMO when you line up all the folks that have worn the Ms uni. He underperformed his contract big time, but that's not that uncommon in baseball - no reason to focus on that when you could focus on how electric his great years were. One thing I will always appreciate is that he stayed with the team rather than do what all the other stars had done... Griffey, A-Rod, Randy...

[Captain 97]

Felix deserves a lot of disdain for his unwillingness to change. Every mil player is constantly evolving, Ask any quality pitcher who lost velocity how they were able to continue. They either changed how they pitched or improved accuracy. Felix didn’t do either. He kept trying to use what always worked
He is either lazy or ignorant

Maybe he just wasn't physically capable of changing. Even when he was at his best he was never a pinpoint artist. I don't believe that control is something that can be learned or taught. You either have it or you don't. People act like all he had to do was just make up in his mind that he wanted to be a different type pitcher and somehow that would make him capable of painting corners and turn him into Greg Maddux. I personally don't think laziness or ignorance or even an unwillingness to change had anything whatsoever to do with his decline. He simply doesn't have the tools to succeed in MLB with a 90 MPH fastball and there is nothing he could do to change that.

[Captain 97]

The fact is that Felix did try to adapt as a pitcher. He basically abandoned his four seem fastball and his curve became his primary pitch.

When he won his Cy Young in 2010 his repertoire was as follows.
Sinker 34.4%
four Seam 28.3%
curve 14.9%
changeup 13.2%
slider 9.2%

In his final season his distribution of pitches had changed to
Sinker 31.7%
four seam 8.1%
curve 35.3%
changeup 16.4%
slider 8.7%

[Donn Beach]

yeah, he did change, I also think he got tired of listening to a new pitching coach every year or two with something different to tell him to do.

[D-train]

He's a Mariner legend and a crazy rise and fall story. I think that's why people are interested.

Ichiro's second contract was not good either. It happens with veteran players. Pujols contract is pretty bad. There are some posters on here that seem to have a particular disdain for Felix. Not sure why. Griffey left, A-Rod left, Randy left... Finally you get a kid that wants to be a Mariner for life and somehow he's enemy #1. In reality, bringing up a Hall of Famer out of your minor league system that ends up playing their whole career for the same team is very rare. Felix is frustrating, because he was on that trajectory but fell off. Edgar is still the only one for the Ms.

Felix deserves a lot of disdain for his unwillingness to change. Every mil player is constantly evolving, Ask any quality pitcher who lost velocity how they were able to continue. They either changed how they pitched or improved accuracy. Felix didn’t do either. He kept trying to use what always worked
He is either lazy or ignorant

He deserves a lot more love than disdain IMO when you line up all the folks that have worn the Ms uni. He underperformed his contract big time, but that's not that uncommon in baseball - no reason to focus on that when you could focus on how electric his great years were. One thing I will always appreciate is that he stayed with the team rather than do what all the other stars had done... Griffey, A-Rod, Randy...

Randy was treated terribly by the M's before being traded to the Astros for Garcia, Guillen and Halama for two months of service.

[DanielVogelbach]

Felix deserves a lot of disdain for his unwillingness to change. Every mil player is constantly evolving, Ask any quality pitcher who lost velocity how they were able to continue. They either changed how they pitched or improved accuracy. Felix didn’t do either. He kept trying to use what always worked
He is either lazy or ignorant

He deserves a lot more love than disdain IMO when you line up all the folks that have worn the Ms uni. He underperformed his contract big time, but that's not that uncommon in baseball - no reason to focus on that when you could focus on how electric his great years were. One thing I will always appreciate is that he stayed with the team rather than do what all the other stars had done... Griffey, A-Rod, Randy...

Randy was treated terribly by the M's before being traded to the Astros for Garcia, Guillen and Halama for two months of service.

Good call. Randy was 34 years old with a back issue. The Ms just didn't want to invest. Not Randy's fault. Funny they parted ways with Randy at an older age than they parted ways with Felix. Randy went on to have so much success he entered the Hall with Diamondbacks hat. Obviously Randy didn't have his velocity fall off the map. Maybe cuz he didn't enter the bigs at age 19. Or, maybe just because he was superhuman.

[DanielVogelbach]

There was one time where he lost a bunch of weight, too. Came into camp looking sleek. The results were not good, but it was certainly an effort to try and live up to the contract. It happens all the time that players are given the big veteran contract and then they underperform. Ichiro was similar to a degree. Albert Pujols is a good example.

Overall, I'm happy to hear the news. I will check the Braves ST box scores and see what Felix is able to do. Glad he didn't quit yet. Obviously, this year is not about the money for him.

[D-train]

It will be interesting to see M's fan reaction if this is the year he figures it out. I would be surprised but its not like he is 44, he is only 34.

[D-train]

The great Jim Moore's 1.5 cents.

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/755867/m ... s#comments

[Donn Beach]

can't imagine rooting a guy to fail because it would somehow make the Mariners look better...

who is on that list? ...Ketel?...and?

If he turns it around, he will become the latest Mariner to shine after he leaves Seattle