Bowden on the state of the M's

[GL_Storm]

Personally, I wouldn't even give a first thought on Bregman, he wouldn't thrive in Seattle and would cost a fortune. Now Bichette, on the other hand, I think I'd pay his price.

Only thing is, he's a shortstop and I doubt he would want to sign here and play second base. We would have to trade Crawford. If it were to happen though, Bichette at short and Young at second sounds pretty good and it would sound even better if they traded for Marte although we all know that's asking too much, unless we could say "So you're telling me there's a chance" to a negative infinity chance.

I think the M's should go all in on Bichette. He's actually a perfect fit - literally, perfect. He could actually play 2B, and many teams who are looking at him view him as a 2B option. He has history there, and per this article, it may actually make sense to move him:

https://www.mlb.com/news/bo-bichette-de ... -in-future

With Emerson and Celestin knocking on the door, and JP in the last year of his contract, it might make sense to lock Bichette in at 2B, let JP play out his contract, and let the Emerson and Celestin see if they can take over at 3B and SS.

I know it is a pipe dream and Bichette will resign with the Jays. But if the M's are going to get serious about anyone this offseason, the one that makes the most sense to me is Bichette. Yeah, they'd overpay to get him, but not as much and they would overpay to Tucker or Bregman.

I agree with almost all of that be Celesten isn't even standing on the sidewalk let alone knocking on any doors. .158/.602 in A ball.

He's interesting though because of the athletic potential. We could see a breakout year if he can stay on the field. I'm curious what the prospect evaluations say about him. Baseball America's top 10 for the Mariners comes out in a week.

[D-train]

It was a small sample but he is only 10 months younger than Arroyo and 11 months younger than Laz and they both destroyed that league so it is concerning.

[GL_Storm]

It was a small sample but he is only 10 months younger than Arroyo and 11 months younger than Laz and they both destroyed that league so it is concerning.

His numbers are actually pretty good but it looks like he isn't elevating the ball yet, which is a thing that sometimes happens with prospects. That was the Ketel Marte template. With Marte, one of the metrics that Seattle missed, or wasn't paying attention to, was the max exit velocity. Even though he didn't hit many homeruns, when he did hit them it was with authority, and as we all know he had superior contact skills. And so when he made that swing adjustment after the trade, it all just fell into place for him. And so with Felnin, I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any hints about how hard he's hitting the ball.

[D-train]

It was a small sample but he is only 10 months younger than Arroyo and 11 months younger than Laz and they both destroyed that league so it is concerning.

His numbers are actually pretty good but it looks like he isn't elevating the ball yet, which is a thing that sometimes happens with prospects. That was the Ketel Marte template. With Marte, one of the metrics that Seattle missed, or wasn't paying attention to, was the max exit velocity. Even though he didn't hit many homeruns, when he did hit them it was with authority, and as we all know he had superior contact skills. And so when he made that swing adjustment after the trade, it all just fell into place for him. And so with Felnin, I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any hints about how hard he's hitting the ball.

How is .158/.602 pretty good???

[DavidGee24]

Personally, I wouldn't even give a first thought on Bregman, he wouldn't thrive in Seattle and would cost a fortune. Now Bichette, on the other hand, I think I'd pay his price.

Only thing is, he's a shortstop and I doubt he would want to sign here and play second base. We would have to trade Crawford. If it were to happen though, Bichette at short and Young at second sounds pretty good and it would sound even better if they traded for Marte although we all know that's asking too much, unless we could say "So you're telling me there's a chance" to a negative infinity chance.

I think the M's should go all in on Bichette. He's actually a perfect fit - literally, perfect. He could actually play 2B, and many teams who are looking at him view him as a 2B option. He has history there, and per this article, it may actually make sense to move him:

https://www.mlb.com/news/bo-bichette-de ... -in-future

With Emerson and Celestin knocking on the door, and JP in the last year of his contract, it might make sense to lock Bichette in at 2B, let JP play out his contract, and let the Emerson and Celestin see if they can take over at 3B and SS.

I know it is a pipe dream and Bichette will resign with the Jays. But if the M's are going to get serious about anyone this offseason, the one that makes the most sense to me is Bichette. Yeah, they'd overpay to get him, but not as much and they would overpay to Tucker or Bregman.

Pretty much. People tend to forget that it's the player who decides who he's going to play for. Bichette has probably been a shortstop his entire life and anyone saying "Hey, we want you to come play second base for us" will get a "Pffffft, you guys can stick it" in return.

[D-train]

I hope the winter meetings which start in a couple days aren't a total nothing burger like they have been recently

[GL_Storm]

It was a small sample but he is only 10 months younger than Arroyo and 11 months younger than Laz and they both destroyed that league so it is concerning.

His numbers are actually pretty good but it looks like he isn't elevating the ball yet, which is a thing that sometimes happens with prospects. That was the Ketel Marte template. With Marte, one of the metrics that Seattle missed, or wasn't paying attention to, was the max exit velocity. Even though he didn't hit many homeruns, when he did hit them it was with authority, and as we all know he had superior contact skills. And so when he made that swing adjustment after the trade, it all just fell into place for him. And so with Felnin, I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any hints about how hard he's hitting the ball.

How is .158/.602 pretty good???

Sorry, I was looking at his Modesto numbers. His Everett numbers aren't good, but as you say it's very small sample size.

[desbcoach]

Sign Bichette, let other prospects work it out and trade them for need

Laconic. You have an economy of words, desb.

And I could not agree with you more. Make Bichette the top priority and let prospects duke it out.

1. J.P. Crawford SS
2. Julio Rodríguez CF
3. Bo Bichette 2B
4. Cal Raleigh C
5. Josh Naylor 1B
6. Randy Arozarena LF
7. Dominic Canzone DH/RF
8. Ryan Bliss / Colt Emerson 3B
9. Victor Robles RF/DH

You can say Sign Bichette or make him the top priority but we all know that isn't going to happen. They aren't ever signing A list FAs under this regime.

You mean pretty much like everyone ones off season plan. That shit ain’t happening either but don’t see them words out of your computer LOL

[Sexymarinersfan]

I hope the winter meetings which start in a couple days aren't a total nothing burger like they have been recently

How many times have we heard that "it all started at the Winter Meetings", quote, just to find out months later after a deal was done, that it was there at the Meetings that the groundwork was laid out. But I hear you, offseason moves are exciting. The fact that we already have Naylor locked down is a big security blanket for me tho.