Mike Salk joins Shannon on the M's PR team

[D-train]

710 treats Mariners fans like they’re dumb. He even protects Jerry’s obvious busts and continues to tout Kelenic as one of their biggest assets.

Salk is a dope. But man that is big news.

[D-train]

So now Salk tries to break the all time record for how much stupid shit somebody can pack into an article.

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1709619/ ... -outfield/

[D-train]

So not only has he just wasted his time on most of this because Jerry has suddenly decided he is looking for a RH bat but these are just some real jewels:

Move 2 brought Trevor Gott, a relief pitcher to fill the void left by Erik Swanson.

Complete dogshit pitcher for the pitcher with the best FIP in the American league.

I’d be shocked if Dansby Swanson doesn’t return to Atlanta. Xander Bogaerts has never seemed like a good fit here. And Carlos Correa is likely gunning for a chance to play in either New York or LA.

Once again running cover for the M's. Why didn't any of this come up last month we everyone assumed all options were available??? XB not a good fit??? CC gunning for NYC or LA, Dasby back to the Braves??? Complete pulls out of his ass.

They needed a middle infielder and Wong allowed them to acquire one without giving up any pitching nor prospects. That leaves them more ammunition for a bigger pickup elsewhere.

That didn't age well.

One of those spots could be filled by Kelenic (or some platoon of him and Haggerty). They have some less-established internal possibilities like Taylor Trammel,

This suggest JK is established even slightly??????

He then goes onto say Conforto is a better option than Nimmo because Nimmo has health risks. More health risks than a guy that just missed an entire season.

My God I think I am going find another team to root for.

[Donn Beach]

Nimmo has stated he wants to play center field, so why would he sign with the mariners to play left field anymore than one of the SS candidates to play second base? And why pay the premium for him to do it in the first place? Yeah, conforto makes more sense to me

[D-train]

Welp he is at it again. Tries to include the Julio and Castillo extensions into the off season.

Here is the fundamental flaw with the argument: JULIO AND CASTILLO WERE ON THE TEAM THAT FINISHED 16 GAMES BEHIND AND GOT SWEPT BY THE ASTROS!

Sure, Teo is a slight upgrade over Mitch and we went from horrid to average with Wong even though he looks like maybe a platoon bat at this point but how can we be excited with two gaping holes left in the lineup a big at 5th starter and a weakened BP????

Imagine this hypothetical Mariners offseason:

• Sign Julio Rodríguez to a 12-year extension worth $209-470 million
• Trade for and sign Luis Castillo to a five-year, $110 million extension
• Sign Teoscar Hernández to a four-year, $80 million contract
• Sign Kolten Wong to a two-year, $18 million contract

https://sports.mynorthwest.com/1712767/ ... sing-mark/

[D-train]

Fan totally roasts Salk!

[bpj]

Fan totally roasts Salk!

And the smooth brained fans are still like, "But we've added Ray, Castillo and Julio!"

Yeah.... but payroll is still $30M below where it was when Cano was here without even accounting for inflation, so that argument has serious holes.

[Michael K.]

The argument that the M's are putting away money so that they can extend literally every player from this "core" is insane. That's just simply not how this thing works. Players will want to test free agency. Players will not pan out. You cannot plan that far in advance without losing sight for the present day.

Why are George Springer and Carlos Correa no longer Houston Astros?

Oh, wait... Houston won the World Series without them. Why? Because you take advantage of many guys while they're cheap and let them walk when they become expensive and you develop well enough to replace them when the time comes.

This whole 2026 thing is utter bullshit. Using it as an excuse to not spend money from 2023-2025 is just so weak.

Very well said. Not to mention the fact that saving money for years down the road is pretending that this team isn't going to be making money hand over fist up until those years!

[bpj]

The argument that the M's are putting away money so that they can extend literally every player from this "core" is insane. That's just simply not how this thing works. Players will want to test free agency. Players will not pan out. You cannot plan that far in advance without losing sight for the present day.

Why are George Springer and Carlos Correa no longer Houston Astros?

Oh, wait... Houston won the World Series without them. Why? Because you take advantage of many guys while they're cheap and let them walk when they become expensive and you develop well enough to replace them when the time comes.

This whole 2026 thing is utter bullshit. Using it as an excuse to not spend money from 2023-2025 is just so weak.

This is exactly why building a core, which they've done now, and then complementing the roster by filling the remaining holes in free agency made so much sense.

Now they're trying to change the narrative to the goal being to keep the core together in 2026 and beyond, which is just stupid. 90% of these guys want to test free agency.

The core is built.

Now they need to add a few free agents/trades to fill obvious holes so their contracts will be running out about the same time that Logan/Kirby/Raleigh and they maintain flexibility.

Acting like they need to save money now- in addition to saving $250M in slashed payroll since 2018- to give those guys money in 2026 instead of spending it now to fill out the roster is the most blatant example of shifting the goalposts I can even imagine.

As Dtrain pointed out before, they had a $160M payroll in 2018 and in today's dollars that would be equal to spending $190M now.

Considering that their 2027 payroll obligations sit at $44M, please justify how they

A) can't afford top free agents

Or

B) Can act like not spending now is necessary to keep those guys around.

They're sitting on a $130M payroll. Come on....

[Donn Beach]

. This is exactly why building a core, which they've done now, and then complementing the roster by filling the remaining holes in free agency made so much sense.

Now they're trying to change the narrative to the goal being to keep the core together in 2026 and beyond, which is just stupid. 90% of these guys want to test free agency

Don't agree, narrative hasn't changed, their plan to re-sign their own players as opposed to signing FAs has been the official narrative for some time now. Remember discussing it with Darren seasons ago, Stanton promoting it. Fact is they now are walking the walk