My Evaluation of Jerry Dipoto

I really am pleased with Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto.
I know there are many Mariners fans that aren't too pleased with the trade of Taijuan Walker for Jean Segura, but I must admit I'm one of those that was wondering when Taijuan was going to "reach his full potential" and if he was going to do it at the speed we needed him to given our situation, which is to win now. Not only do I believe it was time to move on, I personally believe that Jerry got a pretty decent deal out of him. The Mariners have a legitimate shortstop in Jean Segura, now.
But like the majority of Mariner fans, I wasn't too thrilled with the shortstop the Mariners had last season in Ketel Marte either..
I know that time will tell on all these acquisitions, but I'm THRILLED that the Mariners have a GM that does things to fill the gaps that the team had last year. A player like Danny Valencia, for example, will help greatly versus left handed pitchers. Jerry Dipoto's seeing needs and ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING to fill them.
There was a time not long ago that I was wondering why the hell Mariner management wouldn't get rid of the dead weight to bring in star players.. NOW the Mariners have a GM that can work quickly.
But Jerry's not done... he hasn't spent any cashola...yet! My next guess is that he'll pay A LOT OF $$$ for a starting pitcher. Perhaps a damn good one. He knows the hole he made by getting rid of Walker, so I'm thinking he'll fill it soon.

So... as I see it, the Mariners offseason to-do list consisted of:
Get rid of Chris Iannetta & that racist catcher [Steve Clevenger], add Carlos Ruiz as the catcher [Check!]
Remove Franklin Gutierrez [as much as I hate to say it], Adam Lind & Dae-Ho Lee.. add Valencia [Check!]
Remove Marte, add Segura [Check!]
Next up: Remove Walker, add ????
So far, nothing but plus signs in my eyes & I can't see Dipoto reversing course... It's not in his DNA to reverse course, at least from what I've seen from him since he first took the job as Mariners GM at the end of 2015.

The Bizarre Similarities between Nomar Garciaparra & Corey Seager

It was announced this morning that Los Angeles Dodgers Shortstop Corey Seager was named the 2016 Rookie of the Year Award Winner. I just want to point out some of the bizarre similarities between this young superstar & my favorite baseball player of all-time, Nomar Garciaparra:

1. They both won Rookie of the Year [Nomar won his in 1997 while playing for the Boston Red Sox]

2. They both have a brother who played in the Seattle Mariners organization [Nomar's younger brother Michael & Corey's  two Older Brothers Kyle & Justin]. In fact, Nomar was almost a Seattle Mariner himself in 2010, but instead chose to sign a 1-day contract with Boston & retire as a member of the Red Sox organization.

3. They both played for the Dodgers. Nomar played for them from 2006-2008 & Corey will play for the Dodgers until at least 2022, as that is when his contract expires & is then therefore eligible to sign with any other team in Major League Baseball.

4. Corey & Nomar both had a statistical value of over 6 Wins Above Replacement [WAR] for their respective teams in their rookie seasons.

5. They both wear #5 as their jersey numbers.

 

My Family's Connection to the 2016 World Champion Chicago Cubs

I just want to congratulate the Chicago Cubs for winning their first World Championship since 1908. They deserve it, the city of Chicago deserves it and, most importantly, my whole entire family deserves it.

Why is that?

My family & I have a personal connection to the Chicago Cubs as my Grandfather, Douglas Roy Hailey, played catcher & occasionally pitched for a Cubs Minor League Affiliate a LOOOONG time ago. But his promising career was tragically cut short after he blew out his arm & knees throwing a ball while crouching down behind home plate during a practice game at Wrigley. The funny thing is, though, the scout who signed him [I couldn't find the scout's name anywhere] mistakenly wrote "Roy Bailey" on my Grandfather's 1st Professional Baseball contract, which was worth $1,000, which was a lot of money for a Minor League Player back then. In the scout's defense, my Grandfather was called by his middle name "Roy" in those days by his parents. Below is a picture of my Grandfather Douglas, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research [SABR].