The time is now...

to trade Felix Hernandez.

Before I explain, first let me say a couple things about myself.  I am a die-hard Mariners fan, have been since I can remember.  I have been to hundreds of games over the years, all the losses and a few of the wins.  I watch them on TV with an almost religious zealous, too my girlfriend's chagrin.  Most of my friends and family jumped ship years ago, but not me.  I still hold out hope that one day my Mariners will win it all, and I can celebrate with all the bandwagon fans when it happens.  I am also a huge Felix Hernandez fan.  This league hasn't seen many young pitchers as dominant as him over the last few decades.  Felix, or King Felix as he has been anointed, is the epitome of what an ace pitcher is and should be.  In almost every game he will undoubtedly give you 8-9 innings of pure pitching at its finest.  His passion for the game exudes in his confidence on the mound.  So there you have it, I love the Mariners and I love King Felix.

Here is where I make my decision about which I love more.  The team, or the player?  Back when I was a kid, I would have said the player.  I was a huge Ryne Sandberg fan and wouldn't have cared what team he played on.  But as I have grown older, I have come to realize that it is so much more about the team than the individual.  One player does not define a team, or shouldn't at least, and if he does then I believe it is time to cut bait and move on for the betterment of the team.  That's not to say that doing such a thing comes without heartache and pain.  Deciding to part ways with a beloved hero brings about a myriad of issues and questions that the team must first answer before making it's final decision to do so.  How will the fans react?  How will the organization move forward?  Making that decision to trade your star player does not come without its downsides, but as an organization you must weight the pros and cons and make the decision that makes the most sense for the team.  For me, that decision would be to trade Henandez now while you can get the most bang for your buck, and before he pulls a Randy Johnson on you.  Please tell me you remember that fiasco?


Without boring you with all the statistics, we all know Felix has been dominant for most of his career.  Innings, strikeouts, making fools of opposing hitters  But if this year is any indication, he is starting to show some signs of decline, if only minimal.  His drop in velocity really isn't all that shocking considering his workload over the years.  Not many pitchers his age have piled up as many innings he has.  And before those of you who want to talk about pitchers from the 50's and 60's, save your breath because its comparing apples to oranges.  Today's pitchers are not trained or conditioned to throw complete games every time out.  Sad to say, but it's the truth.  So moving on, we nee to look at some other signs that the team may be better off without him.  He's not getting hitters out with ease as he has in the past.  Far to often he has looked more human than not.  Teams aren't fearing him the way they used to.  Every fifth game doesn't seem quite like the near automatic victory it should be.  That brings me to my Randy Johnson inference above.  If we don't strike now while the iron is still hot,  we could see things get worse in a hurry.  With the Mariners in ability to score runs and win on a consistent basis, it wears on a pitcher.  Add to that the desire to win championships and you can quickly add up the reasons why Felix just might not care anymore.  Now before I get flamed, I am not suggesting that Felix is bombing on purpose right now, but come next year you have to start wondering as such if his decline continues on the path it is on today.

Randy Johnson had enough losing
before he took matters into his own hands.
Will Felix do the same if the M's don't start winning?

Felix has an ingrained desire to win and my bet is he wants to win for a championship caliber team. The Mariners are far from that team and won't be for at least the next several years.  His still relatively young age, and his past performance, should be enough to get any team in contention hot and bothered by his availability.  Take the Yankees for example, they continue to ask year after year if Felix can be traded.  They are like vultures circling over a carcass in the desert.  Take into account his remaining contract and you've more than doubled his value.  I say take advantage of the situation now while the cards are stacked in your favor.  The return the Mariners could get by trading a proven commodity like Hernandez should be astronomical.  I'm talking 2-3 blue chip prospects, plus additional quality players in return.  You don't believe me or think I'm crazy?  Find me a GM from a contending team that wouldn't make that move.  Championships pay bigger dividends than prospects, just ask the Mariners.  They have no titles and so far their prospects aren't developing into a championship caliber squad.  Trading Felix now also diminishes the possibility of reliving the same Randy Johnson saga that played out several years ago.

So for the love of my team, I am willing to part ways with one of the most dominant pitchers in this league.  I will be sad, and may even cry a little, but mostly because I know what's best in the long run.  I'm with Jack Z in his youth movement, and I ask him to go all in with this move.  We'll be a lot closer to contending in 2014-15 than if he sits on this goldmine of an opportunity and waits any longer.


Thanks Felix!  It's been a fun ride.  Come back and say hi from time to time.  There will be no hard feelings this time around.  You did your part, and we gave you a crown.  Enjoy the playoffs and do us proud, win it all and shout it loud.  And when you get that coveted ring, remember who anointed you King.

***FRIDAY MORNING EDIT***
TRADE HIM NOW!!!  After last night's 1-0, 13K, CG, shutout, there is no better time to trade Felix than today.  That performance will be stuck in the heads of every GM long enough for Jack Z to take what he wants and rob them blind.  It pains me to write this kind of stuff after such a stellar performance, but when you sit back and realize we only scored 1 run ourselves, it becomes crystal clear that the M's need so much more than what Felix offers them on his own.  This team is horrible offensively and won't win many 1-0 games, even with Felix on the mound.  Remove the blinders, step out of the fog, trading King Felix can and should be the best thing to happen to the Mariners since, well, since they signed him.

Four Team Playoff is a BAD Idea!

First off, sorry for the long delay between this and my last blog post. Life got in the way a little more than anticipated, so hopefully you all can forgive me!  On to more entertaining topics...

This past week, the BCS commissioners and the Notre Dame AD agreed to endorse a four team playoff model.to replace the current BCS system.  The proposal will be put to vote by the BCS presidential oversight committee on July 26th, and if adopted take effect in the 2014 season.

The existing BCS system has been around since 1998 and has lacked much fanfare for most of its existence.  The growing pressure for change has finally come to a head and something is finally being done.  But I wonder if the direction the commissioners are going is a bit misguided? The format they are proposing will not last, but maybe for a few seasons, before new tensions will arise.  Four teams, in my opinion and many others, is not enough.  The process of selecting four teams to compete each year will only incite the same types of bickering and outrage that exists with today's system, its only a matter of time!  I have a very simplistic, yet complicated, way of fixing everything.  Below are my thoughts on what the NCAA should do and how I think major change should be the way to go.

The need for a playoff system is a given.
Are 4 teams enough for fans to get excited again?

First off I believe there needs to be an eight team playoff, but to get there we need to talk about conference realignment.  With teams all over the country changing conferences, trying to best align themselves with an opportunity to compete for a national title, it makes one wonder why it needs to be so chaotic.  Boise St. in the Big East???  Get real.  Right now there are 120 teams in the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS).  First thing I would recommend is adding eight additional teams to bring the total to 128.  I don't think the NCAA would be hard-pressed to find an additional eight teams willing to make the jump.   Then I would divide the 128 teams into eight super conferences of 16 teams each.  How they divide them up I really don't care, as long as there is some form of balance regarding conference strength, from one to another.  Each conference would have six major programs, five mid-major, and five bottom feeders, or some combination of each level.  Each conference would then divide themselves into two eight team divisions.  Again, I don't care how they divide them, as long as there is balance between the two.

As for scheduling, well it's quite easy actually.  Each team would play all seven of the other teams in their division, two cross division games, and three out of conference games.  This keeps with the existing 12 game schedule.  For the two cross division games, this would be on a rotating cycle each year.  For the out of conference schedule, teams would schedule according to the "A-B-C" method.  They would be required to schedule one major team, one mid-major, and one bottom feeder.  This way each team plays a similar schedule type and the perception that certain teams load up their schedules with more than one bottom feeder can be put to rest.  Of course I don't have the magical algorithm that makes this all jive, but I'm certain there is some computer science whiz the NCAA could employ to make it work.

So now that we have our eight super conferences and scheduling taken care of, we can talk about how we get to an eight team playoff.  Hopefully without saying much, it should be crystal clear.  The eight team playoff would be formed by including the champion of each of the eight conferences.  Each conference would hold a championship game with the division winners squaring off.  This would be your "Sweet 16" if you will.  From there the conference champions would be seeded by a committee and assigned to one of the four current BCS bowl games, Rose, Sugar, Orange and Fiesta.  These bowls would be the quarter-finals or "Elite 8".  Each bowl would host specific seed pairings on a annual rotating schedule.  After the quarter-finals are complete there would be two national semi-final games followed by a national championship game.  These games would be played on neutral sites, with locations being given to the highest bidding city. 

With this format you are only adding two additional games to the over all schedule as it exists today.  For those that say it extends the season out too far, I say move the bowl games up.  Don't take so much time off in between the conference championships and the bowls.  It can easily be scheduled so the national championship game is played near New Year's day.  All it takes is right minds and creativity.  You can still keep all the other bowl games for those that don't make the playoff and conferences will still get their money.

Adopting an eight team playoff, in the manner described above, shatters the BCS process and provides a "crystal" clear method for naming a true national champion.  

Simple as that!

Vlad is Mad, why not bring him to Seattle?

Vladimir Guerrero was just released by the Toronto Blue Jays after a brief stint with their AAA club in Las Vegas.  Guerrero was hitting .358 with 4 HR and 12 RBI.  When he signed his deal with Toronto, both sides set a date at which point a decision would be made to promote or release the one time AL MVP.  That date came and went, which prompted Vlad to pack his bags following a game on Monday.  Blue Jays officials said there just wasn't any room on their MLB roster so they followed through with their agreement to release him.

Jack Z, are you reading this?  Get on the phone now and have this guy in uniform before the day is over!  You hear me?

The Mariners signing Vlad makes way to much sense to me.  The M's need that veteran presence in their lineup in a bad way.  Signing Vlad would be cheap and could provide that presence.  It would also allow the M's to make a few more moves without even blinking.  Figgins could be released immediately.  Olivo could be put on the trading block and hopefully shipped off before he has another passed ball.  Montero and Jaso could easily hold down the catching duties for the year.  Vlad could be the DH on the days Montero caught and then be used sparingly in the outfield on days Montero was DHing.  It just makes too much sense.  Not to mention that by having Vald in the lineup you can start to take away any pressure from the likes of Smoak, Montero and Saunders to be the big bat in the lineup.

I challenge anyone to dispute my thinking and offer up reasons why it wouldn't work.