NFL picks+Bloomquist rant

I can't believe I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I didn't mention that the Mariners gave Willie Fuckin' Bloomquist a contract extension. Why? I just don't get the fascination with his decidedly mediocre brand of local white guy scrapiness. There's hundreds of minor leaguers who can play several positions poorly will not hitting and stealing some bases, and do it for the league minimum. I know they're not paying him too much, but I just don't see the 700,000 dollar premium we pay him for being from Port Orchard.

The Mariners actually made a semi-interesting signing today, Justin Lehr, picking him up on a minor-league contract. He pitched pretty well for Nashville in the PCL last year. He's a sinkerball pitcher who'll get some strikeouts, has good control, and keeps the ball on the ground. He has some difficulty keeping the ball in the park, but Safeco's the perfect place for pitchers like that. He should be in the running with Baek and Woods for the four and five starter spots. Due to the ridiculous free agent market, I wouldn't mind seeing the M's go into next year with a couple pitchers like this, rather than crippling themselves with huge contracts for players who aren't that good. I do think it's important though that they improve their outfield defense by bringing in someone other than Raul Ibanez to play leftfield. I like Raul's offense, but at this point in his career he's much better suited for DH or first. Safeco has possibly the largest leftfield in baseball, which makes it very important to have a good fielder out there to take away extra-base hits. I'm still holding out hope for the M's to trade Ritchie Sexson, most likely to Baltimore, mostly to move salary, but to also possibly snag a pitcher or two.

Okay, I wrote the last two paragraphs a couple days ago, and there's been a lot of activity from the Mariners since then. Today they've signed Jose Guillen, and they're also close to signing John Thomson; the M's are currently reviewing his medical files. Both of these contracts are one-year deals with options for the second year, which I really like. I hate being attached to long term contracts with a lot of money tied up in them, because it seriously hinders your roster flexibility. The M's may get serious bargains if either of these players has the kind of season they're capable of, and if either guy sucks, you can cut him and not have to worry about wasting too much money. I actually mentioned Thomson in my post on what the Mariners should do this offseason, lumping him in with guys like Bruce Chen, etc. who are coming off bad years or injuries and who can be had for cheap and possibly be serious contributors. Thomson's ideal contribution is probably of the highest level of the guys I mentioned. He's a groundball pitcher who should benefit from the Mariners excellent infield defense, he can still get strike outs, and has pretty good control. His major issue is injury, but he can be reasonably expected to give you 100-150 innings of pretty good pitching, and possibly more, while increasing the overall organizational depth.

Jose Guillen is in a very similar situation to Thomson. He's coming off Tommy John surgery, and played terribly last year. He's definitely a flawed player, but he's got good power, plays good defense and has a tremendous arm, one of the best in the league. I could see him hit .270/.330/.450, which would be a pretty good season at Safeco, especially for a guy with defensive value. An outfield of Guillen, Ichiro, and Chris Snelling would cover a lot of ground while being nearly impossible to run on. The only issue I have with this deal at the moment is that it creates a serious log jam of corner outfield/first base/designated hitter types. I'm hoping this means that the M's move either Ben Broussard or Ritchie Sexson. Otherwise, I get the feeling that Mike Hargrove's irrational love of veterans will result in Chris Snelling being the odd-man out, which would suck because he's an absolute hitting machine, and one of the Mariners' only serious OBP threats. I would like the end result to be Guillen in left, Ichiro in center, Snelling in right, Ibanez at DH, and either Broussard or Sexson at first, with one of them traded, preferably Sexson due to his enormous contract. So far though, I really like what the Mariners have done so far this offseason, with there still being a strong chance that they sign Jason Schmidt. A rotation of Schmidt, Felix, Washburn, Thomson, and Lehr/Baek/Woods would be a pretty good one.

With the prospects of the 2007 Mariners looking brighter every day, let's get on to the NFL picks, abridged version: Minnesota (+9.5) over CHICAGO, PITTSBURGH (-7.5) over Tampa Bay, Arizona (+6.5) over ST. LOUIS, Indianapolis (-7.5) over TENNESSEE, MIAMI (Pk) over Jacksonville, NEW ORLEANS (-7) over San Francisco, WASHINGTON (-1.5) over Atlanta, CLEVELAND (+5) over Kansas City, Detroit (+13.5) over NEW ENGLAND, San Diego (-6) over BUFFALO, GREEN BAY (+1) over New York Jets, NEW YORK GIANTS (+3.5) over Dallas, OAKLAND (-3) over Houston, Seattle (+4) over DENVER, and Carolina (-3) over PHILADELPHIA. I like the Indianapolis-Tennessee over (47), Kansas City-Cleveland over (35.5), St. Louis-Arizona under (46.5), and NYJ-Green Bay over (42.5).