THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, December 5, 2015
What the hell is going on out here?
Famous words by legendary Green Bay Packer football coach Vince Lombardi uttered on the sideline during his storied career.
The same could be said for the latest transactions of the Seattle Mariners.
IN THE span of a few days this week, the Mariners have dealt Mark Trumbo to Baltimore for a backup catcher, not been able to come to terms with Hisashi Iwakuma on a long-term deal, and signed Nori Aoki, who has played for the Kansas City Royals and San Francisco Giants in the previous two years.
Moving Trumbo, who didn’t exactly light it up offensively last year after being acquired from Arizona, didn’t really shock me. But for a backup catcher, who also plays some first base, that did a little. In his five years in the majors, Steve Clevenger has played in 148 games with 95 hits and 41 runs batted in.
While a Mariner last season, Trumbo played in 96 games, hitting 13 home runs and driving in 41 runs.
Aoki, meanwhile, during his Thursday press conference to announce his signing, said he’s in Seattle to get some coffee and win the World Series.
In another presumed laugh for reporters, he told them that his deal was contingent with Iwakuma returning to the team.
As it appears now, gone are the days when the Mariners were going to outscore them with an offense that could score anywhere from five to six runs a night.
Considering that they haven’t exactly lit up the scoreboard in recent years, it shouldn’t come as a shock to die-hard fans.
With an outfield of Leonys Martin and Aoki to go along with Nelson Cruz and/or Seth Smith, they’ll likely be relying on Martin and Aoki to reach base — a lot — with the hopes that Cruz has produce much the same way as he did in 2015.
AND SOME reports surfaced last week that Robinson Cano is unhappy with his current situation in Seattle, just two years into his 10-year, $240 million contract that he signed in 2013 and that he’d welcome a return to the New York Yankees.
Well, about that.
He has since denied that report and that things are just peachy with Seattle.
In in first two years, Cano hasn’t quite lived up to the large contract he signed. Last season wasn’t really his fault as he played through pain for most of the second half, and was one of the reasons the team didn’t go away until the final weeks of the season.
Of course, manager Lloyd McClendon was fired, and hitting coach Howard Johnson was replaced by Edgar Martinez due to some of those struggles, and he hasn’t quite driven in runs at the rate you’d expect from a guy making $24 million a season.
While I don’t see any chance of the Mariners opting to deal Cano anywhere, anytime soon, I can’t help but wonder just exactly what the long-term plan is.
Often times, when a team fires its manager and or general manager, a team finds it necessary to completely overhaul the roster. The M’s have no real options at first base, and the catcher of the future (Mike Zunino) seems to be out of the future plans for now with another acquisition of Chris Ianetta late last month.
What really is going on out there?
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.