Winter Meetings! A glorious time for baseball fanatics to bask in the glory of what could be. As Mariner fans, we seem to do this every year. Earlier I noted the Jason Bay dreams of 2010 and last year we can all remember that we were so close (but not really) to signing Prince Fielder and now we go to bed at night hoping that something magical will happen in the universe that could help us land Josh Hamilton.
Well, there has been a myriad of things that have happened, starting with the M's decision to bring in the fences at Safeco Field. That was one giant step in the right direction. If that didn't happen, Hamilton would have never talked to Seattle.
We were all told earlier in the week that the Mariners were not even in negotiations with Josh Hamilton and that there was no way that the Mariners were going to even dabble with the idea of paying his big ticket price. But then... news leaked that Jack Z and the Mariners had met with Hamilton on Sunday. Before the Winter Meetings even got under way in Nashville, the Mariners were getting in the thick of things with the top free agent in baseball.
As the week has gone on, the Mariners have been "kicking the tires" on just about every free agent and every available trade piece out there. They were also rumored to be in a four way trade with Texas, Arizona and Cleveland. Who knows what will come of any of it, after all, that's why they are called rumors.
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times wrote an article regarding Josh Hamilton just hours after he mentioned that the Mariners were most likely done for the day. I encourage you to read his article. The Mariners may have been done, but Baker was clearly not. He dropped a bomb on us as Seattle Mariner fans giving us the hope that the miracle could happen and that Hamilton would most likely be ours "if" and only
"if" one of two things happened.
If the Texas Rangers wind up signing Zack Greinke that would be the writing on the wall for Hamilton's tenure in Texas. They won't be able to afford to sign both players or will be unwilling to - may be a better way to put it.
Also, if the Texas Rangers will not match what the Mariners have offered. Josh Hamilton will give the Texas Rangers an opportunity to match the Mariners offer. That's right, that means that the Mariners have made an offer and that it has been accepted by Hamilton and his agent. If the Rangers don't want to pay, Hamilton signs on the Mariner line.
Now, this is all a big hypothetical considering that we have no idea who Geoff Baker's "source" is, and knowing the nature of how the Mariners front office works, why this information was leaked. What it does for us as Mariner fans is it gets our hopes up in yet another off-season and makes us pray that the chips fall in the right places and the tide begins to change in Mariner baseball.
Some of you may not like the idea at all when you hear $25 million per year, but nobody complained when Ichiro was making $19 million a year to hit singles all over the place. We'll see how it works out, but I am excited that this is even being talked about as a possibility now.
SodoJoe
