Mariners should emulate Athletics

For those of you in the Seattle area who read the Times, you probably know who Larry Stone is. For those of you who don't, he is a baseball writer for the Seattle Times.

This morning, I was reading through the section, and came across an article of his titled "The Mariners could learn from the Boston Red Sox". In a way, this outraged me. I was upset enough to write him a response. Below is my e-mail to him.

Larry,

I finished reading your article about the Boston Red Sox and how the Mariners should be following in their footsteps. There is one problem however, the system from which Boston runs was taken from the Oakland Athletics.

Theo Epstein is not a baseball mind, he never played the game at a competitive level. He is however, a statistical mind. He got most of his ideals from Billy Beane. In fact, that is one of the reasons the Red Sox hired him. Right before Epstein was hired, the Red Sox had a contract all worked out with Billy Beane. In return for letting Beane take the GM job in Boston, the Sox would send 1B Kevin Youkilis, a player the Assistant and replacement GM Paul DePodesta coveted, to the A's. Imagine, Billy Beane could be running the Sox right now, and "Moneyball" would not be as obscure as it is today.

Just think of the way Theo has run things in Boston. He let high priced veterans Johnny Damon and Pedro Martinez to leave via Free Agency, and replaced them would good young talent. He traded away Nomar, who has never been the same ever since then. Even this season his moves are looking great. He signed a player nobody else wanted (Bartolo Colon) and is using him to great success. All of these moves are Billy Beane moves.

Look at their current hitting lineup. Their best power hitters have career OBP's of .409 (Manny) and .382 (Ortiz). OBP is a Moneyball system. The thinking that Kevin Youkilis would be a great player would have never happened if not for the leagues craving to emulate Beane's system.

Hopefully this makes you realize, the Mariners need to be more like the Athletics, not the Red Sox.

-Zach Sanders