Jarrod Washburn writes an open letter to all 30 MLB Teams

Dear Owners and General Managers of the thirty Major League Baseball Teams,

It is now one week into February and I have yet to sign with a big league club. The offers haven't exactly been pouring in.

Retirement is a real possibility for me.

And I have one question for all of you.

WTF!

Seriously. Nobody will step up and offer me a contract.

First of all I am left handed, I can throw a ball sixty feet six inches and I have a pulse. Shouldn't that qualify me for lifetime employment in baseball?

For Christsake, Shawn Estes got a contract from the Nationals the other day. Yes... it's the same Shawn Estes who the Giants had back when they played in Candlestick... or 3COM... or whatever the hell they were calling it.

I wasn't even sure Estes was still alive.
Yup, he's alive and evidently can make up to a million tomatoes.

I spit my Frosted Mini Wheats all over my newspaper when I read that.

Oh and virtually every team out there is looking for pitching depth. The Mets signed Kelvim Escobar to guaranteed money.

Over the last two years he's pitched in one more game than Gloria Stuart, the old woman from Titanic.

Not to belittle her skills... but she is going to be 100 in June... when Escobar will no doubt be in the disabled list.

Meanwhile I am good for 170 innings almost every year.


OK, fine. I was crap down the stretch last year for the Tigers. Do you also sucked down the stretch for the Tigers last year? THE TIGERS! I can't be blamed for the while nose dive.

Besides, even with the lousy finish, I posted a 3.78 ERA last year. My ERA was under 3.00 until mid August. If you pitch to a "quality start" each time out (3 runs over 6 innings) you'll have a 4.50 ERA!

Yeah yeah yeah, my one Cy Young caliber season (2002) was a fluke. But are you telling me NO team needs 10 wins, decent ERA and 170-190 innings out of a left handed starter with World Series experience?

Really Texas? You are loaded with talent?

Really Mets? Last I heard you were trying to reactivate Ron Darling.

Really Brewers? You can't bring this native Wisconsin boy home?

Really A's? You bring Ben Sheets aboard even though the odds are 50/50 that his arm will snap off in spring training?

Really Nationals? You don't want any experience pitchers ready to tutor Strasberg?

Really Dodgers? Is the divorce so bad that you can't bring little ole me to fill in the hole left by Randy Wolf?

Really St. Louis? Can you imagine what magic Dave Duncan can pull with me?

Come on Angels! You lost Lackey. Can't you bring me back?

For old time's sake!

So come on. I've got a left arm that can pitch. I can't hang up my spikes yet. I am a commodity.

Don't let me walk away from the game like this.

Thank you for your attention and please send all contract offers to info@sullybaseball.com

All the best,

Jarrod Washburn

Tough decisions for the Mariners

Ohhhhh I am glad am not Jack Zduriencik, the Mariners' general manager right now.

First of all, I am glad I didn't have to learn how to spell Zduriencik when I was 3 or 4 years old.

Secondly, he is in a crossroad right now... and by crossroad I don't mean Ralph Macchio dueling with the devil with his guitar.

The Mariners, fresh off of a 100 loss season, looked like a team in transition. 

They were loaded with veterans but with a new GM and a new manager it looked like they could head in a new direction. But 2008 was not a contending year.

Zduriencik (I'm just cutting and pasting his name now) did the smart thing by bringing Junior back, giving fans a reason to show up to the ballpark. And no doubt he figured when July came around, he could start dumping older players to build up the farm. 

Jarrod Washburn would be a perfect piece of trade bait.

A lefty starter with World Series experience would be a terrific fit for a contender.

Last night's complete game 1 hitter against Baltimore seems like a perfect audition for a playoff team.

Miguel Batista would be a terrific trade chip for a team looking for bullpen depth.

And as I wrote a few weeks ago, Adrian Beltre would be a great fit for the Cubs or the Cardinals... or maybe even the Red Sox with Mike Lowell on the DL.

But there's that little problem. The Mariners are in contention.

They are only 3 1/2 back. They are within striking distance.

The Rangers are showing surprising resilience but probably don't have the horses.

The Angels have stormed back after a tragic first quarter of the season but are relying on too many unproven talents.

And yet the Mariners are in third. They probably need both teams to stumble and will have to make up 4 games in the loss column and then stay in first with an overachieving team.

All the while knowing that Washburn, Beltre and Batista won't be trade chips after July 31 when the trade deadline passes.

Is it worth passing up on dealing those three guys and miss the chance to put 2 or 3 new young prospects into the system to go for it this year?

But if you trade those three and wave the white flag, and then see the Rangers wilt in the heat and injuries catch up with the Angels, would you have passed up a chance to make the playoffs? With JUNIOR back on the team no less?

A GM's job can be filled with devastatingly tough choices that look unpopular at first but help the club in the long run.

Dealing Randy Johnson midway through the 1998 season (fresh off of the 1997 division title) was unpopular... but it yielded Freddy Garcia, John Halama and Carlos Guillen, who all contributed to the 2000 and 2001 playoff teams.

Now none of the players I listed above are as valuable a trade chip as the Big Unit, but they could fill needs for potential playoff teams... and teams on the cusp of a pennant are prone to make desperate moves. 

Don't believe me? Check out the trades that sent John Smoltz, Jeff Bagwell, Jason Varitek, Derek Lowe and Jay Buhner.

But could a playoff team with Junior and Ichiro create the greatest memory in the history of Seattle sports? Remember how unlikely teams have stormed all the way to the World Series in recent years? And remember how badly Seattle fans need something to cheer about?

It's your call Mr. Zduriencik. (Apple C... Apple V.)