Good Things to Come...

A lot of things have happened in the past week in the baseball and football world. Since the NFL lockout ended the trades have come fast and furious and exciting. After what has taken place in the last few days should bring a great deal of excitement for all NFL fans.

In all honesty I think it would be a lot more fun if trades couldn’t take place until the first of July. With all the haggling that usually happens and the negotiations dragging out and impasse after impasse it doesn’t really have a lot of credibility until the last minute. So here we are in the last minute and players want to know where they are going to play and I think that has been a lot of fun.

I know a lot of the fantasy football folks have been freaking out wondering who will be catching their QB’s passes. But it really has been a fun thing to see from the sidelines. One thing I’m wondering is since these trades and signings happened so fast someone had to know what was in the works. Did ownership have contact with player’s agents?

One interesting thing happened on Monday when the Seattle Seahawks let Lofa Tatupu go in what was stated as a mutual agreement. When Tatupu was drafted by the Seahawks a lot of experts felt he was undersized for a middle linebacker. But the former USC Trojan had a breakout year, which made it look like this kid was tougher then a square nail.

But the injuries have mounted in the past couple of years. The big 300-pound linemen and big running backs have taken their toll on Tatapu and the Seahawks wanted to rework the linebacker’s contract looking for Tatupu to take a pay cut since he has missed a fair amount of games due to injury.

Now most people would think that the Seahawks are a bit cold in doing this but Tatupu is not the tough rookie he once was and he has been beaten up and is not dependable and can’t be counted on to make the big plays anymore and now the Seahawks move on and Tatupu can hope someone falls in love with what he once was. Good luck Lofa and Seattle.

On the baseball front it was trade deadline weekend and Mariners were making serious moves. Long out of the pennant race the Mariners have been in a youth movement and have traded off some good players for future talented star power as long as the scouts have done their jobs.

Doug Fister was traded to Detroit and this move makes me very happy, not so much for Seattle but for Doug Fister. Fister has pitched his heart out this year only to see the team bring whiffle ball bats to the plate and whiff seemed to be the only thing they could muster. Fister led the league in the worst run support in the Major Leagues. Hopefully the Tigers will hit the ball and maybe Fister can finally get some run support from his new teammates.

On Sunday it was announced that Eric Bedard was traded to Boston for some outfielders who have had some success hitting the ball in the minor leagues. It is difficult for any general manager and ownership group to be put in the position to trade talent to help other ball clubs possibly win a pennant or even the World Series.

Bedard never did a whole lot for Seattle until this year. He has spent more time hurt than he did on the pitching mound. Maybe a different location and uniform will keep him healthy. Maybe east coast water is better than it is in Seattle. Seattle did the right thing in cutting its losses with Bedard. I’m sure that once he starts wearing a different uniform he will be pitching lights out.

When the dealing is made the smart traders need to pick up young talent that can lead to playoffs and pennants in a couple of years or so. It is important for fans to support these youngsters and see what they can bring to the table and eventually bring some wins to the northwest.

Youth is a time where we see a lot of mistakes and managers and coaches will do their best to eliminate those problems and put them on a winning track.

Hopefully there will be a lot of good things to come in the Seattle Mariners’ future.

Otherwise we’ll be making a lot more of these trades next year about this time.