I'll trade you my smushed up peanut butter and jelly sandwich and give you $20 for your apple...

As we all wait for the next big Jack Zduriencik master piece to take place (Is Jose Lopez really on his way out?) all we can do is monitor the rest of the league. Interestingly enough the Angels have traded their 4th outfielder and his $23 million contract to the New York Mets for relief pitcher Brian Stokes. As if trading a center fielder for a reliever wasn't bad enough, it's reported the Angels will also send over $21 million of the $23 million owed on Matthews' contract.

We'll let that sink in for a moment...

HOLY SHIT! This gives a little bit of an idea of how much the Angels really hated Gary Matthews Jr. Not only did they trade him for a 30-year-old reliever but they're going to pay nearly his entire salary.

I'm glad we don't have to worry about signing ridiculously over-priced contracts to players who don't fill a specific need in our organization any longer.

The Bush Leagues Blogcast, Episode 6

Hey everybody! Noah and I finally got around to recording episode 6 of TBL. Listen in as we hit on the AL West, player injuries, and Interleague play. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Garbs

Episode 6

Lookin in the rear-view mirror

Don't look now, but at this time tomorrow the M's could be in second place in the AL West. After taking 2-of-3 from Oakland in what could be described as some of the best baseball this season, the M's faltered in the Texas series as they were swept. But trust me, it gets better! The Rangers are sitting half a game back from the M's in the AL West standings! Thank God this was only a two game series, I would hate to have to send Silva out there to face this Rangers lineup.

Even worse, the Angels are hanging around, sitting only 2 games back of the AL West leading M's. Let's look at the upcoming series for each teams.

The Mariners travel to Kansas City in a showdown of the AL Central leaders and AL West leaders. Ok, seriously...KC and Seattle are leading their divisions?!? Anyone out there who tells me they saw this coming back in February, I'll say you're full of shit. But still, the M's are playing against a hot KC team right now. And what does KC get? Silva and Washburn paired with a very dinged up bullpen and a lack of offense. I'm sorry M's fans, but I'll be happy coming away from this series with a split. What's even worse is I'm sure Willie Bloomquist will find some way to be productive. My [very optimistic] prediction: Split series.

Second place Texas battles the AL West cellar dwellers, the Oakland A's. Oakland just suffered a sweep of their own at the hands of the LA of A Angels while Texas comes to town boasting a 4-game winning streak. Texas absolutely smashes the ball and Oakland will be sending a couple youngsters to the mound in Dan Giese and Trevor Cahill. Oakland picked Giese up off waivers from the Yankees and he has had control problems in his previous starts. Cahill has looked impressive against the M's but has yet to record his first big league win. Texas will counter with Scott Feldman and Brandon McCarthy who, like every other Rangers pitcher, give up runs by the handful. But still, Oakland is in a rut and Texas swings the hot stick. My prediction: Texas sweeps Oakland 2-0.

The Angels have suddenly found themselves back in the picture for leading the AL West. They are only two games behind division leader, Seattle. Not to mention they are doing it without the likes of John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Vladimir Guerrero, all of which are scheduled to return shortly. Unfortunately, for LA fans, the Angels run into the AL East leading Toronto Blue Jays and quite possibly the best pitcher in baseball, Roy Halladay. I can't bet against Roy Halladay, the guy can single handedly win games just by throwing the ball. But game 2 looks to be in the Angels' favor. My prediction: Split series

So if the games go the way I predict. Going into the weekend you will see the Texas Rangers leading the division with the Mariners .5 games behind and the Angels 2.5 games back of the Rangers. The M's had a fantastic start to the season, but they're losing their momentum and it may soon be too late for them to get it back. This is a very important week of baseball for M's fans.

Opening Day!

It's Opening Day! Well at least it is in Seattle. The Mariners come home today to start a three game series with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are plenty of reasons to be excited for this one.

1. The M's are 5-2 and leading the AL West. Granted it's only a week of baseball and there is plenty left to play, the M's have looked good of late. The bullpen which was a serious question mark heading into the season looks serviceable and the M's are getting great production from their offensive lineup.

2. Ichiro is back! Starting on Wednesday Ichiro will be back into the starting lineup. Anytime you can add 200 hits and 100 runs to the top of the lineup is a good thing.

3. The return of Griffey. The kid comes home! Today will be very nostalgic for me as the player I idolized as a young child comes home. Not to mention, my seats are on the first base line, prime Griffey territory. I only hope that with the return of Ichiro comes the full-time Griffey DH.

But with the good comes the bad, let's highlight some of the things to watch for in this series.

1. The Angels: It doesn't matter if the Angels are starting off slow. The last two years they have owned the Mariners. In that time they have gone 27-11 against the M's. Not to mention their 3-3 record is deceiving after playing a tough series against Boston. The Mariners need to clean house inside the division. They already swept Oakland, now it's time to take care of the Angels.

2. Starting pitching: The M's are trotting their 3-4-5 starters out for this series. With so much uncertainty surrounding Carlos Silva and Jarrod Washburn it'll be interesting to see if they can turn it around. There is already so much animosity in Seattle over Silva. The man is paid a lot of money to perform...something he has done little of while in Seattle. Silva will need to keep the ball down in this game and mix up his pitches. The Angels will crush Silva's fastball if he throws it as much as he did against the Twins.

Washburn was impressive in his debut against the Minnesota Twins, but let's face it. The Angels are NOT the Twins. This second game will be the telling tale of Washburn's season. Washburn will need to throw strikes and effectively change his speed to keep the Angels honest.

So let's get to it already! It's 11:30 on Opening Day and I'm still at work but will soon be out of here. I can't wait! Go M's!!!

Tragedy Strikes in Los Angeles

ESPN is reporting Angels rookie pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a car accident early this morning. Adenhart pitched on Wednesday night logging six scoreless innings while giving up seven hits and striking out five. It's never easy to hear about a death in any situation, especially when promising young people like Adenhart are involved.

What really irks me is that this entire accident was completely preventable [as most are]. But the fact that a minivan ran through a red light, hit a Mitsubishi, and then the driver FLED from the scene really pisses me off. Thankfully the police were able to catch the driver and this low-level scum will get the punishment he deserves.

This does not take away from the loss of Adenhart's friends and family though. My thoughts are with you all.

Link: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4055343&campaign=rss&source=ESPNHeadlines

*Update: This story was changed from its original version because I had used the word "him" to describe the driver when there is no information on whether they are male or female.

Home Opener in 6 Days!

This is the one day I anticipate more than any other! The home opener for the Seattle Mariners. Nick and I will be seeing the action first-hand on the first base line. But that's not what I'm going to write about in this post. Plenty of time to build up on that.

What I'm going to talk about is Garbs and my competition for each home game we attend. That's right, we challenge each other to see who can throw the fastest in the bullpen speed pitch! Historically, I believe I am up 2-1. But Nick pulled off an upset last year beating me at the end of the season. Personally I think he may have been using performance enhancing drugs.

Regardless, I am back and ready for domination this year! Much like Miguel Batista and Jarrod Washburn I've been able to make an adjustment in my delivery that will allow me to gain 2-3 miles per hour on my fastball. I can't talk much more about it but if initial tests of my discovery are consistent I can't see how I could lose this year. Stay tuned for our podcasts, I'm sure this will be a heavily debated topic.

By the way, this competition is much more than just bragging rights. The loser also owes the winner a beer. Get ready to pay up Nick.