Manager Trey Hillman, who wholeheartedly endorsed the trade, said the critics have every right to speak out, that he “loves” statistics and uses them all the time, and that he respects the “sabrematicians” who rely on statistics to judge players.

But he added: “They don’t take into consideration the human elements, the work ethic provided by different coaches and the atmospheres of those players that have not supposedly risen to the levels that they’ve been projected to [reach].”

Everything I’ve read about Betancourt’s work ethic is that it is terrible. The stats and scouts seems to agree – he sucks.

That yes, they’ve had injuries, and no doubt that has hurt the offense and defense. But the pitching has been virtually injury-free save for a 2-3 week stint by Soria on the DL and a DL stint by Meche.

But even the pitching has been disappointing. Have they not noticed that? We are ninth in earned runs allowed, twelfth in runs allowed overall. If you take out Greinke, our team ERA is 5.02. How do injuries explain that?

Here? re: Yuni

“He is good now but he has the potential to be very, very good. It’s just a matter if we can get it out of him.”

or here:

Defensively, Moore has liked what he’s seen from Betancourt.

“He’s been exceptional — and he’s going to continue to get better,” Moore said of Betancourt’s defense during a visit to Baltimore last week. “And offensively, he’s a career .280 hitter. He’ll be fine. Coming to a new team, he’s putting a lot of pressure on himself. He’s been a big upgrade for us, really.”

here, looked promising? (Cruz yes, the others- no)

The refurbishing effort looked promising when Kyle Farnsworth, Juan Cruz, Jamey Wright and Doug Waechter were signed to get to All-Star closer Joakim Soria.

and last one:

“I’ve said this for 15 years: You’re really never going to know the ramification of a trade for 12 to 24 months. In this case, it’s going to be 30 months. We’ve got Yuniesky for the equivalent of 2 1/2 seasons and evaluate then,” said Hillman when Betancourt arrived just after the All-Star break.

“The people that jump out there and prejudge it are not looking at the big picture.”

Yes, it is way too early to say Yuni will never improve. I’m just glad we have 2 1/2 seasons to evaluate, that won’t be painful.

its blockquote city in here…

Moore took the extra step of checking with ex-Seattle players, both with Kansas City and elsewhere, about Betancourt before pulling the trigger on the deal. “And one thing I always say is you can’t fool the players, and the players always know,” Moore said. What he got was an overwhelming endorsement from “the Raul Ibanezes of the world and the players on our team,” as well as coaches and managers and scouts.

Oh great, now he’s getting advice on obtaining players, from the players. That will end well. I remember the teams I played on when I was young. Most of the dads that drafted kids, drafted their son’s friends who they considered to be the most talented. I was drafted by the team that didn’t do that. We were a laughingstock the first year as we were an expansion team. After that, we dominated. It was great. Good luck Dayton.

“I respect the heck out of a GM who’ll go to a player and ask him, ‘What do you know about this guy?’ instead of thinking he knows everything and then just goes and does it,” said Bloomquist, a Betancourt teammate at Seattle. “But [Moore] decided to take our opinion. Not to say that was the overriding factor, but he asked. My opinion will always stay the same of him — he’s tremendously talented.”

More of the same, but this especially disturbs me:

My opinion will always stay the same of him — he’s tremendously talented."

Really Bloomy? Even if he proves that he sucks?

But results of a trade, even in this can’t-wait-for-immediate-gratification age, are often a long time in coming.
“I’ve said this for 15 years: You’re really never going to know the ramification of a trade for 12 to 24 months. In this case, it’s going to be 30 months. We’ve got Yuniesky for the equivalent of 2 1/2 seasons and evaluate then,” said Hillman when Betancourt arrived just after the All-Star break. “The people that jump out there and prejudge it are not looking at the big picture.”

Oh come on, we can’t judge the trade til his playing time here is completed? Are you friggin serious??!?!? 30 months!?!? Screw you Hillman. That is just pure arrogance. At least now we know why the Ross Gload’s of the world get extensions from Dayton. It’s because he couldn’t judge them yet, as their time with the team had not run out. This is just mind-bogglingly stupid.

So, with center fielder Coco Crisp down and out with two shoulder surgeries, general manager Dayton Moore began casting about for a possible fix there. Mitch Maier could run down flies, but didn’t hit. Blomquist went to center after Betancourt’s arrival and did well enough, but again, he’s good — not dazzling. Ryan Freel was obtained and got a look.

“Good — not dazzling” = -11.7 UZR/150 in CF (-5.6 in the field at all positions, total)

Willie Bloomquist was a reliable stand-in, but not an everyday shortstop.

“reliable” = -13.8 UZR/150

overall: "Teahen and Bloomquist were pretty consistent "

Blomquist is consistently what? -5.9 hitting, -5.6 fielding, an overall WAR of -0.1.

Yes, it was a dumb contract, but Willie being Willie didn’t kill the team. But you have to lve them going out of their way to try to make him into a a bright spot. It’s as damning as the “Betancourt has been a good defender” stuff — they aren’t just ignoring it, they’re blatantly saying that a bad player is good in some misguided attempt to convince people that they made a smart move.

But at least they aren’t making excuses!

Make one big block quote out of the entire article and just say “WTF?”.

We try to draft and sign speed players, because you can’t develop them

A cynic might read it as saying that we draft speed and defense, but can’t develop them afterwards…

What is there to say about this article? Spin City…

Depressing.

Yeah, I wonder how much cash DM slipped Dickie to write that puff piece.