Larry Stone reports that the Mariners are stepping up their pursuit of Aroldis Chapman.  He justifiably worries about bidding against the Yankees and Red Sox, but I can't believe that Chapman will get $40-60M.  If he does, somebody thinks he's the next El Duque-level Cuban pitcher — a guy who will step into the majors immediately as a 17-game winner, win games in the playoffs, all that jazz. 

Yeah, the M's could use one or two of those.  I'd actually like to hear that the M's paid $45M for Chapman, because that is tantamount to saying that they think he's probably one of the 10-15 best pitchers in the league, right now.

At SSI, Dr. D thinks that reports of Walter's demise are premature.  Walter thinks the same.

Cheers,

Dr D