The Northwest Regional Chapter of SABR (NWSABR) met on Saturday, January 30, 2010, from 12:00pm until approximately 3:30pm in a suite-level conference room at Safeco Field, Seattle.  2010 Mariners FanFest was taking place at Safeco, and NWSABR staffed a booth at this event.

NWSABR wishes to thank Kevin Martinez (Vice-president of Marketing) and the Seattle Mariners for providing an excellent facility for the meeting, as well as an incredible lineup of speakers. 

Speakers were:  Special Assistant to the GM and SABR member Tony Blengino (12-1), Mariners pitching coach Rick Adair (1-1:30), Assistant GM Jeff Kingston (1:30-2), Director of Pro Scouting Carmen Fusco, Director of Player Development Pedro Grifol, and Director of Amateur Scouting Tom McNamara (2-approx 3:30).   Approximately 25-30 NWSABR members, and guests, attended.

NWSABR Chapter President Tim Herlich began the meeting by making brief comments thanking members for staffing of the FanFest booth,  reminding us of the upcoming (2/13/10) Portland-area meeting and encouraging carpool from the Seattle area, and reminding members of the NWSABR website located at: http://chapters.sabr.org/nwsabr/.   Tim passed around stats from the website (139 unique visitors, including one from Japan).  Jim O’Donnell (one of the founding members of the chapter) noted that 2010 is the 30^th year of NW SABR existence.  Jim, along with other founding members Jim Price and Doug Simpson met in Seattle sometime in 1980 with the first probable actual meeting held in Portland in early 1981.  Interestingly enough, Rick Wise (who will be a featured speaker at the Portland area meeting on 2/13/10) was the first speaker back in 1981.  This will be Rick’s 3^rd return to speak to NWSABR.

Tony Blengino, Special Assistant to GM speaking at 1/30/10 NWSABR Meeting

Up first was Tony Blengino, longtime SABR member and new member of the NW SABR chapter (Tony also retains his membership in the Milwaukee-area SABR chapter).  Tony was a return speaker to NWSABR, having addressed the chapter at the 5/16/09 meeting also held at Safeco.   He regaled us with tales of a particularly memorable Rick Wise pitching performance (he saw as an 8 year old, sharing the experience with his mom) as well as when and where he received his first invitation to join SABR.  Tony had been a presenter at past SABR conventions, focusing on statistical performance of minor league pitchers, and continues his interest in the topic.  NWSABR members were filled with questions for Tony.  Some highlights:  his predictions for the Ms performance this year (he expects .OBP to improve by around 15 points given improvements at 3-4 positions) and optimism that we’ve built a very competitive team.  Also noted was that the coaching staff, clubhouse and front office have gained quite the positive reputation around the league; agents were actually calling the Mariners this offseason in hopes that their players would be made an offer to come and be a part of this organization.  Tony gave rave reviews to Ken Griffey Jr., referring to him as the ‘funniest man he’d ever met’, as well as manager Don Wakamatsu 'Wak' who takes the time to get to know each of his players and support them; this really helps the player reach full potential.