Several days ago rumors started swirling on the internet about the Seattle Mariners having their key scouts looking at the Yankees top prospects. In that this occurred only days after the Ubaldo Jiminez rumors hit, and combined with the fact that Seattle has a lack of any other quality players that the Yankees could possibly be interested in, much less willing to surrender top prospects for, lead to the only logical conclusion… the Felix Hernandez trade rumors were about to heat up yet again.

Fuel was added to the fire on Monday when ESPN’s Rick Sutcliffe reported that he spoke to several Yankees players who told him that they believed that the team is going to be able to acquire King Felix. Now, this had to be taken with a grain of salt, since no one has ever confused Rick Sutcliffe with Woodward and/or Bernstein, and of course the Yankees are not known (with a few exceptions) to inform their players of on-going trade discussions. Still, the combination of those two factors, along with the close proximity to the trade deadline, was enough smoke to get the fire going and the rumors were back out there once again. So it was time for the next chapter in the ongoing Felix Hernandez to the Yankees soap opera, which never has a happy ending.

Tuesday came around and with it we were brought this piece of information, which is so absurd it’s asinine on so many levels it may have created the first black hole of stupidity since everyone involved in it sucks on so many levels. It’s got to be difficult for even modern science to comprehend.

First, in part one, let’s look at Jack Zduriencik and his continued efforts to achieve his life’s dream of being named one of the top 10 worst general managers in baseball history. Here’s Jack Z’s latest pearl of wisdom….”You can say nine guys,” Zduriencik told ESPNNewYork.com. “You could say 12 guys. What does it matter? The deal is we have a guy who we relish. We want to get to a point where we are competitive and as good as any club in baseball. To get to that point, you have to have top-of-the-rotation starters. We’ve got it. Your best asset, you ought to keep, and that is what we intend to do.”

The main problem with this plan is that Felix Hernandez is signed for two more seasons beyond this one at 18 million and 20 million dollars respectively. The second problem with Plan Z is that the Seattle Mariners are in the midst of a second consecutive season with record level horrendous offensive production. Simply put, the team is terrible. They have just one player with an OPS above .700 and he (Justin Smoak) has been hideous since early June. Their best offensive player and #3 hitter has been in the big leagues for slightly over one month. They just had the second overall pick in the MLB Draft and have no other veteran players that they can trade to restock their team. Ownership refuses to even discuss trading Ichiro, despite the fact that his year has been worse than Derek Jeter’s. The media is so consumed with Jeter’s decline in production that Ichiro’s similar subpar season has gone unnoticed.

The question now is can Jack Zduriencik even tell time? The reason I ask is because it’s impossible to see a scenario where the Seattle Mariners are competitive before King Felix’s contract is up. If the goal is to become competitive quickly and remain that way for the long term, then the only logical plan of attack for Seattle is to trade Hernandez for four or five top prospects, with the hope that half of them along with Pineda, Ackley, Smoak and first round pick Danny Hultzen become stars. The Yankees can give them that kind of package, built around Jesus Montero, Manny Banuelos, and Dellin Betances (3 of the top 50 prospects in MLB right now) and two other quality players (Ivan Nova, Eduardo Nunez, Corban Joseph, J.R. Murphy, etc.). It’s the kind of mix, of near ready pitching and hitting that can rebuild a team very quickly. It also would give Seattle enough payroll flexibility to be players in the free agent market each of the next two seasons. It makes all the sense in the world, yet all Non-Trader Jack is going to accomplish by stubbornly sticking to his plan is to get himself fired. In this case, the guy will be getting what he deserves.

The other half of this equation of epic stupidity belongs to ESPN’s own Colin Cowherd Here’s what he said, “Why wouldn’t this Yankees team give up 4 prospects for King Felix, who gives a rip about these Triple-A guys? Seattle is a Triple-A team that would die for 3-4 legitimate prospects. What are the Yankees waiting for to go after a legitimate pitcher?”

What universe does this clown live in? Does he have his head buried so far up his rear-end that he doesn’t know that the Yankees have tried to get Felix only 6 to 8 times by now? He’s a professional, so how about he acts like one and pays attention? His guest, Curt Schilling, didn’t correct him either. Shouldn’t they know the issues preventing this deal are not on the Yankees end but on Seattle’s? If you ever wanted proof that there are elements of the mainstream media who look for things to rip on the Yankees about, even if they have to make them up, then this is it. Rip them when they deserve it, but this is just disgusting treatment from a total hack. It’s not an isolated incident either, as this is the same Colin Cowherd who, and please correct me if I’m wrong, has been suspended at least twice by ESPN for just making stuff up. The man has a track record. He also caught heat and almost got sued by A.J. Burnett’s agent last year when Cowherd “broke” the story that A.J.’s black eye was the result of being punched in the face by his wife. Cowherd later apologized and admitted he had no quality source or proof for the story. That’s what this guy does, he makes stuff up. Why then is he still employed? Why should anyone take anything he says seriously? How can anything he says on any subject have any credibility after he does stuff like this? Finally, why didn’t the other half of the conversation, one Curt Schilling, have the guts to tell him that he had the story wrong and correct him? How about ESPN, who not only had a producer who failed to do his job and inform the host that he had his information backwards, but who then cut the clip and posted it on their website to be highlighted?

At some point the Yankees may acquire Felix Hernandez or they may not. That’s not the story here. Seattle’s GM has made his choice and he’s going down with it. For all we know the ownership decided that the draw every 5 days is more important than making a wise baseball move. Whatever it is, it doesn’t matter. I’m sure the Yankees will do something at the deadline. That’s not the point here either. The point is, that Brian Cashman has tried many times to get King Felix, offered many attractive packages of talent, and if anything has been overly aggressive in his pursuit. Is it wrong to blame him for this deal not coming to fruition? What else can the Yankees do? If Seattle doesn’t see that they can get more for him now when he is at peak value than at any time in the future, then that is their mistake to make. For Colin Cowherd to take a cheap shot at the Yankees here is unfair and unprofessional. I wonder if he even knows the name of the Mariners GM. I wonder if he even knows the name of one of the prospects that the Yankees have already offered Seattle, especially since he seems to believe they haven’t pursued him. I wonder how ESPN can justify his continued employment, with his track record of making stuff up, especially after in the book “Those Guys Have All the Fun,” which outlined the history of ESPN, their two longtime head honchos in charge of news and editorial content, John Skipper & John Walsh, repeatedly thrust their chests out and trump ESPN’s commitment to “journalistic excellence and integrity.” Is Colin Cowherd what passes for journalistic excellence in Bristol, Connecticut? The truth is that Cowherd would be better off taking his ESPN microphone and sticking it somewhere I can’t mention on this family site. What we would hear wouldn’t sound any worse than what comes out of his mouth.

Until next time, I’m Russ and this is the Cress Corner.

Russ has a Masters of Useless Information and is a proud Alumni of the Old School with a major in Trivial Crap. No, seriously, it's actually 2 degrees one in History the other in Broadcasting. He's worked for NBC Sports, worked on Trenton Thunder radio broadcasts, managed a video production company and taught at a major broadcasting school. A massive Yankee fan and student of baseball history, Russ' contributions will largely be in the area of media critiques, DVD & book reviews, retro-reviews of old sporting events with the occasional column on the current baseball scene. As a rotisserie baseball player since the late 1980's, he will also contribute the occasion musing on the world of fantasy baseball. He can be reached at rcressNYY at aol dot com.

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Tags: Brian Cashman, Colin Cowherd, ESPN, Felix Hernandez, Jack Zduriencik, New York Yankees, Seattle Mariners