The Oracle pans the deal as bad for both Carl and the Mariners, but the more interesting thing to me is that the Mariners have made a point over the years of being very fan-friendly, and targeting nice, innocent, "good citizen" types for the team.
Crazy Carl is, of course, 180 degrees away in the public's mind from the "good guys" Seattle has traditionally targeted. And given that Crazy Carl isn't even really that good any more, and doesn't fill a need for Seattle that well, it is funny to me that this is the guy they chose to break their tradition with.