Morrow Fills Bedard's Roster Spot

I think everyone saw this coming, even though it isn't the right call. I would have rather seen a guy like Jon Huber, or even another lefty like Cesar Jimenez or Jake Woods.

Brandon Morrow didn't find his control while pitching at AA West Tennessee, issuing 6 walks in 7.1 innings. He also had a minor bicep injury in his time there. I do not believe Morrow should be with the big club right now. How long can he really last with the fastball being the only effective pitch in his arsenal? Some pitchers can get away with this, but they have much better control. Morrow is all over the place, and unless he figures out how to throw his secondary pitches for strikes he's not going to be successful. Of course I hope he, along with Arthur Rhodes, prove me wrong and dominate.

In other news, recently DFA'd Charlton Jimerson was granted free agency, but re-signed with Seattle anyway. He is back in the minor leagues and is not on the 40-man roster, meaning Jeremy Reed now has an edge at making the big league roster sometime this season.

Source: John Hickey

Bedard to DL

It was already unlikely that Erik Bedard would be able to go for his next scheduled start, but now it appears he's heading for the DL.

Don't panic: This isn't all bad. First of all, it's good that Seattle is going to sit him out and try to get him healthy now, in April, rather than having him constantly mess up the rotation or hurt himself further down the road. Second, the injury took place a while ago so he'll be eligible to come off the DL in just nine days. R.A. Dickey will take his next start. No word on who will take Bedard's roster spot. Unfortunately, Brandon Morrow may be the second Mariner pitcher to be promoted too quickly this season (Arthur Rhodes being the first).

None of us could have expected Bedard to make all of his starts. He's a fragile pitcher and the team has to focus on minimizing his time out. This is a good step.

Happy Jackie Robinson day!

Morse to DL; Rhodes Recalled

As I speculated last night, Mike Morse has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a dislocated left shoulder he suffered on an awkward dive attempt in yesterday's ballgame. Seattle was probably thrilled at the chance to get Morse off of the 25-man roster without losing him entirely, as he is of little use to the ballclub as of now.

Veteran lefty Arthur Rhodes has been called up to take his spot on the roster. I haven't been a fan of Rhodes this time around, and I'm not at all convinced that he can still get it done, but even with my doubts these latest flurry of moves get Seattle's roster back to where it should be: 12-man pitching staff, 4-man bench.

Bullpen:
Mark Lowe, R
Arthur Rhodes, L
Roy Corcoran, R
Sean Green, R
Ryan Rowland-Smith, L
R.A. Dickey, R
Cha-Seung Baek, R

Bench:
Willie Bloomquist, INF/OF
Miguel Cairo, INF/LF
Greg Norton, CIF/COF
Jaime Burke, C

The bench doesn't contain a single true outfielder, but manager John McLaren's history of choosing against using defensive replacements late in the game makes it somewhat obsolete.

Both Dickey and Rhodes, Seattle's latest callups, are available for tonight's game against the Royals.

O'Flaherty to Minors; Dickey to MLB

There were rumors of this last night, and now it's official. Seattle sent struggling reliever Eric O'Flaherty to the minors and recalled knuckleballer R.A. Dickey. Geoff Baker reports that O'Flaherty was optioned to AAA Tacoma, though USS Mariner says he's heading to AA West Tennessee. As I've mentioned before, this won't be a permanent fix.

Seattle's bullpen, as it stands now:

Mark Lowe, R
Sean Green, R
Roy Corcoran, R
Ryan Rowland-Smith, L
Cha-Seung Baek, R
R.A. Dickey, R

Seattle will want another lefty in there sooner than later, whether it is Cesar Jimenez, a healthy Arthur Rhodes or a mentally rehabbed Eric O'Flaherty, so someone will have to go. Having two long relievers is pointless, so either Baek will be traded or waived or Dickey will be sent back to AAA. This decision is for another day, and I assume it will be determined by how effective Dickey is. Baek hasn't pitched well in relief after a stellar spring, and Seattle may finally be willing to cut ties with him if Dickey does his job better.

GM Bill Bavasi should have traded Baek right after Spring Training while his value was relatively high.

Note (11:18 am PST) - If Baek and Dickey hang around the roster for longer than expected, I would have to say it's an obvious indication that Erik Bedard is gearing up for his first DL stint as a Mariner. Emphasis on first.

Norton Called Up, Jimerson DFA

From 3:27 pm PST: Nothing is official, but USS Mariner is reporting that Greg Norton has been called up from AAA Tacoma and will be available for tonight's ballgame.

Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider confirmed that Norton is already with the team, but has heard nothing of an official move.

It's unclear which player will be dropped from the roster. Miguel Cairo is a candidate to be waived, or the team may try and slip Charlton Jimerson through waivers. There is also the possibility that someone has been sent to the disabled list. Richie Sexson appeared to pull something near his groin while running the bases in game two of the Tampa Bay series. Norton would certainly be able to fill Sexson's spot defensively and offensively.

If it is an injury it would have made sense to bring up an extra reliever, but it doesn't appear that either Brandon Morrow or Arthur Rhodes are ready for big league action. Both are pitching in AA West Tennessee last I heard.

I will update this post when details surface.

UPDATE 6:10 pm PST: Bob Condotta reports Jimerson was designated for assignment, meaning Seattle has 10 days to make a decision on his future. Jimerson isn't sure whether or not he'll accept a minor league assignment if he clears waivers, and he's hoping to be picked up by another major league team soon.

Putz to DL

Putz doesn't blow saves, so something must have been up when he lost the second game of the season for the Seattle Mariners, right? I guess so, because J.J. Putz has been placed on the 15-day disabled list today. Putz apparently felt some discomfort on his right side while pitching to Michael Young. The next batter was Josh Hamilton, who hit a go-ahead homer off of Putz on an uncharacteristically mis-located fastball.

A precautionary MRI found Putz to have a mild case of costochondritis, "an inflammation of the junctions where the upper ribs join with the cartilage that holds them to the breastbone or sternum," according to eMedicine.com.

No news yet on how long J.J. will be out. Roy Corcoran has been called up from AAA Tacoma to fill the roster spot. Corcoran has had success in a long minor league career, but has yet to receive an extended look in the major leagues.

There has been no announcement as to who will fill in for Putz during his absence, but Mark Lowe seems the logical choice. I've heard Lowe called Putz's successor, and would probably have to agree. He appears to have the stuff and the mentality for the job. If Lowe excels it could make for some interesting conversation when Putz returns. Putz has been helping Lowe out the way Eddie Guardado did during his stint in Seattle. When Guardado went down with an injury, Putz stepped in and took the job.

Just remember, closers don't typically stay put for very long. There is often a much cheaper option laying around your bullpen that can get the job done. Putz was once in that situation and forced a trade of Guardado. Jon Rauch of the Washington Nationals is probably about to push Chad Cordero out of his role now that he's down with an injury. Jeremy Accardo of the Toronto Blue Jays is also in a similar situation, and has done a fantastic job as closer while B.J. Ryan has been hurt. They'll give Ryan a shot when he's healthy, but if he can't get it done as effectively as Accardo he'll quickly become trade bait. All of these guys mentioned above were once top notch closers.

I'm not saying Putz is done as a Mariner. Seattle will give him every single opportunity to get back to his dominating self. He is a fan favorite and a face of the franchise. All I'm saying is to keep this tucked into the back of your minds so that you're not crushed if Putz cannot quickly return to form.

I hope for a quick recovery and return to form. I hope that Thunderstruck comes blaring over Safeco Field's public address system another 100 times. Fingers crossed, he should be fine.

UPDATE 5:07 pm PST: Lookout Landing and MLB Rumors are speculating that this injury could take a month or two or more to heal.

UPDATE 7:02 pm PST: As Rob mentioned below, the injury isn't too bad. The doctor didn't give a timetable, but Bill Krueger of the Seattle Mariners pregame show said he came back from a similar injury in 10 days back when he was pitching.

UPDATE 7:50 pm PST: Almost forgot to add this, but Seattle will be going with the "bullpen by committee" approach. Can't say I'm a fan of the decision, but hopefully it's not a long-term thing.

Final Roster, Opening Day Lineup Set

Pitchers:
Cha-Seung Baek
Miguel Batista
Erik Bedard
Sean Green
Felix Hernandez
Mark Lowe
Eric O'Flaherty
J.J. Putz
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Carlos Silva
Jarrod Washburn

Catchers:
Jaime Burke
Kenji Johjima

Infielders:
Adriane Beltre
Yuni Betancourt
Willie Bloomquist
Miguel Cairo
Jose Lopez
Richie Sexson
Jose Vidro

Outfielders:
Raul Ibanez
Charlton Jimerson
Mike Morse
Ichiro Suzuki
Brad Wilkerson

R.A. Dickey cleared waivers was sent to AAA Tacoma after Seattle sent minor league catcher Jair Fernandez and cash to the Twins in order to keep him. My theory is that Seattle is still trying to trade Baek and they'll call Dickey up when it happens. Another is that manager John McLaren may be a little weary about having a knuckleballer coming out a the 'pen, a concern I wrote a lot about before I had warmed up to the idea of having Dickey around. The last would be that they have invested a lot into Baek and want to give him every opportunity. If he struggles and is unable to work enough innings to keep this small bullpen afloat, that's probably the end of the line for him.

Greg Norton accepted a AAA assignment as well, making it an easy choice for McLaren to have Jimerson on the roster. I am glad Jimerson made the team. He will be Seattle's only backup that is a natural outfielder and he's going to steal some bases off the bench.

The surprise surrounding Mike Morse is no longer that he'll make the team, but that he'll be platooning in right field with Brad Wilkerson. I had almost assumed that Wilkerson would be part of a platoon coming into camp, most likely with Wlad Balentien, but the idea was dismissed by McLaren at some point. Now that we know they're going with a platoon, you have to realize that Balentien wasn't sent down just because they want to get him more starts, but because he really does have some more work to do before he's major league ready. I am assuming that Morse will start against lefties and Wilkerson against righties, but if you look at Wilkerson's splits you would find that Wilkerson hits lefties much better throughout the course of his career.

With the exception of Brandon Morrow starting the year in the minors, the bullpen I predicted back in Febuary proved accurate. Score one for the home team!

McLaren also announced the Opening Day lineup:

Ichiro Suzuki, CF
Jose Lopez, 2B
Raul Ibanez, LF
Richie Sexson, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Brad Wilkerson, RF
Jose Vidro, DH
Kenji Johjima, C
Yuni Betancourt, SS

The only "surprise" here is that Sexson and Beltre are batting 4th and 5th, despite McLaren announcing during the final weeks of Spring Training that they would hit 4th and 6th. Obviously things could still change, but this is the lineup to expect.

12 More Roster Cuts

Horacio Ramirez was the first to leave after being released yesterday. Seattle continued to slim down their roster today, announcing 12 more cuts.

(All stats for Cactus League games only. Anyone know where to find stats for the MiLB games?)

Optioned to AAA:
RHP Joe Woerman (1 G, 2 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 2 K)
2B Yung Chi Chen (10 AB, single, HR, 3 BB, 3 K)
1B Brian LaHair (20 AB, 5 singles, 3 doubles, 2 BB, 3 K, SB)

Re-Assigned to Minor League Camp:
RHP Phillipe Aumont (1 G, 0.1 IP, 2 H, 3 ER, BB, 0 K)
RHP Brodie Downs (2 G, IP, 4 H, 5 ER, 4 BB, K)
RHP Stephen Kahn (1 G, IP, 3 H, 3 ER, BB, 0 K)
C Jair Fernandez (no MLB appearances)
C Adam Moore (2 AB, double, BB)
C Brant Ust (4 AB, single)
OF Bronson Sardinha (16 AB, 4 singles, BB, 4 K)
INF Mark Kiger (13 AB, 2 singles, 2 doubles, BB, 4 K)

None of these cuts are very surprising, though I thought Chen would get a longer look. Seattle is obviously content with Jose Lopez as their second baseman. Tug Hulett is still around, but he's not going to be stealing anyone's job.

Now that there are three fewer catchers in camp, Jeff Clement should get some more playing time. I'm really hoping he'll give Jose Vidro a run for his money.

Brian LaHair certainly impressed, hitting .400. No spot for him this season, maybe he'll make the team as part of a platoon next spring. He should get his first callup this year.

Of the players still in camp, there are only 8 non-roster players left:

LHP Philip Barzilla
RHP Roy Corcoran
RHP Chris Reitsma
LHP Arthur Rhodes
LHP Jake Woods
2B Tug Hulett
1B Greg Norton
3B Matt Tuiasosopo

HoRam Released

The Seattle Mariners cut ties with Horacio Ramirez, the return for stud reliever Rafael Soriano last offseason. There isn't much to say about him that hasn't been said in the last 15 months, so I'll just keep it short.

Ramirez had the worst ERA in the entire MLB last year and spent two months on the DL. The bad certainly outweighed the good, but a quick thank you to HoRam for the starts you made on April 27th, May 13th and July 16th. As for the other 17 starts...

Take it easy, Horacio. I hear there are some great opportunities in the Independent Leagues.

Minor News: Stark Comes Full Circle

posted by Jon

Seattle's latest minor league addition Denny Stark was a piece of one of the uglier trades in Seattle Mariners history when he was dealt alongside Brian Feuntes and Jose Paniagua to the Colorado Rockies for third baseman Jeff Cirillo in 2001. Cirillo, as we all know, was a complete bust.

Stark showed some promise in his first stint with the franchise. In 2001 he rattled off 14 wins and a 2.37 ERA in 24 starts with AAA Tacoma before being promoted to the big leagues. Stark had some success the following year pitching in the big leagues for Colorado, posting a 4.00 ERA over 128.1 innings.

Now 33, Stark is coming off of back-to-back Tommy John surgeries and trying to resurrect his career in the same place he began over a decade ago. Stockpiling cheap pitching is never a bad idea, and I hope Stark can find even more success this time around.

M's Sign Bubba Crosby; Lopez Stuck

The Seattle Mariners signed 31-year-old outfielder Bubba Crosby to a minor leaue contract today. He will not receive an invitation to Spring Training.

The Mariners will be left-handed hitting Bubba Crosby's fourth organization. He's been with the Dodgers for six years (12 MLB at bats), the Yankees for four (238 MLB at bats), and he spent 2007 in the Cincinatti Reds' organization in AAA. He has a career major league vital line of .216/.253/.300 and a minor league line of .277/.346/.417.

I can't imagine what the plan for Crosby is. He will not be given a chance to make the major league team, so I imagine he is just filling space.

In other news, Jose Lopez is stuck in Venezuela after failing to obtain a working visa on time. Is it just me, or has he had the same problem in past seasons?

M's Claim Anderson Garcia; Notes

Anderson Garcia, a right-handed reliever, was claimed off the waiver wire from the Philadelphia Phillies. He has been added to the 40-man roster.

Garcia has bounced around from organization to organization for the last seven seasons, but has made just one major league appearance. He has had some mixed numbers in the minors, but overall carries a career 3.93 ERA over 207 games (31 starts). The 26-year-old effectively throws a fastball in the mid-90s, but doesn't have the secondary pitches to be successful.

Garcia will be used to boost competition, but is a long-shot at best to make the ballclub. He will likely start the season in AAA.

In other news, former 2-time Mariner Bret Boone has come out of retirement to sign a minor league contract with the Washington Nationals. The 39-year-old will join his brother and father in the organization. Boone signed a minor league deal with the New York Mets for the 2006 season, but retired before the regular season started. I find it hard to see him starting anywhere at this point in his career, especially in Washington where they already have Ronnie Belliard and Felipe Lopez.

Not a lot going on besides that. Most of the position players are in camp a day early. Kenji Johjima can't do anything catch R.A. Dickey's knuckleball at this point. There is a theory that if Dickey makes the team Jaime Burke will catch him most of the time. This is a problem, however, since Dickey will be coming out of the bullpen. Either way, I don't see Dickey making the club. I would think that Horacio Ramirez and Cha Seung Baek will be given more of an opportunity. Only time will tell, and I promise that position battle will be covered in more detail at a later date.

Bedard Named Opening Day Starter; Norton Signs

posted by Jon

Pitchers and catchers report today! Baseball season!

Erik Bedard was named Opening Day starter by Seattle manager John McLaren, according to multiple sources. McLaren cited "experience" as his main reason.

This is a surprise to me. I really thought that King Felix Hernandez would get the call. Erik Bedard made it clear upon arrival that he had no problem sitting shotgun to Felix, and there was a theory that Felix could use the self esteem boost and motivation that comes with pitching first in the rotation.

In other news, Seattle signed veteran Greg Norton to a minor league deal with an invitation to Spring Training. He's a very good pinch hitter with some decent pop from the left side. He plays primarily first base, but can play third and the corner outfield spots in a pinch.

I'm having trouble finding the logic here, as there was plenty of competition for the bench already. Should Norton make the team he'll almost certainly be joined by Willie Bloomquist, Miguel Cairo and Jaime Burke, potentially bumping Wladimir Balentien, Mike Morse, Jeremy Reed and others off the roster.

Compare this signing to the Roberto Petagine and Dave Hansen acquisitions of the past.

Personally, I hope he doesn't make the team; though I wouldn't be surprised if he does.

I have one last thing just for chuckles. Jim Street writes, "The DH position was an offensive bright spot for the Mariners in '07 [...]"

How can it be a bright spot when there was a season long power outage?

Street also describes Vidro as an "Edgar Martinez clone." Wow.


P.S. I'm still working on rewriting that "monster post" from a few days ago.

Interesting Note

posted by Patrick

I was watching the top sports radio show in Baltimore, the Anita Marks Show, and they were interviewing a few guys involved in the trade. One of those guys was the Orioles President of Baseball Operations, Andy MacPhail, and he had some interesting things to say. We all had assumed that it was the Orioles that had been the ones holding up the deal, and that may have been partly true. But after hearing MacPhail, it seems like this deal wasn't simply dragged along by the Orioles and careful owner Peter Angelos. When asked about the process, MacPhail said

"Trying to get the final players out of Bill Bavasi was like trying to get water out of a stone... He was very protective of a lot of his assets."

I tend to believe that this is why the deal took so long because as Bill Bavasi said at the Bedard press conference, "The devil is in the details." This isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's good that Bavasi didn't panic and pull the trigger. It's because the process took so long that we are now able to say with full confidence that this was a good deal for the Mariners and, for that matter, that Orioles fans are able to be happy with the crop of young talent and excited about the future.
On another note, George Sherrill was also on the program and said that he would definitely be interested in being a closer for the Baltimore Orioles. He also said that he knows he's going to have to get used to not winning as much, but that he's excited to be a part of a rebuilding process.

It's going to be fun for me to be able to catch the likes of Sherrill, Jones, and the others on local t.v. and hopefully some games this coming season. I am already looking forward to being at Camden Yards for the April 6th game where Bedard will likely pitch against his old Birds assuming he gets the number one spot in the rotation. It's going to be a special afternoon in Oriole Park.

Done Deal: Bedard a Mariner!

posted by Patrick

We jumped the gun a week and a half ago, but luckily so did everyone else. Now it is official:

Mariners Get:
LHP Erik Bedard

Orioles Get:
OF Adam Jones
LHP George Sherrill
RHP Chris Tillman
RHP Tony Butler
RHP Kameron Mickolio

Bleeding Blue and Teal now presents to you the newest member of the Seattle Mariners: ERIK BEDARD!

Erik Bedard comes as advertised; a potential Cy Young with a mid 90's fastball, a devastating breaking ball, and a will to win that will make him an instant favorite of the Mariner faithful. There were conversations earlier in the offseason about adding guys like Bedard and Silva but the chances of that actually happening looked pretty grim just a couple weeks ago.

Kudos to Bill Bavasi who addressed this team's needs while managing not to sell the farm. Think about it, we are getting to keep Wlad Balentien, Brandon Morrow, Jeff Clement and Carlos Triunfel; I never gave a thought to the possibility of reeling in Santana or Bedard without seeing one or two of those guys leaving Seattle. Now, as far as our big league roster goes, we've acquired Bedard and Silva for Jones, Sherrill, and a Silva contract worth $48 million over four years. In a market where starting pitching is extremely hard to come by, I'd say that's a pretty good trade off.

I know I've been very critical of Bavasi over the last couple years, but he did an excellent job this offseason and he deserves a lot of credit.

The picture above says Mission Accomplished, but realize that although we've won a battle, we've yet to win the war. We now have the team we need to give the Angels a serious run for the division title or atleast to make a run at wildcard, which we managed to do last year until we fell off the face of the earth during the last month of the season.

It's a new season.

It's a new era.

It's an amazing time to be a Mariners fan.

Wilkerson Official

Nothing too surprising here; I woke up from a quick nap to find Jim Street, Shannon Drayer, Ryan Divish, John Hickey, the AP and many others all reporting that Seattle officially inked outfielder/first baseman Brad Wilkerson to a one year deal.

Geoff Baker reported that Seattle had this deal in their "back pocket" back on Monday.

The AP noted that Wilkerson can play all three outfield positions, which was new to me. Maybe he's not as slow out there as some of us were thinking?

Geoff Baker and Ken Rosenthal are reporting that he was signed for a mere $3M, which is a steal for a starting outfielder, whether you're pro-Wilkerson or not. Looks like we inked him for backup money. Rotoworld adds that there is another $2M in incentives, though I haven't come across another report that says that.

Wilkerson will likely backup/platoon in right field, first base and DH. He brings some very nice pop, but can struggle with low averages and high strikeout rates.

What does this mean?

Bedard?

Pretty much.

Horacio Ramirez Inks For 2008

It was announced today that the Mariners and Horacio Ramirez have agreed to a one year contract for 2008 worth $2.75 million with an opportunity for Ramirez to earn up to $300,000 more in bonuses. In doing so, the two parties avoid salary arbitration.

The base salary of $2.75 million is a $100k raise from last year. Yes, that's right; apparently you can get a pay raise for being the worst starting pitcher in baseball. Does this mean that Horacio is a lock for the rotation? Absolutely not. The Mariners did this so that they had an option to fall back on in the event that none of our young guns were capable to be in the rotation and we don't sign or trade for another starter.

Hopefully we'll be able to close the case on HoRam in the next couple of weeks by acquiring the ace that we've been looking for.

Rhodes, Sherrill Agree to Terms

The Seattle Mariners agreed to terms on a minor league deal with lefty reliever Arthur Rhodes today. Rhodes missed all of last season, and may also miss the beginning of this coming year. This is another low risk signing and I see no problem with it.

The M's also avoided arbitration with George Sherrill, so he is now officially signed for next season.

It's easy enough to connect either of these moves to Bedard, but I wouldn't bother. I'll try to sum up today's rumors a little later on.

Chris Reitsma Brought Back!

Chris Reitsma has re-signed with the Seattle Mariners. Don't panic, this isn't half as bad as it sounds.

In fact, this is probably a good move by the Mariners. While Reitsma made over $1.3M last season, he will make just a fraction of that in 2008.

This is a very low risk minor league signing. If finally healthy Reitsma could provide the veteran presence and stability the Mariners were looking for last season. If not, he sits in AAA as insurance or is released. Think of this like 2007's Arthur Rhodes signing. Didn't hurt us, did it? [Ch-Rei]

I have no problem if he makes the team, as long as he proves healthy and effective in Spring Training. The only fear I have is that he'll take a roster spot from a more deserving youngster, such as Kam Mickolio or Jon Huber. We'll see how it plays out in Spring Training.

Cairo? Really?

Not going to go too far into this one, but the Mariners signed veteran utility man Miguel Cairo to a one year deal.

I don't understand this. Willie Bloomquist was all the soft-hitting utility man we needed. While the defense isn't as good, I would have liked Mike Morse to have this roster spot. [Mi-Cai]

Does this mean Jeff Clement starts the year in AAA? It certainly boots some deserving player off of the 25-man. Maybe it means that Clement or Morse is about to get shipped to Baltimore. Purely speculation, though.