Mariners To Release Jeff Weaver?

According to John Perrotto of Baseball Prospectus:

"Speculation is mounting that Seattle is ready to swallow hard and release right-hander Jeff Weaver after his going 0-5 with a 15.35 ERA after five starts."

The handiwork of Scott Boras, an inflated pitching market, and playoff heroics earned Weaver the same one-year, $8.325MM deal he got from the Angels the previous offseason.  At when the Angels signed him, he was coming off a solid 14 win season.  The Ms signed him after he posted a 5.76 ERA in 31 starts.

I’d be surprised to see the Ms release Weaver.  Couldn’t they pay $6MM of his salary and virtually give him away to some NL team?  Even that would be better than releasing him.  Maybe the Padres would take a chance on him if the salary risk was minimal.