The Mariners have released Eric Byrnes, according to Larry LaRue of The News Tribune. The veteran outfielder has posted a .443 OPS this season in 34 plate appearances.
The 34-year-old agreed to a one-year deal with Seattle in late January. While Byrnes is earning $11MM in the final year of the three-year pact he signed with the D'Backs, the Mariners are responsible for just $400K of that sum.
Seattle has also made a trio of in-house adjustments, sending Matt Tuiasosopo to Triple-A while promoting Ryan Langerhans and Josh Wilson. All four roster moves have been confirmed by a team press release.
Shannon Drayer of ESPN Radio Seattle (via Twitter) points out that Langerhans and Wilson were not on the 40-man roster, meaning that another move is on the horizon. She later tweeted that the move will not be shifting a player to the 60-day DL and it will likely not involve a player on the 25-man roster (also via Twitter).
Earlier this evening, both Dave Cameron of U.S.S. Mariner and Larry Stone of The Seattle Times predicted that Byrnes' days in Seattle were numbered.
Hat tip to Cameron’s pred
To make room for Jermaine Dye?
Doubt it. I think the next move for the M’s is going to be calling up Michael Saunders, playing him in LF, and moving Bradley to DH, putting Griffey on the bench
You mean the same Michael Saunders with the .138/.208/.138 line at AAA? I don’t think he’s the answer to their offensive woes right now.
I was about to say the same thing great mind thinks alike they should and need to sign dye they need offensive if there going to win the division and he will sign cheap cause he wants to play for seattle so there you go
Agreed. If they can get Dye cheap, maybe an incentive-laden deal based on performance, it makes some sense.
give him a base salary of maybe a million with it going up to 3 million with at bats and games played, They need each other but im not sure who needs each other more, dye and the money or seattle and the offense but it ashamed to see his production go unsigned so far
Dye just the other day scoffed at the idea that he’d play for even 1.5 million. Putting that aside & assuming he would sign a deal, it would take at least a month for him to be ready to play. Any of these guys just sitting on the couch need time to prepare b/c remembre they didn’t go through spring & haven’t played in a game since last Septembre.
I don’t think it will take a month for Dye to get ready, but I agree that signing Dye isn’t a slam dunk. He hasn’t been open to taking a lower salary. I would think he’d use the deal the Cubs gave Xavier Nady as a standard. And I just don’t see the Ms wanting to pay that much.
Ouch! Point proven, I was unaware of his struggles with the stick. Either way, it appears they are going with Langerhans for now. Being a Braves fan, I’m all for this, although he has never been heavy with the bat either.
It makes more sense to have Langerhans on the roster than Byrnes, since Byrnes isn’t hitting. But Langerhans isn’t going to solve any of their problems either. Maybe it’s temporary until they can get someone. I have to think they’ve got something up their sleeve. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Dye, it could be a trade but they’ve got to do something to improve that offense.
all Byrnes cares about is making it look like he is trying really hard
This.
False hustle, takes bad routes on purpose so he can show off his amazing unnecessary flip-diving skills, and pops up everything. What an overpaid clown and trainwreck of a baseball player, if you can call him that.
He can’t blame his injuries anymore. He just sucks. He’s lucky Moorad is his best buddy and gave him that ridiculous contract.
Shannon Drayer is a woman.
Hmmm–good riddance to Byrnes. I’m still not sure why they ever signed him.
The long-term solution is to bring in someone else, either via trade(someone like Jack Cust to DH perhaps?), or free agent signing(someone like Jermaine Dye). Teams have stayed away from Dye for a reason, and I don’t think the M’s will be the one to finally break down and sign him, but stranger things have happened.
With the roster right now, the DH split should be about 70/30 or 80/20 Bradley/Griffey, with a corresponding LF split of Langerhans/Bradley. Mike Sweeney should go to the DL(really, he should be DFA’ed, but we all know how unlikely that is). Michael Saunders needs a full season at AAA and probably won’t be in the full time player discussion until next season, when hopefully he’ll be ready(and Bradley can go to DH full time.)
It would be great if one of Carlos Peguero or Rich Poythress was ready to play at the MLB level. No money required for a big free agent signing if that were the case. :)
Edited to add: Is the Byrnes’ transaction a straight-up outright release, or did they DFA him first to see if there is any trade interest? I can’t imagine there would be, nor would he accept an outright assignment to AAA, so I’m guessing it’s an outright release, although the various sources conflict on this. ;)
+1 on the Cust idea.
What makes you think the A’s would trade Cust within the division? Billy Beane would never.
They couldn’t bring in a DH, they already have 3 of them. Plus they couldn’t disrespect Griffey by benching him.
Are you saying Griffey will start at DH vs. RH pitchers no matter what? Even if he keeps hitting under his weight?
Yea, a majority of the time. I don’t agree with it, but they won’t play him one day a week or something, out of respect.
I have to disagree. Why would a team forfeit a 1st round draft pick for Figgins, trade for Lee, and ship out Morrow if they weren’t pretty serious about making a playoff push? Everyone can see Griffey is a major impediment to making the playoffs. At a certain point, winning is more important than feel-goodery. That point is right about now.
FYI Shannon Drayer is not a “he” as the post says…She is one of the best M’s reporters and her blog is a must read for all baseball fans!
Thank you, Mr. Drayer.
Couple days after he pulled a bunt back on a suicide squeeze attempt in extra innings!!!??? One of the more bonehead plays in baseball. If ever there a single reason to let go of a guy, that is it.
wouldn’t mind if the yanks went after him with grandy out, use him in the ugly lf platoon with thames and winn, only have to pay him to minimum and then they can just dfa him when grandy is back or he continues to suck, whichever comes first.
And that, son, is why they call it a suicide squeeze.
Career suicide if you pull it back, people forget about that part. ha ha.
One cancer down, one to go… Byrnes is more like a clown then a cancer.. Too bad Bradley is getting overpaid by about 22 mil… otherwise they would release him too.. The Mariners would actually have a chance..
One cancer down, one to go… Byrnes is more like a clown then a cancer.. Too bad Bradley is getting overpaid by about 22 mil… otherwise they would release him too.. The Mariners would actually have a chance..