Mariners Rumors

Mariners Hire Eric Wedge As Manager

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | October 30, 2010 at 5:20pm CDT

SATURDAY, 5:20pm: SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that Wedge will be paid close to $1.9MM per year through the life of the contract. He was likely the Pirates' top choice for their managerial opening as well.

MONDAY, 12:09pm: The Mariners announced Wedge's hiring today, with a press conference to take place tomorrow. Said Wedge: "With the fan support, the ballpark, the ownership and management, the Mariners are in a great position to be very successful."

FRIDAY, 7:34pm: Wedge's deal is for three years, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com.

3:45pm: The Mariners will hire Eric Wedge to be the team's next manager, according to Jon Heyman of SI.com (on Twitter). Wedge, the 2007 manager of the year with the Indians, beat out Bobby Valentine, John Gibbons, Lloyd McClendon, Cecil Cooper and others for the job. The Blue Jays and Pirates were among the teams who were reportedly considering Wedge for their managerial vacancies.

The highlight of Wedge's tenure in Cleveland came back in 2007, when the Tribe made it to the ALCS before losing to Boston. The 42-year-old led the Indians to a 561-573 record in seven seasons.

Back in April of 2004, the Indians traded Milton Bradley to the Dodgers when it became clear that he was no longer a fit in Cleveland. Wedge perceived a lack of hustle from Bradley, and that perception contributed to the trade. The two will be reunited in Seattle, but Wedge no doubt convinced Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik that his relationship with Bradley will be workable.

Hiroyuki Nakajima Hasn’t Given Up On Being Posted

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | October 30, 2010 at 2:24pm CDT

SATURDAY: Newman passes along another report (via Twitter) saying that Nakajima hasn't given up on being posted just yet. He wants to meet with Seibu Lions management again and try to get them to change to their minds.

FRIDAY: Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima will not be posted, according to reports passed along by Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker (on Twitter). He had been drawing interest from MLB teams including the Orioles and Mariners, but those clubs will have to look elsewhere for middle infield help. Nakajima would have added some pop to the otherwise ordinary group of shortstops available via trade or free agency.

The 28-year-old hit .314/.385/.511 with 20 home runs in 579 plate appearances in Japan this year. In an article for Fangraphs, Newman suggested Nakajima is a line drive hitter whose power could fade in the majors.

Odds & Ends: Duncan, Mets, Dodgers, Baylor

By Tim Dierkes | October 25, 2010 at 8:46pm CDT

Four years ago today, the Cubs signed Starlin Castro as an amateur free agent out of the Dominican Republic. He became the team's starting shortstop in May at the age of 20, debuting with a .300/.347/.408 performance. Links for Monday:

Dave Duncan's new deal with the Cards will make him the game's highest paid pitching coach, tweets Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
ESPN's Keith Law (via Twitter) believes that Sandy Alderson would be a better choice for Mets GM than Josh Byrnes. Roughly 78% of MLBTR readers feel the same way.
After being bumped from consideration for the Brewers' managerial vacancy, Tim Wallach will almost certainly become the Dodgers' third-base coach, according to Tony Jackson of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
Rick Honeycutt has agreed to stay on with the Dodgers as pitching coach, tweets Ken Davidoff of Newsday.
For you fantasy baseball junkies, I took a look at Brandon Morrow at RotoAuthority.
Don Baylor will receive a two-year deal to be the Diamondbacks' new hitting coach, reports Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post. Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic adds that former Indians hurler Charles Nagy is the leading candidate to become the team's new pitching coach.
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times reveals quotes from Mariners president Chuck Armstrong from six weeks after the Cliff Lee trade. Armstrong said that when talks with the Yankees stalled, the White Sox, Twins, and Rangers were among the teams to get involved.
Yahoo's Tim Brown previews the hot stove season with ten names to watch.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Ichiro, Garza, Greinke, Bell

By Mike Axisa | October 22, 2010 at 12:38pm CDT

On this date two years ago, the Mariners named former Brewers vice president Jack Zduriencik as their new general manager. His defense-heavy approach resulted in a 24 win increase in his first season at the helm, though team scoring dropped by 31 runs. The Mariners won just 61 games and scored a mere 513 runs in 2010, the fewest by any team in the DH era. Unsurprisingly, there's already talk that Jack Z. is on the hot seat.

These links don't have to worry about being on the hot seat, they've made this week's edition of BBWI…

Speaking of the Mariners, Prospect Insider discusses the possibility of trading Ichiro.
DRays Bay speculates about what the Rays could get in return for Matt Garza.
Meanwhile, The Process Report looks ahead to Tampa's 2011 bullpen.
The Tao Of Stieb wonders if the Blue Jays should get involved in trade talks for Zack Greinke.
Redleg Nation asks the same Greinke question for the Reds.
The Friarhood debates whether the Padres should trade or extend Heath Bell.
Disciples of Uecker re-lives the history of Nelson Cruz.
Monkey With A Halo reviews Angels GM Tony Reagins' 2010 moves.
Royals Review wonders if Robinson Tejeda turned the corner in 2010.
Yankeeist breaks down Cliff Lee as he approaches his massive payday.
River Ave. Blues writes that Lance Berkman and Kerry Wood have gone from spare parts to important pieces for the Yankees.
Cubs Packs wants to know if Jim Hendry can fix the team's bullpen.
1 Blue Jays Way offers up a quick take on Toronto's options.
The Hardball Times looks at some players whose best position is DH.

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

Manager Rumors: Jays, Sandberg, Mariners, Orioles

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | October 19, 2010 at 5:34pm CDT

The Cubs made the day's big move, signing Mike Quade to a two-year deal, but there's lots of chatter about another candidate for the Cubs job and other teams around the league. Here are the details:

Sal Fasano, Dave Martinez, Luis Rivera and Rob Thomson have all been informed that they're no longer candidates for the Toronto manager's job, tweets Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press. Don Baylor is also out of the running and is "not pleased about it," according to Bob Elliott of the Toronto Sun (Twitter link).
Ryne Sandberg, a finalist for the Cubs job, may leave the organization, a source tells Ed Price of AOL FanHouse (Twitter link).
Sandberg told ESPN Radio 1000 in Chicago that he would like to manage elsewhere, though he was disappointed not to get the Cubs job.
Daren Brown, who managed the Mariners after Don Wakamatsu's dismissal, will either manage at Triple-A or be on the major league staff next year, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times (on Twitter).
Wedge said he's looking forward to working with Milton Bradley again, according to Stone (on Twitter). "I don’t hold any grudges," Wedge said. Bradley said yesterday that he's open to Wedge's hiring.
Orioles manager Buck Showalter will meet with president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and owner Peter Angelos to discuss the team's offseason approach, according to Jeff Zrebiec of the Baltimore Sun.
Earlier today, Jon Heyman of SI.com reported that the Mets "love" Joe Girardi and noted that the Yankees skipper lost some leverage when Quade got the Cubs job (Twitter links).

Bradley Open To Wedge’s Hiring

By Mark Polishuk | October 18, 2010 at 9:24pm CDT

One of the questions surrounding the Mariners' hire of Eric Wedge as their new manager was how (or if) Wedge could co-exist with Milton Bradley. Larry Stone of the Seattle Times recaps their checkered history, stemming from a 2004 situation when Wedge pulled Bradley from a spring training game, Bradley got upset, and then was dealt to Los Angeles a few days later.

Wedge made it clear to Seattle management that he had moved past the incident, however, and it appears that Bradley also wants to move on. Stone heard from a Mariners official who revealed two texts sent by Bradley praising the club's hire: "Whatever took place was six or seven years ago and I'm over it" and "[Wedge] was a disciplinarian and I felt our team lacked discipline last year. Hopefully, he instills some of that.''

As Stone pointed out in his original post, however, Bradley doesn't appear to have much of a choice. His options are to either make up with Wedge and play out the season, or else get released. Bradley would still get the $12MM he's owed for 2011, but the Mariners are committed to paying him anyway and Bradley would be burning bridges with yet another franchise. Stone notes that Bradley is all-but-untradeable unless the M's agree to pay most of the contract or deal Bradley for another bad contract, a la their original Carlos Silva swap.

Stone brings up Pittsburgh as one potential trade partner for the Mariners, though surely one that would require the Mariners to cover Bradley's contract. Neal Huntington is a long-time supporter of Bradley and might be one of the few GMs willing to add Bradley to the roster. Bradley's injury history makes him a bad fit for the NL, however, since he wouldn't be able to handle playing the outfield. A player with Bradley's baggage is also not the kind of veteran influence that the Pirates would want to bring to their young clubhouse.

Odds & Ends: Ross, Hale, Daniels, Mets, Coaches

By Steve Adams | October 17, 2010 at 9:13pm CDT

Some links to check out as Cody Ross attempts to follow up yesterday's two-home run performance and the Phillies look to even the score…

Speaking of Ross, Andrew Baggarly of The Mercury News reports that Giants GM Brian Sabean left a "clear impression" before tonight's game that the outfielder will be tendered a contract this offseason.
Nick Cafardo of The Boston Globe tweets that Red Sox bench coach DeMarlo Hale is getting a second interview for the Blue Jays managerial position.
SI.com's Jon Heyman tweets that the Mets have been "asking around" about Rangers GM Jon Daniels, and things could get interesting. Daniels can opt out of his contract after the season since the team was sold.
Steve Popper of The Bergen Record says that the Mets might not be making the popular choices right now, especially with Francisco Rodriguez, Oliver Perez, Carlos Beltran, and Luis Castillo, but they're the right moves.
Popper also reports that the Tigers denied the Mets permission to talk to assistant GM Al Avila about their GM vacancy.
ESPN's Buster Olney tweets that Eric Young will be named the D'Backs first base coach later this week. In a second tweet, he says Eric Wedge's former pitching coach Carl Willis will likely play a big role on his new staff in Seattle.
Despite the expected heavy interest from the Yankees and Rangers, Michael Silverman from the Boston Herald thinks the Red Sox should make a serious run at Cliff Lee.
In the second page of that same article, Silverman quotes an unnamed executive in saying that a package consisting of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, and prospect Anthony Rizzo wouldn't be enough to pry Adrian Gonzalez away from the Padres. He speculates the names that would be mentioned next would include Casey Kelly and Jose Iglesias.
Roch Kubatko of MASN Sports says it makes more sense for the Orioles to trade for a middle-of-the-lineup hitter and an ace starter than seek one in free agency, and asks readers whether or not the O's should pursue Zack Greinke. In his blog post earlier today, ESPN's Buster Olney didn't see Baltimore as a fit for the Kansas City ace.
Reduced payroll will force the Rays into some tough decisions, writes Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times. As Topkin points out, nearly the entire bullpen is entering free agency. Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, Randy Choate, Joaquin Benoit, and Chad Qualls are only signed through 2010, while Dan Wheeler's $4MM option will be declined and Lance Cormier could be non-tendered. Balfour and Choate are most likely to return, while Benoit will likely look to capitalize on his monster season.
Richard Griffin from the Toronto Star spoke with Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin, who could be a candidate for the Jays' managerial opening, about the difficulty of getting a foot in the door as a manager. As Griffin says, part of the reason they continue to interview candidates while other teams are filling their managerial positions could be because they have a high level of interest in someone like Mackanin, whose team is still playing.
The Phillies' worst nightmare isn't losing to the Giants in the NLCS or losing to the Yankees in the World Series, according FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal. It's going to the World Series and facing the ace they traded away last offseason, who now sports a Rangers uniform — Cliff Lee.

Odds & Ends: Lee, Alderson, Choo, Lowrie

By Mark Polishuk | October 15, 2010 at 9:46pm CDT

As the ALCS gets underway, let's look at some news from around the majors…

Jason A. Churchill of ESPN.com (Insider subscription needed) proposes that if the Phillies can unload some big contracts, they could make a run at signing Cliff Lee this winter. Adding Lee to the current Roy Halladay/Roy Oswalt/Cole Hamels mix would create one of the all-time great rotations in baseball history, but this seems like a major longshot. If the Phils can really move Joe Blanton or Raul Ibanez like they can in Churchill's scenario, one would think they'd spend that freed-up money on more pressing needs than pitching.
Writing for MLB.com, former Dodgers general manager Fred Claire strongly endorses Sandy Alderson for the vacant Mets GM job. MLBTR's Ben Nicholson-Smith profiled Alderson earlier today.
Yoon Chul, the reporter who wrote that Shin-Soo Choo wanted a "transfer" to a winning team, has apologized to the Indians for "editing problems" that altered the meaning of the Cleveland outfielder's words according to Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. Another Korean journalist, Jeeho Yoo, told the Tribe that Choo said "he wants to stay with one club for a long time and Cleveland would be his first choice."
Jed Lowrie's strong second half has made him a candidate to either take over the starting shortstop's job from Marco Scutaro or to become trade bait for a club looking for a young infielder, writes Gordon Edes of ESPNBoston.com.
Some conflicted early reaction to Seattle's pending hire of Eric Wedge: CBSSports.com's Scott Miller thinks "the Mariners could not have made a more uninspiring hire," while 710ESPN Seattle's Shannon Drayer gets great reviews of Wedge from former players and Indians broadcaster Tom Hamilton.
Richard Durrett of ESPNDallas.com looks back at the Rangers' 2007 trade of Mark Teixeira and how it was the starting point for the club's current success. Texas acquired Elvis Andrus, Neftali Feliz, Matt Harrison, Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Beau Jones from Atlanta for the slugging first baseman — safe to say the Rangers won that deal.
Speaking of Teixeira, he cited teammate C.C. Sabathia as "arguably…the best free agent signing in Yankees history." The story from Marc Carig of The Star-Ledger cites Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Teixeira himself and others as candidates for that title, plus Yankees GM Brian Cashman posits that Orlando Hernandez might've been the best signing from a pure dollars-to-performance standpoint.
Richard Justice of the Houston Chronicle writes that the Astros can take some lessons from how the Rangers rebuild their franchise, and that the Astros have finally belatedly gotten started on their own youth movement.
Austin Kearns tells MLB.com's Bill Ladson that he "would love to stay" in New York next season.

Manager Roundup: Mariners, Cardinals

By Ben Nicholson-Smith | October 15, 2010 at 1:44pm CDT

Here's the latest on a pair of big-name managers, with more details to come throughout the day:

Mariners

The Mariners told Bobby Valentine that he is no longer a candidate for their managerial opening, according to Larry Stone of the Seattle Times. The Mariners may be nearing a decision, writes Stone. Eric Wedge, Lloyd McClendon, Cecil Cooper, Clint Hurdle and Daren Brown are possible candidates. John Gibbons also heard that he isn't getting the job, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter).

Eric Wedge did "very, very" well in his interview with the Mariners, according to ESPN.com's Buster Olney (Twitter link).

Cardinals

The Cardinals are in daily contact with Tony La Russa, but it's not clear which way he's leaning, according to Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (on Twitter). However, the AP reports (via ESPN) that talks are going well between the two sides. Pitching coach Dave Duncan knows that he'd like to return to St. Louis for at least three more seasons, according to Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Baseball Blogs Weigh In: Dodgers, Nationals, Rasmus

By Mike Axisa | October 15, 2010 at 11:05am CDT

On this date back in 1988, a hobbling Kirk Gibson pinch hit for reliever Alejandro Pena with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Dodgers down by one to the Athletics in Game One of the World Series. Dennis Eckersley, who finished second in the Cy Young voting that year, recorded two quick outs before walking the light hitting Mike Davis (.196/.260/.270 that year) in front of Gibson. You all know what happened next. Gibson battled Eck for six pitches before the Oakland reliever finally hung a slider, a pitch that resulted in one of the most famous home runs in World Series history.

Injuries limited Gibson to just that one plate appearance in the Fall Classic, which the Dodgers went on to win four games to one. Joe Posnanski ranked Jack Buck's and Vin Scully's call of the play the fifth greatest in sports history. These links might not be all-time greats, but they're still the best from the past week of the internet…

DRays Bay interviewed a young third baseman by the name of Evan Longoria.
SPANdemonium interviewed Shawon Dunston … Jr.
Sabernomics said goodbye and thank you to Bobby Cox.
Meanwhile, Capitol Avenue Club thinks the Fredi Gonzalez hire is a huge mistake.
Mike Scioscia's Tragic Illness offers up their offseason plan for the Dodgers (part one, part two).
Fan Speak does the same, except for the Nationals (part one, part two).
Lookout Landing summarizes the candidates for the Mariners managerial job.
The Process Report takes on Joe Maddon's gut check.
Pine Tar And Pocket Protectors examines Colby Rasmus' trade value.
Red Sox Beacon re-lives a decade of awful Boston shortstops.
Baseball Analysts found that Long Beach State produced the most big leaguers in 2010, led by Longoria and Troy Tulowitzki.
The 5th Starter digs deep in the Blue Jays' finances.
Bleacher GM took a look at umpire bias.

If you have a suggestion for this feature, Mike can be reached here.

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