Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mariners Rumors

2011 Contract Issues: Seattle Mariners

By | at

The Mariners face three contractual options after the season:

  • Ian Snell has a $6.75MM club option.  If Snell's 2010 work resembles his 2008-09 performance, they'll let him go.
  • Jose Lopez has a $4.5MM club option with a $250K buyout.  If the option is declined, Lopez will still be arbitration-eligible.  Lopez may be traded at some point, but the option appears likely to be exercised.
  • Erik Bedard has an $8MM mutual option that can increase based on performance.  As usual, we find it unlikely for both sides to exercise.

The Mariners free agents after the season include Cliff Lee, Ken Griffey Jr., Mike Sweeney, and Eric Byrnes.  The group is earning over $12MM this year, led by Lee.  About $18MM will be freed up if everyone aside from Lopez departs.

An additional $11.5MM must be allocated toward players under contract, with Felix Hernandez's $3.5MM the biggest bump.  The Mariners will owe raises to Ryan Rowland-Smith, Garrett Olson, Jack Hannahan, Sean White, and Jason Vargas as first-time arbitration players.  David Aardsma and Mark Lowe go for a second time, Brandon League a third, and Casey Kotchman a fourth.  Some of these players figure to be non-tendered.

Despite a busy offseason, the Mariners trimmed payroll by about $8MM this year according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.  Payroll will have to come back up for the Mariners to have spending money in the offseason.

Largest Contracts In Team History

By | at

We've already looked at the largest contracts by service time and position, so let's now dig up the largest contracts ever given out by each of the 30 teams. These are in terms of guaranteed money only, but some could end up being even larger because of incentives and option years.

Thanks to Cot's Baseball Contracts for the info.

Mariners Interested In Ramon Vazquez

By | at

The Mariners are interested in Ramon Vazquez and could reach a deal with the infielder soon, according to Shannon Drayer of ESPN 710 in Seattle. The Pirates released Vazquez earlier in the month, but as MLBTR's Luke Adams pointed out before the release, Vazquez does have some value for teams looking for infield depth. Other clubs haven't been linked to Vazquez since his release, but Drayer says a deal with the Mariners "could happen shortly."

Vazquez, 33, hit .230/.335/.279 in 239 plate appearances for the Pirates last year, but his career .254/.328/.350 line suggests he could hit better than that. Vazquez, who will only cost the major league minimum to sign, played shortstop, second and third last year and has experience at all four infield positions. The Mariners announced today that Jack Hannahan will begin a rehab assignment at Triple A Tacoma, so they do have depth on the way.

Top Trade Chips: AL West

By | at

We've completed the National League, so now it's time to jump over to the so-called junior circuit…

  • Angels: They moved three pretty good young players to get Scott Kazmir last season, so they might prefer to hold onto the rest of their top prospects. Their best chip is someone you may not have heard of, out of options catcher Bobby Wilson. He's on the 25-man roster but has barely played as the third stringer, yet how many teams would love to have a 27-year old catcher with a very good defensive rep, a .290/.345/.425 batting line in 820 Triple-A plate appearances, and six years of team control left? Pretty much all of them. He'll never clear waivers if the Halos try to send him back to the minors.
  • Athletics: Oakland has plenty of young pitching, but Billy Beane likes to hang on to those kind of guys, and for good reason. With ten infielders on the 40-man roster, someone like Jake Fox or Eric Patterson could be moved, as could outfielders Travis Buck or Gabe Gross since Michael Taylor is coming fast. Plus there's always Ben Sheets.
  • Mariners: Jack Zduriencik surrendered a good amount of prospect depth this offseason by acquiring Cliff Lee, but no one will argue with that move. Dustin Ackley, the second overall pick in 2009, will make Jose Lopez expendable in short order, and they could choose to make one of two minor league outfielders – Michael Saunders or Greg Halman – available. Seattle's best trade chip might be their potential ability to absorb some money.
  • Rangers: Texas is absolutely loaded with young players, so they have plenty of pieces to offer. They can move Chris Davis because Justin Smoak is knocking on the door, or they could move Derek Holland because Martin Perez isn't too far away. They dangled Max Ramirez this winter, and outfielder David Murphy is about to get expensive through arbitration, so he could find himself on the block. Bottom line: the Rangers have the pieces to go out and get anything they need or want.

Relief Trade Candidates

By | at

Eleven bullpens currently sport ERAs over 5.00, but it'd be silly to draw conclusions from 25-inning samples.  Still, certain contenders are probably already surveying the field of available relievers.  The Rays, Cubs, and Marlins are three teams that had bullpen concerns heading into the season.  Which relievers might be available a month or two from now?

  • The Blue Jays are riding high, in a first-place tie after their first nine games.  Still, GM Alex Anthopoulos will probably think about the big picture and shop his three priciest relievers: Kevin Gregg, Jason Frasor, and Scott Downs.  The Jays would need Gregg's consent to deal him prior to June 15th.
  • The Pirates have the worst bullpen ERA in the NL right now, but most of that can be attributed to Hayden Penn's 2.3 inning stint.  Down the road all the veterans will be fair game – Octavio Dotel, Brendan Donnelly, D.J. Carrasco, Jack Taschner, and Javier Lopez.
  • The Padres have the big prize in closer Heath Bell.  His save total will allow them to demand a premium for him, and he can be retained for 2011 (albeit with a raise upon this year's $4MM).
  • The Nationals may also make a few veterans available: Matt Capps, Brian Bruney, and Tyler Walker would make sense.  The June 15th rule applies to Capps and Walker.  They'll both be arbitration-eligible after the season.
  • The Royals have a couple of contracts to move in Kyle Farnsworth and Juan Cruz.  Tracy Ringolsby tweets that the Royals are "looking to unload Cruz and willing to pick up salary."
  • Chad Cordero is a name to consider; the 28-year-old off to a good start for the Mariners' Triple A club.

Dye Hopes For Interest From Mariners

By | at

Free agent outfielder Jermaine Dye has the Mariners on the list of teams he'd consider, reports ESPN's Mike Salk.  Unfortunately, the interest has not been mutual.  Dye's agent Bob Bry had this to say:

"Seattle is a team he focused on this off-season.  He was disappointed that there was not more interest from the club."

Salk says Dye would be willing to take less than a full-time role with the Mariners, and guesses that he'd sign for $3-4MM.  Dye turned down a $3MM offer from the Cubs a few months ago and recently rejected an unknown offer from the Nationals.  He also had talks with the Brewers in late March.  Dye suggested to MLB.com's Bill Ladson that many of his offers were in the $1MM range, which he seemed to find insulting.

Rather than sign Dye, the Mariners brought in Milton Bradley, Eric Byrnes, Casey Kotchman, Ken Griffey Jr., and Mike Sweeney for offensive spots.  I wasn't a fan of the approach, but the Ms figure to give the group more than eight games before turning to someone like Dye.

Odds & Ends: Stanton, Hechavarria, Cordero, Haeger

By | at

Monday night links..

  • The Marlins won't rush prospect Mike Stanton to the majors, writes Joe Frisaro of MLB.com.
  • Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos says that the club is hoping to make an announcement in the next day or two, tweets Shi Davidi of The Canadian Press.  However, Anthopoulos wouldn't confirm that the announcement could have to do with the signing of Adeiny Hechavarria.  Last week, Hechavarria's visa was approved, opening the door for him to take his physical.
  • ESPN.com's Rob Neyer believes that Chad Cordero could be a "useful" major leaguer again.  The 28-year-old has been out of MLB for nearly two years and is attempting to mount a comeback with the Mariners' Triple-A affiliate.
  • Charlie Haeger went through a long journey before becoming a member of the Dodgers' rotation, writes MLB.com's Ken Gurnick.

Ryan Langerhans Clears Waivers

By | at

MONDAY, 2:52pm: Ryan Divish of The Tacoma News Tribune tweets that Langerhans has cleared waivers and will report to Triple-A Tacoma.

THURSDAY, 2:14pm: The Mariners designated outfielder Ryan Langerhans for assignment to make room for reliever Jesus Colome, tweets ESPN's Shannon Drayer.  This ends the Mariners' six-man bullpen experiment.  U.S.S. Mariner's Dave Cameron wrote yesterday that while he feels a six-man pen can work, he's not sure the Mariners are presently built for one.  Talking to Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times, Ms GM Jack Zduriencik explained why Langerhans was cut instead of Mike Sweeney.

Langerhans, 30, hit .218/.311/.386 in 122 big league plate appearances last year.  He hit .278/.371/.488 at Triple A.  Langerhans was non-tendered by the Mariners in December but re-signed a week later.

Interest In Washburn Heating Up?

By | at

9:45pm: Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports tweets that Cleveland and Arizona are possibilities for Washburn but Seattle is becoming a bit of a long shot.

3:27pm: Tom Krasovic of AOL FanHouse provides a few quotes from Scott Boras on his free agent client Jarrod Washburn:

"As many as five clubs are after him.  A lot of teams are interested. The reality has struck."

Of course, Boras has never been known to exaggerate.  The superagent says the lefty would need three weeks to be Major League ready.

Washburn reportedly turned down a small offer from the Mariners, his preferred destination.  The Royals may also be in the mix.  MLBTR's Mike Axisa attempted to help Washburn find work with this March 29th post, in case Boras has his hands full with Joe Crede or his draft advisees.  One could name a half-dozen teams that'd make sense in the $2MM range, but it'd have to be a city that works for Washburn and his family. 

Odds & Ends: Lerew, Cuba, Coonelly, Hechavarria

By | at

Links for Wednesday…

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top