Mariners Rumors

Mariners Pursuing Harden & Lackey

By Tim Dierkes | December 3, 2009 at 8:08am CDT

THURSDAY, 8:08am: A source tells Rosenthal and Morosi that the Mariners are "actively pursuing" John Lackey. As a Type A free agent who was offered arbitration, Lackey would cost a top pick.

WEDNESDAY, 3:58pm: The Mariners are "showing strong interest" in Rich Harden, according to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOX Sports. The writers wonder if Harden being a native of British Columbia will help Seattle's cause. They note that the Red Sox are also serious about the 28-year-old righty.

Any team signing Harden will of course take a long, hard look at his shoulder. If his last two seasons are any indication, he can give you 140 strikeout-filled innings if managed carefully. What's that worth? Probably a base salary in the $6-7MM range, with a few million more in incentives. Harden's agent Arn Tellem says his client has "no health issues at all," for what it's worth.

Odds & Ends: Hudson, Wolf, Betancourt, Braves

By Tim Dierkes | December 2, 2009 at 1:55pm CDT

Links for Wednesday…

The Reds signed pitcher Jon Adkins to a minor league deal, according to the pitcher's Twitter (hat tip to The Hall Of Very Good). Adkins spent 2009 pitching in Korea.
The Giants were right not to offer arbitration to Bengie Molina, writes Grant Brisbee of McCovey Chronicles.
Chris Pummer as well as our own Howard Megdal from The Perpetual Post weigh in on Andruw Jones, who recently signed with the White Sox for $500K.
Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News discusses the chances of the Giants signing Miguel Tejada, Johnny Damon, Jermaine Dye, or Hudson.
Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says the Mariners are interested in Orlando Hudson, at the right price. The lack of an arbitration offer helps.
Dave Cameron of FanGraphs looks at Ned Colletti's claim that the Dodgers' decision not to offer arbitration to Type A free agent Randy Wolf "was made strictly from a baseball perspective."
No surprise here: Astros GM Ed Wade indicated that a reunion with Wolf is unlikely (MLB.com's Brian McTaggart reporting). Wade also downplayed the reports linking the Astros to Brett Myers and J.J. Putz, saying, "We've made contact with agents for about every player out there as a matter of course. I would not read anymore into it than that."
ESPN's Buster Olney believes Rafael Betancourt "could be the player whose market is most affected" among the ten Type As offered arbitration.
Ken Davidoff of Newsday questions the Mets' Billy Wagner trade from August.
David O'Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wonders if the Braves might now pursue a setup man such as Octavio Dotel or Fernando Rodney.
Corey Brock and Steve Gilbert have Winter Meetings previews at MLB.com for the Padres and Diamondbacks, respectively.
Diamond Leung links to stories indicating the Chiba Lotte Marines "are interested in purchasing the contract of Dodgers left-hander Eric Stults." Stults posted a 4.86 ERA in ten starts for the Dodgers last year, making another 13 starts in the minors.

Multiple Teams Interested In Noah Lowry

By Tim Dierkes | December 2, 2009 at 1:45pm CDT

1:45pm: Aside from the Pirates and Rockies, ESPN's Jerry Crasnick says the Dodgers, Padres, A's, Mariners, and Reds are interested in Lowry.

10:56am: The Pirates are interested in free agent lefty Noah Lowry, according to Dejan Kovacevic of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. As Kovacevic notes, the former Giant had forearm surgery in March of 2008, which the pitcher's agent later claimed was a misdiagnosis. In May of '09 Lowry had surgery to remove a rib to help with thoracic outlet syndrome. Earlier this month, Lowry's agent said his client is finally "completely healthy." Yesterday, Troy E. Renck of the Denver Post noted the Rockies' interest in Lowry.

The first four spots in the Pirates' rotation appear set, with Paul Maholm, Zach Duke, Ross Ohlendorf, and Charlie Morton. Lowry could compete for the fifth starter job; the Bucs would have three lefties in the rotation if he won it. Lowry's best season came in 2005, when he made 33 starts with a 3.78 ERA. That campaign netted him a four-year, $9.25MM extension.

Odds & Ends: Crawford, Hernandez, Tigers

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2009 at 9:55pm CDT

Some news tidbits that aren't arbitration-related on this busy day in the majors…

Rays general manager and executive VP Andrew Friedman told Marc Topkin of the St. Petersburg Times that the team has no plans to deal Carl Crawford, and said that the "mutual goal" of both Crawford and the Rays was to work out a long-term contract.
From Topkin's same post, he notes that Tampa Bay won't go after an established free agent closer this winter but relief pitching is still the club's top need.
Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi use the Marlins' negotiations with Josh Johnson as a springboard to speculate about how much it would cost Seattle to sign Felix Hernandez to an extension.
CBS Sports' Danny Knobler discusses how the Tigers aren't acting very desperate for a team that's allegedly having a fire sale.
MLB.com's Bill Ladson says that Ron Villone might be the only Nationals free agent who the team would want back in 2010.
Marc Carig of the New Jersey Star-Ledger reports that if any free agents are curious about playing for the Yankees, Derek Jeter says they're welcome to call and ask him any questions they might have. Jeter could save himself some time by simply mailing every prospective free agent a picture of his hand wearing five World Series rings.

Mariners Targeting Gregg Zaun

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2009 at 8:13pm CDT

Gregg Zaun was offered arbitration by Tampa Bay today, but the free agent catcher has at least one serious suitor in the Seattle Mariners. Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of Fox Sports report that the M's are looking to sign Zaun as a veteran platoon mate for prospect Adam Moore. Rob Johnson, the only other catcher on the Seattle 40-man roster since Kenji Johjima's opt-out, is coming off of surgeries to both hips and may not be ready for Spring Training.

Both Moore and Johnson are right-handed batters, so the switch-hitting Zaun would provide Seattle with a lefty bat for a platoon situation; Zaun had an .801 OPS against right-handed pitching last season. Should Zaun and Moore end up in a platoon, Zaun would find himself sharing time with a highly-regarded prospect for the second consecutive year. He began 2009 in Baltimore in a platoon with Matt Wieters.

Earlier today, we learned that Zaun expects to sign by the end of the week.

Mariners Offer Arb To Beltre, But Not To Bedard

By Mark Polishuk | December 1, 2009 at 6:20pm CDT

The Mariners made an arbitration offer to Type B free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre, but not Type B free agent pitcher Erik Bedard. 710 ESPN Seattle's Shannon Drayer (via Twitter) reported the Beltre offer, while Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times reported the Bedard news.

MLBTR's Tim Dierkes predicted that Beltre wouldn't receive an arbitration offer, but Baker's piece analyzes the move and calls it a calculated risk since Baker believes Beltre is likely to turn it down in search of a better deal elsewhere.

Heyman On Tigers’ Edwin Jackson Demands

By Tim Dierkes | November 30, 2009 at 1:34pm CDT

SI's Jon Heyman tweets a rumor of the Tigers' demands from the Mariners in an Edwin Jackson trade:

"Hearing Tigers sought young pitchers Brandon Morrow and Shawn Kelley for Jackson. Mariners apparently said no."

So the Tigers offered two years of Jackson for four years of Morrow and five of Kelley. Were the Mariners right to turn it down?

Odds & Ends: Gonzalez, Lowell, Mariners

By Mike Axisa | November 28, 2009 at 4:29pm CDT

Links for Saturday…

Bob Ryan of The Boston Globe thinks the Red Sox made a big mistake by letting Alex Gonzalez go to Toronto. I can't say I'd be too upset if my team let a guy with a 78 career OPS+ go, no matter how good his defense was.
ESPN Boston's Gordon Edes writes that even if the Red Sox eat a big chunk of Mike Lowell's contract, they'll still have trouble trading him because of all the third base options on the free agent market.
Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times wrote about all of the flexibility Mariners' GM Jack Zduriencik has going into the winter meetings.
Meanwhile, Larry Stone at The Seattle Times wouldn't be surprised to see Kevin Towers end up with the Mariners because of his relationship with Zduriencik.
Lynn Henning of The Detroit News guesses that the Tigers will offer arbitration to Placido Polanco, Fernando Rodney, and Brandon Lyon before Tuesday's midnight deadline. Polanco is a Type-A free agent, Rodney and Lyon are both Type-B's.
The sale is complete and the Ricketts family has assumed control of the Cubs, according to David Roeder of The Chicago Sun Times.
The deadline for the sale of another team, the Rangers, passed more than a week ago, but owner Tom Hicks hasn't indicated what happened, or how many groups actually made a pitch, according to Barry Shlachter of The Star Telegram.
Patrick Newman of NPB Tracker passes along the news that Jose Contreras has one less suitor in Japan. Meanwhile, Ryo Shinkawa writes that Hiroshima is looking into signing Giancarlo Alvarado, who pitched with the Dodgers' Triple-A affiliate last season, posting a 3.49 ERA.
The best bet for the Red Sox to fill their need at shortstop might be to make a trade, says Tyler Hissey of MVN.com. Hissey suggests that Reid Brignac, Stephen Drew, and Yunel Escobar could be had via trade, but would cost the BoSox a pretty penny.
Steve Melewski of MASN Sports says that the Orioles can find their next closer in-house. Recently, we learned that the O's are one of eight teams interested in free agent Billy Wagner.

Scutaro Prefers The Dodgers And Red Sox

By Mike Axisa | November 28, 2009 at 1:13pm CDT

1:13pm: In a slight correction to his article, Bastian says that the Mariners and Rangers have contacted the 34-year-old, but not necessarily about playing third base (via Twitter).

11:32am: Free agent Marco Scutaro is said to prefer the Dodgers and Red Sox because they give him the best chance to make the postseason, according to a report by Augusto Cardenas of Diaro Panorama, which was passed along by MLB.com's Jordan Bastian. Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times has a quote from Scutaro on the situation:

"Boston is interested, like the Dodgers, Seattle and Texas,'' Scutaro said. "They have just called to say they have interest, but they haven't made an offer yet.

"The Dodgers want me to play second base, shortstop in Boston, and there are other teams who have called to play third. Although not close the doors, I would rather be between short and second.''

Bastian adds that Scutaro hasn't ruled out a return to Toronto, though the Jays will offer the Type-A free agent arbitration so they can receive two draft picks if he heads elsewhere. Baker mentions that the Mariners and Texas have contacted Scutaro about playing third, which makes you wonder what would happen with Michael Young.

Jose Lopez Likely Staying Put In Seattle

By Luke Adams 2 | November 25, 2009 at 9:37am CDT

The Seattle Mariners appear ready to head into 2010 with Jose Lopez as their starting second baseman, according to Larry LaRue of The News Tribune.

The Mariners considered Lopez, who turned 26 yesterday, one of their few trade chips heading into the offseason, but they've received very little interest. Although Lopez is still young and provides power from second base (25 homers last season), his 2009 OBP was exactly in line with his subpar career rate of .303. LaRue also notes that "other teams have seen his lack of range and quickness in the field," though Fangraphs is more forgiving of Lopez's defense (+1.5 UZR/150).

With Lopez virtually "untradeable" and the team unlikely to acquire a better alternative, it looks like the 26-year-old will return to Seattle as their everyday second baseman next year.

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