Mike Sweeney didn't do much for Oakland last year. He hit 2 homers in 126 at bats after coming over from Kansas City, where he played 13 seasons and earned 5 all star appearances. And whereas those 2 shots were very rewarding, they weren't enough to propel the A's out of 3rd place. The Seattle Mariners seem to think he's capable of more, and signed him to a minor league deal this week.
Something is going on in Seattle, whose front office has been sniffing around the likes of Bobby Abreu and Ken Griffey Jr. The Mariners have been frenetic in both the free agent and trade markets, and seem desperate to redeem themselves from a humiliating 101 loss season in 2008. The losses themselves were embarrassing, but the shame gets really thick in the context of their 100MM payroll. Seattle was the richest team to ever lose 100 games. Not exactly top honors.
This offseason has been a crash course in franchise re-org. In an unusually bold move, the Mariners made Oakland's long time bench coach Don Wakamatsu their new manager. Loved by A's fans, he has a daunting task ahead of him; a veritable balancing act of inflated contracts, aging position players and very, very high expectations. Wakamatsu's departure is eerily similar to former A's 1st base coach Ron Washington's transition to manager of the Texas Rangers, another AL West division rival. It would seem that our closest opponents think pretty highly of Oakland's management personnel.
This week the Mariners traded Aaron Heilman away to the Cubs for Garret Olson and Cedeno. The acquired David Aardsma from the Red Sox for a minor league pitcher, and managed to avoid arbitration with Felix Hernandez. They also resigned Erik Bedard, who looked like an oft-injured bust after getting big money as a free agent out of Baltimore... but inspired enough confidence in management to justify an contract extension. Most of these moves have focused on the pitching staff,
These changes do little to strike fear into the hearts of A's fans. Seattle's mismanaged assets are about as terrifying as Gumbi. Pitching was their most glaring inadequacy and they have done what they could to remedy that. The new and improved green and gold lineup proves to be a formidable challenge for the Mariner's rotation... Garret Olsen or no. Ichiro is still around, slapping base hits to the oposite feild. Raul Ibanez is now a Philly. Even Wakamatsu's departure is to be expected in such a competitive game. I see Seattle finishing 3rd in the AL West... with some trouble.
moshi moshi!!
next installment, Texas Rangers.
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