February 9
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Newly acquired starting pitcher Cliff Lee will miss the start of the Seattle Mariners spring training after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur on his left foot Friday, the team announced Monday. Lee, 31, had surgery in Little Rock, Ark., after a spur in his foot recently broke loose. Lee will not require a cast and will return to normal baseball activities over a period of two to three weeks, the team said. Pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report to the team's facility in Peoria, Ariz., in nine days on Feb. 17, meaning Lee will apparently be sidelined at least for the first week or so. "We decided Lee should have the surgery as soon as possible, rather than try to pitch with ..."
February 7
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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The Mariners signed left-handed free agent pitcher Erik Bedard to a one-year contract with a mutual option for 2011, the team announced Saturday morning. Rumors of Bedard's return had been swirling since midweek, and Friday Bedard confirmed to French-language Canadian newspaper Le Droit that he was flying to Mariners spring training headquarters in Peoria, Ariz., to take a physical. The team has been supervising Bedard's recovery from shoulder surgery, so the physical seemed to be little more than a formality. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Bedard told Le Droit that it would be for $1.5 million in 2010 with incentives. "We think Erik is an important piece for us to add," ..."
February 6
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Erik Bedard told the Ontario newspaper Le Droit that he accepted an incentive-laden deal for one year and $1.5 million with the Mariners. The deal is dependent on Bedard passing a physical. "I'm really happy. It was my first choice to return to Seattle," Bedard told the paper while on his way to Peoria."
February 6
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Just a few weeks ago, former Mariners left-handed Jarrod Washburn was rejecting an offer from the Minnesota Twins in the ballpark of $5 million for one year. He reportedly was interested in playing for the Twins or the Mariners. Now, with Erik Bedard apparently returning to the Mariners and the Twins using their remaining budget to sign second baseman Orlando Hudson, Washburn might have one option left – retirement."
February 5
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Jack Zduriencik is on a once-in-a-lifetime roll, and the biggest question is why it took baseball so long to give him the opportunity to get it started. The former high school football coach, about to start his second season as the Seattle Mariners general manager, is 59. Perhaps because he didn't get a GM job until late in his career, he hasn't wasted much time.A year ago he brought he Mariners Franklin Gutierrez, David Aardsma, Russell Branyan, Jack Wilson, Ian Snell, Mike Sweeney and Ken Griffey Jr.This winter, he's acquired Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley - trading the untradeable Carlos Silva! - Chone Figgins, Brandon League, Casey Kotchman, Eric Byrnes, Ryan Garko and another season of ..."
January 31
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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One of the first-ever posts I wrote on The Ghost of Moonlight Graham last December was that the New York Mets should trade for Eric Byrnes. At the time-and I still believe this-the Mets needed a player likes Byrnes. Byrnes is a gritty, hard-nosed gamer who is great for any team's clubhouse. I thought the Mets could use a personality like Byrnes to help bring their team together. Now, a little over a year later, he was released by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Any team was free to sign the 33-year-old. Since Arizona is paying Byrnes' salary in 2010 ($11 million), any team could have had Byrnes for the league minimum. The team that is hoping Byrnes' hard-nosed attitude helps them next season is ..."
January 25
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Andy Auger
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Despite their recent success, the Tampa Bay Rays remain as one of baseball's thriftiest teams (not saying that's a bad thing; rather, it's a good thing), and that preference is not likely to change anytime soon in an economic recession. There was a blurb in Sports Illustrated citing a Boston Globe report that the Rays will likely offload stars Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena before the trade deadline in 2010. A deal does seem very likely given their payroll will be somewhere around the 2009 figure of $44 million; Crawford and Pena will likely command around $10 million apiece on the open market at least. Crawford brings all the intangibles Seattle General Manager Jack Zduriencik loves in ..."
January 23
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Jim Moore
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As you no doubt know by now, I measure a man differently than most. It truly shouldn't matter if a guy plays golf, drinks beer and owns a dog, but it does to me. That said, I don't know what to make of Cliff Lee, who was introduced to the Seattle-area media Friday afternoon at Safeco Field. Lee might give the Mariners a pair of aces and a reasonable shot at the 2010 World Series, but he doesn't golf, he drinks beer maybe once a month, and he kind-of has a dog but really doesn't. Using veteran journalistic savvy that has gotten me absolutely nowhere in life, I unearthed these Cliff Lee nuggets from his wife while other reporters chased the more pertinent baseball story with her husband. ..."
January 23
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Cliff Lee donned the Seattle Mariners hat and slipped on the No. 36 white Mariners home jersey over his dark blue button-up shirt. With each arm through the sleeves, he buttoned a few buttons and looked out at the assembled media and Mariners front office employees on-hand at Safeco Field. "It's a nice fit," he said. Not missing a beat, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik replied, "That's what we hope." After being acquired in a trade for three minor league prospects from the Philadelphia Phillies on Dec. 16, 2009, Lee was officially introduced to the local media on Friday afternoon, a day after his soon-to-be teammate Felix Hernandez was in Seattle to sign his 5-year, $78 million ..."
January 22
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
columnist Art Thiel
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For those thinking $78 million over five years is a lot for a baseball pitcher, consider that the sum is less than double what NBC is paying Conan O'Brien to not tell jokes on TV for eight months. Another way to look at the amount is that it's maybe three linear feet of light rail. Or way less than what the Sonics once paid Vin Baker, Calvin Booth and Jim McIlvaine collectively to do impressions of fence posts. It's all relative, you know? Still, the Mariners have never paid so much, for so long, for a pitcher. The one and only time they guaranteed as many as four years to a pitcher was Jarrod Washburn, and he gave them three seasons of muck and a half-season of high quality before being ..."
January 22
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Seattle general manager Jack Zduriencik has been around baseball long enough to know that pitchers like Felix Hernandez simply don't come around to organizations every year. Sure each organization is filled with good pitchers, but Hernandez has proven to be somewhere well beyond good and even perhaps past great at the ripe old age of 23. It's why Zduriencik and the Mariners gave Hernandez a 5-year, $78-million contract extension. "We realize that what this young man has accomplished at 23 years of age is pretty special," Zduriencik said. " We realize that AT LEAST for the next five years we'll have Felix Hernandez in a Seattle Mariner uniform. That assays something about the commitment to ..."
January 21
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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The Mariners have again avoided the arbitration bargaining table, signing recently acquired reliever Brandon League to a one-year deal worth a reported $1,087,500. League, 26, came to the Mariners as the main piece of a trade for Brandon Morrow. He appeared in a career-high 67 games last season with the Blue Jays, going 3-6 with a 4.58 ERA, nine holds and 76 strikeouts."
January 20
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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John Lackey, A.J. Burnett, and Felix Hernandez don't seem to have a lot in common, but after a recent contract extension for Hernandez, their salaries are all very similar. Fortunately for the Mariners and general manager Jack Zduriencik, they seem to have made the best investment of the three teams. At 23 years old, King Felix is already a better pitcher than Lackey and Burnett, and the future looks even brighter. Hernandez's extension seems like the capper for a phenomenal offseason by the Mariners front office. Here is just a few of the moves that Zduriencik has made that will make the Mariners an AL West favorite for this year and beyond."
January 19
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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Reports breaking late Monday night on the West Coast are that the Seattle Mariners have agreed to a multi-year contract extension with right-handed ace Felix Hernandez. The terms have not yet been released, and the deal is reportedly still pending a physical. Hernandez, who turns 24 on April 8, was 19-5 with a 2.46 ERA in 2009, striking out 217 in 238.2 innings pitched."
January 19
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
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One of Jack Zduriencik's biggest goals this offseason was to lock up young pitching ace Felix Hernandez to a contract extension and the Seattle Mariners appear to have pulled that off Monday, according to an ESPN report. Though no contract terms were reported, ESPN analyst Keith Law says a source with direct knowledge of the talks tells him a multi-year deal is now in place, pending a physical by Hernandez. If Law's information is correct, that would be huge news for Mariners' fans who already have seen the team trade for pitching ace Cliff Lee, third baseman Chone Figgins and left fielder Milton Bradley as well as the long-term signing of center fielder Franklin Gutierrez and the one-year ..."