Rain Delay

More head off to Minor League Camp

According to The Transaction guy, Clement among others re-assigned.

Seattle Mariners option LHP Bobby Livingston to AAA Tacoma and reassign SS Matt Tuiasosopo, 2B/SS Asdrubal Cabrera, 1B Todd Sears, C Jeff Clement and C Rob Johnson to minor-league camp.

Tuiasosopo is the son and brother of NFL players and has been the #5 prospect in the Seattle organization for the last two seasons. He’s a shortstop right now, but the general feeling is that he’s too big (6’2”, 210) to play there, and that he’ll eventually move to third base. Cabrera is right behind him on the prospect list, but he doesn’t hit well enough to be moved out of the middle infield, and he’s stuck behind Yuniesky Betancourt and Jose Lopez so he’ll get another shot at AAA to prove he can hit enough to be a productive major leaguer.

Emphasis is not mine.

M's, AquaSox extend partnership

As reported over at the USS Mariner yesterday, the M's extend thier agreement with the Everett Aquasox through the 2008 season.

The AquaSox have been affiliated with the Mariners for 11 seasons. They became part of Seattle's minor league system in September 1994. Bellingham was Seattle's affiliate from 1977-94.

"The AquaSox management and fans make this an easy decision as our players and staff enjoy first class treatment while competing in the Northwest League," Mariners vice president of player development Benny Looper said in a statement.

M's in Winterball

If you haven't checked yet, head over to Mariner Minor's. He's got the stats from M's players playing winter ball this year. One stat line makes me a tad twitchy.

IF Jose Lopez: .154/.214/.154 in 14 at-bats, run, 1/3 BB/K

Though I will give in that he's only had 14AB's. Still, he's more than likely going to be the M's starting second bagger. I have high hopes for Lopez, in my opinion is going to have a break out year. That's if he gets the starting gig. If not, it could be a long spring/summer for Lopez.

Jose Lopez's stats via The Baseball Cube

Burba back in SeaTown

Dave Burba who came up with the Mariners in the 90's has signed a minor league deal with a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Another veteran starter is off the market as Dave Burba has agreed to $500,000 minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners.

Like Jeff said over at Lookout Landing, he's turning 40 this year and hasn't started 15 games in a year since the 2002 season. I honestly don't think Burba will make the team, and I'm sure he wont be one to take a trip to the Bus Leagues as he sat out part a big chunk of the last season in AAA with the Round Rock Express.

Dave Burba's Stats via The Baseball Cube

M's purchase another Catcher

According to "Minor Details" over at MVN. The M's purchased the rights to another catcher, on the heels of purchasing the rights to Tony Sanguinetti of the now defunct Richmond Rooster's. This time it's 27 year old Yuma Scorpions back stop Jason Dewey.

Here's what "Minor Details" had to say about Dewey:

Dewey, 27, is expected to begin the season at Double-A or Triple-A depending on his work this spring. He ranked among the league leaders in home runs, RBI, runs, and doubles last season for Yuma. By the end of the season, Dewey had become so enamored with the city and its lifestyle that he had launched a successful mortgage broker business for off-season employment at the conclusion of the 2005 campaign.

Dewey returns to affiliated baseball for the first time since playing at Double-A for the Rangers’ organization. He hit .196-6-20 for Frisco before being let go. He spent 2004 in Camden (.250-0-7) and Newark (.254-5-34) before moving to Yuma last season.

So, two catchers in the same week. Maybe the Mariners are on the hunt to stock pile catchers? The M's did use 7 different catchers in the 2005 campaign. I could see the front office insuring their future one way or another at catcher.

They signed Kenji Jojima, but I can see where they're looking beyond his services. And there's no lock, that Johjima will be the answer to the Mariners catching woes.

Cuba in, and a correction

WBC gets their way, Cuba is going to be allowed to take part in the WBC. There had been talk here and there that if Cuba was denied for a second time, that the International Baseball Council would with draw it's sanction of the World Baseball Classic.

Though Cuba, had to agree to terms:

"This agreement ensures that no funding will make its way into the hands of the Castro regime. The Treasury is pleased to now be able to issue this license and looks forward to seeing all of the teams showcase their talents on the international stage."

Now we all know I'm not the biggest fan of the WBC, but it's good to see that the U.S. government got their heads from out between their butt cheeks long enough to see that this was going to be all good to begin with.  Even Castro himself, got into the middle of it:

HAVANA (AP) -- Fidel Castro suggested the United States doesn't want to play Cuba in the World Baseball Classic, which is awaiting word on whether the U.S. government will let the island's players take part.

"We aren't afraid of anything," Castro said in a wide-ranging speech late Tuesday. "It's very difficult to compete against us in any area ... not even in baseball do they want to compete with Cuba."

I guess it'll be put up, or shut up time now.

Yesterday I posted the stats for Tony Sanguinetti due to the fact that his rights were bought by the M's. Well, after doing some more research the stats I listed from Baseball America, hadn't been updated. That's what I get for not looking at multiple sources.

Had I gone to The Baseball Cube, I would've gotten the right numbers. And honestly these numbers look allot better than the ones from yesterday.

.274/.333/.559/ in 82 games with 22HR 72RBI

He struck out 81 times, still at about the same every 3 at bats rate I had posted yesterday.

M's buy rights, Frenchy + WBC

According to the Palladium-Item in Richmond Indiana, the Mariners have bought the rights to Richmond Roosters Catcher Tony Sanguinetti. The team is now defunct, but I was able to find some stats from last season. Here they are:

   .228/.324/.364 in 53 games with 4HR 22RBI's

Not overly impressive, add to that 50 SO's in 162AB's. That's a rate of about every 3 AB's or so. So I'm not sure why they would even buy the rights? Maybe just as a guy to fill out a minor league roster?  Maybe he'll pan out, though he's got a couple guys ahead of him, including Jeff Clement who is being talked about as the future of the M's at the backstop.

You'll come to find out, that I'm very critical when it comes to the Catcher position.  I was a catcher through little league and highschool , even got to try out for the Braves in one of those open tryout's and played a couple season's of amateur ball. But that was shortly after I graduated high school, oh so long ago.  And as we know with the M's, the catcher spot last season was a revolving door.  A revolving door, that never really spit out anything good.

Hopeful that'll change with Jojima behind the dish.

Tell me I'm not the only one that's not all that giddy about the World Baseball Classic?  Not sure why, maybe it's the fact most of this will be taking place during Spring Training? Though I guess there's no other time to do it.

With that said, there are 21 M's spread throughout the WBC teams. Keep in mind these are just the provisional rosters. They'll be trimmed down to 30 by the time play starts.

As expected, 19-year-old Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez was on Venezuela's roster, but Seattle's grievance against his participation has not been heard. The Mariners believe Hernandez's youth makes him an injury risk.

The Mariners have also filed an objection to prevent pitcher Travis Blackley from participating. Blackley, coming off shoulder surgery last February, was included on Australia's roster, as was pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith.

I'm not sure how I'm supposed to feel about the M's filing a grievance. One part of me says, let the kid pay for the love of all that's holy. The other part of me, the more baseball minded says "Damn it man, the kids a phenom. The M's are hedging their bets and protecting a investment."  An investment that could pay off in spades in '06 and beyond.

He can't compete for rookie of the year (too many innings). But I see him challenging for ERA, Cy Young and at the least top 10 in strike outs. The more I think about it, the more it would a shame if they let King Felix do this, and then have him blow out his arm.

Now wouldn't that just suck??

Another Brave has been added to a WBC Roster, check it under the fold.