You know, if the Mariners sign MAELS RODRIGUEZ tomorrow, and put him in the
rotation; that means they might have a pitcher to trade.
And if the cost of Mael's contract comes out of a separate fund, then we
still have enough to go after one of the higher-priced Free Agents.

John

I wonder if we can afford to get rid of any pitchers being thast this
has been our one weak area - not that it stinks or anything but the
bullpen could use some improvement.

John Delahanty wrote:

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004, John Delahanty wrote:

our old plas, the Star-Ledger:
"Rodriguez, according to several people familiar with his situation,
recently turned 24 years old and is seeking a contract on the order of the
four-year, $32 million pact Jose Contreras signed with the Yankees last
winter. It will be interesting to see if he gets it, since he's not
considered as major-league-ready as Contreras was. "He's not as polished
as Contreras," a scout with an interested team said. "He probably would
need some time in the minors. He might be able to be a bullpen guy for a
big-league team right now, but if he's going to be a starter, he might
need a year or a half-year in the minors."

Hickey:
"But it's not clear if Rodriguez is ready to pitch in the major leagues.
Vilars has had to back off earlier hopes that Rodriguez would be worth the
four-year, $32 million deal last winter's prime Cuban defector, Jose
Contreras, raked in."


John Hickey, on the Contreras deal:
"The Mariners could afford to go after Contreras because of the way their
accounting process works. As a never-before-signed player, he would come
under a different listing in the ledger -- acquisitions -- than would a
regular free agent. Which means that the $7 million or so that might have
gone to Contreras isn't available to go to free agents still being pursued
by the Mariners."

"Grandpa" <jsdebooATcomcast.net> wrote in message
news:soOdndCpcbQdnY3dRVn-sw@comcast.com...

I'm not sure why you think pitching has been weak. We had the 4th best team
overall ERA in the Majors last year and the 4th best bullpen ERA. I think
it's been pretty well-documented that our weakness in recent seasons has
been hitting.

Nikko wrote:

For the past few seasons the bullpen could have used another lefthander
for middle relief. Rhodes left and Eddie was to step in to the role of
one lefty. With Kaz leaving, Eddie will become the closer, leaving no
lefties (with experience) out there.

Jeff the Giants Fan

>"Rodriguez, according to several people familiar with his situation,

And are the Yankees pleased with that deal? He was worth about $2M last year,
based on his performance, leaving him with a 3-year $30M contract going
forward, in effect.

Henry

"Jeff Shaw" <jeffstuff1@comcast.net> wrote

which is why Travis Blackley, Craig Anderson, George Sherrill, Randy
Williams,
Jose Nunez and Mike Myers are invited to spring training

Hi everebody Will you give me five countries fames for tourism? Lots of thanks