Two years into a five-year, $64 million contract, Adrian Beltre has produced a .262 average, 44 home runs, and 176 RBIs. However, after the All Star break in 2006, Beltre slugged .552 with a whopping 18 home runs. Does this strong second half bode well for a turn-around in 2007, or will Mariners fans have to deal with 'A-Drain' once again? This blog intends to follow the 2007 season for Adrian Beltre, and the Seattle Mariners, and promises to hold no punches.



Mariners wrap-up, Jan. 5th


E-mail this post



Remember me (?)



All personal information that you provide here will be governed by the Privacy Policy of Blogger.com. More...



After a morning in which the Seattle P-I noted that the Mariners may not be done dealing, it was announced that the M's got their pitching staff a little more league-average with the signing of journeyman Chris Reitsma to a one-year $2 million deal. I understand what Bavasi meant with his quote in the P-I story of the Mariners "never being done and want to keep getting better." That still doesn't explain the Reitsma signing.

Oh, Reitsma is servicable enough, I suppose. His greatest tool to offer the M's is his flexibility. He is just 29, and started as much as 29 games just four years ago, and averaged 80 games and a 4.00 ERA for the Braves between 2004 & 2005. Sure Reitsma's 2006 sucked in the most general use of the word- 1-2, with a 8.68 ERA- but in the bright side his 2007 can only improve. Right?

Perhaps the most interesting point I gleamed from the Yahoo! story was the arm troubles of Mark Lowe. I totally glossed over his injury problems at the end of last season, and with his absnece for any indefinite amount of time- epsecially when supposedly being replaced by such dreck as Reitsma- does not nearly instill as much confidence in the M's bull-pen as Lowe's healthy presence would otherwise. Oh well. At least the M's got a Meche-replacement in the Reitsma signing, but for $9 million less.

Speaking of Meche, whoever thought he would grace the front of Yahoo!'s main baseball page?:


And, oh yeah, after two seasons in which Randy Johnson "failed to fit in" as a New York Yankee despite winning a total of 34 games, he was traded back to Arizona where he can retire after winning his 300th game near his home in the desert. Though RJ will be far from great next season, his presence combined with returning Cy Young winner brandon Webb in the rotation, plus a line-up stocked with young studs- Drew, Young, Quentin, Tracy, and Jackson- allow the D'backs a pretty tough team to challenge for the NL West title in 2007. This deal may end up helping out both teams, as the Yankees get younger, but the D'Backs get better.

Reading about the trade discusions- especially in the New York Times, who mentioned Scott Bradley, Johnson's catcher in the early mullet-headed 1990s- brought me memories of listening to RJ's final strike-out in his 2-0 no-hit shut-out of the Detroit Tigers, perhaps my most exciting baseball memory. One I'm sure will duplicated by Chris Reitsma in '07....

links to this post

0 Responses to “Mariners wrap-up, Jan. 5th”

Leave a Reply

      Convert to boldConvert to italicConvert to link

 

Links to this post:

<\$BlogItemBacklinkCreate\$>


Crew

  • true_slicky
  • yo adrian
  • Bricktroof
  • Previous posts

    Archives

    Seattle Mariners Weblogs

    Other Mariners Sites

    Baseball Links

    Other Cool Links to Check Out: