Thank you, Jack Zduriencik! Veteran lefty Jarrod Washburn was traded to the Tigers today for 23 year old pitcher Luke French and 20 year old fire-baller Mauricio Robles.
This is a wonderful day. Luke French is a very similar pitcher to Jarrod Washburn – the main difference is he’s 12 years younger and is under club control for the next six years. He’s basically a control lefty who gets a lot of fly balls. He’s not an ace by any means, but he’s still very young, and already a decent #4 or 5 starter.
Mauricio Robles was the real prize of this [...]

So, here we are. There are roughly 16 hours until the trade deadline, and Jarrod Washburn is, as far as we know, still a Mariner. Many of the teams that were being linked to him a few days ago, no longer make much sense.
The Brewers have fallen far enough back in the standings, that it’s unlikely they’d be willing to give up much for a rent-a-player.
The Twins are still a possibility, but I haven’t heard anything about them pursuing him, and although the Yankees seem like the best candidates, they seem to be unwilling to give up anything of value. [...]

The big story in the Mariners news today came from a 22 year old left handed pitcher in Derek Holland.
He had the Mariners hitters off balance all night long. He did an amazing  job of switching his pitches up and changing speeds. He carried a perfect game into the 5th where Jack Hannahan hit a little broken bat blooper on an 0-2 count up the middle. He showed tonight why the Blue Jays insist that he is involved in any deal that would have to do with Roy Halladay.
As for the Mariners starter, Garrett Olson, he did not do quite [...]

As you should know by now, the Mariners pulled off a semi-blockbuster trade today. Seattle sent Jeff Clement, Ronny Cedeno, and three minor league pitchers to the Pirates for shortstop Jack Wilson and starting pitcher Ian Snell.
Now, I did not get the feeling from this trade that it was aimed towards making a run this season. At this point, it wouldn’t be smart to make a trade that would only benefit us for the next two months. No, what I took from this trade, was that it was aimed at making this team better for the next two months, and [...]

Today, the Mariners were heading into the game against the Blue Jays still trying to get back to playing “Wak Ball”.
They came into the game 7.5 games back of the division leading Angels, and were trying to pickup a game  against the best pitcher in the league in Roy Halladay.
The Mariners did a good job of putting pressure on the Blue Jays Ace, they had men in scoring position in every one of the first four innings and finally were able to come through with a 2 out home run by Jose Lopez.  They  were able to tack on 2 [...]

Reports are being confirmed all over the place that the Mariners have traded minor league catcher Jeff Clement, major league shortstop Ronny Cedeno, and minor league pitchers Nathan Adcock, Brett Lorin, and Aaron Pribanic to the Pittsburgh Pirates for veteran shortstop Jack Wilson, and young starting pitcher Ian Snell.
This is by no means a steal, but it looks like an alright deal from the Mariners side. None of the three pitching prospects were anything amazing, while Clement really had no place in this organization and Cedeno is well… Cedeno.
Jack Wilson is a 31 year old shortstop, with really good defense [...]

Jarrod Washburn pitched seven innings of one run ball tonight, in what probably was his last outing as a Mariner. He left the game with a 3-1 lead, but was robbed of the win when Mark Lowe couldn’t hold it. With two outs in the eighth, and lead cut down to one, he allowed the Blue Jays to tie it up on an Alex Rios RBI double.
The Mariners scored their first three runs on a Mike Sweeney RBI ground out in the first, and a Chris Shelton RBI double followed by a Jack Hannahan RBI single in the sixth.
Jarrod Washburn [...]

Daniel Abbas, a writer over at Bleacher Report, conducted an AL West roundtable today, asking five questions to a writer for each of the four teams.
The writers involved are Bo Reed (Texas Rangers), Griffin Cooper(me) (Seattle Mariners), Nathaniel Stoltz (Oakland Athletics), and Johnathan Kroncke (Los Angeles Angeles).
1. Who is the best player in the AL West?
BR: Ichiro and it’s not even a contest. The guy just keeps hitting and it doesn’t matter who he faces. He’s one of the few players that can kill you with the right hit at the right time. Whether he needs to hit it out [...]

As you know, the Mariners have been rumored to be shopping Jarrod Washburn. The Mariners are on a 4 game skid and things are not looking up.
As you also know, The Phillies are looking to add a solid starter to there rotation.  Although they would prefer Halladay, Jarrod Washburn is not to far of a step down. He has been putting up career numbers across the board and is not showing any signs of slowing down.
Although 34 years old, Jarrod Washburn would be a very solid addition to a team like the Phillies. Many people believe Washburn’s season is a [...]

Do you remember a few days ago, when everyone around baseball, and on ESPN, was talking about how great the Mariners pitching staff was? Well, those days may be over.
The Mariners gave up 10+ runs for the third game in a row today, and 9+ for the fourth game in a row, in an 11-4 loss to the Blue Jays. The other three times, we could make excuses. We could say it was because we weren’t putting forward good starting pitchers, or we could say Bedard was still hurt. Today was different though, today was Felix day.
Even Felix Hernandez, who [...]