FanSided

Seattle Mariners News And Rumors

By Dan Hughes |
3 of 4
Next

Good morning Mariners fans. You have exactly four shopping days until Christmas. Matt Seto will have a look at some last-minute gift ideas for you tomorrow. But for today, it’s time to look back at the week that was and catch you up to speed on all of the things that affect the M’s.

Turn on the Christmas music, light the fire, grab your Seattle’s Best because it’s a Mariners Morning.

Minor moves

So the Mariners may not have made any more major moves this week – more on that later – but they did make a couple of minor ones.

Seattle designated Chance Ruffin for assignment because they needed a roster spot for Franklin Gutierrez. That’s right, Guti signed a one-year deal with the M’s this week because they were encouraged by reports that he was healthy.

The $1M deal has $2M in incentives built in, presumably based on playing time.

The Mariners also re-signed Charlie Furbush to a one-year deal worth $750K.

Furbush wasn’t arbitration eligible yet, but now the Mariners don’t have to worry about him becoming eligible if Ruben Tejada‘s pending grievance against the New York Mets changes that.

Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports

Players who signed elsewhere

The free agent market continues to thin as multiple players that had been possibly linked to the Mariners are coming off the board.

Of those who signed this week:

Raul Ibanez added another team to his resume by agreeing to a deal with the Los Angeles Angels.

The San Diego Padres came to terms with closer Joaquin Benoit. And the Baltimore Orioles had been close to signing closer Grant Balfour, but sources now say that deal has fallen through.

Finally, the Twins agreed to terms with free agent veteran catcher Kurt Suzuki, whom the Mariners had been looking at as well.

Oh dear God…..what did I just do? The M’s are gonna sign others, right? Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Mariners are out of money?

Probably the biggest bombshell of the week was the news that the Seattle Mariners may be done spending this offseason.

Ken Rosenthal – who has been wishy-washy about the Mariners moves all winter – broke the news.

Let me assure you, the Mariners are not nearing any payroll limit. I revealed what I believe is the Mariners game plan in a post that night (you can see it here). There is no way they brought Robinson Cano to Seattle with the following conversation:

Cano: So, I’d like to come to Seattle and help you win a title. What pieces will you bring in to support me?
Jack Zduriencik: Well, we were thinking about bringing back an injury-riddled center fielder, singing Corey Hart and trading for Logan Morrison.
Cano: (stunned silence) THAT’S AWESOME! LET’S DO IT!

That didn’t happen. JZ probably told Cano and Jay-Z that they would go hard after a trade for David Price, sign Shin-Soo Choo and/or Nelson Cruz and try for Matt Garza or Ervin Santana. Now the odds that they will get none of those is increasing rapidly.

I still think it’s a ploy. Time will tell.

Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports

Rumors

So, despite the story that the Mariners are done spending, they continue to be linked to many names stiil floating around. Here’s the latest:

Ervin Santana: The Mariners are still said to be in the running for Santana.

I’m sure the M’s were interested in Masahiro Tanaka, but now that he will more than likely not be posted this year, they want to add SOMEONE to the rotation.

David Price: The pesky Price rumors won’t go away. According to a source within the Tampa Bay Rays, Taijuan Walker doesn’t have to be in a deal to get it done. They like Mike Zunino as well. But he would be the starting point. Chances are, the deal would have to include James Paxton as well and probably either Nick Franklin or Dustin Ackley.

Nick Franklin: Multiple teams have inquired about Franklin’s availability. Not too sure at this point what to make of all of that. Don’t know what kind of deal could be done with any possible team. I will go out on a limb and suggest that the teams interested are the Atlanta Braves, New York Mets and the Toronto Blue Jays.

That’s all the news that’s fit to link today. As always, if and when the Mariners do anything else, we will have it for you.

Enjoy your weekend.

Next
Home / Mariners Rumors

Schedule