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Monday, December 22, 2003

SLOW IN THE MARINER CAMP 

John Hickey didn't give me much to work with in today's article. Just some more stuff about the Mariners' pursuit of Rich Aurilia. You know, I like Rich Aurilia, though he probably seemed like a good player to me because those Giants teams he was on were so good. He's not that much of an improvement over Guillen, though, and he'll probably have a higher salary than Guillen. Basically, paying more for less is dumb. Unfortunately, Bavasi doesn't know that, ref. the Vizquel almost-trade.

Bob Finnigan. More to work with, but more to laugh at. I'm laughing mainly because of Jeremy's post from the other night.

From the Finn article...
The [Mariners] may have interest in the likes of...Jared Sandberg (Tampa Bay).
Jeremy is a prophet, ladies and gentlemen. And the Finnster didn't even touch on Li'l Ryno's local ties.

One of those could be left-hander Andy Van Hekken, the one-time Seattle prospect who went to Detroit in the Brian Hunter trade and made the majors two years ago with the Tigers. Because of their former connection and Van Hekken being a lefty, Seattle could take a chance there.
So that's all it takes? Does anyone out there have a former connection with Seattle and is a lefty? The Mariners and Bavasi should be on the market soon for the likes of Erik Plantenburg, Tim Davis, Dave Fleming, Lee Guetterman, Matt Young, Russ Swan, Greg McCarthy, et. al.

When it comes to links, however, none may be stronger for Seattle than that with Braden Looper, nephew of farm director Benny Looper and cousin of Mariners pitcher Aaron Looper. Bringing in Looper, who had 28 saves for the Marlins last year, would give Seattle five potential closers, so that move may be unlikely.
Well, thank goodness for that, I guess. I'll go out on a limb here and say the Mariners got the bad end of both the Zimmerman and the Looper siblings. It just seems like Jeff and Braden were better than Jordan and Aaron, though I guess the jury is still out on Aaron Looper.

Yes, kids, the Mariners' Hot Stove League has been one giant letdown this winter, and since there's no Tejada, it can only get so much better.

We're less than two months from spring training...

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