Mariners, Byrnes agree on one-year contract

On Friday the Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik went back to his "buy low, end up high" mentality when the team came to an agreement on a one year contract with free agent outfielder Eric Byrnes.

Byrnes, who turns 34 in February of this year, will be entering his tenth year in the majors, with his third team in his career.

The signing of Byrnes gives the Mariners a much needed right-handed bat to most likely come off the bench this season.

In 2009 Byrnes played in only 84 games for the Arizona Diamondbacks with eight homeruns, 26 runs, 54 hits and 31 RBI's.

Byrnes has a career .321 OBP, .442 slugging percentage and a .763 OPS.

Eric Byrnes is out to prove to the Mariners and the rest of the league that he is once again healthy, something he hasn't been in two years since he signed a three year $30 million dollar contract with the Diamondbacks.

Byrnes said in a conference call with Seattle reporters that he was "I just needed a team to believe in me half as much as I believe in myself".

With the Seattle Mariners Brynes he feels like he has that belief.

The addition of Byrnes adds another notable name to the list of top off season acquisitions with the likes of Chone Figgins, Cliff Lee, Milton Bradley, Casey Kotchman as well as the extensions of Felix Hernandez and Franklin Gutierrez.

With this "believe big" motto for 2010 it's clear that Don Wakamatsu and Jack Zduriencik are doing more than aiming for a division title in 2010.

NOTE: The Mariners designated Tommy Everidge for assignment to make room for Byrnes on the roster.

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Derek Lowe a Fit For The Seattle Mariners?

As the hot stove season moves alone the talent level and the big names start to come off the market. This week Jason Bay, the second best hitter on the free agent market was plucked off the market when Bay and the New York Mets came to an agreement on a four year, $66 million dollar contract with an "easy vesting option" that can push the contract to $80 million over five years.

That leaves Cardinals/A's left fielder Matt Halliday as the main headline hitter left on the free agent market.

There is a pretty weak crop of starting pitchers left on the free agent market with Joel Pineiro, Ben Sheets, Jarrod Washburn, Aroldis Chapman and Erik Bedard all make up the decent crop of remaining free agent starting pitchers.

So that leaves the trade market for teams, including the Mariners to find a starting pitcher. The Braves have already moved Javier Vazquez to the Yankees. The Phillies and Mariners were involved in a monumental blockbuster trade which sent Roy Halliday to the Phillies and Cliff Lee to the Seattle Mariners.

That leaves Braves SP Derek Lowe, Reds SP Aaron Harang, and possibly Bronson Arroyo but if the Reds move Harang they won't move Arroyo. So one of the two Reds starting pitchers and Derek Lowe remain the top pitchers on the trading block.

Now the Seattle Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik have stated this off season that they want to acquire two top tier starting pitchers to add to the rotation behind Cy Young runner up Felix Hernandez.

Zduriencik has already acquired one top end starter in Cliff Lee and his search is now to find a suitable No 3. starter behind Felix and Cliff Lee.

Derek Lowe would be a viable option as a No 3. starter that Zduriencik could look to acquire.

The Braves, if they decided to move Lowe want to dump the majority of his $15 million dollar salary and are willing to receive major league players as well as maybe a prospect to get a deal done involving Lowe.

The Mariners as it stands right now would have a starting rotation like this.

Felix Hernandez
Cliff Lee
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Ian Snell
Doug Fister

The Mariners and GM Jack Zduriencik are looking for a solid 15 wins pitcher to put in that third slot so that they can move down Rowland-Smith and Snell.

Derek Lowe would be the perfect fit for the Mariners. Lowe is a ground ball pitcher and in a park like Safeco that's a wonderful trait to have. Not only would Lowe work great in a pitchers park like Safeco but the Mariners also have one of if not the best defensive infield in baseball with Chone Figgins (3B), Jack Wilson (SS), Jose Lopez at 2B and other fill in players around the diamond.

Now the only tricky part in this deal would be how the Mariners can offset the contract of Lowe who stands to make $15 million in 2010, 2011 and 2012.

The Mariners could work a deal with the Braves involving OF Milton Bradley, who stands to make $9 million in 2010 and $12 million in 2011.

Most likely the Mariners would have the Braves compensate for the missing $6 million between Lowe's contract and Bradley's contract. Most likely the Mariners would have to throw in a mid level prospect to get the Braves to take $6-8 million of Lowe's salary for the deal to become complete.

So as the title of the article asks is Derek Lowe a fit for the Seattle Mariners? Well with a few tweaks in a possible trade the answer would be yes.

Lowe would be a welcome addition to the Mariners starting rotation and be a great No 3. starter behind Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee.

Over the last eight seasons Derek Lowe has averaged 206 IP, 127 K's, 58 BB's and 15 wins each season.

Breaking Down The Morrow-League Trade

The Mariners finalized the Brandon Morrow for Brandon League and Johermyn Chavez of the Toronto Blue Jays. The trade comes a week after the blockbuster Cliff Lee-Roy Halladay trade which sent prospects from Philadelphia to Toronto.

In that trade Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik sent former No. 1 pick Phillipe Aumont and to other prospects to the Phillies in exchange for SP Cliff Lee. Zduriencik continues to put his impressive finger print on the Mariners franchise by trading or releasing all of former Mariners GM Bill Bavasi players.

Good news for Mariners fans is that Felix Hernandez and Ichiro Suzuki were not brought in by Bavasi.

Now back to the Brandon Morrow- Brandon League trade.

If you look at it on paper it seems like the Jays come out the clear winner but if you did deeper its not as one sided as people are making it out to be.

In his career with the Seattle Mariners, Brandon Morrow has been the guy "who was picked instead of Tim Lineceum", the San Francisco Giants Cy Young winner. In his career Morrow has bounced between being a starting pitcher, relief pitcher and even trying to become a closer last year.

Now mostly to blame for this is former M's GM Bill Bavasi and his staff of clowns but Morrow get's the blame for last season. He said he didn't feel comfortable enough being a starting pitcher so he wanted to become a closer.

Fair enough, he's got the fastball to do it.

Well in a series against the Texas Rangers Brandon Morrow blew two straight saves giving up three homeruns in the process.

Afterwards he was sent down to AAA Tacoma to fix the kinks and develop more. He's never developed into a quality pitcher let alone what people think he can be which is a front line starting pitcher.

Well unless he goes back to single A ball he's just not going to be that big time starting pitcher. Now yes Morrow has shown flashes of greatness with the almost no-hitter against the New York Yankees.

Now for the two players the Mariners will receive in exchange for Morrow, relief pitcher Brandon League and OF Johermyn Chavez (Triple Crown winner in Single A this past season).

League brings an added presents to the Mariners bullpen which was very key to the Mariners success last season. David Aardsma's 38 saves and the rest of the bullpen locking it down.

League brings a great two seem fastball and he's plus groundball pitcher which is great considering the outstanding defense behind him with Chone Figgins, Jack Wilson and others.

League went 3-6 last season with a 4.58 ERA and 76 SO in 67 appearances for the Jays.

The other player the Mariners received in the deal, outfielder Johermyn Chavez is a Jack Zduriencik type of player.

Chavez, a 20 year old who hit .283 with 21 homeruns and 89 RBI's last season for class single A Lansing is an outstanding complete hitter, who still needs to work on a few things before becoming a MLB player.

Luckily for Chavez time is greatly on this side. Chavez's 2009 stats are as follows.

.283 BA, 87 Runs, 144 hits, 21 HR's, 89 RBI's, 40 BB, 137 SO's, .346 OBP, .474 SLG and a .820 OPS.

Chavez will most likely start the season in class A in either Clinton (with the Lumberjacks) or High A Desert Mavericks.

Chavez is an upgrade over former OF prospect Tyson Gillies who was traded to Philadelphia in the Lee deal.

Look for Jack Zduriencik to continue building for his year, which he's pick as 2010.

Wise Money: Mariners sign 3B Figgins to 4-year Deal

Around this time last year, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik pulled off his first big move when he pulled the trigger on a three team, 12 player deal which sent closer JJ Putz to the Mets and OF Franklin Gutierrez, Endy Chavez, Mike Carp and four others to Mariners.

With that move, his nickname became "trader Jack". Now this off season is an entirely new ball game.

Last off season Zduriencik didn't have a lot of money and flexibility to work with and plus he was just taking over. Now Zduriencik has around $50 million free to spend this off season, the most by any club.

Now Jack Zduriencik won't go mad with the amount of money he has available to him but he will use more than half of that on free agents and arbitration raises. Then there is also Felix Hernandez, who has been talking with Zduriencik about a long term contract.

Hernandez's agent, Alan Nero, has said there is no immediate hurry to sign Felix long term. S.I's Jon Heyman said Felix will most likely seek a contract in the neighborhood of six years and around $100 million.

If there is an off season when the Mariners should sign Hernandez long term it would be this off season. They just came off an incredible 21 game swing, Felix was a few games from winning the Cy Young and the Mariners have the money to spend.

Back on subject with the announcement that the Seattle Mariners have officially signed former LA Angles third baseman Chone Figgins to a four year, $36 million dollar contract. The contract also reportedly includes a vesting option in 2014 which could push the grand total to $45 million.

Right away this is a win-win signing for the Seattle Mariners and just keeps adding to the great resume of Jack Zduriencik.

Win one: The Mariners filled their hole a third base with an outstanding defensive player who also fits the offensive mold of speed and hitting without great power.

Win two: The Mariners strengthen their club while weakening division rival LA Angles. Figgings has been a great leadoff hitter for the Angles for two years straight. The only in-house replacement would be long time prospect Brandon Wood who is the anti Chone Figgins.

High strikeout total, below average defense and hits for power but not consistently.

Here is a Figgins-Wood comparison. (Wood's numbers are AAA).

Brandon Wood: 99 games, 113 hits, 22 HR, 65 runs, 72 RBI's, 36 BB and 80 SO. Indepth stats : BB% 8.5, SO% 20.7, .353 OBP and 4.0 speed.

Chone Figgins: 158 games, .298 BA, 183 hits, 5 HR, 114 runs, 54 RBI's, 101 BB and 114 SO. In-depth stats: BB% 14.1, SO% 18.5, .395 OBP and 6.7 speed.

The clear winner would be Chone Figgings.

Those stats, along with the personality of Figgings fits the Jack Zduriencik to a T. The price is just right at $36 million and he will fit great either in front of or behind right fielder Ichiro Suzuki in the Mariners lineup.

Look for Seattle's next move to be for either a starting pitcher like John Lackey or Rich Harden or a first baseman like Nick Johnson, Jason Bay or possibly Jermaine Dye if he goes low price.