Cut Candidates

by ~ February 21st, 2010 at 12:10 am

As it looks now, the Seattle Mariners don’t have many non-roster players that figure to earn a 40-man spot by the end of Spring Training.  A catcher, namely Josh Bard, perhaps.  A reliever– perhaps Jesus Colome, Joshua Fields, Chad Cordero or one of the many other non-roster relievers in camp– if Sean White is unable to get healthy and they’re able to beat out the relievers already on the roster.  Crazier things have certainly happened.  If some of these guys make the team, who would be on the way out?  

Here are some players that could be dropped from the 40-man.

Erik Bedard (edited due to findings in the comments) — Seattle can put him on the 60-day DL, allowing them to temporarily remove him from the 40-man roster.  But they aren’t likely to do this until the end of Spring Training as a corresponding roster move has to be made to fill the roster.  If the Mariners don’t expect Bedard to be ready before early June, this is an obvious move.  If they think he’ll somehow be ready before that, then they may have to deal with him clogging a roster spot.

Kanekoa Teixera — If Don Wakamatsu and company decide he’s not big league ready, he’ll likely be heading back to the New York Yankees.  If Seattle can work out a trade that would be nice too, but either way he shouldn’t be occupying a 40-man spot come Opening Day unless he also earns a 25-man spot.

Ryan Feierabend — GM Jack Zduriencik has brought in three similar lefties since coming aboard a little over a year ago, so he could see Feierabend as redundant, opting to trade him or attempting to slip him through waivers.  Trying to come back from Tommy John surgery and not being all that great to be begin with, I could see Feierabend slipping through waiviers right before the season when most rosters are full.

Sean White — It’s hard to gauge just how bad White’s shoulder is, but if the team decides he needs surgery before the season starts, he would obviously be heading to the 60-day DL for the third time as a Mariner.

Those first three guys are the obvious ones to me with White being a wild card.  Seattle probably won’t have to dig any deeper than that to clear the spots they need.  If they do for whatever reason, a trade would be a way to go.  Garrett Olson, for example, could provide enough value out of the bullpen one day that you wouldn’t want to waive him outright, but could be okay with dealing him for a PTBNL, cash or as part of a bigger deal.  It’s hard to see any of the position players losing their spots, with Eric Byrnes being the only guy I could see not making the team (though I personally expect him to be just fine).

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  • http://www.sodomojo.com gregrabble

    Holy God you’re writing a lot. I think Bedard’s the obvious choice – I’d be shocked if he’s healthy before June.

  • lamlor

    I have read on here and several other places that the M’s have to wait until opening day to put Bedard on the 60-Day D.L. I just read on another site that the Blue Jays put a player on the 60-Day today opening room on their 40 man roster.

    Why can they do it and we can’t at this point?

    Blue Jays placed RHP Dirk Hayhurst on the 60-day disabled lost following shoulder surgery.
    Hayhurst is expected to miss 4-6 months after having the fraying in his labrum repaired and the move makes room on the 40-man roster for Jose Molina.
    http://www.rotoworld.com/content/home_MLB.aspx

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      Interesting… the Blue Jays actually have two players on their 60-day DL right now. I had just been trusting Dave at USSM (“If you’re wondering, they can’t put Bedard on the 60 day DL until the end of spring training”.)

      Will investigate.

      • lamlor

        Thanks. Dave isn’t the only one to say this. I have heard other reliable writers say the same thing. I will check back with you on it.

        • http://proballnw.com Jon

          From my initial poke around, the only thing I can find is that the the 40-man has to be full in order to transfer someone to the 60-day DL. So, Seattle couldn’t put him there now in anticipation of a future move and so he’d be eligible to return sooner (not that it matters, but just to be safe), because the roster would be sitting at 39 after that move. Someone has to be added as part of the same move.

          • lamlor

            That was my guess since Toronto was adding a player. Thanks for the research on it. Great site by the way. I am a daily checker of the site and I really enjoy it.

  • BoiseM

    Were those guys already under contract and on the 40 man? I would think that would be different than signing someone to a new contract and placing him on the DL.

    • http://proballnw.com Jon

      That is my next question as well. A player can be put on the DL directly (like Pedro Martinez last season), but 60-day may be a different story. I’m still looking.

  • lamlor

    Back to regular baseball talk. It needs to stop raining here so we can enjoy some real spring training action. My wife and I stopped by on Friday and it was pretty quiet, but at least the players were out and about. I have to remember and take my video camera this year. I took some video last year of Griffey’s first BP as a Mariner- part 2. The days before that Chuck Armstrong stopped by and started talking to us (my wife and I and two other gentlemen) about the potential signing of Griffey and he was as giddy as a school girl. It was actually fun to see a man of his stature so excited. He and GM-Jack are very easy to talk with down here. Both are very personable guys.