Halman to 40-man; O’Flaherty to ATL

by ~ November 20th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

GM Jack Zduriencik and the Seattle Mariners made some more roster moves today in preparation for the Rule V draft coming up next month.  The deadline for setting the roster is today.

Four players were added to the 40-man roster, including pitchers Gabby Hernandez, who was acquired in the Arthur Rhodes trade, Stephan Kahn and Marwin Vega, as well as center fielder and top-5 prospect Greg Halman.

To make room, Luis Munoz and Tracey Thorpe were passed through waivers and were reassigned to the minors, while Eric O’Flaherty didn’t make it through and was claimed by the Atlanta Braves.

A lot of fans liked O’Flaherty for some reason, but the franchise isn’t losing much.  Ol’ Potatoes doesn’t yet possess the repertoire to make it in the bigs.  Vega and Kahn will compete for a spot in the bullpen next spring.

The best part of this is that we’ll get to watch Halman in Spring Training next season.  He’s the top athlete in the system, and I’ve been dying to see him on the field.

Larry LaRue with the news.  Paul DePodesta explains the shuffle teams make from the point of view of a front office exec.

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  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    I hate this move. Why get rid of him?

    2007 split vs. Lefties
    Avg – .183
    OBP – .278

    The dude could get lefties out. Why get rid of that? Stupid move…

  • http://marinermelee.blogspot.com/ Mariner Melee

    Not a big deal. Eric isn’t going to be any good to anyone until he decides that throwing 7 straight sliders is not a good idea.

    And 2007 was not 2008, in which he got no one out.

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Dustin Shires

    In which he barely pitched. So we really can’t say that 2008 is how we should judge him as a pitcher…

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    One, they didn’t “get rid of him.” They tried to sneak him through waivers so they could protect bigger upside prospects in the Rule V. Two, he’s a reliever, don’t get worked up about it. Some guy you’ve never heard of can and probably will step in and do a better job.

  • section331

    I enjoyed watching O’Flaherty in 2007, but 2008 was not his year – then again, it wasn’t anyone’s year in Seattle. I think this year has been a poor example of skillset for any of the current Ms roster, but there are a lot of steps people aren’t going to like (me included) that will have to be made to wipe our very chalky slate clean. I’m kind of stoked about the idea of Gaby being on the 40-man now…

  • Brandon

    Atlanta just likes to steal our bullpen…first Rafe Soriano and now Potatos?
    I’m not too bummed about this move. I woulda liked to see him stay, but after last year I think his time in Seattle was over..