Mariners Sign Chris Shelton

by ~ December 8th, 2008 at 9:08 am

The Mariners have made their 1st signing of the winter meetings, signing Chris Shelton to a minor league deal. Shelton could become the favorite to be Branyan’s platoon partner next year.

This is another good cheap pickup for Jack Z.  Shelton is 28 years old and had a line of .340/.409/.570 in AAA last year. He struggled in his short time in the majors with the Rangers last year but he has proven in the past that he can hit major league pitching.

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  • chris d

    Boy, this new GM is amazing. He now has given the M’s a good chance of having a productive platoon combination at first base. I don’t know what C Shelton’s defensive skills are but at least we get some offense.

  • http://myspace.com/tr1ckz pmbaseball7

    Big Z’s on fire!

  • Mr.Benton

    Don’t let his minor league stats fool you. I had to endure him here in Texas. He is no better than Willie Boom Boom at the plate!! great AAAA player though

  • http://bleedingblueandteal.com Jon Shields

    ^That is a concern with him, which I was going to perhaps talk about later tonight.

    It’s not necessarily the player everyone is praising, it’s GM Zduriencik’s process. Whether you like Shelton or not, bringing him to Seattle on a minor league deal is a risk free move. If he doesn’t work out he never logs on inning with the big club. If he somehow figures it out, Seattle has a league minimum hitter to platoon with Branyan.

    Anyway, Z was very cautious when talking about Shelton today, and wouldn’t really say that he was Branyan’s platoon parter. Just depth, and there’s nothing wrong with that.