We were hoping for a few more items of interest today, but there was still some interesting stuff going on.

Mariners sign minor leaguers Shelton and Seddon

This morning Seattle announced the signing of 1B Chris Shelton to a minor league deal with a probable invitation to Spring Training.  Shelton has had a fantastic minor league career (.314/.410/.509), but has mixed flashes of brilliance with miserable performances in his 290 career Major League games.  Some believe that the 28 year old is one of those dreaded AAAA players, but I’m willing to give him a shot.

For less than half a million dollars, this is a solid signing.  If Shelton magically discovers his April 2006 form, or manages something close to his 2005 success, this is a masterful deal and one helluva bargain.  If he duplicates last year’s performance you probably won’t even remember this deal next offseason.  Signing Russell Branyan was a low-risk deal; this one is a no risk deal.

Speaking of Branyan, many believe that Shelton is a shoo-in to become Branyan’s right-handed hitting platoon partner.  It should be noted that Shelton typically hits better against right-handed pitching, and 2008 was the first year that he showed strong lefty/righty splits.

In 1016 major league plate appearances Shelton’s OPS against righties is 103 points higher than against left-handed pitching.  Since 2005, Shelton’s minor league OPS against righties is 141 points higher.  Those are fairly dramatic splits and can’t be ignored.

That said, this is still fun to look at:

Branyan against right-handers in 2008, AAA: .402/.504/.794
Shelton against southpaws in 2008, AAA: .378/.472/.822

It means nothing, especially when considering sample size, but it’s amazing to imagine.  A 1.290+ OPS from both sides of the plate!  Look at those batting lines!  I can dream, can’t I?

Back to reality– This is a smart signing that will hopefully pan out for our Mariners, but is no big deal if it doesn’t.

In a move that got no press, Seattle also inked minor league LHSP Chris Seddon.  Seddon hasn’t been especially good or highly regarded since pre-season 2005, when he was known (according to some lists) as a top-15 prospect in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays organization.

The 25 year old currently gives up way too many hits and has control problems, and there’s a good chance you’ll never hear his name again after this, but he gives Tacoma some lefty starting depth.  You can review his stats here.

Adrian Beltre rumors

Beltre has been connected to several teams, especially from the AL Central [see previous post].  The Twins, Indians and Tigers all seem to have varying levels of interest.  The Dodgers were thought to be a legitimate suitor, but they’re on the verge of signing Casey Blake, so that possibility is almost certainly out the window.

By the way, the Minnesota Twins aren’t dealing Denard Span for Adrian Beltre, according to Geoff Baker.  Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez seem like much more realistic candidates.  I’d prefer Gomez.

J.J. Putz rumors

The Brewers, Tigers, Cardinals, Indians and Mets appear to be Putz’s top suitors so far, but the Mets may be on the verge of signing Francisco Rodriguez, and the Indians apparently don’t feel like they have the trade chips [previous post].

From the Tigers, Rick Porcello is apparently unavailable and Jeff Larish would almost certainly be one of the players coming back in any Putz deal, though he isn’t near good enough to anchor the deal.

Raul Ibanez rumors

According various reports (including this one), the Atlanta Braves may have targeted Raul Ibanez.  As Rob notes in the post, this would be bad news for us as the Braves’ first round draft pick is protected, and even worse news if they were to sign A.J. Burnett.  I’m not quite sure what would happen in that case, but I would assume Seattle would either get bumped down to the 3rd round (ouch!) or get an additional “sandwich” pick.

Again, Seattle would benefit the greatest should Rual sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals or Toronto Blue Jays.  All but the Cardinals are possibilities, though none of them have been actively pursuing Raul lately.

I still think the Cubbies make a mistake by putting Raul in right field.  Lou Pinella’s been raving about him all offseason.

Hopefully tomorrow will bring us some fun and exciting rumors.

I’d like to extend a quick thank you to everyone visiting the site.  We’ve been setting new personal traffic records everyday this offseason, and had another big jump today.  Thank you for making this site a successful one in just one short year of existence!