Last update: 11:20 pm, Sunday
As mentioned in the last post, Seattle Mariners Assistant GM Jeff Kingston has been speaking of the team’s intentions to bring in a right handed hitter for the bench as well as a pitcher the last couple of days at Mariners Fan Fest.
Saturday:
“We’re still looking at a couple more pieces here [...]

If you were at Fan Fest or watching the Q&A sessions online, you may have heard Assistant GM Jeff Kingston say the Mariners were still looking for a right handed hitter at 1B/DH.  This would presumably someone more reliable than Tommy Everidge, who they just DFA’d.
It wasn’t completely surprising, but if the Mariners were to [...]

There is still plenty of time for another player to be brought in and things to shake up the depth chart, but here is how I would interpret the current left field setup with the signing of Eric Byrnes (scroll down for news post).
Eric Byrnes: He’s mashed lefties throughout his career and hit lefties pretty [...]

ESPN 710’s Shannon Drayer is reporting via Twitter that the Mariners have signed OF Eric Byrnes to a 1 year deal. Terms of the deal aren’t yet available, but I’d have to imagine it’s near the major league minimum.
Byrnes had a good offensive season in 2007, posting a .812 OPS and stealing 50 bases. Since [...]

It has become pretty tough to guess what GM Jack Zduriencik’s next move is as he moves his way into the discussion for most unpredictable GM in baseball with the likes of Kenny Williams and Billy Beane, among others.  What seems like an obvious move or direction is bumped off the table by a move [...]

In case you haven’t heard, Randy Johnson will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch for Seattle’s home opener on April 12th.  Writes Larry Stone:
It’s a great move by the Mariners and verification that no bad blood lingers from Johnson’s messy departure in 1998. Armstrong said the original idea came to him from marketing VP [...]

Dave hits the nail on the head.  I can’t really add anything to that.
What does everyone think of the Mariners adding Johnny Damon at this point in the offseason?

Ben Sheets has signed a 1 year, $8M+ deal with the Oakland A’s, according to CBSsports.
Update (Scott): The deal makes a lot of sense for both sides – The A’s, a likely 4th place team (though closing the gap) this year, land Sheets presumably to flip him at the deadline for prospects if they’re out [...]

#1: Opportunity cost – If the Seattle Mariners decide to trade Jose Lopez, his replacement isn’t likely to be much worse, if at all.  I’d take him over Orlando Hudson, Adam Kennedy and maybe even Felipe Lopez in a vacuum, but it’s not that simple when you broaden the scope a little bit.  The replacement [...]

Ben Sheets
Jason A. Churchill of Prospect Insider tweets:
Teams dropping out of Sheets running: LAD, LAA, BOS, MIL, PHIL, Cubs, too … Asking price still $6-plus mil guaranteed. Sea, NYM the faves
That is encouraging on a couple fronts.  For one, the Mariners appear to be one of the last teams standing.  Secondly, his asking price appears [...]