Mariners Make a Flurry of Moves
By Mitchell Morley (Racoon)

The M's made several moves before the season started, but why stop there? The M's have totally changed their roster, again. Here are the changes since the All-Star break:

1. Yuniesky Betancourt (2B/SS) was recalled from AAA Tacoma to the Mariners and sent Jose Lopez down to AAA Tacoma.

Nobody thought Betancourt would fly through the system this quickly, but somehow he did. Betancourt is a defensive wizard, but has also shown that he can hit. He has great speed too. This guy is a stud, and it looks like he's ready for the Major Leagues already. We'll see a lot of him in the very near future.

2. Randy Winn traded to the Giants for catcher Yorvit Torrealba and pitcher Jesse Foppert.

Yorvit is already a Major Leaguer. He was a backup in SF and is a backup here too unless Wiki cools down. He has the chance to be a pretty solid guy. Foppert was the number one pitching prospect a couple years ago before he had TJ surgery. It's a lot easier to recover from Tommy John now because of the great doctors we have. He's a gamble, but if he recovers, this trade is a steal. Winn was traded because we have no room for him with Snelling ready, so really it's a winn-win situation (or Winn-Win, whatever you want to say).

3. Ron Villone traded to the Marlins for minor league pitchers Yorman Bazardo and Mike Flannery. George Sherrill takes RV's place.

Now that Felix has been called up, Yorman is now our number one pitching prospect. Flannery has a chance to be a pretty good guy, but not as good Bazardo. Sherrill earned his place in the 'pen last season when he got a chance. He's a lefty, and is a very good guy to have. He was shut down last season because he was working so much, so make what you want of that. Sherrill will probably be our new go-to-guy soon like Villone was.

4. Miguel Olivo traded to Padres for P Nate Mateo and C Miguel Ojeda.

Mateo has a mean fastball, but still needs to work on other pitches. Ojeda is another young catcher who might have a shot at the Majors sometime soon. Olivo just didn't fit here. Maybe these guys will.

5. Mariners release Aaron Sele.

Sele was always a temporary solution, and was never going to go any farther than this year with the M's. He has some hot steaks, but there are plenty of guys who wanted his job, like...

6. Felix Hernandez (P) A.K.A. "King Felix", who was called up and made his first ML start against Detroit.

The King is here! Felix, the most talked about prospect in Mariners history has finally been called up. He will be taking Sele's place in the rotation.

7. Chris Snelling brought up.

After fighting with injuries for years, Snelling is finally back and ready for action. He's certainly ready for the 'Bigs.

So our starting lineup on August 9, 2005 might read like this:

RF: Ichiro

CF: Jeremy Reed

DH: Raul Ibanez

1B: Richie Sexson

3B: Adrian Beltre

CF: Jeremy Reed

SS: Mike Morse

2B: Yuniesky Betancourt

LF: Chris Snelling

C: Wiki Gonzalez

P: Felix Hernandez

 

Very Strange, isn't it? Well, I'm sure Hargrove has his head straight. In time, we will see either what we have right now, the greatest comeback of all time, or the worst record in M's history. Only time will tell.