Notes from the Most Boring MLB Team

The Seattle Mariners have had an unbearably dull offseason. Budget limitations and prudent thinking have resulted in a handful of low-level free agent signings and virtually no trade chatter. As such, I haven't had much substantial M's news to talk about here. Here is the last three or four weeks worth of Mariners updates:

-we picked up infielder Brendan Ryan from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for prospect pitcher Maikel Cleto. Ryan immediately slides in as the likely starter at second base and will presumably bat ninth. Ryan has a reputation as a fantastic glove man, but of course, he can't hit his way out of the proverbial paper bag. That said, he projects to have somewhat of a comeback year after posting a hilarious .223/.279/.294 line last season. The other good news is that we gave up essentially nothing in Cleto. He's a guy with an explosive fastball, but absolutely no control. He was nowhere near the majors. Shed your tears and move on.

-way back at the Winter Meetings, the team had a verbal agreement with Miguel Olivo to catch for the Mariners, on a two-year, $7 million contract. The official announcement still hasn't come, but that's just a matter of time and paperwork. While most M's fans are already screaming to the heavens about this signing, I don't think it's that awful. Yes, Miguel looks suspiciously like Jose Lopez, with his complete lack of on-base skills and inconsistent, right-handed power. However, he's still more than an adequate catcher, which was something that the tandem of Rob Johnson and Adam Moore never quite accomplished last season. Is Olivo ideal? Of course not. But there weren't too many better options out there in our pay range and leaving the job in Moore's hands could have been really messy. Let's let this one play out, yeah?

-after getting designated for assignment to make room for Jack Cust, Rob Johnson got traded to the San Diego Padres for a player to be named later or cash. So yeah, basically one of those "new bag of baseballs" trades. Rob had nowhere to go in this organization and the Padres had no catching depth. This works for everyone. I wish Rob the best.

-we added another slog of minor league free agents to the mix. Ryan Langerhans will return for his third season with the organization, while Chris Gimenez will add catching depth. Denny Bautista and Royce Ring have also been added as bullpen options. All in all, not a bad bunch, to be honest. All four could see some time in the Majors with the club.

-finally, we have the soap opera surrounding David Aardsma, We spent several weeks trying to drop him and his salary on some other team, to no avail. Our noble closer is in line for a raise in arbitration, but the team could really use the $4 million or so he's taking up to add a few other mid-range free agents. So, imagine our collective disappointment when the team announced that David was going to have hip surgery. Goodbye, trade value. So, he's here to stay. The team says they expect him to be ready by Opening Day, but our hands are now substantially tied, from a financial point of view.