The M's dfa'd (designated for assignment) Boone today. Didn't see that one coming - I thought that he'd be traded or even placed on waivers after the trade deadline but not dfa'd.

They've got a ten day window to either trade him, assign him to Tacoma (which I'm sure he would refuse) or outright cut him. I hope he goes to a team like the Padres, Twins or (gasp) the Yankees where he'll have a chance at a ring.

Good luck to you Boonie; thanks for the memories and...hello Mr Lopez, Mariner second baseman for the next decade!


Also, Hansen was placed on the 15 day DL and my boy Chris Snelling was brought up. I hope he doesn't just sit on the bench for two weeks but it's cool to see him get the call up.

Funny I was just talking about Boone being traded. In fact Sports Illustrated just mentioned that the Twins should trade for him.

I could see him going to Minnesota or possibly New York, since Womack & Cano have not produced like they wanted.

I was up at Flathead, having a great day, then I found out Boone was let go, what a way to ruin a nice day. Even though we all knew it was coming, its still hard to know M's fans wont see the Boone bat-flip anymore (at least for their team). I hope the M's can trade him and get something out of him, hopefully a pitcher.

Yeah, the old dfa just seems like the most disrespectful way to deal with a player that has to go. An outright release like they did with Olerud at least gives the player the chance to go where they want. I guess the M's are trying to either recover some salary (they still owe him $4.5 mil this year) or get a prospect in return. I guess we'll know soon enough.

I read some interesting speculation regarding the Red Sox. Belhorn is stinking it up this year and their bull pen is a mess, with some indications that Foulke may be hurt. So, how about a package deal of Boone and Eddie for a couple of their A+ prospects. They've got the $$ to take on Boone and that clubhouse almost seems ready made for both he and Eddie. The Sox have to be thinking repeat and their best prospect is a catcher (Shoppach??) that is being blocked by Varitek.

New York doesn't seem to be a fit since Cano seems to be doing ok but if George decides he wants him, I guess all bets are off. Maybe serious trade talks with the Red Sox would piss George off so much that he'd do something stupid like give up Wang!

Given that the M's won't be in the playoff hunt, it would be pretty cool to see The Boone stick with a good club, recover his form and go on a tear. Heck, if he and Eddie go to the Red Sox he'll join a few former Mariners. Ole is there and Varitek started in the Seattle organization. As did...gulp...Ortiz. Timlin is still pitching for them as is Meyers.

I'm depressing myself. Gotta go.

The M's traded Boone to the Twins for a player to be named later. The Mariners also sent some cash over along with Boone to take care of that big contract he has. Im glad the Mariners traded him, because chances are Boone would have passed through waivers because of his contract and the Twins would have signed him for the league min. Even though the player to be named wont even come close to being like Boone, its still a player, hopefully a pitcher. Good luck to Boone in Minnesota, hopefully he can prove everyone that he can still be a quality player in this league, just dont do it against the M's.

Who the heck was playing in the Mariners uniforms in Anaheim and what did they do with the real Mariners? A 4 game sweep of the Angels, quality starts by every starting pitcher, especially Piniero and Moyer, and i think 34 runs in those 4 games. If this team can build off that series and start producing the runs everyone thought they would at the beginning of the year, watch out, the wildcard isnt THAT far away.

Well, let's hope that Boone returns to his 2001 form and hits the crap out of the ball in Twin-land for the duration of 2005. The player to be named later is probably contingent on how he performs, so I want to see some serious Boone bat flippin' during the second half!

And here is hoping that the M's team we saw against the Angels is the team we will see for the second half of 2005. (What the he!! got into Willie Bloomquist, by-the-way?)

I caught this interesting tid-bit in today's PI about Meche's performance against the Angels:

...Meche went back into his past to pull a new windup out of his hat. He went with a motion that goes directly above his head, and the resultant pitches were, with the exception of a homer hit by Vladimir Guerrero, relatively effective.

"I quit throwing like that in 2003 because of my elbow," Meche said. "But I went back to it because my leg was stiffening up. I found it made my fastball move better and my curve more consistent."


Yikes! So, if Gil changes his mechanics and if he can recover his 2002 form, the M's rotation will look darn nice in 2006. Gil is arbitration eligible and he darn well better pitch well in the second half if he wants to be with the M's next year.

In a related manner, Felix Hernandez pitched an inning of relief off his "bursitis injury" and word is he will continue to pitch out of the pen for the immediate future. Major speculation that he will debut for the M's in late July and pitch out of the bull pen for the remainder of the year. GrizBiz likes the "Earl Weaver" method of breaking in rookie pitchers by forcing them to come out of the bull pen, so I am excited about this possibility! Make 'em prove that they can strike out major league batters before you put them in the starting rotation!

Now if Campillo can get healthy and Randy Winn can get traded we can start playing for 2006!

A few more weeks of futility and I will issue the official GrizBiz prospect list for the M's. This year is over as far as contention goes but the immediate future is bright. Depending on what Bavasi does in the next two weeks and in the off season, the M's could contend in '06. (I got my eye on Livingston in AA.)