M’s sign nine
JMB · November 15, 2006 at 11:12 am · Filed Under Mariners
Read all about it (scroll down, it’s at the bottom, notes-style).
The Mariners signed nine players to minor-league contracts Tuesday, including SS Rey Ordonez, who hasn’t played in the majors since 2004. Also signed to Class AAA contracts were pitchers Renee Cortez and Jesse Foppert, outfielder Tony Torcato and infielder Brant Ust. Signed to AA or A deals were pitchers Cibney Bello, Josh Kite, Michael Wagner and Jared Eichelberger.
Yes, that’s the Rey Ordonez. Gold Glove Winner Rey Ordonez. My buddy Seth over at Seattlest has a funny take on this one. This is the kind of signing people might get too worked up about, but it’s really not a big deal. He’s AAA insurance at best. He’s not taking Betancourt’s job.
Ordonez, the shortstop part of the Mets 1999 “Best Defensive Infield Ever.” Of course that was mainly due to Olerud being the first baseman.
Yeah but he could prove to be a valuable Rey Sanchez type for the team next year instead of the “Igniter” Princess Willie.
i have no problem with ordonez being in the M’s organization, but they’d better have a loaded offensive team if he’s within spitting distance of being the 25th man.
I like “Willie F’n Bloomquist” alot.
But, “Princess Willie”, that is F’n hilarious.
Knowing the M’s…he’s about one injury away from holding down the starting DH spot.
Go M’s!
I’m sure WFB is a great guy, so I would feel bad spreading the use of Princess Willie. But just wanted to share my enjoyment of the comment.
Ordonez went to camp as an NRI with the Pads two years ago, and left halfway in, when he realized he wasn’t going to win the starting ss job. Of course, he may have finally figured out that he isn’t the top dog any more…
do we need a ‘general news’ thread today, for things like Leyland & Girardi taking the Manager of the Year?
And how often does the Manager of the Year get fired even before he gets the award?
#9 — Too bad Ken Macha didn’t win it in the AL. Could have been a pair of fired winners (even better, neither will be leading a team in the upcoming season even though there has been a boatload of opportunities).
So the deal is, they’re setting Willie up for full-time starter status by going out and finding members of the tiny pool of players who hit even worse than him? This is a strategy?
#11– well, not according to Corey Brock who (yet again) had the Willie as Starter question in his mailbag….
I find it interesting they re-signed Foppert. I thought they figured he was done, but as a roster filler for AAA Tacoma that isn’t on the 40-man, oh well.
The mailbag is awesome. That’s where we get this gem:
“With the need for a corner outfielder, what is the possibility of Seattle trading Adam Jones and/or another Minor League outfielder to the likes of Cincinnati to reacquire Ken Griffey Jr.?”
I went to high school with Brant Ust. He came from England. He was the QB on our football team his senior year. He’s a good athlete, but he’s too old to expect anything from him.
Watch out though. He’s a hometown kid.
#15:
I stand corrected…Brant Ust is in line for the starting DH job.
But if Betancourt gets hurt, they call up Ordonez, a proven veteran, and then Hargrove has to figure out a way to get at bats for Bloomquist whom he loves and Ordonez whom he probably loves.
Don’t forget Carl Everett, whom I’m sure he still loves. Carl needs those ABs too!
Sorry but I just can’t help getting worked up about Rey Ordonez. He is EXACTLY the kind of player who will be misused (i.e., inserted in the lineup) by Hargrove due to his veteran presence and grittiness.
Sorry but I just can’t help getting worked up about Rey Ordonez. He is EXACTLY the kind of player who will be misused (i.e., inserted in the lineup) by Hargrove due to his veteran presence and grittiness.
Yes, just like Fernando Vina and Kevin Appier were last year.
… oh wait.
Hey now…Fernando Vina once hit two Grand Slams in the same inning. He is obviously the type of player that can contribute on an everyday basis.
Even if he IS 94 years old
wait a minute, was that Fernando Tatis?
yes, it was Tatis, I stand corrected.
88fingerslukee – that is an unusual handle. Is it one finger for each key?
Rey also had the fabulous soap opera personal life, getting divorced from his wife just a few days before defecting & leaving her and their baby son behind, then a year later marrying her younger stepsister & having two more kids. After wife #1 defected, she announced their Cuban divorce had been intended to be a ‘paper divorce’ and that their son needed more child support than the $1.50/mo he’d paid her when she lived in Cuba….
#24:
My name is Lucas. one of my favourite bands of all time was a band called 88 Fingers Louie. They got their name from the Flintstones as 88 Fingers Louie was the piano player.
Alas, the Flintstones and 88 Fingers Louie are no more. But my handle lives on!
Ordonez is another has been
Never was, I’d say.
though he was part of one of my favoite SLU figures– a little plastic Rey Ordonez, soon to be out as he slides into the waiting glove of little plastic Jason Kendall…
BEST DEFENSIVE INFIELD (See # 1) – (I keep meaning to delete this link, but I think that it takes us to a column that we’d like to read again. and again: http://tinyurl.com/2qnp3)
[It isn’t often that a baseball writer presents such convincing figures to back up his claim.]
FERNANDO VINA (See # 21) – He was a Rule 5 Draft Choice with the Mariners. My fondest memory of him–during his apprenticeship–was his adventuresomeness on the basepaths. [He’d often be sent in as a pinch-runner, and promptly get caught stealing, or picked off.]
OLERUD’S DEFENSE (See #1 & # 30)- During the four full years that John Olerud was here (2000-2003), the infield averaged 46 errors.
t year, they had 56.
OLERUD’S DEFENSE (Clarified & Continued) – [I meant the other infielders when I wrote “infield.”] The next year (2005), it was 56.
BTW, in 1999 (the year before Olerud came) the 2Bs, SSs, and 3Bs– made a total of 64 errors. *
Defense rocks!
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*BASEBALL AMERICA ALMANACs.