Mariners Sign Gutierrez To Extension
Francisco Blavia reports, via Twitter in Spanish, that the Mariners are on the verge of signing Franklin Gutierrez to a 4 year extension worth $20.5 million with a team option for a fifth year. This would buy out his three arbitration eligible years, plus his first year of free agency, and give the M’s an option on his second year of FA. This would take him through his age 32 season, so the M’s have essentially locked him up through his prime.
The M’s give Gutierrez some long term security and get a pretty significant discount over his true value. Given his broad base of skills, Gutierrez will have to get hurt for this to become a bad deal for the franchise. As long as he stays healthy, 4/20 is a bargain for a player of his abilities, even through his arb years.
Beltre to Red Sox
Gammons says 1 year deal for $9 million and a player option for $5 million.
He probably wasn’t coming here anyway, so nothing to get too stressed over. Maybe this’ll get people to stop suggesting moving Lopez to first, though.
USSM Event Refunds
A few of you have emailed in to say that you bought tickets to this Saturday’s USSM event, but now will be unable to attend due to various circumstances. Because we used Brown Paper Tickets to handle the event ticketing, there is actually an easy solution for you all – just call them at 1-800-838-3006, and they will refund the issued ticket to the credit card that was originally used to purchase them.
This will, obviously, make some tickets available for those of you who couldn’t make it previously. I’d suggest checking the ticket window fairly regularly if you’re looking to land a ticket or two, as we know at least a handful of people will be getting refunds.
Also, due to the need for a larger venue and a the size of the crowd, we’re going to be handling the actual asking of the questions to the M’s front office members this year. There’s just no feasible way to have an orderly, effective crowd of 500+ fighting over a microphone, especially given the seating of the hall (the rows are 30+ seats wide). So, we’re opening up the comments in this thread for you guys to propose questions that you would like to see asked on Saturday, and we will pick the best ones and put those forward to the guys.
Finally, a couple of logistical things about the event – for those driving in, Benaroya has a garage, and it should be fairly open that day (they don’t have any performances until the evening on Saturday). The fee is $11. There are also garages directly across the street if you prefer.
The event starts at 1 pm. The lobby should be open around noon-ish, so if you arrive early, you won’t have to wait outside. If you have Will Call tickets, please arrive early and claim them. We would like to avoid having a long line of people trying to get in at 12:59. You must bring photo ID to claim your will call tickets.
Looking forward to seeing you guys on Saturday. Should be fun.
On Ian Snell
A couple readers passed this to me (thanks, all) and I want to pass this along for your Sunday afternoon consideration: “What Happened to Ian Snell” over at Baseball Daily Digest.
Pete’s Edgar-Vote-Tracking-Effort
From commenter and longtime friend of the site Pete Livengood:
For now, a quick post of announced (or leaning)votes for or against Edgar by writers with a ballot:
FOR
Mel Antonen, USA Today
Kirby Arnold, Everett Herald
Phil Arvia, Southtown Star
Barry Bloom, MLB.com
Earl Bloom, Orange County Register
Jim Caple, ESPN
Bill Conlin, Philadelphia Daily News
Jerry Crasnick, ESPN
Jack Curry, New York Times
Ken Davidoff, Newsday
Gordon Edes, ESPN
Joe Henderson, Tampa Tribune
Lynn Henning, Detroit News
Phil Hersh, Chicago Tribune
Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle
Tom Keegan, Lawrence Journal-World
Michael Knisley, ESPN
Tim Kurkjian, ESPN
Larry LaRue, TNT
Seth Livingstone, USA Today
Bill Madden, NY Daily News
Hal McCoy, Dayton Daily News
John McGrath, TNT
Stan McNeal, Sporting News
Bernie Miklasz, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Bruce Miles, Chicago Daily Herald
Ross Newhan, LA Times
Nick Peters, Sacramento Bee
Joe Posnanski, SI
Ken Rosenthal, Fox Sports
Bob Sansevere, Twin Cities Pioneer-Press
Henry Schulman, San Francisco Chronicle
Mike Shalin, Washington Post
Mike Silverman, Boston Herald
Tom Singer, MLB.com
Jayson Stark, ESPN
Larry Stone, Seattle Times
Jim Street, MLB.com
Charley Walters, Twin Cities Pioneer-PressNOT VOTING FOR EDGAR
Geoff Baker, Seattle Times
Mike Bauman, MLB.com
Jeff Blair, The Globe and Mail
Hal Bodley, MLB.com
Scott Bodrow, East Valley Tribune
Tim Brown, Yahoo Sports
Howard Bryant, ESPN
Joe Capozzi, Palm Beach Post
Pat Caputo, Oakland Press
Murray Chass, New York Times*
Dan Coughlin, Cleveland Leader
Mike Dodd, USA Today
Tom Gage, Detroit News
Peter Gammons, MLB.com
Pedro Gomez, ESPN
Mark Gonzales, Chicago Tribune
Evan Grant, Dallas Morning News
Dan Graziano, Newark Star-Ledger
Teddy Greenstein, Chicago Tribune
Richard Griffin, Toronto Star
Ken Gurnick, MLB.com
Chris Haft, MLB.com
Jon Heyman, SI
Rick Hummel, St. Louis Post-Dispatch*
Tony Jackson, ESPN
Bill Kennedy, Times of Trenton
Bob Klapisch, The Record
Danny Knobler, CBS Sports
Jay Mariotti, FanHouse
Bob Markus, Chicago Tribune
Sean McAdam, Comcast Sportsnet
Sean McClelland, Dayton Daily News
Scott Miller, CBS Sports
Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune
Carrie Muskat, MLB.com
Mike Nadel, Gatehouse News Service
Mark Newman, MLB.com
Bob Nightengale, USA Today
Marty Noble, MLB.com
Buster Olney, ESPN
Tom Pedulla, USA Today
Terry Pluto, Cleveland Plain Dealer
T.J. Quinn, ESPN
Tracy Ringolsby, Fox Sports
Brendan Roberts, ESPN
Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune
Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe
Bob Smizik, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Lyle Spencer, MLB.com
Carl Steward, Oakland Tribune
Paul Sullivan, Chicago Tribune
T.R. Sullivan, MLB.com
Rick Telander, Chicago Sun-Times
Marc Topkin, St. Petersburg Times
Dave Van Dyke, Chicago Tribune
Tom Verducci, SILEANING YES
Bill Christine, LA Times
John Perrotto, Ogden Newspapers
John Romano, St. Petersburg Times
Bob Sherwin, APLEANING NO
Nick Cafardo, Boston Globe
Terence Moore, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Ed Price, FanHouse*=Not this year, but will strongly consider in the future
This is just an informal survey done by yours truly. I am sure I have missed some on both sides.
If you know any others, please add.