The Mariners have signed outfielder Eric Byrnes to a one-year deal, according to a team press release.
Arizona released the 33-year-old earlier this month after he hit just .218/.271/.382 in 482 plate appearances during the first two seasons of the three-year, $30MM extension he signed prior to the 2008 season. The Diamondbacks are still on the hook for Byrnes' $11MM salary in 2010, less whatever the Mariners are paying him (likely the league minimum).
To make room for Byrnes on the roster, Seattle designated first baseman Tommy Everidge for assignment, reports Ryan Divish of The Tacoma News Tribune (via Twitter). They had just claimed Everidge off waivers from the Athletics two weeks ago.
Jack Z, you are unbelieveble. With Surprises such as Gutierrez and Aardsma, It wouldn’t be totally out of sorts if Z made another great move and Byrnes would have a comeback season.
I thought he would be a good fit for the M’s for the platoon sake with Bradley and Jr.
Another Mariners move!! Nice!
Really? I look at it as more like a clueless move. Why claim Everidge (and pay for him) if you are planning on signing another player anyway? Also, doesn’t the fact that the D’back released Byrnes still owing him millions have any bearing on how well he can be expected to perform, or will the M’s be happy with .218/.271/.382 ?
Dude, what you’ve forgotten is that Jack Z can do no wrong, and Dave Cameron has endorsed the move. So… does anything more need to be said? You can bring your facts and numbers; M’s fans are bringing the faith!!
A bit shocking to be honest. With Bradley and Langerhans also in tow and at a one year guaranteed deal this all but ensures that they’re done upgrading the offense. Maybe their payroll is more strapped than once thought.
Or they’ll have Bradley DH mostly and either have Langerhans as a bench player or rotate him and Byrnes at LF. Bradley should not play the field given his injury history
and i think they’ll make at least one more move to sign a #3 pitcher
I’m praying so! I like RRS at #4 and Snell at #5 better…
Lucky Mariners fans! Must be nice to have a competent GM, owner, and FO.
Good signing. I think the Mariners will go places this year.
I agree with that statement.
Agreed, I still think they have some money…
Possibly Jarrod Washburn and/or Joe Beimel?
GM yes, very competent. I love him.
Owner, lives in Japan, not sure if he knows everything that’s going on. As long as Ichiro’s happy.
FO, I still hate Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln, they’re still more business men than baseball knowledge-able. They just got lucky this time. They’ve still chosen/hired more bad (ie – Bavasi, Woodward, etc.) than good.
Definitely a low risk/medium reward type of signing. With Arizona footing most of the bill why not take a chance on him?
If healthy, his hard-nosed style will win over the M’s fans.
You might want to delete the extra “t” on hit. Also Seems like a weird signing considering they already have good gloved outfielders. They need someone with a bat, and Safeco is a big park.
The lineup was too lefty heavy, they M’s needed a competent right handed outfield bat when there is a lefty on the hill and someone to give Bradley some days off from the OF to keep him healthy.
It is a great time to be a M’s fan. This gives the M’s their LF when there is a LHP on the bump and leaves whatever is left of the payroll for a #3 starter.
I’m not happy about this move at all. Byrnes is a polarizing guy, just like Bradley. Having both of them in the clubhouse is a bad call, even if we do have Griffey in house.
Based upon what do you say this? His appearances on Fox during the all star game? His love of bull dogs? I don’t recall any bad press on Eric Byrnes’ clubhouse presence or public fights with his teams. In fact everything I find is quite the contrary.
Never really thought of that. Could be an interesting season.
I live in Denver now and was here during the Rockies run to the Pennant. Every series the D’bags played against the Rockies, Byrnes always had some snide comment for the Rockos, and every time he’d take it back.
I may be biased as I was here for Rocktober and the fan base here absolutely hates him. However, I will say that Byrnes antagonized this city’s fans like no other player I’ve ever seen. In that respect, he is polarizing.
Who cares if opposing teams’ fan bases like him? All that matters is that he produces and generally gets along with his teammates. Bradley is a completely different story given his history of feuds that affect the clubhouse he’s in.
Geez guys, all I’m saying is I don’t understand the move. Putting a guy in who might possibly give us media issues when we’ve already got a guy who has the potential for disturbing the clubhouse, just a risky move.
You gotta be kidding, right? Byrnes? polarizing and a “media junkie”? I’d hardly put him on par with Bradley. Infact he would be an anti-Bradley type of guy. He’s “gutty” and a “team player”. obto555 I’m not so sure your opinion on Byrnes is as acurate as you think.
Give me a break…he’s done.
I wonder if the reaction to this signing would have been different had Drayton Moore done it.
Well, Dayton Moore would have paid $5MM of the $11MM he’s owed.
I doubt it. I’m not here to defend Moore, I’m not a Royals fan, but I don’t think any team would have paid more than the minimum.
Yes because he’d have tried to give him $4 million. Truth is since he couldn’t sign for more than league minimum (I believe) there was no incentive for him to play for anyone but a competitor or at least someone that promised playing time.
well either way he’s getting $11 mill (unless someone gave him a $12 mill contract), it just depends on who gives it to him. if he signed a $4 mill contract with someone then the Dbacks would only have to pay $7 mill so there’s really no motive to sign a bigger contract
I agree that because he was already getting paid big bucks by the D-Backs he had a little autonomy about choosing where to play — west coast, contender, playing time, etc. but I don’t agree that Moore would have given him more than the minimum. But this really isn’t about Moore anyway. I think this is a so-so move…nothing special and the point is that the Mariners can do absolutely anything and it will get lauded. Don’t get me wrong, I like what they’ve done this offseason overall, but not everything (i.e. the Morrow trade, settling on Kotchman at 1b) has been outstanding. I think this signing falls into that category…it’s a hum-drum acquisition and really not the best fit for the Ms right now.
Dammit Mariners. Another good low risk, high upside signing.
Low risk, low upside.
great move by the M’s. it will be nice to put him in left and bradley at DH against lefties to keep bradley and junior rested.
how about this lineup?
1. Ichiro rf
2. Figgins 3b
3. Gutierrez cf
4. Lopez 2b
5. Bradley lf/DH
6. Griffey Jr. dh/Byrnes lf
7. Kotchman 1b
8. Wilson ss
9. Moore c
i feel like lots of these guys are interchangeable as far as where they hit in the lineup…
I’d rather the line-up look like this…
Ichiro
Figgins
Gutierrez
Bradley
Kotchman
Lopez
Griffey/Byrnes
Wilson
Moore/Johnson
Lopez’s low OBP would be better suited lower in the line-up. Still would love a prototypical clean up hitter but that seems unlikely… until the deadline at least.
I don’t understand the logic behind everyone complaining about the lack of power in this line-up. If you have a bunch of players who get on base at a high frequency, then you are bound to put up runs. This is a line-up of limited pop, but high on base %. Two singles by Ichiro and Figgins, and a double by Bradley = two rbi’s. I’m not gonna write of this line-up any time soon.
The Mariners have pretty much become a sabermetric wet dream team. Baseball nerds everywhere (including myself) are so intrigued by what this team will do this year. My guess is that outside of Cliff Lee, big baseball media isn’t going to think much of this squad’s offseason. Their gonna look at BA and HR’s and say this team doesn’t have nough firepower. They are probably mistaken.
I have to say that I’m pleased this is happening to a west coast team. This means I’ll get to catch some great baseball every night after my favorite squad is done.
As a side note, and I know I’m gonna catch a lot of flack for this, I would rather see Figgins bat leadoff for this squad. He has posted a better OBP averaged over the last three seasons than Ichiro and has more stolen bases. On top of that, I would rather have a guy that works the count at leadoff and a guy who can handle the stick at #2 then vice versa. Now, bring it on.
To play devil’s advocate Ichiro hits a lot of infield singles that would be death to advancing runners. He may be better off leading off.
Byrnes and Bradley together at last. … hehe.
People keep applauding Jack Z for this, calling it a low risk/high upside signing (based on the first 25 or so comments, I didn’t read them all), but this is anything but that.
Byrnes is and will be awful, unless he seriously revamps his swing. He takes an extreme uppercut, has a lot of head movement, and has really bad timing. His defense is above average according to UZR, but he makes too many boneheaded mistakes due to his false “hardnosed play.”
I may be biased against him as a Dbacks fan, but Byrnes is just a bad player. I was a big fan of all Jack Z’s moves until this. Hope you like popups, M’s fans.
Agree. I’d call it a low-risk, low-upside signing. Eric Byrnes washed up: A 34-year-old hacker/”speedster” (yikes), whose “power” has evaporated, and who tracks flyballs on defense like a bat using sonar. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Byrnes even when he has been horrible the last two seasons still mashes lefties.
The guy can hammer left handed pitching even when he’s been hurt.
He also plays average to above average defense. He’s a very good platoon option in LF, making the league minimum. Hard not to like the move.
Bummer, was hoping the Giants picked him up. If he didnt work out in RF/LF he could have subbed very well up in the Radio booth for KNBR, give John Miller a night off here and there! Haha!
Hopefully Mr. Byrnes can revive his career in Seattle. If he stays healthy I could see him hitting .272 13 homers 46 RBIs in part time in Seattle. I remember Byrnes was the man in MVP 05 with Oakland. So he has been with Oakland, Colorado, Baltimore, Arizona, Seattle.
I’m happy that the M’s are relinquishing Tommy Everidge. I thought he would be more of a fit on the Pirates, Braves or Mets. I would just like to see the guy get a chance and showcase his talent. As for the M’s, they are assembling quite a team. Let’s hope that the players they’ve picked can all bounce back.
Eric Byrnes is pretty washed up, his numbers have greatley declined. I wouldnt get to excited over this signing.
So its offical, Bradley’s the DH and he’s the LF.