He'd Rather Sit On The Bench At Safeco



How's this for shitty luck ; The Mets were successful in finding a taker for the Human Lowlight Reel, Roger Cedeno. Trouble is, the other half of the agreed upon trade of lousy contracts, Seattle 3B Jeff Cirillo, has no intention of going to New York.

"The player (Cirillo) has a limited no-trade clause," general manager Bill Bavasi said without mentioning the Mets. "He blocked the move we were trying to make."

Cirillo remains a Mariner, at least for a while, although the possibility is strong he will be released with $15 million and two years left on his contract. At that point, he will be free to play for anyone, with the Mariners picking up all but $300,000 per season of his pay.

"The Mets wanted me to be a backup," Cirillo said. "I could be a backup with the Mets or a backup with the Mariners. I'd rather be a backup with the Mariners. I'll take my chances trying to win a pennant with Seattle, where I'm close to home and close to my family and kids."

Ahem. Given that Cirillo has a no-trade clause in his contract, wouldn't it have made sense for Seattle to clear this with him prior to making the deal? When Cirillo says "I'll take my chances trying to win a pennant with Seattle", does he actually think he'll be making any contribution whatsoever now that they've signed Scott Spiezio? After hitting .205 in part time duty in 2003, should Cirillo expect anything better than a role as the 25th man in Flushing...or anywhere else that takes on his salary?

This was a one sorry week for the Mariners, as Omar Vizquel failed his physical, nullifying Cleveland's swap for Carlos Guillen.

In the wake of the Players Association stance on the A-Rod trade, it is worth remembering that this union has done much to protect the rights of its members (particularly those that suck). Where Cirillo a player in the NFL with similar numbers (salary and stats), being paid for sitting around would not be an option.

If Cirillo is no longer an option, some of us are hoping that a Cedeno swap for Billy Koch can be arranged. But that's probably wishful thinking.

The Mets resigned Timo Perez and Joe McEwing yesterday and are supposedly trying to work things out with reliever Scott Strickland before the Saturday mindnight EST deadline at which time non--tendered players are up for grabs. Among the possible Mets targets (starting tomorrow),OF Jay Payton (just cut loose by the Rockies), the Marlins' Braden Looper, the Expos' Rocky Biddle, Boston's Trot Nixon, and just maybe, the Red Sox' Scott Willamson (if the Nomar for Ordonez trade isn't happening).

By the way, McEwing got $2 million for two years, guaranteed. When Vlad G. is ruled out as an unrealistic target, well, that's to be expected. But McEwing's deal makes Enrique Wilson at $700K seem sane by comparison.

The free-swinging, slow-thinking Jeromy Burnitz has signed a one year deal with Colorado, a pretty good spot for him. Burnitz might hit 25 home runs at Coors and perhaps no one will mind if he strikes out 200 times.

Posted: Sat - December 20, 2003 at 04:55 PM      

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