Former Baltimore closer Chris Ray comes to Mariners camp as a non-roster player, but a return to his closer form would be a great benefit for Seattle’s bullpen in 2011.
Author: John Hickey
John Hickey
John is a longtime West Coast-based baseball writer who covered the Oakland As for two decades with The (Hayward) Daily Review and the Oakland Tribune. He headed north in 2000 to cover the Mariners for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, starting on the day Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to Cincinnati. After the print P-I closed in 2009, he joined the national sports staff of AOL FanHouse and contributes to Seattlepostglobe.org. He is a longtime baseball correspondent for the Tokyo Chunichi Press. A member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) for two-plus decades, Hickey is a Hall of Fame voter. When hes not covering baseball, he has written about pro football, college sports, tennis, golf and winter sports. A University of California grad, Hickey is a fan of rock and jazz music, traveling, reading and cooking. He proved in high school that hes no athlete, but he does like to ski. Hickey and his wife live in Seattle in a house ruled by two magnanimous cats.
The 22-year-old third baseman from Italy is part of the international pot of prospects the Mariners have brought in. Liddi is spending spring training trying to show manager Eric Wedge he belongs with the big club.
Seattle left fielder Milton Bradley and manager Eric Wedge are together again, and if they can work out their issues, Bradley could be a big part of 2011 Mariners.
There was no major scene greeting left fielder Milton Bradley’s arrival at camp, but Seattle needs to be prepared for one, just in case.
Using Danny Cortes as a closer for a month with David Aardsma out could pay big dividends
Mariners president Chuck Armstrong talks about what Griffey’s role could be and why the organization opted for this move.
Once again what-ifs surround Erik Bedard. The lefty starter offers experience and skill – as long as he remains healthy after three injury-shortened seasons.
Seattle’s kids probably need more time to develop, but need to win now runs counter to that
While the doctors say the closer could be back pitching for Seattle in the second week of April, he’s still on crutches, so that timetable may be optimistic.
Seattle left fielder Milton Bradley, arrested last month after making threats against his wife, will not be facing criminal charges.