By John Boyle
No, the Mariners didn’t didn’t have a large animal on hand today, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t making headlines this afternoon.
First off, it was announce that… wait, hold on a second? I need to go back to this. The Huskies actually brought a live tiger to practice as part of their preparation for their trip to LSU, which has a tiger at the stadium on game days? A real tiger? Well then. Can’t wait until November when the Huskies play at Cal (Bears), Colorado (Buffaloes) and WSU (Cougars).
But I digress. Let’s get back to baseball. As I was saying, it was announced earlier today that Felix Hernandez was named the American League Pitcher of the Month for August.
Considering that Hernandez was 4-0 in August with a 1.08 ERA and three shutouts—and ohbytheway, he threw a perfect game—this was probably one of the easiest pitcher of the month decisions in the history of the award.
And now that we’re into September, teams can expand their rosters, so the Mariners added the following players:
· DH/1B Mike Carp recalled from his rehabilitation assignment at AAA Tacoma and activated from 15-day DL
· DH/1B Luis Jimenez selected from AAA Tacoma
· RHP Shawn Kelley recalled from AAA Tacoma
· INF Alex Liddi recalled from AAA Tacoma
· RHP Hector Noesi recalled from AAA Tacoma
· INF Carlos Triunfel recalled from AAA Tacoma
· OF Casper Wells recalled from AAA Tacoma
Wells, who was recently sent down to make room for Franklin Gutierrez, will start tonight in right field and hit eighth.
To make room on the 40-man roster for Jimenez, the Mariners designated outfielder Johermyn Chavez for assignment.
And finally, the Mariners also announced they have traded minor league catcher Guillermo Quiroz to the Boston Red Sox in exchange for cash considerations. And no, it’s not your imagination, the Mariners seem to enjoy negotiating face-to-face this season. They traded Ichiro Suzuki to the Yankees while they were in town for a series, acquired Eric Thames for Steve Delabar while Toronto was in town, and now they sent Quiroz, who had been in Tacoma, to the Red Sox, who happen to be in Seattle.
