Pop quiz: What do Bill Bavasi and Jack Zduriencik have in common as general managers? Well, yeah, they’re both bald, but I’m looking something deeper than that.
Stumped? Neither Bavasi nor Zduriencik has gone to arbitration with a player.
OK, maybe it was a trick question because the similarities end right there (except the bald part). For all the Mariners didn’t accomplish under Bavasi, he never had a case go all the way through the arbitration process. And Zduriencik hasn’t either, although he’s been a GM for only one full season.
Zduriencik isn’t quite clear of arbitration this winter, but he took a giant step today. Amid reports that star pitcher Felix Hernandez has agreed to a five-year contract that numerous media outlets say is worth about $80 million, the Mariners also have signed relief pitchers David Aardsma and Mark Lowe to one-year contracts.
The deals will avoid the often uncomfortable arbitration process with all three players. And, in Hernandez’s case when it’s finalized within the next few days, it’ll eliminate the speculation (and distraction) over whether the Mariners might have to trade him if they can’t sign him longterm.
The Mariners won’t comment on Hernandez until his deal is done, and that won’t happen until Thursday or Friday.
Still, it looks like we can wipe his name, along with Aardsma and Lowe, off the Mariners’ arbitration-eligible list of five. Newly acquired reliever Brandon League and first baseman Casey Kotchman also are eligible for arbitration.
9 a.m. (PST) today was the deadline for players and teams to exchange salary figures as the first step in the arbitration process.
Lowe will make $1.15 million this year and Aardsma $2.75 million. Aardsma, who saved 38 games and finished with a 2.52 ERA, is ecstatic.
“I’m very excited abot the deal. How can’t you not be?” he said. “It shows that they’re happy and they wanted to get something done and we wanted to get something done. It’s very fair for both of us and I don’t think anybody really, truly wanted to go to arbitration.
“Nobody wants to have the team tear you apart and tell you how bad you are. But they have to because it’s part of the process. It’s done, and now I can take that deep breath. What’s next? It’s getting ready for the season, being healthy and going out there every single day.”
As for Hernandez’s imminent signing, Aardsma considers him the “heart and soul” of the team along with Ichiro Suzuki and Ken Griffey Jr.
“Ichiro and Junior are two first-ballot, no-question Hall of Famers, and Felix is going to take his place in that line with them. This has got to show the fans that Felix wanted to stay here, that the team wanted him to stay here, and how much he means to us.”
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