Garko officially gone … to the Rangers

Published 11:16 am Thursday, April 1, 2010

First baseman Ryan Garko, who failed to impress with either his bat or his glove with the Mariners the past month, has been claimed off waivers by the Texas Rangers.

Garko batted .220 with one home run and four RBI in 41 at-bats with the Mariners. The Rangers now are on the hook for Garko’s $550,000 salary.

In other housecleaning news, there’s … well … a lot of housecleaning going on at the Mariners’ spring training headquarters today. Transporters are loading exotic sorts cars and luxury SUVs for the trip to Seattle, and team staffers are turning in the keys to their rental cars.

And, in about an hour, the Mariners will play their final Arizona exhibition against a team that’s technically the Chicago White Sox, but is mostly the group you’ll see playing for the Class AA Birmingham Barons ths year. Where are the real White Sox? Back East playing their Charlotte minor league team. The Mariners’ lineup has a big-league look.

The lineups:

WHITE SOX

John Shelby, center field

Dale Mollenhauer, second base

Jim Gallagher, first base

Brent Morel, third base

Chris Marrero, left field

Lee Cruz, DH

Salvador Sanchez, right field

Jared Price, catcher

Greg Paiml, shortstop

Right-hander Scott Elarton, starting pitcher

MARINERS

Eric Byrnes, right field

Franklin Gutierrez, center field

Casey Kotchman, first base

Jose Lopez, third base

Mike Sweeney, DH

Matt Tuiasosopo, left field

Josh Wilson, shortstop

Rob Johnson, catcher

Chris Woodward, second base

Right-hander Ian Snell, starting pitcher