Eddie Guardado took his family Christmas shopping on Tuesday, but not without visions of baseball dancing in his head.
Guardado, the high-energy closer for the Seattle Mariners, dreams of having Jacque Jones as a teammate again and the chance to represent the U.S. in the first World Baseball Classic in March.
Jones is among the free agent left-handed hitters the Mariners are interested in signing this winter. Guardado said he believes Jones, a good friend who he played with in Minnesota, would like to play for the Mariners.
“He can hit. He can play left field. And he’s a good guy in the clubhouse,” Guardado said via cell phone while walking through a mall near his home in Tustin, Calif. “He would be a good one.”
Jones batted .249 with 23 home runs and 73 RBI last season for the Twins, and he isn’t likely to be a bargain. When the San Diego Padres signed left-handed-hitting outfielder Brian Giles last week for three years and $30 million, it helped set the market for upper-echelon players such as Jones.
Reports the past two days also tabbed the Mariners as possible trade partners with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Aubrey Huff (.261, 22 homers, 92 RBI), with the M’s moving relief pitcher Julio Mateo in exchange.
“I just hope they don’t break up this bullpen,” Guardado said. “We’ve got a really good thing going.”
Guardado also says he is honored to be on the preliminary list of U.S. players for the World Baseball Classic, an international tournament that will be played in March. He is among four Mariners who may play, along with right fielder Ichiro Suzuki for Japan, third baseman Adrian Beltre for the Dominican Republic and starting pitcher Joel Pineiro for Puerto Rico.
“There was a lot of talk last year that there would be this tournament, and I knew I wanted to play,” Guardado said.
He’s not a certainty, however. There are four other closers on the U.S. list: Brad Lidge, B.J. Ryan, Francisco Cordero and Billy Wagner.
“If I do get picked for the final roster and can represent the United States, it would be a privilege,” Guardado said. “I never got a chance to play in the Olympics.”
The 16-team tournament runs March 3-20 with early-round games in Arizona, San Diego, Orlando, Puerto Rico and Japan. Each national team must submit a 60-man roster by Jan. 17, with the final 30-man rosters to be determined 24 hours before the tournament starts.
Guardado would have a much better chance to play for Mexico and he qualifies for that team because both of his parents were born there.
“My dad was pretty stoked about the chance of me representing Mexico, but I never got a call from them,” Guardado said. “He’s still happy because I have a chance to represent the U.S.”
And if he does play in the World Classic, Guardado would like to make sure of one thing: that organizers allow him to perform his ritual jog, toe-tap and crotch grab on his way from the bullpen to the mound.
“You’d better believe I will do it,” he said, laughing. “If they don’t let me, then I’m not playing.”
The Moyer watch: Starting pitcher Jamie Moyer, still unsigned as a free agent, will make news today one way or another.
Teams have until 9 p.m. (PST) today to offer arbitration to their unsigned free agents. If they don’t, they can’t negotiate with those players until May 1.
Neither Moyer nor the Mariners will talk about contract talks, although it’s believed both sides are working toward bringing him back. If no agreement is reached by tonight, the Mariners are expected to offer arbitration in order to keep the negotiating process alive.
Six other Mariners – infielder Willie Bloomquist, catcher Yorvit Torrealba and pitchers Ryan Franklin, Julio Mateo, Gil Meche and Rafael Soriano – are eligible for arbitration. Because none of those players is a free agent, the Mariners have until Dec. 20 to tender contracts to them. If they aren’t offered a contract then, they become free agents who can negotiate with any major league team, including the Mariners.
Niehaus a finalist again: Longtime Mariners play-by-play broadcaster Dave Niehaus is among 10 finalists for the Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in baseball broadcasting.
Niehaus, who also was a finalist each of the past two years, finished second to the late Bill King in online fan voting that began in November to determine the 10 finalists. The other finalists are Jacques Doucet, Tom Cheek, Gene Elston, Ken Coleman, Denny Mathews, Dizzy Dean, Tony Kubek and Graham McNamee.
A 20-member committee, comprised of the 14 living Frick Award recipients and six broadcast historians and columnists, will vote in January. The winner will be announced Feb. 21 and honored at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony July 31.
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