The Mariners see second baseman Jose Lopez and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt as one of the best young double-play combinations in baseball, and the team took a step Wednesday to keep them together for several years.
Two weeks after Betancourt’s contract was extended through 2011, the Mariners secured Lopez with a new four-year deal that runs through 2010, with a club option for 2011.
“I’m happy for the contract,” the 23-year-old Lopez said. “But I’m working hard. I’m playing baseball.”
Lopez made the American League All-Star team last year and finished his first full major league season with a .282 batting average and led AL second basemen with 79 RBI.
“We project Jose to develop into a really special middle infielder,” general manager Bill Bavasi said. “We feel like we are solid in the middle for the next several years.”
The Mariners have signed three of their top young players this year. They signed 30-year-old closer J.J. Putz to a three-year, $13.1 million contract on Jan. 7. Betancourt, 25, is making about $1.4 million this year and will get $13.75 million from 2008-2011.
Salary figures for Lopez weren’t available.
Guillen scratched: Right fielder Jose Guillen, hit by a pitch on Tuesday, was scratched from the lineup just before Wednesday night’s game.
Guillen stayed in the game after being hit on his right hand by a Ramon Ortiz fastball in the second inning. Manager Mike Hargrove said after that game that he appeared to be OK, although the team would know more when Guillen came to the ballpark Wednesday.
He was in Hargrove’s original lineup, then scratched minutes before game time. Ben Broussard, who played a considerable number of innings at spring training while Guillen recovered from elbow surgery, started in right Wednesday.
Of note: Here are the pitching matchups for this weekend’s series at Anaheim: Miguel Batista vs. Joe Saunders on Friday, Horacio Ramirez vs. Bartolo Colon (first start this season) on Saturday, Jeff Weaver vs. Ervin Santana on Sunday. … The Mariners will become the last team in the major leagues to face a left-handed starter when Johan Santana pitches for the Twins today. … Twins center fielder Torii Hunter, who suffered a bruised left shoulder while diving for a fly ball Tuesday, didn’t start Wednesday. His status is day-to-day. … Fifty-five players in major league history, including the Mariners’ Ichiro Suzuki on Monday and Tuesday, have hit leadoff home runs in back-to-back games. M’s manager Mike Hargrove also is on that list, hitting homers on Aug. 13 and 14, 1977.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
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