Cust cut as M’s tweak roster
Less than two days before baseball’s non-waiver trade deadline, the Mariners’ door was swinging Friday.
Early in the afternoon they traded Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers outfielder Ryan Langerhans to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for cash considera
tions, and later they designated struggling DH Jack Cust for assignment, all but cutting their connection with him. They have 10 days to trade, release or re-assign Cust to the minor leagues.
The Langerhans move allowed the Mariners to place newly signed slugger Wily Mo Pena on the 40-man roster and have him play at Tacoma.
Cust’s cut made room for pitcher Eric Bedard to come off the disabled list and start Friday night against the Rays, although just as important is that it allows the Mariners flexibility for further tinkering as Sunday’s 1 p.m. (PDT) trade deadline approaches.
Among players mentioned in baseball’s trade speculation Friday were a handful of Mariners, particularly Bedard and right-handed pitcher Doug Fister.
Manager Eric Wedge said the club decided to cut a position player “to keep our options open.”
He said it gives the Mariners a chance to play with a six-man starting rotation, allowing him to give his starters extra time between starts. However, that doesn’t seem likely at this point in the season, when the Mariners have off days the next four Thursdays that would give them an extra day between starts anyway.
Bedard’s name has been mentioned a lot in trade talks. And, even though it was his first start since June 27 because of a sprained left knee, there was speculation that the Mariners already had a deal in place pending the outcome of his performance Friday.
Left-hander Jason Vargas’ name also has come up, although there have been recent reports that scouts aren’t seeing the quality stuff from him that he threw early in the season.
Fister was linked Friday in a report that said the Tigers are interested, and that the Mariners are scouting Detroit’s lower-level minor league teams.
“The fact of the matter is, you’ve got to look beyond today,” Wedge said, without mentioning trade possibilities. “There’s nothing more important than today’s game. But having said that, you’ve got to pay attention to tomorrow, next week, next month and even next year. We’ve gone through a lot here in a short period of time — some good, some not so good, some really bad. But all of that’s going to be a part of who we’re going to end up being as a major league club and as an organization. For us to keep our options open, that’s going to be a plus for what we’re trying to do.”
Green, gold and standing Os
The Mariners honored the Seattle SuperSonics by bringing back 16 former players and coaches from the former NBA team, and in turn the ex-players and coaches returned the favor by thanking the fans.
“This is a great opportunity for us to come back and share a lot of memories,” said Gary Payton. “If it wasn’t for you guys, there wouldn’t have been any of us.”
With many in the crowd wearing the Sonics’ green and gold colors, they cheered loudest for Payton, Shawn Kemp and former coaches George Karl and Lenny Wilkens.
Others who took part in the ceremony were James Donaldson, Dale Ellis, Michael Cage, Tom Chambers, Detlef Schrempf, Hersey Hawkins, Slick Watts, Jack Sikma, Spencer Haywood, Fred Brown, Gus Williams and Nate McMillan.
Karl and Wilkens threw out ceremonial first pitches.
Of note
Relief pitcher Shawn Kelley will pitch one inning tonight for the Class AAA Tacoma Rainiers in his second rehab outing since suffering a setback in his return from elbow surgery last year. … Minor league shortstop prospect Nick Franklin flew to Arizona on Friday and will begin working out at the Mariners’ facility there. Franklin hasn’t played since June 26 at Class AA Jackson after suffering a concussion when he was hit in the head by a bat that got away from a teammate near the batting cage. He recovered quickly from the concussion, but became ill (the Mariners believe it was food poisoning) and lost weight.
Kirby Arnold, Herald Writer
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