Mariners Update

  • Wednesday, May 15, 2002 9:00pm
  • Sports

For the second time in a week, Jeff Nelson’s bone chips were surgically removed Wednesday.

The first time, three of them were taken out of his ailing right elbow during an operation in Seattle last week. On Wednesday, they were removed from online auction website e-Bay – after bidding reached $23,600.

That’s right. Someone bid nearly $24,000 for three pieces of bone taken out of Nelson’s body.

In the Mariners clubhouse, players began pondering what body parts they could put up for auction – and what price they might bring.

“If Nelson’s bones are worth $25,000, my bones would go for $250,000,” Bret Boone deadpanned.

No sooner had Edgar Martinez heard the news than he approached team trainer Rick Griffin – in jest – and dropped a question.

“He wanted to know what we’d done with his tendon,” Griffin said, reffering to the hamstring tendon surgically removed from Martinez in April.

“I told him if he sold it, the doctor was going to want a finder’s fee.”

Apparently, Nelson decided to put the chips to work for charity, and with the help of a friend put them up for grabs on e-Bay Wednesday, complete with a digital photo that showed what the buyer would be getting.

Late in the afternoon, e-Bay took Nelson’s auction – under the heading Jeff Nelson’s bone chips – off their site, saying body parts were not sold online.

The last known bid: $23,600.

The question most frequently asked in the Seattle clubhouse?

“What would you do with bone chips if you bought them?” Mike Cameron wondered.

What, indeed.

“If you had them on display, you’d have to have a magnifying glass alongside them,” John Halama said.

Players seemed genuinely puzzled about what a buyer would do with the chips.

Mount them? Put them in a lava lamp? Have them suspended in amber and made into a key chain?

Nelson isn’t along the on this trip, staying home and rehabilitating the right elbow that, until last week, contained the ‘loose bodies’ in question.

It’s not clear whether he’ll sell the chips to the highest bidder or find another way to auction the them off – or forget the whole idea.

“I’m sure it was for a good cause,” manager Lou Piniella said. “But I wouldn’t have bid on them.”

Edgar Martinez update: He took batting practice for the first time since last week, did agility drills and then ran the stairs at SkyDome for about 20 minutes. “He won’t run the bases or run hard until we get home (Monday),” Griffin said. “He’s just building his strength, finding his stride. He got good and loose today, and we’ll see how he feels (today), but I think he’s coming along.”

Long ball blues: Freddy Garcia allowed 16 home runs last season in a league-high 238 innings pitched. This season, Garcia has pitched 57 innings – and given up 10 homers.

Shedding pounds: Jeff Cirillo has lost six pounds since the end of spring training, but insists it’s not dietary. “Stress,” Cirillo said.

Take a whiff of that: The Mariners bullpen leads the American League with 107 strikeouts in its first 119 innings. The Twins and Blue Jays are tied for second at 106 strikeouts, but both bullpens have far more innings pitched.

Opponent: Toronto Blue Jays

Where: SkyDome, Toronto

When: 4:05 p.m.

TV: FSN (cable)

Radio: KIRO (710 AM)

Starting pitchers: Seattle right-hander Joel Pineiro (3-0, 2.25 earned run average) vs. right-hander Luke Prokopec (2-4, 6.82).

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