Mariners Winter Meeting report

Despite being in talks with a number of teams to provide a solid starting pitcher to back up Felix Hernandez in the rotation- including the Orioles for Erik Bedard and the Rays for Edwin Jackson- the Mariners walked away from the winter meetings empty-handed.

Well, maybe not entirely empty-handed, but perhaps should have. The M’s did pick up knuckleball specialist R.A. Dickey from the Twins in the Rule V draft. Dickey may perhaps be best known for allowing six home runs in a game against the Tigers in his only start of 2006, which portended an exit from the major leagues which Dickey has not returned. Usually teams try to scout out the neglected but promising prospects unprotected on other teams’ rosters in the Rule V draft, such as the Twins nabbing Johann Santana from the Houston Astros and the Marlins doing the same with Dan Uggla from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Leave it up to the Mariners to draft a 32-year old minor league journeyman, although Dickey did lead the Pacific Coast League with 16 wins and was the League’s Pitcher of the Year. Still, if the M’s need for reliable arms was great enough to draft Dickey, perhaps the M’s might have been better off bringing Horacio Ramirez for another go around in the rotation.

Although the Mariners didn’t lose anybody in the Rule V draft, in the triple-A draft the Brewers nabbed 27-year old right-handed starting pitcher Juan Sandoval, who has a career 33-38 record and 325 strikeouts in 553 minor league innings.