A
busy day in Seattle in the last twenty-four hours; it started with Dustin
Ackley being traded to the New York Yankees by the Mariners. We then learned
Friday morning that Russell Wilson signed a four year contract extension which
will keep him with the Seahawks for five more years. Later in the day the
Mariners traded Mark Lowe to Toronto Blue Jays and J.A. Happ to the Pittsburgh
Pirates.
The
signing of Russell Wilson was expected to be signed by today or they would put
it on the shelf until next season; however, neither did the Seahawks or Wilson
wanted to wait. A major reason the Seahawks wanted to sign Wilson now they are
looking to give an extension to middle linebacker Bobbie Wagner as well, and
they need to know how much money would still need to sign him under the salary
cap. At this point hard to know if the Seahawks will sign in the days ahead or
put him off until next year. The problem is how many top players the Seahawks
can keep around because of the salary cap.
The
reason the Seahawks and Wilson wanted to take care of the signing now because
Friday July 31 is the beginning of training camp, and he wanted to concentrate
on playing football. He will play this season on the final year of the current
contract; however, a part of the new contract is a $30 million signing bonus.
He is getting $20 of it now and the remaining next April.
Another
part of opening of training camp is that strong safety Cam Chancellor did not
report; he is staying away because he is not happy with the amount of his
contract. The problem though he has three years remaining on the contract, and
the Seahawks don’t renegotiate with that much left on the contract. He will be
fined seventy thousand dollars a day for each day he misses camp, however, the
Seahawks like him so much likely they won’t have him pay it. I am sure he will
be in camp eventually after getting his point across.
The
trading of Dustin Ackley to the Yankees means the Mariners finally gave up on
him. He was a second overall pick in the draft and never lived up his
expectations. He is a really nice guy so we can hope that he will become a good
Yankee player. He may be playing second base again with Yankees and some
outfield as well. Since he has been in the major leagues for five years likely
he won’t be the player the Mariners drafted. The Mariners got two minor league
players for Ackley. They receive a left handed hitting outfielder who will go
to Tacoma, and right handed reliever Ramirez who will report to the Mariners
because of the trading of Lowe and J.A. Happ. One of the three left handed
relievers the Mariners got back from Toronto Rob Rasmussen will report to the
Mariners. One of the two Ramirez and Rasmussen will report to Tacoma when it is
the spot in the rotation where J.A. Happ was pitching. At that point Elias will
be brought back up to take Happ’s spot in the rotation. The Mariners also made other moves bringing up young shortstop Katel
Marte who will also play second while Cano is out and most likely play some
shortstop and may see him in center field when they want to give Austin Jackson
a day off. Also, Jesus Montero came back up to replace Dustin Ackley. He will
play first base and dh. According to Lloyd McClendon they expect to play him a
lot so they can see what he can do.
For
the remaining of the summer we can see what the Mariners have left in them. It
could be they may relax and win more ball games while we get to watch the
Seahawks to see what they can do to prepare going after another Super Bowl. Go
Mariners and Seahawks!
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