Jeff Cirillo, a bust for the past two years in Seattle, is about to join the San Diego Padres.
The Padres will acquire Cirillo, pitcher Brian Sweeney and cash Tuesday in a trade for catcher Wiki Gonzalez, pitcher Kevin Jarvis, infielder Dave Hansen and a minor leaguer, said a source familiar with the deal. The teams must first receive approval from the commissioner's office because the Padres are getting more than $1 million in cash from Seattle.
Cirillo, a two-time All-Star, has two years remaining on a four-year, $29 million contract. He hit .249 in 2002 after Seattle acquired him from the Colorado Rockies in a trade for pitchers Jose Paniagua, Denny Stark and Brian Fuentes. Last year he hit .205 in 87 games for the Mariners.
Seattle tried to send Cirillo to the New York Mets for outfielder Roger Cedeno two weeks ago. But Cirillo rejected the trade, saying he'd rather come off the bench in Seattle than be a backup in New York. In San Diego, Cirillo will be a backup to Sean Burroughs.
Cirillo will make $6.7 million in 2004 and $7 million in 2005. Jarvis is under contract for $4.25 million next season. But the Padres will receive enough money from the Mariners to make the deal a wash financially, the source said.
Gonzalez became expendable when the Padres acquired catcher Ramon Hernandez in a trade with Oakland. Jarvis went 12-11 for San Diego in 2001 to earn himself a three-year, $9 million contract, but went 6-12 for the Padres over the last two seasons.
The Padres have been active this offseason, signing left-hander David Wells away from the New York Yankees. San Diego also signed starting pitchers in Sterling Hitchcock and Ismael Valdes.
The Mariners get Jarvis, a 34-year-old right-hander who went 4-8 with a 5.87 ERA in 16 starts last year. His best season was 2001, when he went 12-11.
Hansen has long been one of the best pinch-hitters during his 13-year career. A .265 career hitter, he batted .244 with two homers and 15 RBIs in 135 at-bats with San Diego last year.
Gonzalez hit .200 with no homers and 10 RBIs in 65 at-bats before being sent to Triple-A Portland in May.
“To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
Yet another chapter in the strange AL/NL relationship of Seattle and San Diego.
I'm scratching my head on this one. We swapped pinch hitters and picked up a lot of salary, and we lost Jarvis who is a lot better than his record shows. He's at least a .500 pitcher on a good team - not great, but could be a spot starter or number 5 guy easily for most teams.
I know we had an excess of catchers, but I really thought that we would get rid of Miguel Ojeda before Wikki. We now have two catchers that can hit... interesting. (as opposed to two that could hit, and Wikki who can throw people out)
Seattle now has Ben Davis and Wikki, both of our catchers from 2000.
We already had a guy to back up Burroughs - his name was Phil Nevin. I'm not sure how this is a better move than that, but I guess it keeps us from having to shift everyone in order to back up people.
I'm still not sure how the infield / outfield plays out for this team, and I'm not even going to try until spring training.
(edited by Guru Zim on 6.1.04 1106) Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
I am so a HUGE fan of this trade. You get rid of an ill-fated, massive contract in Jeff Cirillo, you get aan underrated pitcher in Kevin Jarvis who should flourish in Safeco doing long relief and spot-starting (as opposed to having your starters start every game and tiring out, like the M's had last year), and you free up room to sign someone. Now I can just hope the Rich Aurilia rumors aren't true.
Yeah, I'm still not seeing the upside in this for San Diego. This has to rank up there with picking up Randy Myers in 1998.
1999 San Diego Padres $6,666,666 2000 San Diego Padres $6,916,667
1998 - 14.3 innings pitched.
That's almost $1mill per inning.
I don't think this Cirillo deal is that bad, but it's pretty close. We already have a new park this year and a bunch of new talent, so it's not like they did this for the drawing value of the name...
Maybe Burroughs is on the block? That wouldn't make sense considering how high they have been on him - but it sure seems more likely than Cirillo on the bench at that kind of contract.
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
The Pads CAN'T be thinking they'll deal Burroughs and plug Cirillo in at third, can they? I suppose if Cirillo was a massive defensive upgrade (and he may well be, he's an excellent fielder) but I think he'd have to hit .350 in spot duty through at least May before they would think he's worthy of the starting job. I know the M's are paying a good chunk of Cirillo's salary, but MLB typically caps the amount teams can pay at $1 million. That would still leave more than $6 million left.
The ONLY thing I can guess about the M's shortstop situation is that they think it might be a good idea to separate Freddy and Carlos. Bill Krueger says they've been teammates since they were 16 and that with Carlos around Freddy has been shielded from things like having to learn English well. They have to be thinking along those lines because Aurillia isn't really an upgrade at all over Guillen.
EDIT: Today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer says the M's are sending the Padres $4.775 million. Wow.
(edited by JayJayDean on 7.1.04 1323) “To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
How to Make the Wienerboard a Better Place, Chapter 2: If you're going to make a smart-ass remark, make sure you know why you're saying it.Yeah, that trade made no sense to me. The Mariners had been going on about Guillen's versatility, and it looked like they finally had someone to play 3B whose qualifications didn't begin and end with "Isn't Jeff Cirillo"... and they ship him off to Detroit for Ramon Santiago and (No, Not That) Juan Gonzalez. Are they thinking that Santiago's gonna be the future SS? Because I don't know that he has that much potential...
Although now the Tigers might make me give them some more attention besides "how's Andres Torres doing?"... he's my gf's cousin.
Today's Out-Of-Context Quote, Courtesy ofDEAN:
"A-Train could wear a Vampirella outfit and I would toast a load to it."
The Mariners signed Scott Spiezio to play third base and now that they signed Rich Aurilia to play shortstop, they needed to cut salary. So, they traded Guillen to the Tigers for a minimum salary guy they can send to AAA.
Once the M's got into the Aurilia talks, it became apparent that they were moving Guillen and there was never any plan to keep them together if they got Aurilia, salraies or otherwise. Remember, the Mariners had traded Guillen for Omar Vizquel until Vizquel failed his physical.
The big issue for the Mariners is the preception that they're a bunch of "nice guys" and with the exception of Bret Boone noone is a very emotional type of guy. They are hoping Aurilia can bring some fire to the team that Guillen certainly wasn't bringing.
The M's have Jose Lopez at AAA this year and he has the look of a "shortstop of the future", I'm told.
(edited by JayJayDean on 9.1.04 1335) “To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
Originally posted by GrimisWeren't they going to move Burroughs to 2nd at one point?
There was talk of doing that before the 2003 saeason because Nevin didn't want to move to the outfield. Burroughs played a few games at second in September 2002 to get acclimated, but when Nevin destroyed his shoulder in Spring Training, the move never happened. Thanks to Mark Loretta, it never will.
I was never a big Jarvis guy. He had one decent season then got signed to a long term deal. He immediately suffered two elbow injuries in two years, both season ending. Wiki got his starting job and decided he could relax. Good riddance to him. I'll take Cirillo, who can back up every infield position. Plus, you never know what will happen with injuries. I don't think Towers is done yet.
Attempted murder... really. Do they give a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?
Originally posted by James F'n XRich Aurilia = Jeff Cirillo for the next two years for Seattle. FUCK. Why did Seattle make such a lateral (if not a downgrade) of a move?
Dang, James. Still bitter about that Seahawks game?
I think it's a bit early to jump to that conclusion. It's not like he's been playing in Colordo like Cirillo did.
Besides, Aurilia only signed a one-year deal.
“To get ass, you’ve got to bring ass." -- Roy Jones Jr.
"Your input has been noted. I hope you don't take it personally if I disregard it." -- Guru Zim
And thank God that it is off. I would rather have Hernandez behind the plate than Kendall, and Mark Loretta said Cirillo will be a great back-up for Nevin and Burroughs. Obviously, the Padres don't want to pay that kind of money for a back-up, but, with Nevin's injury history over the last two years, Cirillo is a solid insurance policy defensively.
Attempted murder... really. Do they give a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?
I've got to agree with you. I was wondering what Kendall was going to bring to the table that Hernandez wasn't.
Honestly, if the Padres can choose between a Latino player and a white guy, it makes marketing sense to always choose the Latino if they are close in ability. We have a lot of fans from Mexico that follow the team, and many from TJ who come to games.
We just need one more starting pitcher... Damn. This is the most gelled I've seen this team since the '96 and '98 teams.
Willful ignorance of science is not commendable. Refusing to learn the difference between a credible source and a shill is criminally stupid.
I have to agree, Guru. I don't know how well the newly signed Jay Payton will work out in CF, but I like the make-up of this team right now. I would like to see them get another proven arm in the rotation, but then again, Hitchcock pitched well in St. Louis during the second half. It's going to be an interesting 2004 in the new yard.
Attempted murder... really. Do they give a Nobel Prize for Attempted Chemistry?
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