Rule 5

The Mariners have taken right handed pitcher Kanekoa Texeira (Yankees, AA) in the MLB portion of the Rule 5 draft, with no losses. Texeira, 23, is a guy who gets by without electric stuff, but he's tended to get the job done with plenty of strikeouts and ground balls. You may recall him for his involvement in the Nick Swisher trade - he was drafted by the White Sox in 2006 and sent to the Yankees with Swisher for a bunch of total crap last year. In 2009 the Yankees experimented with him as a starter at Trenton, and he more or less replicated his relief numbers in that role, albeit in a tiny sample size. He throws a slider and a sinker, both of which do what they're supposed to do, and he's pretty durable. It's unlikely that anyone would see him as much more than an emergency starter due to his total lack of a changeup, so there's that. He might stick in long relief if Carlos Silva doesn't get there first, or he could provide cover in the case of injuries to the pen at the start of the year.

In the minor league portion we lost Marshall Hubbard, which is to say nobody, and piked up RHP Terrence Engles from the Nationals, who we will likely never hear from again.

In other news, Josh Wilson returns to the Mariner organisation on a minor league deal. Hurray. Maybe he and Corey Patterson can be friends.