On Second Thought, Chris Gimenez Returns To Mariners

This news broke in the afternoon. I would've gotten to it sooner, but I wanted to give the person who just today stole my identity a chance to write it up first. You don't know what you're in for, this identity blows! It has to write about the Mariners all the time! Another reason I didn't get to this sooner is because it involves Chris Gimenez and, you know, Chris Gimenez things. But as evidenced by the fact that I jumped all over the Josh Kinney signing, that's a secondary reason.

The news is that the Mariners re-signed Chris Gimenez to a Major League contract. You might recall that, just Monday, the Mariners non-tendered Chris Gimenez rather than offer him a Major League contract. Surprise! It was all very confusing at first.

Mariners: So we're agreed, Gimenez is off the roster.
Mariners: /file paperwork
Mariners:
Mariners:
Mariners: Actually...

But then the situation was explained to me and now it makes more sense. The Mariners wanted to keep Gimenez around the whole time. However, the John Jaso acquisition basically guaranteed that Gimenez will at least begin next year in the minors. Had the Mariners tendered a contract to Gimenez, he would've been guaranteed more money while in Tacoma than the Mariners would've liked. So they non-tendered him and re-signed him, to a Major League deal, but also to a split deal. The split deal sets for Gimenez a specific minor league salary that is lower than it would've been.

Ryan Langerhans had a similar contract that we wrote about before. That slipped my mind, but look, now it's back in my mind! Stay there! Stop slipping!

So a pair of Gimenez transactions, one basically negating the other, all in the name of saving not a small amount of money, but a relatively small amount of money. We're talking less than the Major League minimum salary. It looks like penny-pinching, but that isn't fair. It's more like being responsible. Besides, every extra dollar helps when you're chasing Prince Fielder, or Michael Cuddyer, or Jamie Moyer. Gotta save those bucks for Jamie.

I will say that if there's anything less exciting to a fan hoping for Prince Fielder than bringing in a new guy likely to spend next year in triple-A, it's re-signing an old guy likely to spend next year in triple-A. The Mariners, of course, might be waiting to do much until they see how the Fielder and Yu Darvish situations play out, but for now, suck it, fans with dreams.

Of interest is that we're right back to having Gimenez, Jaso, Miguel Olivo, Adam Moore and Guillermo Quiroz. If healthy, Jaso and Olivo are locks for the bigs. The Mariners seem to like Gimenez quite a bit. They just brought in Quiroz. It makes you wonder about Moore. Moore didn't have a chance to do anything last season, which wasn't exactly his fault, but now he's a 27-year-old backstop still looking to show something. Time is running out, if it hasn't run out already.

Anyway, Chris Gimenez. Chris Gimenez! He's back! I hope you didn't all burn your shirseys.