Just a few things that've been on my mind this morning...
Unofficially, Kenji Jo(h)jima is a Mariner. Barring a sudden, unforeseen change of heart, he should be inked to a contract (probably for two years with a third year option at $4-5m a pop) within the next two weeks or so. As a reference point, the league-average catcher last year hit .254/.313/.391. There's no way to spin this as a bad move. He's a reasonable bet to equal or outperform Ben Molina and Ramon Hernandez at a fraction of the cost.
David Cameron has hinted at a possible Carl Pavano trade a few times before. Now we hear that Pavano wants out of New York. We know that the Mariners like Pavano, given that they reportedly offered him the biggest contract last winter, so expect to hear his name more often if Bavasi's talks with the free agent class fall through.
Texas' middle infield defense is very, very bad. The 2B/SS combination of Alfonso Soriano and Mike Young were 41 runs below average in the field last year (according to UZR), costing the Rangers about four wins. Coincidentally, according to BRAA, they were 41 runs above average at the plate, meaning that the net result is a perfectly league-average middle infield.
Alfonso Soriano: +10 runs hitting, -20 fielding, -10 total
Mark Ellis: +16 hitting, +15 fielding, +31 total
I'm not kidding when I say that Soriano might be the most overrated player in baseball.