- Michael Saunders - cut. No surprises here; while some held out hope that Saunders would impress and force his way into a roster spot, it was never going to happen, barring injury and a spring torrent of homers. Saunders is a fine player, and he's likely to have a fine career, but that career is still a little ways off, and for the time being he'll continue to develop in AAA. Do not take this as an indication that the front office is down on Saunders. There's just no reason to believe he's ready right now to outproduce what we have.
- Mike Koplove - cut. Comrade has impressed everyone that's seen him this month, so this is too bad, but with Kanekoa Texeira looking great and Sean White seeming healthy, Koplove was redundant. He'll be effective in Tacoma, though, and while I wouldn't count on it, it wouldn't surprise me to see him in Seattle at some point this season. He can pitch to Major League hitters.
- Levale Speigner - cut. Levale Speigner was still around, which, hey, good for him. But he's not around anymore.
- The Mariners sent Miguel Celestino to Boston today to complete the Casey Kotchman trade. You might know the 20 year old Celestino for having the same last name as Jose Lopez's middle name. You will not know Celestino for anything else. On the other hand, Googling "Miguel Celestino" "good pitcher" turns up twice as many results as "Miguel Celestino" "bad pitcher" so we might've just gotten screwed.
- Everybody in Red Sox Nation is becoming familiar with Adrian Beltre's signature charge-and-barehand-and-throw-off-balance play on groundballs. Jose Lopez is incapable of doing any one of those three things, let alone all three in rapid sequence. Going from Adrian Beltre to Jose Lopez in the field is like going from a Palm Pre to cans.
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