This is actually more like Yesterday In Uninteresting Mariners Rumors, since I first saw this sometime Sunday evening, but as you can imagine, it didn't exceed my Sunday threshold. There exists a threshold below which I will not write about something on a Sunday, and this was below that level. Now it's Monday!
Hit it, Jon Morosi!
Source: George Sherrill, free agent LHR, drawing interest from #Royals, #Phillies, #BlueJays, #Mariners.
Oh, so you want Prince Fielder rumors? You only want to talk about Prince Fielder rumors, or rumors involving players as good or as visible as Prince Fielder? Too bad. They can't all be that exciting. If they were all that exciting, you wouldn't appreciate how exciting they are. You need shit rumors like this and the Arthur Rhodes rumor to be able to keep the other rumors in perspective. This way, it isn't Prince Fielder!, Prince Fielder, Prince Fielder, Prince Fielder. It's Prince Fielder!, Darren Ford, Prince Fielder!, Arthur Rhodes, Prince Fielder!, George Sherrill, Prince Fielder!.
Sherrill, obviously, is a former Mariner. So is Rhodes. So are some of the other guys to whom the Mariners have been linked. One also recalls that the Mariners brought Tony Butler back into the system a year ago. Bedard's gone, Butler's back, Sherrill could come back. Piece by piece...
So here's the thing about this rumor. It makes sense on two levels: the Mariners are in open pursuit of a lefty for the bullpen, and the Mariners have expressed an interest in adding to the bullpen some kind of vet. Sherrill is a lefty, and Sherrill is a vet. Okay, sure, he fits. He fits pretty well.
But Sherrill is a lefty vet who got $1.2 million as a free agent a year ago coming off a bad season. He got $4.5 million the year before that. Now he's not coming off a bad season. Last season, with the Braves, Sherrill had trouble against righties like usual, but he struck out 32 lefties while walking just one. That is a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 32:1. That is an excellent ratio of strikeouts to walks.
So it stands to reason that Sherrill is going to get paid a little bit. Why should the Mariners be the team that pays him? They're highly unlikely to contend in 2012. Sherrill's 34. He's a specialist. What money the Mariners have could be put to better use elsewhere.
It doesn't make sense to me unless Sherrill comes at a huge discount, and I don't know why Sherrill would come at a huge discount. 32 to 1. He's better suited to get signed by a contender, so the Mariners don't strike me as much of a likely match.
And that is Today (Yesterday) In Uninteresting Mariners Rumors. I hope that you are suitably uninterested.