Mariners Moose Tracks, 1/23/17: Early Mornings, Marte and Ventura Pass Away, and Quincy Pondexter

Good morning everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. I’m still busy trying to adjust to the Eastern Time Zone. That might explain why I’m up super late writing this. Oh crap. I just pissed away the illusion that I actually get up early to write these pieces. Oops.

The one thing that I love about visiting Seattle during holidays — besides seeing friends, family, and the Mariners at Safeco Field of course — is that for my first few days in the Pacific Northwest I wake up at 6:30am feeling completely rested and ready to start my day. It’s a great feeling to get up early feeling well-rested because then you feel like your entire day is in front of you. I sometimes struggle to wake up at 10am at college.

Don’t mistake me for a standard college kid who stays up until 4 or 5 in the morning though. I pass out by 1:30 at the latest. I’m the kind of person who needs at least 7 hours of sleep to have a fully functioning day ahead of me. I’m really starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel with 6 hours or fewer. If you’re the type of person who can thrive on less, I envy you.

Anyways, you morning birds, here’s some fresh news for your troubles.

In Mariners news...

• I appear to have missed this from last week, but former Mariners General Manager Dan O’Brien, Sr. unfortunately passed away on Tuesday.
• As if the Mariners FanFest lineup couldn’t get any better, Jean Segura has now joined the squad. If you’re in the area, you should absolutely consider going.
• Segura even put up a video to fans about his upcoming appearance at the event.

• In this latest Mariners Caravan feature, Dan Vogelbach talks about his transition from the Cubs to the Mariners and what he expects from the upcoming season.

Around the league...

• A couple of really sad stories in baseball: Andy Marte and Yordano Ventura both died yesterday in separate car accidents in the Dominican Republic. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of these two magnificently talented players.
• Pinstripe Alley takes a look at some of the greatest swings in Yankees history. The list includes a pair of players connected to Seattle.
• The Giants agreed to a deal with outfielder Gregor Blanco. Make sure to send your love to our friend Zach Sanders, who wanted Blanco to land in Seattle more than anything.
• It appears that the Angels’ recent surge in activity this offseason might be due to some uncertainty about the status of Albert Pujols.
• Alejandro De Aza signed a minor league contract with the A’s. De Aza had a pretty disappointing season with the Mets last year, slashing just .205/.297/.321. He’s still a nice depth piece for Oakland.
• James Loney will join the Rangers on a minor league deal. The first baseman also played for the Mets in 2016.
• Some bad news for Rangers fans: Tyson Ross isn’t likely to take the mound in April. The right-handed starter is still recovering from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, and might miss a couple of months to start the 2017 season.
• Craig Edwards gazes into the crystal ball to predict who will enter the Hall of Fame from now up through 2022. He projects Edgar will enter the HOF in 2019, his final year of eligibility.
• Apparently Brian McCann has been mistaken for Evan Gattis a lot at Astros FanFest.

Anders’ picks...

• Try your hand at my favorite sporcle quiz, the “Big Four Teams Quiz.” My friends and I generally dig it up every few months and challenge each other to see how well we remember all of the professional sports teams. My hockey section is always really bad.
• The Super Bowl matchup is all set: New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons. It’s far from my favorite Super Bowl, but it’s an interesting one. Check out ESPN’s cool preview of the game. I guess I’ll be rooting for the Falcons, since Dan Quinn used to coach for both Hofstra and the Seahawks. That has to count for something against the Pats.
• Former University of Washington men’s basketball stud Quincy Pondexter was inducted into the Pac-12 conference’s Hall of Fame this weekend.