UPDATE: It appears the Mariners are committing themselves to showcasing Figgins as they have announced Thursday morning that rookie Kyle Seager has been optioned back to Triple-A, which leaves third base wide open for the veteran for the time being. Furthermore, Figgins started in left field Thursday in Toronto.
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The Seattle Mariners would seemingly do anything to rid themselves of the burdensome contract of Chone Figgins, who is due $17 million over the next two years.
In the midst of an 11-game losing streak, the Mariners Wednesday made no effort to showcase Figgins, who was picked off first base Tuesday against Toronto as the trail runner in a first-and-third situation. Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times says manager Eric Wedge was "visibly peeved" with Figgins and decided to keep him on the bench.
Figgins, hitting a mere .184, lately has been limited to occasional starts at third base in place of rookie Kyle Seager.
Baker says Figgins is drawing some trade interest from the Reds, who are looking for a leadoff hitter. Any such deal would undoubtedly have the Mariners eating a chunk of salary.
If there is any truth to these rumors, I say send him to the Reds. Eat as much of his salary as it takes (short of all of it) and take whatever we can get in return. Just get him off the roster.
In barely related news, I'm once again renewing my plea to Rick Rizzs to, for the love of God, exercise some creativity for once when coming up with nicknames. I can't take any more guys with a y added to part of their name, ie: Ichy, Guty, Miggy, Figgy, Peggy, Vargy, Fisty, etc. This is absolutely shameful for someone who calls himself a professional broadcaster. Not only is this extremely lazy, it's also too cutesy and irritating. And not being one to criticize without offering some alternatives of my own, I present to you:
The Smoaker (Justin Smoak) - admittedly no more clever but significantly less cutesy. As an alternative, the Smoak Monster - for those Lost fans.
Carpe Diem (Mike Carp)
Silver Bullet (recently demoted Kyle Seager) - this one may be too obscure for your average fan though
Beavis (Blake Beavan)
The Iron Fist (Doug Fister)
Peg Leg (Carlos Peguero)
The Frog (Luke French) - he's in Tacoma but still on the 40 man roster so he's technically eligible for a nickname
F Her (Felix Hernandez) - borrowing the A Rod nicknaming convention, this one may be to risque for the conservative Mariner organization. Still, I find it amusing.
Laffey Taffy (Aaron Laffey)
Admiral Ackley (Dustin Ackley) - it's a trap! This one may be my favorite.
Shakespeare (Josh Bard) - again, possibly to obscure, not to mention that it goes against the long standing tradition that nicknames are typically shorter than actual names.
The Red (Chone Figgins) - this one is wishful thinking.
I don't have a nickname for Greg Halman, but do think they should play Soul Man when he gets up to bat. My mental soundtrack already queues it up for him.
There is plenty of room for improvement here, but I feel it's a good starting point.
In addition, I can't stand to listen to Dave Sims anymore. If there is a less passionate, less knowledgable announcer out there, I haven't heard him. I heard him refer to 'Safeco Park' in a recent game. Again, shameful. He doesn't even know where he goes to work every day. Get anybody else in there. I'd kind of like to hear Kevin Calabro even though he likely doesn't know anything about baseball. At least he's enjoyable to listen to. Or how about being the first team to break the gender barrier and bring in Jenny Finch or maybe some other former member of the US National softball team. That's close enough to baseball that they should have some valuable insights, and since Jenny Finch is married to former major leaguer Casey Daigle, she should be knowledgable about baseball in addition to softball.
That's it, I'm done for the day.
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