Congrats to Mike Sweeney, Garko released

[worldwideed]

I'm sure I'm not reading too much into this when I say this guarantees Sweeney a job. It's just so hard to cut someone that hits .400. When you look at his performance down the stretch coupled with this spring it's not hyperbole to say that he's one of our hottest hitters.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/0...yan-garko.html

[Igoe4Mariners]

Good for Sweeney, but I sure hope we can somehow manage to keep Garko in AAA. What happens if Sweeney's back gives out and Kotchman can't hit lefties? We need a Garko to bring up as he has proven to hit AL lefties over his career.

[JosephC]

This really makes this offseason complete for me. My dreams were a Felix Hernandez extension and a Mike Sweeney return (I gotta admit, I was kinda hoping that Griffey would call it quits in 2009). With that said, I too am worried about Sweeney's back problems... I still dont think we need to fear Kotchman vs. Lefties though. This guy is gonna surprise us this year I think.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Yeah I'm excited about having Mike on the team. I hope he can keep his hot streak going. It will be interesting to see what Wak does against left handed starting pitchers. He has claimed he wants to use Kotchman full-time to start out with, but he could do each of the following when a lefty starts:

1B: Kotchman
DH: Griffey
LF:Bradley

1B: Kotchman
DH: Sweeney
LF: Bradley (or Byrnes)

1B: Kotchman
DH: Bradley (or Sweeney)
LF: Byrnes

1B: Sweeney
DH: Bradley
LF: Byrnes

It will be interesting.

[JosephC]

Obviously, the best pick of those I think is
1B: Kotchman
DH: Sweeney
LF: Bradley

Which is what it is probably going to look like most of the season if injuries dont arise.

From what Geoff Baker was saying, it also doesnt sound out of the question that we could see Sweeney taking 1st base fairly often. Sounds like the guy is in super health this year.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Obviously, the best pick of those I think is
1B: Kotchman
DH: Sweeney
LF: Bradley

Which is what it is probably going to look like most of the season if injuries dont arise.

From what Geoff Baker was saying, it also doesnt sound out of the question that we could see Sweeney taking 1st base fairly often. Sounds like the guy is in super health this year.

That is good to hear. He definately outperformed Garko and deserves another chance with this team.