Mariners Decline Arbitration on Guillen, Others

Rotoworld reported early this morning that the Mariners declined to offer arbitration to Jose Guillen, Jeff Weaver, Arthur Rhodes, and Chris Retisma. Obviously the big news here is Jose Guillen and the fact that the Mariners did not want to take a chance on him accepting arbitration according to Rotoworld. While many fans seem to be emotionally distraught with his departure, it does paint a clearer picture of what may be in the immediate future. I expect Adam Jones to assume the vacancy in right field and Raul Ibanez to continue patrolling left, though most fans cringe when they picture Ibanez in the outfield. The idea of putting Ibanez at designated hitter is certainly intriguing, but it would cause a chain reaction of questions that would have to be answered regarding the roles of Ben Broussard, Jose Vidro, and Wladamir Balentien (assuming he would get playing time in left).

It's going to be interesting to see what goes down at the Winter Meetings in the next couple of days. I would feel a lot more comfortable if most of the offseason questions are addressed this week; including the rotation. All the advice I can give Mariner fans is pray for terrible things not to happen, brace yourselves for nothing to happen, and hope that something good happens.

And another thing: DING-DONG JEFF WEAVER'S GONE!