Thursday Quote: Odd Silence

This week, I take a quote from Australian poet Pam Brown who once wrote:

"Odd how much it hurts when a friend moves away - and leaves behind only silence."

If you think about it, this really sums up this offseason so far; one of our main guys (Jose Guillen), who I would even say was our team leader last year, is now a member of the Kansas City Royals after the Mariners refused to offer him salary arbitration. Since then, granted, the old and reliable rumor mill has been crankin' out some juicy stuff, but the transaction front for the Mariners has been about as quiet as Dolphin Stadium during a Marlins home game. Jose Guillen has left behind a strange and unwelcome silence in that regard that is only being amplified by the noise around baseball.

Mariner fans have been waiting patiently this offseason for management to make some changes that would allow us to compete for the playoffs in 2008. What's worse than watching our team stand idly by is doing so while our competitors have been fine-tuning their rosters (Red Sox, Yankees, Indians) and even landing huge players (Angels, Tigers). Take a look at the moves some of our competitors have made in the last two months and then take a look at what we've done at the bottom.

New York Yankees
11/2/07: Exercised 2008 club option on OF Bobby Abreu
11/15/07: Agreed on the framework of a deal that would pay Alex Rodriguez up to $305 mil. over 10 years
11/16/07: Signed RHP Scott Patterson as a free agent
11/29/07: Re-signed free agent C Jorge Posada to a four-year contract
12/3/07: Signed C Jose Molina to a two-year contract
12/12/07: Signed LHP Andy Pettitte to a one-year contract

Boston Red Sox
11/2/07: Red Sox exercised the 2008 contract options on RHP Julian Tavarez and RHP Tim Wakefield
11/6/07: Signed RHP Curt Schilling to a one-year contract
11/20/07: Re-signed 3B Mike Lowell to a three-year contract
12/7/07: Re-signed free agent RHP Mike Timlin to a one-year contract

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
11/19/07: Acquired RHP Jon Garland from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for SS Orlando Cabrera and cash.
11/21/07: Signed free agent OF Torii Hunter to a five-year contract

Detroit Tigers
11/11/07: Signed SS Ramon Santiago to a a one-year contract
11/12/07: Acquired OF Jacque Jones from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for INF Omar Infante
11/30/07: Re-signed LHP Kenny Rogers to a one-year contract; Signed RHP Francisco Cruceta to a one-year contract
12/4/07: Acquired RHP Denny Bautista from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for RHP Jose Capellan
12/5/07: Acquired LHP Dontrelle Willis and 3B Miguel Cabrera from the Florida Marlins in exchange for RHP Burke Badenhop, RHP Eulogio De La Cruz, RHP Dallas Trahern, LHP Andrew Miller, C Mike Rabelo and OF Cameron Maybin; Acquired OF Freddy Guzman from the Rangers for 1B Chris Shelton

Cleveland Indians
11/20/07: Signed RHP Masahide Kobayashi, who had been with the Chiba Lotte Marines of the JPL, to a two-year contract with a club option for 2010
12/8/07: Acquired INF Jamey Carroll from the Rockies for a player to be named

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Seattle Mariners
12/6/07: Selected RHP R.A. Dickey from the Twins in the Rule 5 Draft
12/12/07: Acquired minor leaguer Tim Hulett from Texas for 1B Ben Broussard