| By Jason A. Churchill |  | By 11-20-2008 |
Left-handed reliever and Walla Walla, Wash. native Eric O'Flaherty was claimed off waivers by the Atlanta Braves Thursday, as the Seattle Mariners continued to shuffle around their 40-man roster in preparation for the Rule 5 Draft, and the rest of the winter.
Right-handers Tracy Thorpe and Luis Munos were re-assigned to the minor leagues, meaning they went unclaimed after the Mariners put them on waivers, and the club added four players to the 40-man.
Right-handers Marwin Vega, Stephen Kahn and Gaby Hernandez, and outfielder Greg Halman.
All would have been exposed to the Rule 5 Draft next month, including Halman, who signed during the 2004 season, which counts toward the five years required. I believe earlier in the comments somewhere I mistakenly mentioned that Halman did not have to be protected.
O'Flaherty started off last season with the big club, but was torched due to dip in velocity and bad command of his fastball. His season ended after 15 games in the minors and spent the rest of the year on the disabled list with a bad back.
If this was a contending club, I'd rip the move because O'Flaherty, just 24 in February, has a chance to help a major league team. But finding middle relievers is the least of the Mariners' problems. They're probably two years away from worrying about a bullpen.
o\'flaherty-claimed-amidst-roster-moves
Comments
The following 8 comment(s) for this article are shown below:
| 1. By: Lailoken on 11-20-2008 20:45:35 Randy Messenger & Sean White over Eric O'Flaherty? How bad is his back? At least a young left-hander who shows something in Spring Training is a tradeable commodity. What are Messenger & White but too old to be prospects any longer right-handed pitch to contact expendable roster filler? I don't get it. Does O'Flaherty have questionable work ethic? |
| 2. By: stickball on 11-20-2008 21:15:40 Jason, earlier the Mariners picked Mike Wilson over Chen. What is your take on the gms moves? |
| 3. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-20-2008 22:12:02 His back is bad enough to keep him out half a year. And it's been a chronic thing, acting up in A ball several times, and twice last year. |
| 4. By: Jerry on 11-21-2008 08:15:59 Jason, So, by my count, the M's have 37 players on the 40-man roster. Do you see them being aggressive in the Rule 5 draft in a few weeks? I am looking forward to seeing who will be available. The Rule 5 has been pretty damn interesting lately, with impact players getting plucked every year. Given the M's situation, I would love to see them take a shot on high-upside guy. Obviously, there aren't a ton of guys like that. But the M's can afford to keep a youngster on the roster given their current situation. |
| 5. By: kevin_ess on 11-21-2008 14:46:27 Jason,what are your ideas for trading Ichiro? |
| 6. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-21-2008 16:30:22 kevin_ess, I talked about that at length Right Here... Jerry, I don't know that a team can "plan on being aggresive" in the rule 5 draft, because as you are making your own moves to open up space and protect players, other clubs are, too, so there isn't much planning that can really be done. I don't think the Mariners will all that aggressive, so to speak, because generally the finds in the rule 5 these are relievers or back-end starters. The Mariners don't need those guys so much as to say they could keep him on the roster all year. There just isn't muchimpact talent, and the very few exceptions, such as Parra in Arizona, well, it'd be awfully detrimental to his development to let him get torched or benched in the big leagues in 2009. |
| 7. By: Walrus on 11-22-2008 01:13:05 Jason, Do you think there are normally better players in the rule 5 draft, or at the beginning of the season when everyone is trying to squeeze a player or three thru to the minors? Both have to be kept on the 25 man roster in order to keep them? I think it is the later, but with the second pick this year, the rule 5 pick should be decent. |
| 8. By: Jason A. Churchill on 11-22-2008 01:34:44 I think there is a better chance to get a legit 25-man caliber player in the spring. Before the change to 4 and 5 years for the rule 5 protection minimums, it was probably even. |
Haven't created a Prospect Insider account yet? Sign up!
|
|
 |
|
|
| Copyright 2010 Prospect Insider | Created by AQ Central Prospect Insider is optimized for Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome |