Seattle Mariners Offer Arthur Rhodes Minor League Contract
By Michael Williams (3/8/2007)
It looks like the Mariners are willing to give Arthur Rhodes another chance. Seattle Mariners and Rhodes have agreed a minor league contract.
Rhodes, who is 36 years old, will earn $ 1 million and a one year contract if he manages to make it to the major league roster. He would be able to earn another $150,000 in the form of performance bonuses.
Rhodes is 36 years old and in his playing career has been quite an effective left-hander in the bullpen. However, last year while he was playing for Philadelphia he struggled with his performance, going for 0-5 with a 5.32 ERA in 55 games. He also ended up injuring his pitching elbow which caused him to miss the last three weeks of the playing season.
Rhodes started out his career with Baltimore where he spent 9 years. He played for Seattle for 4 seasons and after leaving them, he played for Oakland, Cleveland and Baltimore.
After having injured his elbow late last season, Rhodes is in the process of rediscovering his form which made him a hit from 2000 to 2003 when he played for Seattle. During those four seasons, Rhode went for 26-15. In the 2001 season, Rhode played 71 games and he went for 8-0 with a 1.72 ERA. This was the season when Mariners won 116 games.
Supporters feel that Rhodes should not face a problem getting onto Mariners’ roster. Mariners have traded Rafael Soriano, Mariners’ setup player, to Atlanta for Horacio Ramirez, a starter, and they have signed on Chris Reitman of Atlanta. However, Reitman is just recovering from an elbow surgery and the only proven left-hander Seattle have in their bullpen is George Sherrill, who made 72 appearances last year and went for 2-4 with a 4.28 ERA. |