June 2012 - Seattle Mariners Wiretap

Mariners reliever Brandon League has been traded to the Dodgers for two prospects, both from upper Class A ball. Left-handed hitting outfielder Leon Landry was hitting .328 with 26 doubles, 15 triples, and eight home runs, according to a Seattle Times report late Monday night. The other prospect is pitcher Logan Bawcom, a closer with 20 saves and a 2.03 ERA.

The Mariners are willing to trade Brandon League and the club has received interest from the White Sox, Dodgers, Giants and "more than a handful of other clubs," according to sources. League is headed for free agency this winter.

The Mariners aren't looking to add talent at the trade deadline in an effort to make a playoff push, but they do want to "buy" hitters. Seattle has the worst offense in the American League, averaging 3.9 runs per game through Sunday. The Mariners would like to add a hitter that can help them over the next two or three seasons. They are focused on Minnesota's Josh Willingham (signed through 2014) and Allen Craig (under control through 2016) of St. Louis.

The Mariners are discussing pitcher Brandon League with a number of teams, according to sources. The right-handed reliever has a 3.05 ERA in 45 innings this season.

Felix Hernandez hit Ichiro Suzuki, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez with pitches on Tuesday night. The pitch that hit Rodriguez broke his hand and the Yankees third baseman will miss 6-8 weeks of action. The next night, Seattle reliever Josh Kinney followed suit by hitting Jeter again. "You know, I'm sure none of these are on purpose," announcer Suzyn Waldman said on the air, "but these are major-league pitchers and that's enough of this, Seattle."

The Yankees will have to mix and match at third base for the next couple of months after Alex Rodriguez suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left fifth metacarpal after being hit by a pitch from Felix Hernandez in a 4-2 loss to the Mariners. "It's a tough blow," Rodriguez said about an hour after the game ended. His left hand was heavily wrapped, and he'll fly back with the team after Wednesday's game and be checked out by the Yankees' medical staff on Thursday. "I never thought it was a fracture, but it was."

The Yankees looked into acquiring Shane Victorino and Denard Span before acquiring Ichiro Suzuki on Monday night. New York wasn't sure if Philadelphia would make Victorino available and they believed the price was "too high" for Span. The Yankees only gave up spare parts (D.J. Mitchell and Danny Farquhar) to land Ichiro, who they will pay just $2.25 million of what remains of his $18-million salary.

Before agreeing to acquire the outfielder, the Yankees provided a list of conditions to Ichiro Suzuki. New York asked the former AL MVP to switch positions, hit at the bottom of the lineup and possibly sit against left-handed pitching. "He was fully educated on all our requirements," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. "One by one, every box got ticked off." Ichiro had requested a trade from the last-place Mariners, the only big league team he had ever played for after coming to the United States from Japan as a 27-year-old in 2001. The Yankees were not sure Ichiro would be willing to make all the adjustments they required.

The Mariners demoted Justin Smoak after his fourth-straight hitless game on Monday night. He was 1-for-20 with 12 strikeouts over his previous six games, dropping his average to .189.

Ichiro Suzuki was traded to the Yankees just hours before the team opened a three-game series against the Mariners in Seattle. The outfielder, a 10-time All-Star and veteran of 11-plus seasons with the Mariners, held an emotional press conference before joining New York's clubhouse. "Obviously, it looks different being over here," Suzuki said through a translator. "I was worried about my first at-bat. I was really relieved with the standing ovation. It was a special day today." Hitting eighth, he singled in his first at-bat. The crowd gave Suzuki a 45-second standing ovation when he came to bat for the first time in the third inning. He doffed his helmet and bowed twice before hitting a single and stealing second base. "My 11 1/2 years here is a long time and I was thinking what I would feel like in my first at-bat," Suzuki said. "I really didn't think anything. Nothing came to me. It was just a wonderful day to experience that."