Alessandro scambiato a Baltimora.

That's what Google Translate says is Italian for "Alessandro traded to Baltimore."

But we all know that "Liddi" is Italian for "Slugger"!

(Not really; it's just our cheesy chatchphrase.)

Alex Liddi (Talk40 #29) had been designated for assignment, so we knew he would be traded to Baltimore eventually.  (OK, not the Baltimore part, but it seems to be going that way -- after Trayvon Robinson and Eric Thames.)

Liddi was traded for an improved international signing slot.  Obviously, now a team can trade players for improved international signing slots.  Who knew?

According to the experts, the trade means Seattle can spend about $75,000 more in bonus money to international signees.

So it's really a more complicated version of "cash considerations."

In this space, I've always been more cool on Liddi than the consensus.  There was always a fair amount of "Liddi vs. Catricala" debate, and I was always on the Catricala side (guess that's a moot point now!).  But I never ruled out the possibility that he could figure it out.

But it's the lasest example of how The Pipeline is going to work.  To keep the flow going, some guys with talent and potential are going to get shoved out of the way.

***

Short Season-A -- Everett 14, Salem-Keizer 8 -- Box

I'll make Everett a "spotlight" game because ...

It was Mike Zunino Bobblehead Night!

And, therefore, a perfect excuse for some Zuninonian offense.  And we got some.

And it was D.J. Peterson leading the way.  The Deej went 3-for-5 with his fourth and fifth home runs of the season.

That puts him at .250/.316/.515.  Lookin' pretty Zuninonian to me.

And he's been playing third base every day.  I haven't seen any reviews of his defense yet, but we'll try to keep you posted.

That leaves first base to Justin Seager, who got his first pro home run, plus a double.  J-Seags now at .308/.348/.431. 

Also going deep was Christian Carmichel (Watch List), who also added two singles and a walk.  If you don't know the story, Carmichel was picked in the 6th round of the 2010 draft, just after Stephen Pryor, but he's had a very slow start to his career due to a drug suspension and injuries.  He's always shown a bit of an interesting bat, so we'll see if he can keep it going.

And "keeping it going" was Jamodrick McGruder (26intheMix), who had a single, a walk and a steal to keep his OBP over .500 (at .506).

The big news from the mound was a breakout relief outing from Jacob Zokan (I guess we really do need to "Fear the Zokan"!): 3.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 K.