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as beni indicated. They weren't FA signings. The exception being Branyan, with whom he was familiar as a member of the Brewers organization. That would be like Z signing Alex Liddi as a FA.
Like I said, most of the FAs were basically free (like Sweeney) and a short-term patch on a long-term problem. Time have changed. No need to go hope for a Sweeney miracle now with Smoak and Montero at 1B/DH now - we just need those kids to come through on their potential. Fingers crossed.
And I agree, Kawasaki is not gonna start for Ryan soon - but I'd like to see him get some PH at-bats. Ryan is not a good enough hitter to hope that his magical Walk-Me button is always working. He's not good with a bat. And he's injury prone, which is the real reason I don't think he's gonna be starting for us through the end of the year. I thought he was a FA after this season, but it's just that his contract is up - he's still arb-eligible in 2013 before his 2014 FA year.
Kawasaki is 9 months older than Ryan, and cheaper. Not sure what our timeline is for Nick Franklin, but Ryan won't be here if Franklin can stay at short.
For now Ryan's gonna play, they just need to be willing to pull his "stellar" glove out and trust Kawasaki to gobble up grounders in the 9th after he's pinch-hit for Ryan against a righty.
Figgy...well, I'm just hoping that his time is severely curttailed once Carp gets back. More than likely, though, they'll demote Saunders and let Figgy get those extra ABs in center.
9 million a year buys you a lot of forgiveness and extra chances in the lineup, I guess. I wish that wasn't so, certainly in year three of a deal in which Figgins hasn't even OPSed .600 (!!!) for the Mariners.
But once we pull Figgins from the roster, it destabilizes our lineup. Do you move Ichiro back to leadoff? Bump everbody up a spot so Dustin leads off? Wedge obviously cares very much about stability, so I have to think that's taken into account.
I'm hoping that Figgins playing all the time is a last-ditch effort to get a rusty nickel's worth of production out of him. "You want to play every day, and lead off every game? Fine. Here it is. Show me." They're trying to salvage him or trade him for scrap to save a million or so if his production ticks up to "semi-human" from "pond scum."
And when it doesn't...then I hope they are willing to bite the bullet and just cut him. Seager's shown he deserves the same 150 game consideration - can't be messing with the future to try to save a dollar. Sunk costs are sunk costs.
~G