Filed under: Mariners, AL West, MLB Free AgencyThe Mariners are clearing roster space in a hurry this week and Casey Kotchman is the latest to be sent packing from the Pacific Northwest.
The veteran first baseman refused an outright assignment to Triple-A Tacoma on Thursday and exercised his right to become a free agent. With the Mariners declining to exercise their option on Russell Branyan earlier this week, Justin Smoak, the prize acquisition in the Cliff Lee trade, now has no competition for the first base job in 2011.
There's little reason to expect the Mariners are upset about Kotchman's decision. His 2010 season was one of the worst among regular players in the big leagues. He had a .616 OPS, nine homers and posted -0.9 Wins Above Replacement according to Baseball-Reference.com. Putting that another way, Kotchman performed worse than what you'd expect to get from a minimum salary player. Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments
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