Notebook | Mariners release Ramirez after year of struggles

PEORIA, Ariz. — A somber-looking Horacio Ramirez packed up his locker for the final time as a Mariners whipping-boy.

No longer will Ramirez be the brunt of jokes by Mariners fans, at least not while he's still around. The snide cracks about his 7.16 earned-run average from last year and his curious $2.75 million contract for 2008 won't be made with his face lurking around every corner.

Ramirez was finally released by the Mariners on Wednesday, meaning the answer to trivia questions about the worst trades in Seattle history will now have to rebuild his smoldering reputation someplace else. Where that will be is anyone's guess, including Ramirez, who says he has no leads on any future jobs.

"No, nothing yet," he said.

Ramirez politely declined to comment further.

It has been a frustrating 12 months for the left-hander, forever to be remembered in Seattle as the forgettable clunker obtained from the Atlanta Braves for prime reliever Rafael Soriano. The deal hurt the Mariners on multiple fronts, as Ramirez's abbreviated outings helped decimate Seattle's bullpen last season while Soriano — now Atlanta's closer — was no longer around to bail out overworked relievers.

Considering the Mariners stayed in playoff contention until early September, it's not a stretch to suggest the Ramirez deal is what cost the team its postseason shot. The man who brokered that trade, general manager Bill Bavasi, will have to pay only one-sixth of Ramirez's salary — some $460,000 — because he cut him loose by Wednesday's early deadline.

The team could have waited until four days prior to the season to release Ramirez, but then would have owed him 45 days pay — another $225,000. To pay that to a guy fighting an uphill battle to claim even a long-relief job, one that now appears destined for knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, would have amounted to throwing good money after bad.

"There's not a whole lot of motivation to release a guy to save $225,000 if you think he has a chance to make the club," Bavasi said. "We didn't feel he had a chance to make our club as a starter. Outside chance as a long guy."

Bavasi added that Ramirez simply didn't have what it took to get by some ferocious American League lineups last season. Still, even after the additions of Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva knocked Ramirez from the rotation, Bavasi said he'd been hoping to keep him around for mound depth.

"We really felt if he straightened some things out, he could be a sixth starter," Bavasi said. "If he was strong enough to do that, we wouldn't be talking to you today. We felt he was a little bit further on down that chart than No. 6."

Bavasi suggested there are at least three clubs out there that might want to look at Ramirez, despite his poor 2007 season. But not enough to swing a trade, at least not while everyone figured Bavasi would release Ramirez by Wednesday's deadline.

Mariners manager John McLaren said releasing Ramirez now gives him a better shot at a job elsewhere.

Ovation for Rhodes

It has been a while between feel-good moments for Arthur Rhodes, which is why a partial standing ovation by the crowd on Wednesday made the 39-year-old lefty reliever feel like a rookie again.

Rhodes made a slight bow toward his teammates in the dugout and — he says — the cheering crowd at Peoria Stadium as he left the mound after a 1-2-3 seventh inning in his first mound action in nearly a year.

"I was surprised," he said of the ovation. "I know I'm an old guy. An old veteran who's been in the game. I didn't pitch last year and then I pitch a good inning today and get a standing ovation. I was excited. I felt like I'd won the World Series right there."

The team doesn't plan on using Rhodes in regular-season big-league games until May. But Rhodes, who notched three consecutive ground outs on Wednesday, isn't necessarily going along with that plan.

He'll see how his arm feels today, hope to throw in another game on Saturday, then maybe take a day's rest before his next outing.

Silva sharp

Carlos Silva says his five scoreless innings in a 5-1 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday were more typical of what to expect from him this season. Silva scattered seven singles, but didn't walk anybody and notched a couple of timely double-play grounders.

"Anytime I get a ground ball, even if it's not an out, I know I threw a good pitch," Silva said.

Notes

• Mike Morse continued his torrid spring performance by going 3 for 4 with an RBI double in Wednesday's game, raising his batting average to a scorching .536. Morse appears to be the frontrunner to land a backup outfield job, one the Mariners say will go to a right-handed bat.

As for the other right-handed candidates, Wladimir Balentien also had an RBI double on Wednesday and is hitting .333, while Charlton Jimerson went 0 for 3 and is at .235.

• Former Mariners manager Mike Hargrove was at camp, monitoring hitters in a consultant's capacity. Hargrove says he doesn't miss the early mornings as a manager at spring training — yet.

"Right now I don't," he said. "Maybe next year I will."