Mariners, Meche mesh
Right-hander Gil Meche agreed to terms on a one-year, $2.54 million contract Wednesday with the Seattle Mariners, avoiding salary arbitration and securing a key starter for the rotation.
The deal left the Mariners with one arbitration-eligible player, left-hander Ron Villone.
The 26-year-old Meche went 7-7 with a 5.01 earned-run average last season, struggling early before rebounding in the second half. He was 6-2 with a 3.95 ERA in 13 second-half starts, throwing at least six innings in 10 of his 13 starts.
Meche, who earned $1.9 million last season, threw the first nine-inning complete game shutout of his career on Sept. 12, beating Boston 2-0 with a five-hitter.
“We are looking for Gil to build on his success from the second half last season,” Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi said. “He clearly has the stuff to be a top-of-the-rotation starter and will be a key guy for us this season.”
Before the All-Star break, Meche went 1-5 with a 7.06 ERA.
He was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma on June 2, allotted time to find the strike zone. He struck out 41 hitters but walked 29 before being sent down, then had 58 strikeouts with 18 walks after being recalled.
Meche was one of the brightest stories in the majors in 2003, when he won 15 games after a two-year absence forced by reconstructive shoulder surgery and a comeback year in the minors.
Meche has a 34-28 career record with a 4.58 ERA, making 85 starts in 86 games – all with Seattle. He was the team’s first-round selection, the 22nd overall pick, in the June 1996 draft.
Meche broke into the majors in 1999 but was limited to 15 starts the next season after his injury surfaced.
Estes selects family, Arizona
A chance to pitch close to home and his young family led left-hander Shawn Estes to accept a one-year, $2.5 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“To me, that was the thing that sealed the deal,” Estes said in a conference call after the agreement was announced. “My family definitely comes first in my life, and career is second, so it was an easy choice to me.”
Estes turned down a two-year offer for more money from the Washington Nationals. He and his wife Heather – and their sons 16-month-old Jackson and 3-month-old Cody – live in Paradise Valley, about a 20-minute drive to Bank One Ballpark.
“I was single for a long time in the big leagues, and playing with guys that had children I saw how hard it was for them to be away,” Estes said.
Estes, 31, was 15-8 with a 5.84 ERA in a career-high 34 starts for Colorado last season.
The Diamondbacks also traded infielder Shea Hillenbrand to Toronto for right-hander Adam Peterson.
Hillenbrand, acquired from Boston in May 2003, hit a team-high .310 for Arizona last season with 15 home runs and 80 runs batted in. Peterson spent the majority of the 2004 season as a closer in the minors, appearing in three games for Toronto.
Lo Duca latches on to Marlins
Paul Lo Duca agreed to an $18 million, three-year contract with the Florida Marlins, who acquired the two-time All-Star catcher in a trade with the Los Angeles Dodgers last summer.
“When Jeffrey Loria said publicly not too long after we acquired Paul that he was not a summer rental, he meant it,” said Marlins general manager Larry Beinfest, referring to the team’s owner.
Lo Duca, a fan favorite in Los Angeles, was shocked and teary-eyed when the trade was announced last July. But he soon became enamored with catching the Marlins’ crop of young, talented starters – Josh Beckett, A.J. Burnett, Dontrelle Willis – and decided Florida was the right place for him.
Clearing the bases
Infielders Wilton Guerrero and Abraham Nunez were among eight players who agreed to minor league contracts with St. Louis. Guerrero, the brother of American League Most Valuable Player Vladimir Guerrero, hit .231 in 26 at-bats with Kansas City last season. Nunez hit .245 in 97 games with Pittsburgh last season. Outfielder Brandon Berger, who played for the Spokane Indians in 1996, also signed, ending nine seasons in the Kansas City organization. The Cardinals also signed pitchers Chris Gissell, Bob File and Toby Borland, first baseman Mike Bell and outfielder Raul Gonzalez. … Right-handed reliever Turk Wendell agreed to a minor league contract with Houston. Wendell had a 7.02 ERA in 12 games for Colorado last year. He is 36-33 with 22 saves and a 3.93 ERA in 552 career games. … Oakland agreed to a $1 million, one-year contract with Keiichi Yabu after the right-hander passed a physical. Yabu has played 11 seasons with the Hanshin Tigers in Japan. He went 6-9 with a 3.02 ERA last season. Yabu’s deal calls for him to receive a $750,000 salary this year and gives Oakland a $1.5 million option with a $250,000 buyout. He could compete for a spot in Oakland’s starting rotation. Heading into spring training, Barry Zito, Rich Harden, Joe Blanton and Dan Haren are expected to be starters for the A’s, who traded aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder last month