Betancourt talk surfaces

SEATTLE – Trade speculation swirled throughout Thursday night’s Mariners game over the status of shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

The injured shortstop was pulled from a scheduled rehabilitation start with Class AAA Tacoma about 15 minutes before first pitch. The team’s official word was that “an organizational decision” was behind the move.

Reached by cellphone during the game, general manager Jack Zduriencik was asked whether a flare-up of Betancourt’s recent hamstring injury, or a possible disciplinary action, was behind the move.

“I can’t comment on that,” Zduriencik said. “I really can’t make any comment.”

That set off a flurry of speculation, since Betancourt had been expected to play seven innings at shortstop for Tacoma. The decision to pull him came on a night the Pittsburgh Pirates had Marc DelPiano, a special assistant to G.M. Neal Huntington, in attendance at Safeco Field.

Seattle is said by sources to be interested in Pirates second baseman Freddy Sanchez, as well as shortstop Jack Wilson.

Betancourt’s name has been brought up in talks between the teams, but he’d reportedly only be a secondary component in any such deal.