The Mariners cut Jose Vidro today, attempting to shed the $8.5 million in payroll as they "look toward 2009". As Dave Andriesen of the P-I puts it: "Vidro, 33, batted .234 in 85 games this season. He made $8.5 million this season, of which his last team, the Washington (N)ationals, paid $2.5 million. He has a vesting option for 2009 that activates at 600 plate appearances, which he will not reach, triggering a $500,000 buyout."......

Two of these Jim Riggleman quotes are real, and one was made up by the Onion. Can you tell which is which? A: "I'm astonished to tell you the truth when I look up and I see [Jose] Vidro's average is what it is, because I feel like every time he goes up there I'm very confident that he's going to give us a good at-bat...And for the at-bats that he has, he's knocked in......

Last night the clouds parted and for a moment the sun shone down on Seattle as Ken Griffey Jr. became the sixth player in baseball history to hit home run number 600. The historic home run came off of Mt. Vernon's Mark Hendrickson, who as a Northwesterner of a certain age, grew up idolizing and cheering Junior on from the Kingdome bleachers (unless he spent his formative years writing love letters to the Taliban......

The Mariners announced yesterday that Manager John McLaren and General Manager Bill Bavasi will both be back next year. McLaren took over in mid-season, the team was 40-41 under his guidance. 2008 will be Bavasi's fourth year as Mariners GM. Out in blogland, they've been calling for McLaren's head since the M's went on a 15 of 17 losing jag, one of the biggest collapses by a contending team in baseball history. The main complaint:......

According to the Times some doctor man is going to poke around Felix Hernandez's elbow before this afternoon's game, and then talk to the media about what he found. The game starts at 3:30, which means if you start making this Apple Flan right now, you could know the fate of the season by the time it's ready to serve eight. UPDATE: Lookout Landing is reporting, "IMPORTANT NOTICE: word from the organization is that Felix's......

--Pot is now the number one cash crop in the United States. We can't help but feel a tinge of Washington pride while reporting that. --SXSW becomes that much more do-able for Seattleites this week as American Airlines announces direct Austin-to-Seattle flights. --Wikis have been kind of a flop, except for Wikipedia, of course. Well, now Amazon may keep the wiki flame alive. --A timber company purchased 440,000 acres of southern Oregon for the......

Since day one we've said that being a Seattle sports fan is like sneaking up behind Kicky the Paranoid Mule. The past week has reminded us of this all too well. Let's look at the past seven days shall we? Saturday: The Huskies get their nuts smashed in by Gonzaga. Sunday: With a chance to be crowned division champions, the Seahawks lose to the last place Cardinals. Monday: The Mariners sign 36 year old Miguel......

Three years ago, we all hoped for aging middle infielder Omar Vizquel to fail a physical so the M's wouldn't complete an agreed-upon deal for him. And our pleas were heard. Well, M's fans, break out your prayers to the patron saint of aged middle infielders failing physicals again, because we need another favor from him. Pending a physical, the M's are going to deal two good young prospects, Chris Snelling and Emiliano Fruto, for......