July 12
The first half of the season was anything but a pretty one for the Seattle Mariners. After a somewhat encouraging start that saw them hold an 11-11 record upon the return of Cliff Lee, the team promptly lost eight in a row and never recovered. They were a game under .500 in April. They were 11 games under .500 in May. They were a game over in June, but they quickly left that fleeting success behind them, dropping nine of 11 games in July leading into the All-Star Break.
Following their final game of the first half - an 8-2 loss to the Yankees - the Mariners found themselves at 35-53 with the calendar reading July 11. They were 15 back of Texas in the division and were edging their way towards the worst record in the American League, and to make matters worse, Lee was already gone, having been traded a few days earlier. The return was good, but there was little left to look forward to. The most dramatic possible move had already taken place.
It was then that the Mariners had their eighth-most unremarkable moment of the 2010 season. Jack Zduriencik and the rest of the Mariners front office went to bed on July 11th knowing they had a few off-days coming up during which they could shake things up a little bit more. And so it was that, on July 12th, the organization released Billy Traber.
6 recs | 21 comments
I don't remember this.
spencer peaty - November 17, 2010
How the hell do you not remember this?
jackyz - November 19, 2010
Boy if number 8 didn't even affect the major league team I can hardly wait to see how unremarkable number 1 is!
BaronVonBullshit - November 17, 2010
effect? I can never remember which is which... :(
BaronVonBullshit - November 17, 2010
You had it right the first time.
Affect is the verb. Effect is the noun.
(There are exceptions, but that should save you 98 times out of 100.)
thehemogoblin - November 17, 2010
Boy if only there were a way to know that Jeff was going to be highlighting items that didn't leave a lasting impression.
abender20 - November 17, 2010
He was striking out a batter an inning!
Why’d we release this guy?
joof - November 17, 2010
Gotta make room for Sean White.
Gotta get those innings in.
SeattExPat - November 18, 2010
WTF - Billy Traber gone!!!!!
Geez …. were it not for this post I would have never known.
Steve Nelson - November 17, 2010
My heart dropped when I saw this.
I just didn’t think it was time to hand over more time to Levale Speigner or Scott Patterson. As it turns out, the transition was pretty unremarkable.
BurlesonBlue - November 17, 2010
Was he injured? Did he go to prison?
Because it seems like he didn’t pitch anymore in 2010 in either the minors or the majors???
http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=traber001wil
ICANHIT - November 17, 2010
He sucked.
Mariner John - November 17, 2010
He is a work in progress
jackyz - November 17, 2010 via mobile
I was wondering what the gif would be
JLC - November 17, 2010
Maybe those screen shots are gifs. It would be fitting for unremarkable gifs to not move.
rickpo - November 17, 2010
The unremarkability is escalating fast as we move up the rankings.
At this rate #1 is shaping up to be pretty anti-climactic.
dlukas - November 18, 2010
Loyola Marymount has a beautiful campus
tsunamijesus - November 18, 2010
Hindsight's 20/20 and all..
And it’s not that I’ve completely given up on Jack, but with Mumba Rivera hitting the DL the same day, was Traber’s release a very smart move?
seamariners85 - November 18, 2010
That guy's name sounds like a dance move
HititHere - November 18, 2010
I will forever remember Billy Traber as that guy who sucks that I confuse with Brian Tallet, who also probably sucks
and the guy who did well against the Yankees that one time.
Mariner John - November 18, 2010
I have that same problem
Jeff Sullivan - November 18, 2010
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