[nfbwatlk] Mariners are Weaver's 6th team in 6 years

[Mike Freeman]

Mariners are Weaver's 6th team in 6 years
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/baseball/301798_weaver31.html

Mariners are Weaver's 6th team in 6 years

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

By DAVID ANDRIESEN
P-I REPORTER

The world's wildest roller coaster couldn't compete with what Jeff Weaver 
went though last year.

On July 1, the right-hander was out of a job, designated for assignment by 
the Los Angeles Angels after going 3-10 with a 6.29 ERA. To add insult to 
injury,
he was being replaced on the roster and in the Angels' rotation by his kid 
brother. He had signed a one-year deal. His career was in trouble.

Less than four months later, Weaver was hopping up and down at Busch Stadium 
with his St. Louis Cardinals teammates, celebrating a World Series-clinching
victory in which he had pitched eight innings for the win.

But even his autumn heroics with the Cardinals -- he went 3-2 with a 2.43 
ERA in five postseason starts -- didn't buy Weaver stability. Tuesday found 
him
at Safeco Field being introduced after signing a one-year contract with the 
Mariners, his sixth team in six years.

"Change is good, so I'm glad to be here to start something of a new 
venture," he said.

What the Mariners are expecting him to do, based on an $8.325 million salary 
that surprised most baseball observers, is show the form he flashed last 
fall
-- the same form he exhibited in a two-year stint with the Los Angeles 
Dodgers, for whom he won 27 games from 2004-05.

"We are thrilled to have him here," General Manager Bill Bavasi said. "We 
feel our club is much-improved, and this is a nice sort of final piece."

Weaver, 30, believes his first half in 2006 was an aberration. Bavasi, who 
was an assistant GM with the Dodgers when they signed Weaver away from the 
Yankees
prior to the 2004 season, is satisfied that's the case.

"We didn't just look at St. Louis, we looked at his last starts in (with the 
Angels) as well," Bavasi said. "His last seven starts, six of those were 
pretty
good starts. Five of them were quality starts (at least six innings pitched 
with three or fewer earned runs allowed) and one was just an out away from
a quality start. When he left Anaheim, it didn't bother us. ... He was 
figuring it out."

"I just kind of got started on the wrong foot in Anaheim," Weaver said. "I 
had a couple of tough starts early and then I was working through those 
problems
of trusting my mechanics and things. ... I made too many adjustments. I 
moved across the mound to the first base side and just tried anything to 
make it
better quick. Sometimes it's not the best approach.

"The fresh start in St. Louis allowed me to turn the corner to where I 
should be and usually am."

Everyone, including Weaver, assumed he'd be back in a Cardinals uniform this 
year. But as the winter dragged on, nothing was coming to fruition. The 
Mariners,
frustrated by a winter in which they were beaten out for the top pitchers on 
the market, stayed in the hunt.

"We had some different ideas of things we were looking for," Weaver said of 
the Cardinals. "I guess ownership thought they had enough pitching and 
didn't
have to come after me too hard."

"I'm sure St. Louis tried hard and did a good job. We just tried a little 
harder, and that's why he's here," Bavasi said.

"We saw Barry Zito and Jason Schmidt at the top of the market, but there was 
this group right with them that we had (four) names there. And of the four,
we got two of them in Jeff and (Miguel) Batista."

Weaver, Batista and fellow new arrival Horacio Ramirez join holdovers Felix 
Hernandez and Jarrod Washburn in a rotation that appears to be set. Before 
Weaver's
signing, Jake Woods, Cha Seung Baek and Ryan Feierabend were expected to 
compete for the fifth spot in spring training.

"We changed a lot with this signing," Bavasi said. "This allows us to move 
those guys back a step. ... If someone is going to have to miss a start, 
it's
nice to be able to go and get Baek rather than already having him in the 
rotation.

"This is a huge upgrade for us at a time when we needed a huge upgrade and 
added depth."

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P-I reporter David Andriesen can be reached at 206-448-8061 or 
davidandriesen at seattlepi.com.

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