簽囉!!! - 美國職棒

Seattle Mariners sign third baseman Adrian Beltre
2004 Major League home-run leader inks five-year deal



Seattle Mariners Executive Vice President & General Manager of Baseball Operati
ons Bill Bavasi announced today that the club has agreed to terms on a five-yea
r contract with free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre. Per club policy, terms
of the deal were not disclosed. Two days ago, the Mariners signed free agent fi
rst baseman Richie Sexson.
"Adrian is one of the best young position players in baseball," Bavasi said. "H
e plays Gold Glove caliber defense and is an offensive force. In addition, he i
s a perfect fit for our goal of building for 2005 and beyond. For everything he
's accomplished, he's only 25 years old. We believe he is just entering his pri
me and we are very excited to know that his prime will be spent in a Mariners u
niform at Safeco Field.

"We are also pleased that, like Richie Sexson, Adrian is a great person as well
as a great player. He will be a terrific addition to our community."

Beltre, 25, led the Majors with 48 home runs for the Los Angeles Dodgers last s
eason, matching the Major League record for most home runs by a third baseman,
equaling Mike Schmidt's total in 1980. Beltre also finished among the NL leader
s in almost every offensive category, batting .334 (4th) with 121 RBI (4th) whi
le finishing second in the National League MVP balloting, earning him his first
Silver Slugger. He received the Humanitarian Award, presented at the RBI (Revi
ving Baseball in Inner cities) Hall of Fame Dinner last summer.

Adrian was the only player in the Majors to collect at least 45 home runs and a
t least 200 hits in 2004, becoming just the 11th player in Major League history
with that combination. He had 63 multi-hit games last season, 7 multi-homer ga
mes (giving him 11 in his career) and three grand slams while committing a care
er-low 10 errors at third base. Beltre also led the Majors with 26 home runs in
the second half in 2004.

"Adrian is a perfect fit for how I envision the Mariners, next season and into
the future," Mariners manager Mike Hargrove said. "This gives us an infield wit
h, basically, three Gold Glovers, pop at both corners and at second base and an
exciting young player at shortstop.

"We are a much better team today than we were a couple of days ago. With Beltre
, Sexson and Boone in the middle of our order and Ichiro at the top, we now hav
e the ability to run a real legitimate line-up out there every day."

Beltre had played his entire seven-year career with the Dodgers, making his ML
debut in 1998 at the age of 19. He owns a .274 career average with 147 home run
s and 510 RBI. He is one of only 36 players in Major League history to reach 10
0 home runs, prior to his 25th birthday; when he collected his 100th homer on A
pril 6, 2003 he joined Cal Ripken Jr. and Lou Gehrig as the three players in hi
story to have exactly 100 home runs on their 25th birthday.

The 5-foot-11, 220-pound right-handed hitter was born (on April 7, 1979) and re
sides in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with his wife, Sandra, and daughter
, Cassandra. Adrian is one of only four Dominicans in Major League history (Sam
my Sosa, 5 times; Beltre, George Bell and Manny Ramirez) to collect at least 45
home runs in a season. He was signed by Los Angeles as a non-drafted free agen
t on July 7, 1994.


定案囉!!!
在半小時在Safeco舉辦記者會
不果Bavasi說今年的FA簽約壯舉即將結束了
因為薪資也到達飽和了
不過Winn再加一些蝦兵蟹將應該可以千到一個SP阿
不然我對這樣的rotation還是頗為悲觀阿

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