Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, has surfaced as a possible candidate to replace Tom Hansen as Pac-10 commissioner later this year. Rice, the one-time provost at Stanford, claims to be a diehard football fan who maintains close ties with the conference and cites her dream job to be commissioner of the NFL (watch out, Roger Goodell).
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The Seattle Times is reporting that the Mariners, one day after signing five-time All-Star Mike Sweeney, are now interested in inking ex-New York Yankee outfielder Bobby Abreu to a deal.
Abreu, who will turn 35 before the season starts, is coming off a season in which he earned $16 million, batted .296, hit 20 home runs, and drove in 100 runs. The one-time Philadelphia Phillie and Houston Astro has been a consistent run producer during his 12 full seasons in the big leagues.
Following his solid ’08 campaign, Abreu was expected to earn somewhere in the $16-18 million range over the next three seasons with a new free agent contract. But after Major League Baseball became the latest casualty of America’s recession (save for the Yankees), Abreu has proven flexible in negotiating with interested teams. His agent, Peter Greenberg, has stated that at this point Abreu would be willing to accept a one-year deal, meaning the Mariners are now a prime candidate to land the left-handed power bat they so desperately seek.
Now some of you may be wondering why a rebuilding ballclub like the 2009 M’s are going after all these veterans. The answer is simple: the veterans the team has brought in or shown interest in are low-risk, high-reward guys. Which means that a cost-efficient investment like Sweeney or Abreu could go a long way in building this franchise to where it needs to be. Add to that the intrigue of some big names to put the butts in the seats, the veteran leadership in the clubhouse, and a face to slap on the schedules (because let’s face it, besides Ichiro, who the heck is gonna be on the schedules this year?) and you’ve got yourself some shrewd maneuvering by GM Jack Zduriencik. Abreu in ’09? I say yes, what the hell have we got to lose?
Condoleezza Rice, the former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, has surfaced as a possible candidate to replace Tom Hansen as Pac-10 commissioner later this year. Rice, the one-time provost at Stanford, claims to be a diehard football fan who maintains close ties with the conference and cites her dream job to be commissioner of the NFL (watch out, Roger Goodell).
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