The transactions listings have always been one of my favorite parts of the Sports section. They are direct, just-the-facts-ma’am, no one listing more prominent than the other. But of course there are stories behind every one, some more complex and interesting than others, some involving other moves which may or may not appear there.
I sometimes see the news of a hiring and imagine that there must be much joy in that household.
From today:
UNLV-Promoted Jennifer Klein to women’s soccer coach.
Is this the culmination of a lifelong dream for Ms. Klein? Is she ready to be the head coach? Does she have the same doubts that most new coaches have? Is she getting congratulatory emails and Facebook wall posts and calls?
And when I see that a player has been released or designated, I wonder what is going through his mind. “Is this the end of the road?” “What will I do next?”
Since I look through them daily, I’m going to try to pick one or two of the baseball items that initiate a thought or two in what I hope will be a new feature, “Tracking The Transations,” or TTT.
Today’s TTT:
SEATTLE MARINERS–Designated RHP Ian Snell for assignment.
Okay, I could leave this one up to Tom, but I’ll take a crack. Snell, fans may recall, broke in pretty strongly with the Pirates a couple of years back., winning 14 games in 2006. But after signing a fairly sizable contract extension, he struggled in ‘08 and ‘09 and famously requested a demotion to AAA, citing “too much negativity” in Pittsburgh. After pitching extremely well for Indianapolis, he was later included in a deal with Jack Wilson to the Mariners.
That Snell regressed this year may be related to the issues that came to the front in Pittsburgh. He is in the last year of that contract extension, and he’s just 28, so the going-nowhere M’s must really think he’s done.
My guess is that we haven’t seen the last of Snell. Some team will try to make a reclamation project out of him and the arm that was firing 95 mph fastballs not too long ago, especially with another team footing the bill.
