Wikipedia:WikiProject Baseball/Seattle Mariners/Newsletter/January 2010

"We're going in the right direction. A couple of more wins, post-season, I don't have anything planned until like early November. Hopefully we can have a lot of fun and continue on the path that we're going."

— Ken Griffey, Jr., The Canadian Press: January 3, 2010.

Project news and announcements

• This is the projects third newsletter, the first since 2008. If you would like to help, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page and add your name to the editors list.
• You may have noticed the revamped project page, if you have any suggestions leave them on the main project talk page.

Featured content

The following articles have been promoted past start-class, or included in the task force's scrutiny, since August, 2009:

• B-Class status:

Russell Branyan, History of the Seattle Mariners & Ryan Rowland-Smith

• C-Class status:

Dustin Ackley, Milton Bradley (baseball), Ben Broussard, Ben Davis (baseball), Jason Davis (baseball), Jason Ellison & Matt Tuiasosopo

The following articles were created recently and are under the project scope, they may need to be cleaned-up to meet quality standards:

• Ralph Henriquez, Jr., History of the Seattle Mariners, List of 2009 Seattle Mariners draft picks, List of 2008 Seattle Mariners draft picks, List of 2007 Seattle Mariners draft picks, List of 2006 Seattle Mariners draft picks, List of Seattle Mariners first-round draft picks , List of Seattle Mariners Opening Day starting lineups, Kyle Parker, Rich Poythress

The article, James Jones (baseball), had a fact featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know? column on 9 December 2009. The fact was,
Did you know ... that James Jones, a pitcher in college, entered the 2009 Major League Baseball Draft and was selected in the fourth round as an outfielder by the Seattle Mariners?

News from the diamond

• Center fielder Franklin Gutiérrez and the Mariners agreed to a four-year contract extension on January 8, 2010. The $20.5 million deal includes a fifth-year team option.

Read more from The Seattle Times and Major League Baseball

• The Mariners traded utility player Bill Hall, a PTBNL and cash considerations to the Boston Red Sox for first baseman Casey Kotchman on January 7, 2010.

Read more from The Seattle Times and Major League Baseball

• On January 6, retired Mariners designated hitter Edgar Martínez fell short of the 75% mark needed to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In his first year of eligibility, Martínez received 36.2% of the vote by the BBWAA.

Read more from The Seattle Times and Major League Baseball

• Utility player Chris Woodward, who played for the Mariners in 2009, signed a Minor League contract with an invitation to spring training with the M's on January 6, 2010. Woodward, 33, hit .239 with Seattle last season before being designated for assignment and was later claimed by the Boston Red Sox off waivers.

Read more from The Los Angeles Times and Major League Baseball

• Former Mariners pitcher Randy Johnson, who won five Cy Young Awards, one in Seattle, officially retired from Major League Baseball on January 5, 2010. In his 21 year Major League career, Johnson had a combined record of 303-166 with a 3.29 earned run average and 4875 strikeouts in 618 games, 603 starts.

Read more from The New York Times and Major League Baseball

This newsletter was composed by Brian Halvorsen. If you would like to contribute to future newsletters, please leave a message on the newsletter talk page. If you don't wish to receive this newsletter anymore, please remove your name from the subscribers list on the main talk page page.