--OF Greg Halman, who hit .272 with 29 homers split between Class A and Class AA this year, was named the Mariners' minor league Player of the Year. A native of The Netherlands, Halman is 21 and considered a rising star in the organization.
--RHP Miguel Pineda earned the organization's minor league Pitcher of the Year award after posting an 8-6 record and 1.95 ERA in 26 games for Class A Wisconsin, 21 of those games being starts. --RHP Miguel Batista spent the last week of October and the first week of November doing charity work and serving as a baseball ambassador to kids in Colombia.
--2B Yung Chi Chen, who was with the Mariners in spring training in 2008, was claimed off waivers by the Oakland A's. The 25-year-old Chen, signed in 2004 out of Taiwan, played a little in spring training, but after he hit .295 for Class AA San Antonio in 2006, left shoulder injuries limited his 2007 season to just five games, and he didn't come back as well as Seattle had hoped in 2008, averaging just .249 in 69 games for Class AAA Tacoma.
--RHP Jared Wells, 27, RHP Joe Woerman, 25, and LHP Jake Woods, 27, were outrighted to the minor leagues. Wells and Woerman remain in the Mariners' minor league system. Woods, on the other hand, declined the move and is now a free agent.
--Tom McNamara, hired away from the Brewers by GM Jack Zduriencik, is Seattle's new director of amateur scouting. Tony Blengino, another Milwaukee transplant, will be the special assistant to the general manager. And longtime Mets executive Carmen Fusco will assume the role of director of pro scouting.
BY THE NUMBERS: 36 -- Players currently on the Mariners' 40-man roster.
QUOTE TO NOTE: "An interview is an interview, but as important is it is, there is also the body of work to consider." -- GM Jack Zduriencik, on the process of hiring a manager.
