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Seattle Mariners

Mariners moving forward as 2010 deal turns to ashes

Bob Dutton Tacoma News Tribune

SEATTLE – The Mariners now have nothing to show for the blockbuster 2010 trade that sent former Cy Young Award winner Cliff Lee to Texas.

Right-hander Blake Beavan, one of the key elements in the deal, is one of 13 minor-league players from the Mariners’ organization who became free agents earlier in the week.

Beavan, 25, spent most of this season at Triple-A Tacoma after recovering from a shoulder injury suffered April 15 at Texas in his only big-league start of the season.

The injury sidelined Beavan for three months, and he pitched primarily as a reliever after returning to action. He was 4-1 with a 3.69 ERA in 19 games, but only two starts, for the Rainiers.

The Mariners cut Beavan from their 40-man roster on Aug. 2 by sending him to Tacoma on an outright assignment after he cleared waivers.

Beavan’s departure follows the Oct. 28 loss of first baseman Justin Smoak in a waiver claim to Toronto.

The Mariners acquired Beavan, Smoak, reliever Josh Lueke and infielder Matt Lawson from Texas on July 9, 2010 for Lee and reliever Mark Lowe. Beavan (2007) and Smoak (2008) were former first-round draft picks.

Beavan flashed potential on occasion – he won 11 games in 2012 – but he was 16-20 overall for the Mariners with a 4.51 ERA in 54 career big-league games.

The list of new minor-league free agents includes five other players who spent all or most of their season at Tacoma:

• OF Xavier Avery, 24, who batted .275 with a .344 on-base percentage and a .413 slugging percentage in 120 games:

• UTL Leury Bonilla, 29, who compiled a .234/.291/.320 slash in 90 games.

• RHP Logan Kensing, 32, who was 6-3 with a 3.58 ERA in 49 games.

• INF Gabriel Noriega, 24, who compiled a .275/.299/.360 slash in 108 games, including 101 at Tacoma.

• UTL Nate Tenbrink, 27, who played just 29 games because of a back injury. He compiled a .237/.310/.368 slash in 23 games at Tacoma.

Others who qualified for free agency: OF Burt Reynolds; LHPs Joselito Cano and Nick Hill; and RHPs Moises Hernandez, Luis Jimenez, Ricardo Pereira and Stephen Shackleford.