Will have a post more specifically about Richie a little later or possibly tomorrow but wanted to relay some of the things that were talked about this morning.

First of all it was a complete scramble. Day game after a night game means less time before the game and I arrived at the park at around 10:15. Took the team bus in, mostly broadcasters on it and a few players. When I got to the stadium, probably about 20 minutes before it was announced it was whispered to me that Richie had been released. He got the word the night before the hotel and would not be at the ballpark.

I headed straight to the clubhouse where the media was assembling. There was a buzz because Richie’s name was nowhere to be found on the line up card. Tug Hulett’s was. There was speculation of everything from a trade to a release to a family issue. His locker was empty and the reporters wanted to know why. His teammates for the most part were going about their business in a normal manner with the exception of two. Jamie Burke looked disturbed as he walked through the clubhouse and Jeremy Reed who basically is Richie’s little brother in baseball looked very concerned. He could be seen having a couple of long conversations with individuals, it was clear he was talking it out.

Had a conversation with Lee Pelekoudas about going forward and sat in on two interesting gatherings with Jim Riggleman. The first was the standard game day media talk, the second, a little less formal conversation with the beat group. He was surprisingly candid. When pressed further on why the move was made now he indicated that Richie was becoming a distraction. Not to his team, but to his skipper. All of this was said with Jim’s understanding that no one likes to sit, and it is better he be upset with the situation than to not care. With that said, here are the skipper’s words.

“It was getting harder and harder to give him a day off. Yesterday he was particularly frustrated and I said, you know what I am not going to fight that battle. I’ve had some history with Richie in Cleveland, I really like him. I wanted it to work for him, I know Mac wanted it work for him after the 07 season. I know that he would be upset as a part time player and would feel disrespected that he was being asked to earn his job back. Guys get to a point in their career where they are either regulars or they move to another team I think with what Richie has accomplished he would be insulted that he had to earn is way in there every day. He should either be in there every day or somewhere else.”

“I think just the feeling that how miserable he was yesterday was an indication of the lineup being made up without his name on in it in any particular day was just not going to fly with Richie.” Riggleman continued. “So we just need to not be dealing with that. You can’t deal with making the line up where someone is upset with you every day, and I think it was clear he would have been. He’s earned that right. He is an every day player. He is not a platoon player, not a bench player. He is an everyday player. Once we get to the conclusion that we were going to do something other than that, he needs to go play somewhere else.”

I know the immediate response by normal everyday people who hold jobs in the real world would be, “Get over it. You can’t expect to play if you are not performing. It is not a selfish attitude Richie has, it is a baseball attitude. Like it or not, right or wrong, it is what it is. It wouldn’t fly in our world, but in the baseball world it is the appropriate response. How does this differ from Kenji Johjima putting his head down, gritting his teeth and quietly tolerating not being in the line up? I commented just he other day that he could go in the other direction and cause a stink, be a distraction to the entire team. Well, Joh knows he will be here another three years. He knows this is temporary. This is the right time for Richie to be hungry for playing time if he wants to have a future in the game which apparently he does. This isn’t about the money or future contracts. He is set for life. He wants to play. He wants to play because he is a baseball player. That is what he does.

As for the immediate future of the position, Miguel Cairo, Jose Vidro and Willie Bloomquist will all get time there. If Jeff Clement gets hot we could see Johjima there as well. It is not in the immediate plans, but that door as not been completely closed. What of Bryan LaHair you may ask? He has been dealing with turf toe in Tacoma and while able to play now he has not given the Mariners the motivation to call him up as of yet.

“LaHair has been dealing with the toe,” Riggleman said, “But has been hot and cold down there. He hasn’t really torn it up either so he’s got to earn it.”

Whether or not LaHair is the first baseman of the future remains to be seen. I asked Lee Pelekoudas what direction the team could go in for the long term at that position. Sounds to me he has trade on his mind.

“There are some young players out there who are productive players that play that position. Whether they are available or not remains to be seen. We are working on a few things and we have to see what happens. We have got a couple in our system that may or may not be ready. The urge is to bring them up and see what they can do but you don’t want to retard their development at all.”

As for other trade possibilities and what he would like to see by the end of the year, Lee answered.

“Just some improvement, that’s our goal. If that improvement is with what we have here that’s fine. If the improvement is by making some changes that’s what we are going to do. There may not be many changes by the end of the year. If this trading deadline comes and goes and there aren’t hardly any changes it’s because we can’t get what we think are the right pieces to fix what we think might be the problems now and we will have to go into the off season to try and make improvements. We are not going to make a trade just to make a trade for trade’s sake I am not going to be the kind of guy to that comes in as an interim general manager and makes a trade just because I am a GM. I’ve got the interest of the organization at heart. I have been here for a long time and whether I am here after the season is over as a GM or not, the moves I make are going to be for the interest of the organization particularly 5 or 6 years from now. That’s my goal and focus for the rest of the year.”

Okay, it is now the top of the fourth and I have yet to see a pitch. Got to get to the other part of my job. I will have Richie story tomorrow. I don’t believe that we will hear from him for a little while, but I think there are some things people should know.