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Mariners Add to S-T Roster

Please welcome Dave Burba to town:

Another veteran starter is off the market as Dave Burba has agreed to $500,000 minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners.

Even though he'll turn 40 next July, I still think of Burba as the guy Adam Morris always used to bring up as a low-risk, low-reward fifth starter for the old pitching-starved Rangers. In truth, he hasn't started 15 games in a year since 2002, and what little he's capable of providing in middle relief could be easily replicated by a guy half his age. You'd like to see a guy like Burba go out a winner, but Seattle isn't the right place for him to get the opportunity. After sitting out the majority of 2005 because he didn't want to hang around in AAA Round Rock, don't expect Burba to be a part of the organization for very long.

Things would be different if Burba could magically revert to what he was in 2002, an adequate sixth starter who could step in for 60 innings in case of injury, but Winnie the Pooh would be different if he ate people instead of honey, so it's not worth dwelling on what's not going to happen.