Mariners closer David Aardsma will have hip surgery on Monday, the Mariners announced today.

Aardsma will travel Vail, Colo., where Dr. Marc Phillipon will repair a tear in the labrum of his left hip.

The hip has apparently bothered Aardsma since the end of last season.

“We thought it was an oblique strain and it just wasn’t getting better,” Aardsma said. “When I started my throwing program it was still bothering me. ”

Aardsma went and saw Phillipon – a “real specialist” on Tuesday.

The Mariners decided that surgery was the best remedy after consulting with Mariners medical director Dr. …

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Rob Johnson was designated for assignment a little over a week ago to make room for DH Jack Cust, putting him in baseball limbo.

Now his time with the Seattle Mariners has ended. Johnson has  been traded to the San Diego Padres for cash considerations or a player to be named later.

Johnson struggled last season, hitting just .191 (34×178) with 24 runs, 10 doubles, 2 home runs and 13 RBI in 61 games with the Mariners in 2010. He was sent down to Triple A Tacoma late in the season.

In those 61 games, he also struggled behind the …

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Every year, ESPN’s Jayson Stark cobbles together his “strange but true” team feats. This year, the Seattle Mariners and their inept offense have a starring role.

From the excellent story…

• It took the Mariners 151 games to score 481 runs. That’s as many as the Red Sox scored before the All-Star break.

• A total of 32 Mariners made it into the old batter’s box last season. They combined to score a mere 513 runs. That wasn’t just a record for fewest runs scored by an American League team, over a full season, in the DH era. It

…

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Signing minor league free agents is akin to bargain shopping; the Mariners can only hope that they’ve found something worth keeping after agreeing to deals with outfielder Ryan Langerhans, right-hander Denny Bautista, catcher Chris Gimenez and left-hander Royce Ring.

All four received invitations to spring training. The Mariners have now extended invitations to 13 non-roster players.

Langerhans, 30, is a familiar name and prototypical fourth/fifth outfielder type. He appeared in 48 games in two stints with the Mariners after making the 2010 Opening Day roster. He was outrighted to the minors on Nov. 3, declined and became a free agent. …

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The Seattle Mariners have designated catcher Rob Johnson for assignment to make room on the 40-man major league roster for designated hitter Jack Cust, the club announced Monday.

The Mainers have 10 days to trade trade or release Johnson, or assign him outright to he minor leagues.

Johnson hit .191 last season in 61 games and 178 at-bats with the Mariners, with two homers and 13 runs batted it. Over four seasons and 161 games with Seattle, Johnson batted .200 in 470 at-bats, with five homers and 42 RBI.

In October and November of 2009, Johnson had three surgeries – …

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Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik continues to make moves to improve the 25-man roster. On Sunday, he announced that the team has acquired shortstop Brendan Ryan from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for LHP Maikal Cleto.

“In acquiring Brendan Ryan we have added a player who is athletic, has played multiple positions, has been an everyday Major League shortstop, and is playoff tested,” said Zduriencik. “We look forward to Brendon’s contributions as well as him competing for a starting position.”

Ryan, 28, appeared in a career-high 139 games with the Cardinals last season, batting .223 (98×439) with 19 doubles, …

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Sitting here in the Orlando International Airport and trying to come up with words to describe what the Mariners did at the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings the past four days.

Optimists might use words like cost-efficient, value-based and underrated.

Cynics might toss out words like unexciting, uninspiring, and unimproving (is that word? Well it is today).

And bitter pessimists might label the few moves that the Mariners made poor, dull, cheap, wastes of money, confusing, irritating or dumb.

Me?

Normally, I’m an angry cynic on my best days. But when it came to these moves, I guess I would …

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Adam Moore wasn’t caught off guard when the “official” news of the Mariners signing catcher Miguel Olivo to a 2-year, $7 million broke this afternoon.

“I heard about it … a few times,” he said with a chuckle.

His agent kept him apprised of the situation and he also received a phone call from Mariners catching coordinator Roger Hansen.

“He just told me that they were signing Olivo and that it has nothing to do with me and not to dwell on it,” Moore said.

But even if he hadn’t received the warnings, Moore wouldn’t have been shocked to hear …

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