Welcome To The Bullpen, Mr. Weaver

It was a very bad weekend for Jeff Weaver. It all came to a head after he lost his friend Josh Hancock to a car accident, but his start earlier in the day may end up costing him his job in the Mariners rotation.

Weaver lasted only a third of an inning against the Royals after giving up 6 runs in the first inning. Weaver is now 0-4 with an 18.26 ERA in four starts. In those four starts, he's only made it past the third inning once, and batters are hitting .492 against him. .492!!

The biggest clue about Weaver's future came from his manager Mike Hargrove. Hargrove has said that Felix Hernandez is penciled in to start this Friday. Well, this Friday was supposed to be Weaver's next start.

"The key word there is 'penciled,' " said Hargrove, who spent considerable time Saturday and Sunday debating Weaver's status with his coaching staff.

"We're not talking about a kid in his first year trying to establish himself. We're talking about a veteran who pitched the final game of the World Series last year and pitched very well against a real good ballclub. The main way to get out of this is by going out and pitching. You can go out and work on the side all you want, you still have to go out and face live competition to get it back together.

"It's kind of a Catch-22 right now with Jeff. You want to do what's best for him and the ballclub. Obviously the ballclub comes first. We discussed a lot of things, and we'll come up with some sort of a plan to be able to accomplish both goals."

Hargrove may not have made a final decision as of yet, but if it were up to Mariners fans I'm pretty sure Weaver would be getting thrown of the Space Needle right now.

Previously at the Fanhouse:
Dream Weaver Was A Nightmare
Mariners Still Waiting On Their Dream Weaver