Boston Red Sox vs Seattle Mariners Tickets at Fenway Park

Even before the market for free-agent pitchers became "volcanic," as Seattle general manager Bill Bavasi noted last week, Miguel Batista had a good idea of Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets where he fit in the landscape of the marketplace. "We started with 20," Batista said. "I felt like a 15-year-old girl. I can Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets choose who I'm going to marry. I had a lot of options." In the end, the 35-year-old Batista signed a three-year deal with Seattle on Thursday worth $25 million, despite the fact that Batista, according to Bavasi, Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets had a more "substantial offer" to sign elsewhere after the two sides agreed to the deal.

"He's a man of his word," Bavasi said. And now the Mariners hope that Batista, who turns 36 in February, can give the team the kind of durability he's shown in recent years and that kind of success that Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets has made him a double-figure winner four times in the last six seasons. "Miguel brings to us a guy -- when given the opportunity to start -- who logs innings and is an efficient guy on the mound with his pitches," Bavasi said. "He's Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets a plus-pitcher when it comes to effectiveness and stamina. That's not easy to find."

Batista might not have been the high-profile free-agent pitcher Seattle initially wanted to land during the offseason, but he certainly became a viable Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets option after Bavasi met with him in the Dominican Republic two weeks ago while watching some of the team's young talent in winter ball Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets and while talking with soon-to-be Mariners outfielder Jose Guillen. Batista, who said he was impressed with the Mariners last season during Interleague Play, was intrigued about the prospect of playing for Seattle and its core Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets of young players like pitcher Felix Hernandez, second baseman Jose Lopez and shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt.

"I'm very excited. ... We might look good on paper, but I think we're going to be good on the field, too," Batista said. "They have guys here that are going Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets to be playing together for a long time. That's how you create a dynasty -- by keeping good players together for a long time." Match up News: Opening day (series) at Fenway Park in 2007 will be an amazing series. If Matsuzaka is a starter in one of those games, Matsuzaka's first pitch Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets could be against a fellow Japan star, Ichiro Suzuki. That would be an amazing moment in sports history as 2 of the top athletes from Japan will face eachother in Fenway Park. Ichiro is an amazing athlete and a lead off hitter for the Mariners and Matsuzaka is a Seattle Mariners Red Sox Fenway Park Tickets pitching phenom from Japan.