The Mariners have signed Greg Colbrunn:

The Mariners signed infielder Greg Colbrunn to a two-year contract Friday, the first step in upgrade a depleted bench.

Infielder? He's a first baseman/DH. They make it sound like he's a utility player.

"Greg is a very nice addition to our ball club,'' new Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. "In addition to his abilities on the field, he's got a tremendous amount of character and his veteran leadership and daily approach will fit in very well in our clubhouse.''

Melvin should know. He and Colbrunn worked together the last two seasons in Arizona, where Melvin was the bench coach before taking the job formerly held by Lou Piniella.

Yep, that's what clubs need, players with lots of character. It reminds me of what Bill James wrotein the 1983 Baseball Abstract. He was criticizing Sparky Anderson for having Enos Cabell as his first baseman:

I mean, I would never say that it was not important to have a team with a good attitude, but Christ, Sparky, there are millions of people in this country who have good attitudes, but there are only about 200 who can play a major-league brand of baseball, so which are you going to take? Sparky is so focused on all that attitude stuff that he looks at an Enos Cabell and he doesn't even see that the man can't play baseball. This we ballplayer, Sparky, can't play first, can't play third, can't hit, can't run and can't throw. So who cares what his attitude is?

The 1983 Abstract was the first I read cover to cover, and this paragraph really stuck with me. If I'm with one of my baseball buddies, and a manager starts talking about attitude, "Christ, Sparky!" will pop out of one of our mouths.

That said, Colbrunn is a decent backup for Olerud and Martinez. Just don't give me the attitude excuse. As long as he's not betting on baseball or committing crimes, I can live with the attitude if he can hit.