Former major league infielder Scott Spiezio, who had a lamentable 141-game stay with the Mariners in 2004-05, has been arrested by authorities in Ottawa, IL., after allegedly smashing through a neighbor’s window. When the 42-year-old veteran of nine MLB seasons fled the scene, Ottawa police used a K-9 unit to track him down, according to a report by TMZ Sports.
Spiezio was found a few hours later and the cops reportedly used a taser to take him into custody. Spiezio’s girlfriend, whose name was not disclosed, alerted authorities about the middle-of-the-night window smash. Spiezio has yet to be charged with a crime, but the case is under review.
Spiezio signed with the Mariners as a free agent Dec. 19, 2003 after spending the first eight years of his career with the Oakland Athletics and then-Anaheim Angels. He hit .215 in 415 at-bats over 112 games in 2004 and batted just .064 in 29 games in 2005. The Mariners designated Spiezio for assignment Aug. 19, 2005.
A .198 hitter during his Mariners’ tenure, Spiezio, who earned $5.6 million for the 141 games, ranks among the worst free-agent signings in franchise history.
Two months after the Mariners released him, Spiezio and a female companion were charged with assaulting a cab driver in Chicago following a dispute over a fare. Spiezio was also charged with theft (the cab driver’s cell phone) and criminal damage to property (Spiezio’s girlfriend reportedly broke the cabbie’s glasses).
Perhaps best remembered for hitting a three-run home run in Game 6 of the 2002 World Series that helped propel the Angels to a world championship, Spiezio spent two years with the St. Louis Cardinals (2006-07) before retiring.
7 Comments
IIRC, Spiezio admitted to having a drug problem during his Mariner tenure. Hope he can get himself straightened out.
If he hit the window hard enough to break it, that’s more solid contact than he made during his stint with the Mariners.
worse than jeff cirillo? cirillo got ~$13M for 2 seasons from the Ms with ba/obp/ops line of .244/.289/~.600 8 hr 77 rbi vs. spiezio’s 2 years with Ms at ~$5.7M and slash line .198/.266/~.600 11 hr 42 rbi. they both sucked but spiezio sucked for less than half the price of cirillo.
What about Chone Figgins? IMo, the worst free agent signing was Carlos Silva.
Well, the Cubs DID pick up most of Silva’s salary after Zduriencik dumped him, but that also meant a year of Milton “the Monster” Bradley, perhaps the only person alive who could make Carl Everett sound like the Voice of Reason.
Yeah, that may be the worst signing of them all. I’ll give a “dishonorable mention” to Pokey Reese, who played all of zero (0) games for $1.2 million. Hell, any of us could do that.
To think that Pat Gillick tried hard to get him before settling for Mike Cameron.
do you think that if spiezio were black, the cop would have accidentally grabbed his pistol instead of his tazer?