ESPN MLB

	Everett

SEATTLE -- Carl Everett has left Seattle -- almost without a trace.

The Mariners designated Everett for assignment Wednesday, making Seattle the 35-year-old's eighth former team. The team recalled outfielder Chris Snelling from Triple-A Tacoma to take Everett's roster spot.

Snelling, 23, was expected to be in uniform for Wednesday night's home game against Toronto.

Seattle has 10 days to trade or release Everett, a switch-hitting designated hitter who was batting .227 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI in 92 games. He signed a one-year contract last December to add power to an anemic Mariners lineup. Last season, he won the World Series as the Chicago White Sox's DH.

Everett's Seattle deal pays him $3.4 million for this season. The Mariners had a $600,000 buyout option on the contract for 2007.

The Mariners entered Wednesday four games under .500 -- yet just three games out of the AL West lead.

"Our primary focus is to win games right now," general manager Bill Bavasi said. "We are a better team today with Eddie Perez, Greg Dobbs and [Snelling] getting more at-bats in the DH spot."

Over the season's first half, Everett was engaging in the clubhouse and in the community. But on the field, he batted .159 against left-handers. That led to manager Mike Hargrove benching Everett against left-handed starters and to Bavasi acquiring Perez from Cleveland on June 30.

Since then, Perez has been Seattle's DH against lefties.

Finally, after a July 4 game, Everett and Hargrove had a shouting match about the veteran's reduced role inside the manager's office.

"It's just part of the job, part of the business. None of this stuff surprises me," Hargrove said then.

When a team representative approached Everett on July 5 to get a comment on the argument, Everett said, "Tell them it's none of their business."

Since then, Everett has said little. On the field, he was 3-for-14 (.214) in four games in his last week as a Mariner.

Snelling, who played 23 games for Seattle in 2002 and '05, was batting .247 with four home runs and 34 RBI in 52 games with Tacoma. He began the season on the disabled list after surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left knee. He did not begin playing until May 20.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press