M's acquire Garbe in trade

Former Moses Lake player and Minnesota prospect traded to Seattle

B.J. Garbe is coming home - sort of.

The fifth pick overall in the 1999 draft by Minnesota has been shipped to Seattle in return for backup catcher Pat Borders. Minnesota, who is seven games up on second-place Cleveland in the AL Central, brought the 1992 World Series MVP and a .372 batting average for the postseason.

This reassignment is a wake-up call for Garbe, but also a chance to feel wanted.

"If I had scripted it any other way, it would have been this way," Garbe said. "They were my team since I was a little kid."

Garbe will report to the Seattle Double-A affiliate San Antonio on Wednesday. Garbe left the team batting .201 with three home runs and 35 RBIs on the season for the Minnesota Twins' Double-A team New Britain Rock Cats.

Garbe also had a career batting average of .231 in six years in the Minnesota farm system, but hopes to regain life at the plate with the change of scenery.

"This is a great situation for me and I am happy about it," Garbe said.

Kerry Garbe, B.J.'s dad, said his son has a "new lease on life."

The Twins organization was filled with outfielder prospects and solid veterans in Jacque Jones and Torri Hunter and with the Mariner's going through the rebuilding process, B.J. will have a chance to rise to the top, Kerry added.

"He is coming home to a team he grew up watching and now there is such an opportunity for him in the Mariner organization with the youth movement," Kerry said.