It's old, but still...

From last Friday and I am just getting around to it now:

M's pitcher Baek has endured a lot to pursue a dream

It was hard enough for Cha Seung Baek after signing with the Mariners straight out of Pusan High School in South Korea — shuttling around small-town America, learning how to navigate minor-league baseball, absorbing a brand-new culture.

He had a translator at his side, but he was just a teenager. He got nervous about speaking to his teammates, shopping and ordering food.

Then came devastating news in 2001 in San Bernardino, Calif. His right elbow — the one that made him one of the best prep pitchers in Korea, the one on which he'd pinned a lifelong dream — would require a new ligament.

He was a stranger in a strange land. He was 21 years old. He was worried.

"At that point, I was in Single-A, I was in rehab and I didn't know if I was ever going to return to the mound," Baek recalls, speaking in Korean. "For almost two years, I didn't pitch. I got homesick. But I had to put that aside because I had a goal. I had a dream."

...

Seattle left-hander Eric O'Flaherty met Baek in 2004 in Arizona, when both were rehabbing ailments. He remembers seeing Baek throw for the first time last year, after O'Flaherty was promoted to Tacoma. Now they are throwing partners.

"I saw him in the bullpen, and I was like, 'Does this guy ever miss?' " O'Flaherty says.

For all his endorsements, Baek's situation remains tenuous. After being balled up from Tacoma in April, Baek has solidified the rotation. But Horacio Ramirez could come off the disabled list soon, and if Jeff Weaver can salvage his season, that would give the Mariners six starters. One too many — again.