Its That Time of Year Again

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     First of all, lets forget about the horrendous 2010 Seattle Mariners season. Of course there are things that we can’t overlook about this past season. Lets start with the amazing season the Felix Hernandez had for this team in which he won he AL Cy Young Award for the first time in his career. All this, with a team that gave him the least offensive support than any other pitcher in the AL. In my opinion, with more offensive support he could have easily reached 20+ wins. On other good highlights from the 2010 season, Ichiro again reached 200+ hits, becoming the first major league player in history to record that many hits in 11 consecutive seasons. In respect of the future of this team, during 2010 the Mariners traded P Cliff Lee to the Texas Rangers for one of the best prospects in 1B Justin Smoak, a former 11 overall pick in the 2009 draft. For me, those were the highlights of this past season.

     Looking ahead to 2011, by no reason they are expected to be contenders, but they should be more competitive than last season. A .500 record would be a huge improvement from last year’s 100+ loses. They will be more young at some positions, but will still carry enough veterans to lead he young kid coming up. New manager Eric Wedge should also provide a great change of leadership to keep in line the veterans and mentor the youngsters. 

New notable additions to the team:

    C – Miguel Olivo – He started his ML career with the Mariners and now is back for a second stint with the club. He should be the everyday regular with Adam Moore to back him up. Moore will also push Olivo to perform, because Adam had a very productive spring camp and with the team being in a re-building mode there is also pressure to play the young kinds and prove if they can be part of the future of the team. I expect Moore to have a consistent playing time and perform much better than past season. 

    DH – Jack Cust – With Cust you get a Russell Branyan with less age. He will hit for power and strike out on a consistent basis. 

    SS – Brendan Ryan – Comes over via trade from the St. Louis Cardinals to bring stability to the position and excellent defensive skills. Jack Wilson will shift to second base and will be there setting up the position for top prospect Dustin Ackley which will be in AAA Tacoma working on his defensive skills. But expect Ackley to be called up at some point during the season. 

My surprise pick:
    P – Michael Pineda – I expect the 22 year old rookie starter to have a great first season. He will be the number 5 starter to limit his innings pitched low for health reasons. Expect him to have a great year with his top of the line pitches and already great secondary pitches. He has the talent to be a great front of the rotation pitcher, but until he gets there the Mariners will keep him at the back end of their rotation. 
Also here are the lineups of the first game as announced by Manager Eric Wedge:

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                      Ichiro 9                                                      No lineup posted yet

                     Figgins 5

                     Bradley 7

                     Cust DH

                    Smoak 3

                    Olivo 2

                    Langerhans 8

                    Ryan 6

        
           Wilson 4

                    Felix   


An experience that will last a life time

As most of you know already in 2 days pitchers and catchers report to spring training. This is the time when you turn the page on the NFL, don’t pay a lot of attention to the NBA, and start focusing on America’s past time. Spring Training started for me on February 10th when I went to Safeco Field thanks to 710 ESPN Seattle for their pitchers & catchers report to spring training contest. Me and the rest of the contest winners were able to go inside the visitors clubhouse, have a special tour of the stadium, have batting practice, throw catch in the outfield, and meet Jack Zduriencik. The last part of meeting the GM was the most exciting and rewarding part of the afternoon. We had a nice 15 minute Q&A session with him. He talked to us about what he is going to tell the players on the first day of spring training. He talked about how a team must come together with character and how if each player play to their best of their abilities the whole club will get the best results on and off the field. It was a very good speech! We were all pumped up for the season to start, we felt as part of the Seattle Mariners Organization as we had ever felt. Took pictures and exchanged handshakes with the man that has given hope back to this town and is making us all feel good again about baseball.  I want to thank 710 ESPN Seattle for this great opportunity and I’m looking forward to giving my first spring training report in the next few days.

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A closer look at the Mariners offseason

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      The 2009 Seattle Mariners offseason began with landing All-Star third baseman Chone Figgins to a 4 yr, $36 million dollar contract. That signing put an end to the Adrian Beltre regimen as the M’s 3B and sparked the start of the exciting and promising offseason for this team. To add to that excitement was the fact that DH Ken Griffey Jr. had already decided to return for another year. 
       It is clear to see that this team is being built around pitching and defense, so every move we have seen this offseason has been to achieve that goal. They re-signed SS Jack Wilson, which is regarded as one of the best fielding SS in the game to a 2 year contract. Also, not signing Jason Bay to play LF says that they were not in the mood to spend $120 million dollars to a player that is not that great defensively. So, one of the best defensive teams of 2009 should be returning in 2010 to stay at the top of that category. To continue on the trend of pitching and defense they were able to pull the trigger on a three-team deal that brought 2008 Cy-Young winner Cliff Lee to Seattle from the Phillies. Now the Mariners have one of the best, if not the best 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation with Felix Hernandez (that just recently signed a 5 yr $78 million extension) and Cliff Lee. To round the rotation up, Seattle has Ryan Rowland-Smith, Ian Snell (2008 All Star), Jayson Vargas, Garett Olson, Doug Fister, and Luke French. Also, I expect GM Jack Zduriencik to sign or trade for another starter before spring training camp starts. 

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     On the offensive side of the ball, which is an area that this team needs to address, they traded one problem for another. In a surprising move they sent SP Carlos Silva to the Cubs for LF/DH Milton Bradley. Bradley should behave well, I think, on this team because a lot of this coaching staff was with him in his best year in Texas.
    The team also decided to go with a more defensive first baseman, parting ways with 2009 surprise Russell Branyan and saying goodbye to his 39 home runs. The issue with Branyan is his health, especially his lower back. He was not able to play for the last month of the season because of back injuries, and the M’s were not willing to give him the 2 year deal that he is seeking. So his replacement? The team traded with the Red Sox for Casey Kotchman a more defensive first baseman. But the front office is going to give him the opportunity to play every day and see what he can offer with his bat. 
   The top of this lineup, no other team has Ichiro and Figgins. With this two guys, everyone in the lineup should have a very good opportunity to drive in runs; and more runs is exactly what this team needs. 
   An integral part of this team last season was the bullpen and this year should be the same. In fact, it should be better; guys have more experience and confidence than last year, and there should be a couple of new arms that will help to get the work load off the shoulders of Mark Lowe and Sean Green. David Aardsma will be back to close ball games, and hopefully he will get more chances to do so in 2010. 
    I think that the Mariners should be the favorites on Opening Day to win their division. Aside from all the improvements made, the Angels have lost key pieces of their team: Figgins, John Lackey, Vlad Guerrero, and a few others. Still they will be a very good team as always, but the Mariners will make it tough on them to win this division again. We should expect a battle for the AL West until the last weeks of the 2010 season. 
Photo Credits: AP
Update at 1/24/2010 8:59 PM PST: I totally agree with one of the comments. Another quiet but, great move that the Mr. Z has made is the contract extension of Franklin Gutierrez. To me he is the best fielding center fielder in the game today and has a very good bat with solid power. Thanks to my readers for the comments!
    

Mariners lock-up ace for 5 years

The Mariners and RH Felix Hernandez have come up with a 5 year, $78 million agreement.With that the M’s are securing the top of the rotation and are make an exciting rotation even more exciting. Now, Felix should have no distractions, he will focus on pitching and winning ballgames for the M’s. This also sends out a message that the Mariners Front Office are making moves to win now and secure a goos future for this organization. 

This is a great deal for both sides. The M’s are buying some of the free agent years for less that a pitcher of his talent is making, and Felix will be 28 years old when it is all said and done. At 28 he will be able to lock-up even better money if he keeps going the way he has been going. 
This also should be a good sign to Cliff Lee, the Front Office is telling him: “Hey, if you perform to your abilities, we will pay you and have you stay, and give you, the team, and this city the best baseball team we can”. 
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                                                              AP Picture

First Look at 2010 Mariners

It has been a very busy offseason for the Mariners Front Office. They have acquired one of the best lead-off batters in the game, a  former Cy-Young winner, and a controversial middle of the order hitter. All this while not spending all the available money that they have. The additions so far have been:

                      3B Chone Figgins
                      OF Milton Bradley
                      SP Cliff Lee   
Also, they got rid of Bavasi’s last bust: 4-year, $48 million dollar starter Carlos Silva. They sent Silva and $6M to the Chicago Cubs in exchange for Bradley. Which to me is a super trade! Especially to the M’s, they get a high risk-high reward middle of the order hitter that is very much needed to drive in Ichiro and Figgins. 
Now imagine the best 1-2 starting pitching duo in baseball: Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee. Followed by Ian Snell, Brandon Morrow and Ryan Rowland-Smith. With the M’s defense and an improved offense they should better last season’s 85 wins. 
Still, I think that they should not start the year with Mike Carp at 1B. They should re-sign last year’s 39 HR surprise Russel Branyan. Although injury prone, he should give the same on-field performance he gave last season. Another possibility is free angent Adam LaRoche, who hit 25 HRs. But the best thing might come via a trade with San Diego for 1B Adrian Gonzalez. A trade for Gonzalez would mean to give up a lot of good prospects including Brandon Morrow, Michael Sounders, and Carlos Triunfel. Also that package would include 2B Jose Lopez, which would create a hole in 2B/3B for the Mariners. 
Seattle’s Front Office have taken care, the right way, of a lot of issues they wanted to address this offseason. I would say that now their priority is a power hitting first baseman. We should all continue to trust Jack Zduriencik’s decisions in creating a winning team for 2010. 
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all 

M’s at the 2009 Winter Meetings

The Seattle Mariners should be a big name to watch at this year’s winter meetings. They are coming from a great 85 win season and with the memories of the great first trade of Mr. Z’s GM history. That JJ Putz trade last year brought to Seattle its new CF, Franklin Gutierrez, OF Endy Chavez, 1B Mike Carp and other prospects. So we are hoping for another Zduriencik trade or free agent signing. Seattle also has a lot of money to spend this off-season and Adrian Beltre just declined arbitration. 


They started by bringing back Ken Griffey Jr and are about to announce 3B Chone Figgins free angent signing estimated to be 4 years and $36 million. They now have to take a look at making maybe another offer to Russell Branyan or maybe take a look at Nick Johnson for 1B. Also pitching is high on the Mariners wish list; John Lackey, Rich Harden or maybe even Erik Bedard. The other interesting case is LF, Jason Bay is very well linked to Seattle but there is also the possibility of a Curtis Granderson trade with the Tigers (which might also include SP E. Jackson).  

So this week will be a very active one for the M’s front office and a very exciting one for every Mariners fan out there! 

Good News M’s!!

        It’s been almost two months since my last post and the Mariners are 4 games out of first place, 3 Mariners (Ichiro, Felix and Wakamatsu) are going to the All Star Game tomorrow in St. Louis and the M’s lead the American League in team ERA. ichiro all star.jpg

       Ichiro is tearing up American League pitching batting .362 and heading to his 9th All Star Game in 9 seasons in MLB. The combination of new GM Jack Z and field manager Don Wakamatsu have been a blessing to this team. Team chemistry is at the best it has been in years and the talent that is now present in the organization is the most promising in this decade. Mr Z’s gem has been 1B Russell Branyan he leads the team in HR and has been one of the most consistent hitters in the lineup with 22 HR, 49 RBIs and .280 BA, center fielder Franklin Gutierrez is establishing himself as one of the best center fielders in baseball, and David Aardsma has reinvented himself to be one of the best and most consistent closers of the league.  

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     This team has lost gold glove 3B Adrian Beltre for more than 5 weeks to shoulder surgery, has lost OF Endy Chavez to a season ending knee injury, have overall been outscored by the opposition, has guys like Ronny Cedeño (SS), Chris Woodward (3B), Ryan Langerhans (LF, obtained in a trade with Washington for Mike Morse), and Jack Hannahan (3B, obtained in a trade with Oakland) playing like a veteran team that knows what they are doing and finding ways to win ballgames. The contribution in the field and in the clubhouse of legend Ken Griffey Jr. and veteran Mike Sweeny have brought this team together to believe in themselves and play to exceed our expectations of them. 

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    The pitching has been the best story so far. The starters have been excellent; when a guy is needed to step in for some injury pitchers like Garett Olson and Jason Vargas have come in to give this team quality starts and keep them in ballgames to have the opportunity to win games. Jarrod Washburn has reinvented himself to have an ERA under 3 and be one of the key elements of this team. Felix Hernandez is living up to his “King” nickname and has been almost un-hittable and Erik Bedard, when healthy, is the best lefty in the game. The bullpen has been rock solid all year with guys like Jakabauskas, Kelley, White, Lowe and Aardsma providing security to keep the team in the ballgame or hold on to leads. 

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Overall I would give a first half grade of A- and manager Don Wakamatsu as Manager of the Year so far. Also, say that this team is one significant bat away from having a much better chance of making it into October and I know GM Jack Z will not hesitate to make the right moves that better this team now and does not affect its future. This is the guy who traded an All Star Closer in J.J. Putz and Sean Green and got back Gutierrez, Aardsma, Vargas, Olson, Cedeño, Carp; signed Branyan and traded away troubled SS Betancourt for a couple of promising arms so I have no doubt in trusting his judgments and decisions that will make this team a more legitimate contender in 2009 and beyond. Go M’s!!!!
Picture credits (in order):
AP Photo/John Froschauer
AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
AP Photo/Kevin P. Casey

Mariners take 2 of 3 from the Red Sox

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Behind great pitching the M’s won on Sunday 3 – 2 over the Boston Red Sox in the bottom of the 9th with a walk off base hit from Gutierrez. Starter, Jason Vargas, pitched very well for 5.2 innings and should be given the opportunity to remain in the rotation. The thing that manager Don Wakamatsu can’t continue to do is put Adrian Beltre as the #4 hitter. He is not producing, he has been in a season long slump! Put him 6th or 7th in the lineup to see if he gets better pitches to hit. Russel Branyan should be the every day #4 hitter and Balentien the #5. Because if you take a look at the last couple of games, Branyan has been opening every inning as the lead off hitter because Beltre has been the last out in the previous inning. Most of the times leaving runners on. Also, Branyan is leading the team with 9HRs but only has 19 RBIs, why? Because he is hitting lead off with nobody on base.  Let’s see how the M’s set their lineups for this series against the Angels. It begins tomorrow as the M’s lead the season series 4-2. It will be John Lackey against Jarrod Washburn at 7:10 PM PST.

Team update

I’ve been missing some posting because of all the work I have in the final days of my semester, but there are some updates to give while the M’s take on the Red Sox in Safeco. 

Brandon Morrow is not the “official” closer any more until he builds back his command and authority in the mound. After two consecutive blown saves in Texas, Wak decided to go with a closer by committee approach. 
Ryan Rowland-Smith is making good progress in extended spring training pitching some innings. Not so good has been the come-back for former closer of the Washington Nationals, Chad Cordero. He says that he feels fine but his speed is not yet there. He should be able to pitch in a competitive game in late May or June. LHP Erik Bedard missed Saturday’s scheduled start with a sore right hamstring, we’ll have to monitor that to see how it affects the rotation in the next couple of weeks.
On some minor league notes, third baseman Matt Tuiasosopo will have a minor surgery in his elbow to eliminate some discomfort. He should be out 3 to 6 weeks depending on how well he responds to the procedure. In some better news there are a couple of players red-hot in Tacoma. 
First baseman, Brian LaHair is hitting .258 with 10 HR, 8 doubles and 22 RBIs. Also C/DH, Jeff Clement, is hitting .254 with 6HR and 8 doubles this last couple of weeks he has been red hot after starting the season in a very bad offensive slump. Right fielder Prentice Redman is batting .321 with 9HR, 10 doubles and 18 RBIs. Also first baseman Mike Carp and utility man Mike Morse are also contributing to the offense of the RainiersMaybe we will see some of this guys sometime this summer in Seattle. 

Back from my hiatus… after a bad week for the M’s

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This past week has not been the highlight from this season. In just one week the Mariners find themselves 2 games under .500 and in third place in the division trailing Texas by 1 1/2 games. We so some bright spots during that 6 game loosing streak, specially from the pitching staff – not including the starts by Carlos Silva and Chris Jakabauskas. But the real reason Seattle lost 6 games in a row? The offense! Nobody has been consistently producing. Adrian Beltre hit his first HR of the season last night, Russell Branyan has lost his magic stroke, and Betancourt is, if not, the least patient hitter of all Major League Baseball. The coaching staff has to do a better job of telling hitters when is time to take some pitches. They have made some average pitchers look like Cy Youngs candidates in some games. They are also not having those 2 out hits to drive in runners in third and second. 

The starting pitching has not been as stellar as the first few weeks, but have made good enough starts that deserved to get wins for the teams. Hernandez, Bedard, and Washburn each should have at least one more win in their records. The bullpen lost one of its brightest stars this year, Shawn Kelley, for at least a month. But gained Jason Vargas from Triple-A who will get the start Tuesday in place of Carlos Silva.
At least the M’s avoided the sweep today against Minnesota, by scoring 4 rund in th ebottom of the 8th against the Twins. That included a HR by Ken Griffey Jr. and Jose Lopez, the team had good offensive sparks both yesterday and today. Let’s see how thing fare in Texas, and with what record the teams go back to Seattle to face Boston, LA Angels, and San Francisco. 
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