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Hot-off-the-wire news flash from my embedded moles at the winter meetings: Not only were several members of the Seattle Mariners brain trust in attendance, but they seemed to be going against recent practice and actually attempting to make the team better. (They didn't succeed, but more on that in a bit.)
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| The Mariners are counting on another productive year out of Raul Ibanez. (Getty Images) |
Does that mean we can Save This Franchise!™©®? I think it does. Brenda, fetch me my Helpful Hat and Willie Bloomquist repellent.
Short-term outlook: "Calamitous" seems a fair assessment. As of this writing, the Mariners boast a lineup teeming with righty-hitting OBP sinkholes, a 2.5-strong starting rotation and a manager who's praying the real-estate market perks up before the axe falls on him and his sun-dappled condo. At least they don't pay their players all that mu... oh, wait, the Mariners already have $80 million or so committed for 2007, with more profligacy sure to follow.
The Mariners also have the bad fortune of playing in a division populated by impulse-buying Texans, Moneyballers, and slick, competitive, geographically confused Angelenos. The other AL West owners clearly want to win, which makes the Mariners' status-quo-lovin', controversy-hatin' Nintendo scions look quite meek by comparison. There's an analogy just waiting to be drawn here: The Mariners are the crumb-ridden GameCube to the Rangers' nonfunctional Xbox, the Angels' stalwart PlayStation 2 and the A's beautifully refurbished circa-2002 iMac.
To sum up: I cannot envision a scenario that has the Mariners winning 85 games next season that doesn't involve a salmonella outbreak in the other AL West clubhouses.
Assets: Felix Hernandez didn't live up to the King Felix moniker last season; Felix the King's Office Intern might have been more appropriate, especially during his 6.31 ERA May and 4.45 ERA, six-inning-per-start September. Nonetheless, how many pitchers would you take ahead of him for the next six to eight years? Any? I hear lovely things about that Homer Bailey kid on Cincy and the Yankees' Phil Hughes, but neither has 43 major-league starts under his belt, as does Felix the King's Food-Taster.
Second baseman Jose Lopez fell off a cliff in July and August, but he just turned 23 and projects as a legit middle-infield bat for years to come. His double-play mate Yuniesky Betancourt can't hit, but he offers plus defense (I must be a real baseball writer if I'm using "plus" as an adjective) on a team that's above average in that regard.
There's a solid, if older than you'd expect (30 at the start of the 2007 season), arm in the pen in closer J.J. Putz (104 strikeouts and 12 unintentional walks in 78 1/3 innings). And, still somehow rising above it all, is Ichiro Suzuki, he of the rocket arm, base-path elusiveness and soon-to-expire contract. Get on that, will you?
Liabilities: Maybe the Mariners know something about Jose Guillen that we don't -- say, that he boasts superhuman recuperative powers that render his recent Tommy John surgery totally not a big deal. But quickly inking him, his few remaining functional limbs and his charming demeanor (remember his Anaheim exile?) to a $5.5 million contract feels like a panic move. The Mariners didn't need another righty-hitting corner plodder; they needed a lefty power bat. Geoff Jenkins could have been a nice fit via trade, or Aubrey Huff via free-agency if they thought he could handle right field without hurting himself and/or others.
The four-year, $37 million Jarrod Washburn contract was insane when it was signed and doesn't look a whole lot better after a mere 187 innings in 31 starts. Behind him and Vice-King Felix ... eeesh. Horacio Ramirez, acquired in the deal for Rafael Soriano, is Washburn Lite. Cha Seung Baek flashed a little promise, if not much control, at the end of 2006; Jake Woods can't throw strikes, either. Possible fifth starter Ryan Feierabend pairs with M's prospects Michael Garciaparra and Matt Tuiasosopo to give the team a superabundance of vowels.
Am I the only one who has no idea whether to characterize Adrian Beltre as an asset or a liability? One might charitably describe his day-to-day effort as "spotty" and his monster contract, bestowed after a single season in which he realized his potential, constipates the team payroll. On the other hand, he mans third base more than ably in those occasional instances when he's not daydreaming and, as witnessed by the final weeks of the 2006 season, still has a bit of pop in his bat.
Totally non-helpful and semi-realistic suggestions: