I'll give Jack Z some credit: he's trying to help the offense. The fences are moving in as well. Seattle's top prospects are extremely close to the majors: Nick Franklin, Danny Hultzen with James Paxton, Taijuan Walker and Mike Zunino close behind. They got Joe Saunders on an affordable one year deal: he's a solid mid-rotation starter. "The Bartender" Tom Wilhelmsen did really well in the closer's role. Oh, and they give some guy named Felix a lot of money. So, let's see how the Seattle Mariners look for 2013:
Starting Lineup
2B Dustin Ackley
CF Franklin Gutierrez
DH Kendrys Morales
LF Michael Morse
3B Kyle Seager
C Jesus Montero
RF Michael Saunders
1B Justin Smoak
SS Brendan Ryan
On names, not too bad. The positives: they got Morales and Morse relatively cheap. There's a potential for 60 home runs combined and they both hit for average. Kyle Seager had a really nice year and is a big RBI guy. I think Saunders and Ackley can still develop into consistent 20/20 guys. And the bench has veterans in Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez. The negatives: this lineup could be great or really suck. This lineup will strike out A LOT. Gutierrez stinks. Seriously, give up on him, Seattle. He'll only get hurt in May again anyway. Smoak has been a bust but Manager Eric Wedge is giving him another go. Really nice power potential here but sacrifices on base percentage and lots of K's.
Starting Rotation
SP Felix Hernandez
SP Hisashi Iwakuma
SP Joe Saunders
SP Blake Beavan
SP Erasmo Ramirez
Positives: There's a reason why he's named King Felix. Iwakuma pitched better as a starter (2.65 ERA vs. 4.75 out of the pen). Saunders is Saunders. He'll pitch to a 4 ERA and eat innings. Ramirez is only 22 and has upside. They also have arguably the best trio of pitching prospects in Walker, Hultzen and Paxton. Negatives? Beavan and Hector Noesi were awful. I can strike out more batters than Beavan. Ramirez and Iwakuma can blow up in their face. I predict Hultzen will get the call by about June to replace the awfulness that is Beavan/Noesi. Positive upsides here, though.
Bullpen
CL Tom Wilhelmsen
SU Stephen Pryor
SU Charlie Furbush
SU Ollie Perez
SU Carter Capps
SU Lucas Luetge
The Bartender, as he's called, converted 29 of 35 opportunities, as well as averaged more than a K per inning. What a comeback for a guy who was out of baseball for years. Pryor and Luetge are young and can strike out batters, but Capps is extremely gifted. He averaged the high MPH on his fastball in the league: 99 MPH. Wowzers. Furbush and Perez, converted starters, did really well last year. You definitely do not know this bullpen by name but by production? One of the best in the league.
I'm predicting fourth place. The other teams are just better right now. I like this team's potential a lot, I really do. It just needs 2 more starters, hopefully out of their prospects, to push this team forward.
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