General Manager: Jack Zduriencik (since October 2008)
Manager: Don Wakamatsu (since November 2008)
Gains: Milton Bradley, Eric Byrnes, Johermyn Chavez, Tommy Everidge, Chone Figgins, Ryan Garko, Casey Kotchman, Brandon League, Cliff Lee, Yusmeiro Petit
Losses: Phillippe Aumont, Miguel Batista, Adrian Beltre, Russell Branyan, Endy Chavez, Tyson Gillies, Bill Hall, Chris Jakubauskas, Kenji Johjima, Robert Manuel, Brandon Morrow, Juan Ramirez, Chris Shelton, Carlos Silva, Justin Thomas
Minor League Deals: Eliezer Alfonzo, Josh Bard, Jesus Colome, Brad Nelson, Corey Patterson, David Pauley, Levale Speigner, Chris Woodward
Projected Starting Lineup
Ichiro Suzuki – RF
Chone Figgins – 2B
Franklin Gutierrez – CF
Jose Lopez – 3B
Milton Bradley – LF
Ken Griffey, Jr. – DH
Casey Kotchman – 1B
Rob Johnson – C
Jack Wilson – SS
Projected Starting Rotation
Felix Hernandez
Cliff Lee
Ryan Rowland-Smith
Ian Snell
Doug Fister
Projected Bullpen
David Aardsma (Closer)
Mark Lowe
Brandon League
Shawn Kelley
Jason Vargas
Sean White
The Mariners WILL make the playoffs if: LF Milton Bradley can produce on offense, while minimizing the temperamental nonsense, as he did – briefly – during playoff runs with the Dodgers and A’s…The team’s defense lives up to the offseason hype from both mainstream and sabermetric corners…SP Cliff Lee’s abdominal injury isn’t a season-long issue…The relatively anonymous components of the Mariners’ bullpen merge to form the Major League equivalent of infamous Decepticon, “Devastator”.
The Mariners WON’T make the playoffs if: The bottom of their line-up (including projected #6 hitter, Ken Griffey, Jr.) can’t hit enough to either drive home the hitters in front of them or set the table for the top of the order…Lee’s injury keeps him off the mound for any extended period of time, while the rest of the non-King Felix starters can’t pick up the slack.
Over/Under (83): The Mariners are getting more love and publicity — as a team — since the late ’90s heyday of Griffey/A-Rod/Randy Johnson. However, the deeper one looks at their offense and rotation, the question marks become more pronounced. If everything breaks right, they could hit 85 wins. But, “everything” is, well…a lot of things, y’know? Take the UNDER.
