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Mariners Make Another Solid Move

Quick changes happen all the time in sports. From one year to the next a team can rise from last place to first, or free fall from the top all the way to the bottom.

In 2008 the Mariners were finishing up a dreadful 61-101 season and became the first team in MLB history to lose 100 games with a $100 million payroll.

What a difference a year makes. After cleaning house and bringing in a new GM, Jack Zduriencik, and manager, Don Wakamatsu, the Mariners finished 2009 with a much improved 85-77 record, and the best ERA in the American League.

Zduriencik hoped to capitalize on last season's success, and entering the 2010 offseason, the Mariners had a lot of roles to fill and a lot of questions to answer. So far, Zduriencik has filled those roles, and answered those questions. He continues a solid off season with the news that the Mariners signed free agent pitcher Erik Bedard to a one year deal.

After the injury plagued couple years Bedard spent with the Mariners, one may think that this is a bad move. Instead it's just the opposite. The Orioles absolutely robbed the Mariners when they traded Bedard for outfielder Adam Jones and pitchers George Sherrill and Chris Tillman. All the M's got in return for their best prospect and their top young pitcher was having to pay Bedard $14.75 million for two seasons during which he won 11 games in 30 starts.

Now, with a need for starting pitching, the M's have brought Bedard back, hoping he can return from injury and perform like he did when he was an All Star. Either way it's a safe move. If he comes and performs well behind Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee when he returns, that's great, and if not, it's only a one year deal this time around.

In his short time as GM of the Mariners Zduriencik has arguably made the best moves of anyone in baseball. Let's take a look at a few of them:

-He brought back Ken Griffey Jr. to the team last year which greatly helped the clubhouse and provided the team with veteran leadership. Griffey should be healthy this year and hopefully will contribute a bit extra with his bat.

-Last season he signed Russell Branyan to a cheap, one year contract, and in return he led the Mariners with 31 home runs. Talk about bang for your buck.

-He traded for reliever David Aardsma in January, and after Brendan Morrow's struggles, he emerged as the closer and posted fantastic numbers. He had 38 saves and 2.52 ERA, on his way to being named an All-Star.

-He also signed center fielder Franklin Guitierrez's contract for four years. Guitierrez was a center piece in the J.J. Putz trade, and also is one of the best defensive outfielders in the game.

-Stealing some thunder from their AL West rival Angels, the Mariners signed Chone Figgins to a four year deal.With Ichiro the Mariners now have a solid top of the order, and also now have two of the best leadoff hitters in the game on their team. Figgins has a fantastic glove, and knows how to steal a base or two.

-In the biggest move of all he acquired former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee in the huge three team trade with Toronto and Philadelphia. Adding an ace like Lee to pair with Hernandez makes the Mariners have the best 1-2 punch of any team in baseball.

-Speaking of Hernandez, Zduriencik made sure King Felix holds court in Seattle for the next five years, locking him up to a big, but not totally extravagant contract.

Zduriencik has made some other moves as well, including bringing in verterans like Eric Byrnes, Ryan Garko and Brandon League. If only one among those makes a considerable contribution, the Mariners could eclipse the uneven Rangers and sagging Angels in the AL West.

Either way, after being out the playoff conversation for years, the Mariners have finally found their way back. Lets hope things just don't look good on paper, and they look good on Opening Day.

"The Kid" Returning To Emerald City?

By Matt Jussim

Ken Griffey Jr. will be remembered as one of the greatest baseball players of all time when he retires. In 1995 when he helped lead the Mariners to the AL West title and defeat the Yankees in the playoffs, he saved baseball in Seattle.

At the time he could have signed with any team for any amount of money he wanted, but he stayed with the Mariners. For a few more years at least. Either way, when the trade rumors started flowing last season on Griffey, every Seattle fan was crossing their fingers, hoping to bring their prodigal son back to the Emerald City.

Eventually Griffey was traded to the Chicago White Sox, and earlier this offseason the team declined the $16.5 million option on the future Hall of Famer, making him a free agent. With Junior a free agent, and the Mariners fit with a new administration, the question on every fans mind is, will Ken Griffey Jr. sign with the Mariners?

It has been reported that Griffey wouldn’t mind playing for the Tampa Bay Rays, who unlike Seattle are a contender, and he has a home two hours away from where they play. But the Rays seem to be out of the running for Griffey due to the fact that they just signed Pat Burrell to a two year $16 million deal. Other second tier free agents have begun to sign as well. Milton Bradley just signed a three-year deal with the Cubs, and Jason Giambi and the A’s are close to a deal that would bring the former MVP back to Oakland.

Until these past few flurries, the free agent market had been pretty slow moving, with the Mariners standing back, waiting for the dominoes to fall. New Mariners GM Jack Zdurienick would like to add another outfield bat, and even perhaps another infielder to the Mariners lineup. With Burrell, Bradley and Giambi off the market, the best available free agents left are outfielders Adam Dunn, Bobby Abreu, Garret Anderson, Rocco Baldelli, and of course Ken Griffey Jr.

Signing Griffey could be both positive and negative for the Seattle Mariners.

Griffey’s experience and veteran presence in the locker room could help a young Mariner team get back on the right track. If it worked out, the effect of Griffey on the team could be felt for years to come. He started his career in Seattle, had some of his best seasons while playing there, and is still extremely popular. The signing of Griffey would sure bring praise from the fans, and may even sell a few more tickets, which is something the Mariners desperately need.

At the same time, bringing Griffey back to Seattle isn’t sure to be a success. He may command a high amount of money, but more important is Griffey’s past injury history. If he’s brought in and doesn’t end up playing most of the season due to an injury, it really wouldn’t be worth it. Although I think he could stay healthy, there is always a chance he could get hurt again, as he has in recent seasons.

Griffey put up decent numbers between Cincinnati and Chicago last season, hitting .249 with 18 home runs, and 71 RBI’s. He slugged .424, while his on base percentage was .353. But Griffey underperformed greatly in the playoffs, only hitting .200, with no home runs or RBI’s.

Wherever Griffey ends up, he will be a great asset to that team, whether it is with his sweet swing, or as a teacher to young players.

I think it would serve the Mariners well to sign the seasoned vet, and bring the man who saved baseball in Seattle back home again.

The Year That Was: Seattle Sports

The ESPN.com front page story this afternoon is an Outside The Lines report on how tough a year 2008 has been on the Seattle sports fan. While I am not a Seahawk fan, nor was I a Supersonic fan, I too feel your pain Seattle. As a Mariners fan this year was the worst in recent memory. Gone are the days when the team won 116 games and were a contender for the division each year. But baseball doesnt even scratch the surface of what the Seattle sports fan has gone through. The Sonics picked up and moved Kevin Durant to Oklahoma City, while apart from beating the Jets on Sunday, the Seahawks haven't done anything for a fan to be proud of in the past two months. And I didn't even mention the Huskies. So as the new year dawns upon us Seattle fans, we can hope for one thing: there's always next year.

Seattle Mariners Offseason Report

By Matt Jussim

The Seattle Mariners surprised the baseball world in 2007 when they won 88 games and stayed in the wild card chase until late August. Since then, nothing has gone right for the Mariners.

Attempts to overhaul the pitching staff failed miserably. Carlos Silva was signed as a free agent to a four year $46 million dollar contract only to produce a 4-15 record and a 6.46 ERA. Erik Bedard, the 2006 AL strikeout leader was traded for, but the only thing he led the team in was scratched starts.

Their offense was one of the worst in the majors finishing close to last in every category. They also became the first team in history to lose 100 games with a payroll of more than $100 million.

All this thrown in with the fact that the team fired their GM and manager within ten days of each other midway through the season.

It would be an understatement to say that the 2008 season was filled with turmoil for the Mariners. But there is one positive thing to playing this terrible. The team can’t be that bad again. Can they?

Newly hired GM Jack Zduriencik, who helped turn around the Milwaukee Brewers, has his work cut out for him going into the 2009 season. One of his first moves was to hire Don Wakamatsu, the former Oakland A’s bench coach, as manager.

The 45-year-old relative unknown spent five years as a bench coach and third-base coach in Texas, then one year as bench coach for the A’s. He has never managed above Double-A. He also is the first Asian-American manager in MLB history.

Only time will tell if it was the right move to hire a manager with no big league experience. But maybe that’s just what the Mariners need to help turn their once successful franchise around.

The newly minted Mariner administration claims that they are not in a “rebuilding” phase presently. Their GM was quoted as saying “We have not spoken about the term ‘rebuilding.’ That isn’t a word in our vocabulary.”

Well, he may say that to reporters, but look at what players are gone from the 2007 team that won 88 games: RF Jose Guillen, LF Raul Ibanez, 1B Richie Sexson, DH Jose Vidro, RP J.J. Putz, RP Sean Green, RP George Sherrill, SP Jeff Weaver, SP Horacio Ramirez OF Adam Jones, and OF Ben Broussard. That’s 12 regular players gone off the 25-man roster. And I didn’t even include other players such as C Jamie Burke, and INF Willie Bloomquist. With a new GM, manager, coaching staff, and half the roster changed from two seasons ago, I would say that the team is “rebuilding”.

The Mariners have many holes to fill if they wish to compete with the likes of the Angels in the AL West in 2009. By trading for Erik Bedard last year, in the rarely seen but always ridiculed five-for-one deal, the Mariners depleted their once rich farm system. In the past the Mariners have attempted to spend money to cure their woes (Ex: Carlos Silva, Richie Sexson, Jose Vidro), but new GM Zduriencik seems to be making smart baseball decisions, and trying to stockpile young talent.

The Mariners made a splash at the recent winter meetings by trading closer J.J. Putz to the Mets in a 12-player, three-team deal. The Mariners sent Putz, OF Jeremy Reed, and RP Sean Green to the Mets, and 2B Luis Valbuena to the Cleveland Indians.

In return they received OF Franklin Guitierrez from Cleveland, and OF Endy Chavez, P Aaron Heilman, prospects Mike Carp, Maikel Cleto, Ezequiel Carrera and left-handed pitcher Jason Vargas from the Mets.

All three teams benefited, but none more than the Mariners. In exchange for four warm bodies the Mariners received a valuable group of young players.

Franklin Guitierrez has a ton of potential, and he is one of the best defensive outfielders in baseball. He will have a spot in center at Safeco Field for years to come, which will also allow Ichiro to move back to right field. Guitierrez doesn’t walk much, but he has some power, and he cut back a great deal on his strikeouts in 2008.

Aaron Heilman never got comfortable in New York, and he will benefit from a change of scenery, possibly becoming the Mariners next closer. Chavez will be a decent fourth outfielder, while Carp, Cleto, Carrera, and Vargas all have potential, but it will take time to see if any bloom into everyday players.

The trade was a smart move for the Mariners due to the fact that J.J. Putz has somewhat regressed since his phenomenal 2007, when he finished with a 1.38 ERA and 40 saves.

The team decided not to re-sign OF Raul Ibanez, who signed a three-year deal with Philadelphia. I would have liked to see the Mariners make a better effort to sign one of their most consistent players, but if the youth movement is hitting Seattle, there isn’t much room for a 36 year-old defensive liability.

The team recently signed 1B/3B/OF Russell Branyan, and would be wise to focus on another veteran bat such as Pat Burrell, Ken Griffey Jr., or Adam Dunn. For a team that had one of the worst offenses in the league last year, they need to find a way to improve their run production.

It’s still too early to tell if Brandon Morrow will remain a starter, or become the Mariner’s next closer. He is one of their best young pitchers, who in his season debut as a starting pitcher last year almost no hit the Yankees.

Felix Hernandez is still only 22 years old, but the Mariners will need him to grow us even faster than he has, and prove that he is one of the best pitchers in baseball. Erik Bedard will also have to rebound from a disappointing season for the team to be successful.

Both Adrian Beltre and Ichiro Suzuki’s names will be mentioned in trades as soon as the season begins. Beltre is in the final year of his contract, while Ichiro is getting older and older while the Mariners try to find their identity. I am a big fan of both Beltre and Ichiro, but it might be in the best interest of the Mariners to get some players for the future. I don’t think the Mariners will end up trading Ichiro, but it’s an almost guarantee that Beltre will be moved by the trading deadline.

With all the personnel and roster changes the Mariners have made, there is a great chance that they will improve from last season. I don’t see them finishing in the AL West cellar, but the Angels are the class of the division, while Oakland and Texas will both be competitive this year.

For all we know, the team Zduriencik put together could surprise us, and play some competitive baseball this season. One thing we know for sure though, this team will be better than the 2008 Mariners.