The 2009 Mariners became a bit of a darling in the sabermetric world. The proponents of the non-traditional fielding stats such as Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Plus/Minus were actually able to see their beliefs translate to on-field success. You see, the Mariners brought in a group of players rated highly by UZR and +/- but were undervalued in the market due to the fact that they didn’t put up gaudy offensive numbers.

Consequently, the 2009 Mariners finished the year 85-77, which is a much better record than many (myself included) had them pegged for prior to the season. When Russell Branyan was arguably your best hitter, conventional wisdom says that you shouldn’t finish with 85 wins – especially not in the American League. But their stellar defense (only three pitchers on the entire team finished with an ERA higher than their FIP) as well as an elite season from ace Felix Hernandez gave the M’s a 24-win improvement in the span of a year.

So what do they need to do to get to 90+ wins and contend for a playoff spot? The good news is, the Mariners have some play money this year. Aside from the $18M owed to Ichiro and the ludicrous $12.75M going to pay Carlos Silva, Seattle doesn’t have any contract obligations that will cost them more than $5M in 2010. It does not appear that they will re-sign third baseman Adrian Beltre and the money saved there should at least cover the expected arbitration raises for their younger players and then some. Add in the close to $17M that free agent pitchers Miguel Batista and Erik Bedard made (not to mention the god-send that was Kenji Johjima walking away from his contract), and the Mariners have financial capacity. Therefore…

Ease up a tad on the bargain hunting. One of the things that I often write about here on the ol’ blog is the importance of maintaining financial flexibility in terms of payroll. Don’t pay extra for something you’ve already got (like, say, signing a replacement level player or four to seven figure contracts), and only consider future performance instead of past accomplishments (trading any prospect for a 38 year-old former All Star with three years left on a contract is usually not encouraged).  However, bargain hunting often only gets you so far. While guys like Jack Hannahan and Mike Carp will probably add a couple wins on the cheap, they’re not going to add five or six a piece. And the Mariners have a lot of Hannahan-types on their roster. Sometimes, you need to pay some cash and roll the dice. To get to the next level without commiting $300M over the next five years, this is what needs to be done.

Luckily for the Mariners, there are guys worth gambling on, like Ben Sheets or Rich Harden. Yes, the Mariners tried something similar with Erik Bedard last year and got only 83 innings out of the guy before he inevitably got hurt again. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good idea at the time. In this market, I’d imagine that Sheets would have a hard time finding a multi-year deal and could be had for $7-8M plus incentives and that sounds like a reasonable chance to take for a team lacking an impact starter after King Felix.

Offensively, the re-signing of Ken Griffey Jr. was a bad idea for two reasons. One, his on-field production is now replacement level and is therefore not even worth the $2M. Two, he takes up a roster spot (corner OF) that could have been used to bring in some much needed power into the fold. But what’s done is done and now the M’s must figure out how to work their roster with the current conditions.

Bringing back Russell Branyan appears to be a good idea. His injury that ended the season may have been a blessing in disguise for Seattle as there is now a lesser chance that another team will go crazy in pursuing him. With Branyan back at firstbase, that leaves Mike Carp as the primary candidate to be DH. Is he ready? And if Branyan gets hurt again, will Carp be even passable at first? Assuming that Carlos Delgado is out of their price range, someone like Nick Johnson or Adam LaRoche seems to make sense, in which case they’d have to decide if they want production (Johnson) or durability (LaRoche).

They could also use an upgrade at second base, as Jose Lopez offers little offensively or defensively.  If I were Seattle, I’d be leery of diving into the free agent market here as neither Orlando Hudson nor Felipe Lopez are ideal situations. Hudson could garner a deal longer than he deserves at his age and diminishing skills while Lopez isn’t a very good defensive option and had a very strong 2009, which makes him a candidate for being overvalued on the market.  But what about trading for someone like the Cubs’ Mike Fontenot, who would be a good platoon partner for Lopez? This route would probably mean that they would have to clear a roster spot (probably Bill Hall), but it is a way for Seattle to make a run at a pitcher and DH with the available funds.

An offensive upgrade could also come from within, as Matt Tuiasosopo (say that five times fast) appears ready to take on a larger role with the team in 2010. Tuisosopo had a respectable line of .261/.368/.473 in AAA-Tacoma and while he’s learning how to play second base, it appears likely that he’s better suited to play a less demanding position at his size (6′2, 225lbs) and could be a better choice at third than the defensively gifted but offensively inept Jack Hannahan.

So while the Mariners have some funds to experiment, they still can’t compete with the big boys in terms of payroll – at least, not as long as they’re paying Carlos Silva. And they would be better off plugging a few holes with those funds than breaking the bank on a Matt Holliday. It’s not easy for an 85-win team to become a playoff contender. But the Mariners have a chance to do just that, so long as they take a chance on some risky names.

- What They Need Index -

What should the Mariners do with Ken Griffey Jr. next season? The fans love Junior, and the Mariners love his positive impact in the clubhouse, but his declining performance hinders the ability of an otherwise pretty decent team to contend for a postseason berth.

Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times speaks to some of the value Griffey has had in the clubhouse this season:

He has been the godfather to the parade of young players who have come into the clubhouse. He has been a close friend to the veterans. He has offered advice on pitchers’ and hitters’ tendencies….

He has been good for the club, good for the city and great to have around again.

The thing is, there is a perfectly good way for the Mariners to get all of these benefits without wasting precious at-bats on him: they should simply make him a coach.  They could even pay him the exact same salary, if they think he is that worth it, but please, don’t waste precious at bats on a guy which could be given to better performers just because you like the advice he gives to younger players or his friendly presence in the dugout.

That’s the sensible part of my plan for Griffey. Now here is the slightly crazy part.

The Mariners should sign Griffey to a $1 million “personal services” contract or whatever, and then use him as a coach.  He’s not on the active roster, but he travels with the team, wears a uniform, sits in the dugout, gives advice, etc.  And as long as the Mariners are in contention, they should only put their very best players on the field.

But if Griffey is still interested in playing, here’s what you do.  Let him play in spring training. Let him take batting practice with the team during the season if he wants to. And then, if the Mariners actually do actually fall so far out of contention that they can’t possibly come back, the team should cut its worst player and install Griffey as the DH.  Or else, when the rosters expand in September, add Griffey to the 40-man and put him on the team for a few at-bats down the stretch.

Look, this plan is pretty silly, but if Griffey is already under contract as a coach, the only thing he really costs you is a roster spot, and only a 40-man roster spot at that, if you wait until September.  It’s still probably not the optimal use of resources, but in this darkened age of steroids, Ken Griffey Jr. is the one player who has emerged as still being beloved by pretty much the entire nation, and if he still wants to play a bit, and the fans still love to watch him (which they do), and the Mariners players and staff all love him, I say let him play a bit.

In any case, it’s a decent compromise with the foolishness of giving him so many at-bats this season when the Mariners actually had a shot at contention.

Monday is Hot Baseball Wife Day here at UmpBump, and today’s entry is Maki Ofuji, the wife of Seattle Mariners catcher Kenji Johjima.  Born in Kyushu, Maki started modelling in high school and soon began appearing as a model in commercial ad campaigns. By the age of 20, she was already being hailed as one of the “Queens of Kyushu advertising.” She became so popular that she even began appearing in her own line of “idol” videos and photobooks.

Maki met Kenji Johjima when he was a highly touted rookie on the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks. The couple was married in 2000, after which Maki gave up her modeling career to focus on raising a family. Together the couple has three children – sons Yuta and Keita, and daughter Miu.

According to the Japanese version of Wikipedia, Maki and Kenji are famous in Japan for their harmonious marriage. Kenji famously once said “Without the support of my wife and children, my life would not be possible,” which was considered an incredibly moving and sensitive thing for a Japanese man to say.

More pictures after the jump…

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Few people thought the Mariners would contend this year, yet amazingly, they are only 5 1/2 games out of first place in the AL West at the moment.  With the division looking quite weak this year, I say they should go for it.

M's GM Jack Zduriencik has shown outside-the-box thinking in the past with guys like Russell Branyan. He needs to pull the trigger on some moves right now.

The Angels are not the team they once were, with serious injuries to several pitchers and generalized ineffictiveness up and down the lineup, outside of Torii Hunter, and the Rangers pitching has been lucky so far and is bound to come back down to Earth.

Both of those teams are currently better than the Mariners, but at the same time, both of those teams have less ability to improve themselves than the M’s, with established veterans up and down the roster that would be hard to move.

The Mariners, however, are in a position to dramatically overhaul their entire team, if only they can muster the willpower.

Seattle’s offense has been truly atrocious this season. When Jose Lopez and his .275 OBP has actually been one of your three *best* hitters, you have serious serious problems. A miraculous performance by the pitching staff is the only thing that has kept them on the verge of contention in spite of it all. However, with some injuries beginning to set in for the pitchers, now is the time to upgrade the offense and take up some of the slack from the pitching staff.

Now, I’m not advocating that the Mariners do anything crazy, gambling away the future in an effort to win this season.  But one of the beauties of having such an atrocious offense is that even if you bring in a few guys who are merely replacement level or a little better, you can really improve things, given that so many of your hitters are currently putting up *below* replacement-level production. So the Mariners don’t even have to gamble with the future to improve their team.

Yuniesky Bentancourt has been a disaster at short, both offensively and defensively. Nor does he have a history of strong production. There is absolutely no excuse for him to still be playing at the major league level.  There is also no reason for the Mariners to be carrying three backup catchers on an AL roster.  They should send down the worst of them, Jamie Burke. Reserve outfielder Wladimir Balentien and his atrocious defense and .273 OBP should be sent down as well.

Other players should be shuffled to the bench. Endy Chavez for example: *great* bench player, *terrible* everyday corner outfielder. Ken Griffey Jr. should also be eased out of an everyday starting role, as he is making the days of Jose Vidro at DH actually look rosy by comparison. And Griffey’s platoon partner Mike Sweeney clearly has nothing left. When you are only batting against the off-handed pitchers you are better at hitting and you are a DH and you are OPS’ing .673, it’s time to hang them up. If he won’t go quietly he needs to be cut.

So how should the Mariners replace these players? Well, the other reason they are in good position to improve right away is not only do they have players who can easily be cut or sent down, but they also have a lot of good options at AAA Tacoma who deserve to be called up.

They should start by calling up corner outfielders Prentice Redman and Michael Saunders, both of whom are shredding Triple-A pitching so far. Even if only one of them sticks in the majors, that would be fine, since the Mariners really only need to replace Endy Chavez in the outfield. Give them both a major-league trial and go with the better one.

The M’s should also install current reserve Ronny Cedeno as the starting shortstop. Cedeno is still only 26 and has a chance to hit if given a chance. In any case he will certainly better Bentancourt’s overall production, as he is a much better defender. Meanwhile the M’s can shop around for another team’s triple-A shortstop, much the way the A’s unearthed Adam Kennedy. Again, when your previous starter was so far below replacement level, you don’t need to get a huge big-name replacement to see a signficant improvement.

Finally, the Mariners should recall DH Jeff Clement.  Every sign points to the fact that Clement will hit in the majors if given a reasonable chance, which the Mariners so far have denied him. Even if he fails to reach expectations, he will certainly provide superior production to that of the awful Griffey/Sweeney platoon.  Clement has nothing left to prove in AAA and should be the everyday DH right now.

With a solid rotation headed by King Felix and a resurgent Jerrod Washburn, backed by a lights out bullpen, the Mariners don’t need a lot of runs to win, as shown by their major league leading mark for victories in 1-run ballgames. All they need to do is up offensive production a bit more, and they can go from fringe contender to serious threat in the AL West.

So far Seattle has been playing with one hand tied behind its back, but it’s time to untie that hand and see what this team can really do.

This past Friday, Nick wrote a post with the simple premise – if you can cut one person from each team in the National League, who would it be? And people got angry. Very, very angry. They called us names. They said that it was “the most pointless story I’ve ever read” and “one of the dumbest things I’ve ever read” and other “I’ve ever read” type comments. But they also said that “David Eckstein makes pitchers work so hard to get him out, that alone has value”. So we stopped paying attention after that.

Naturally, we’re back for more with the same premise applied to the American League. And if any of you brings up “leadership” as a reason Player X ought to stay, I swear to god, I will go back to my room in my mother’s basement, create an Everquest character that looks like you and destroy it.

Texas Rangers – Vicente Padilla: Starting off with an easy one here. From the moment the Rangers re-signed Padilla to a 3 year deal worth $33.75MM deal prior to the ‘07 season, it really was only a matter of time until this would end badly. In addition to posting poor numbers overall in Arlington, he’s had a poor reputation behind the scenes for years. The process for cutting him may have already started as the club put him on waivers this past week.

The Angels of The Angels  – Gary Matthews, Jr: Every time Matthews puts on a uniform, the Angels’ chances of winning seem to decrease. Another poor signing from the ‘06-’07 off season, Little Sarge has since posted a line of .248/.319/.386, which would be awful for a catcher, let alone for an OFer with a $50MM contract. If that weren’t bad enough, Matthews is also a sub-par defensive player, which should really make you wonder why the Angels haven’t cut the cord yet.

Seattle Mariners – Yuniesky Betancourt: When you have a starting shortstop who can’t hit, you tout his defense. When you have a shortstop who can’t hit or field, you have a big problem. Not only has Betancourt posted a .302 OBP in his career with little to no pop, he has also had a negative UZR (Ultimate Zone Rating) over that span. At 27 years old, we’ve already got a very good idea as to what kind of arc his career will take, and that arc is pretty damned flat.

Oakland A’s – Eric Chavez: It’s always sad when promising careers get derailed by injuries. But it’s worse when it drags on. Chavez has been off the field more than actually on it since 2007 and even when healthy enough to play, his performance has been on the decline since 2005. Having admitted that one more back injury would end his career, it’d be a great story if he were to show that he’s not done yet. Chavez is determined to do so, but one has to wonder if that’s actually in his best interest long term. I’m obviously not in a position to tell a player – especially one that’s only 31 years old – to walk away forever. But as a human being, I would hate to see his condition worsen and I fear that a return to the field will cause just that.

Detroit Tigers – Magglio Ordonez: If you consider this one to be heartless, I can’t really blame you since this is entirely driven by money. Magglio’s contract states that if he makes 213 more trips to the plate this year, his 2010 option worth $18MM becomes guaranteed (there’s a similar option for 2011). At this point in his career, Ordonez is not an $18MM player, nor is he all that close to that. His power is nowhere to be seen as he’s been unable to hit the ball into the air (56% of his batted balls have been grounders). I’m sure that the Players Association lawyers would have a field day with this cut though. Luckily enough, I don’t have to deal with such things (why can’t GMs cut players for financial reasons? I don’t get it).

Minnesota Twins – Alexi Casilla: While neither should be given a bat, both Carlos Gomez and Nick Punto at least have value as defensive replacements. And it’s probably too early to give up on a talent like Delmon Young, who really needs to learn how take ball four. But Casilla? The man has logged over 800 ABs in AAA and AA, during which time he has shown that neither his bat nor his glove is good enough to compensate for the other. His biggest asset as a minor league player was his ability to take a walk (which wasn’t exactly eye-popping to begin with). But thus far in his MLB career, Casilla has only gotten on base 30% of the time while slugging .318. Unless you’re saving dozens of runs with the glove, it’s impossible to swallow that. Sure, he’s still cheap. But there are better options out there for the same cost.

Chicago White Sox – Jimmy Gobble: Gobble has pitched in parts of seven major league seasons thus far in his career and his ERA in those years reads thusly: 4.61, 5.35, 5.70, 5.14, 3.02, 8.81, and 7.00 (so far in ‘09). Them’s ain’t pretty. Presumably, he keeps finding work because he’s a lefty. Problem is, lefties have a line of .266/.323/.460 against him so he’s not even useful against them. So I ask you, why does this man have a job? And for the record, I could have also picked anyone who has logged an inning in CF this year for the South Siders. But I’d be damned if I could pick one.

Kansas City Royals – Jose Guillen: I really could’ve put every Royal who’s 26 years old or over (not named Gil) into a hat for this one. Sidney Ponson? Absolutely. David DeJesus? If the man did not bat lefty, he may not have a job in baseball (kids, learn how to bat from the left side). And while I’m no Mike Jacobs fan (and Kila Ka’aihue is clearly more than ready to replace him as DH), he could at least serve as a cheap power bat off the bench.  Guillen, however, is by far the highest-paid hitter on the team and puts up numbers that simply aren’t good enough to let you ignore the headaches he causes within the clubhouse. And while he’ll continue to be among the top RBI guys on the Royals (which says more about the Royals lineup than it does Guilen) due primarily to his spot in the batting order, his glove gives up as many runs as his bat creates. If I were a Royals player, I’d probably resent the fact that the highest paid guy doesn’t offer much in terms of production nor seems to give a rat’s ass.

Cleveland Indians – Jeremy Sowers: In Single-A, Sowers struck out an impressive 9.5 batters per 9 innings pitched. In AA, that number dropped to a still-respectable 7.7. In AAA, down to a slightly worrisome 5.8. Notice a trend here? Then it really should come as no surprise that in the Majors, Sowers is striking out merely 4.1/9IP in the 300+ innings he’s logged. When you miss so few bats, batted balls tend to find the outfield grass more often (or worse). He had success in his rookie year winning 7 out of his 14 starts to go along with a 3.57 ERA. But his peripherals were poor (3.6 K/9IP, .259 BABiP), and therefore no one should be surprised to learn that his career ERA has been trending down ever since. Sowers just doesn’t seem to have the stuff to consistently get guys out at the big league level. And Cleveland would be better off giving someone else – anyone else – a start in his place.

Boston Red Sox – Julio Lugo: Take it away, Sarah Green!

New York Yankees – Angel Berroa: If you’re a SS, one good season buys you a career of job security as a utility infielder. Back in 2003, Berroa popped 17 dingers and has been living off that accomplishment ever since. Problem is, the man seems to have no idea how to play 3rd base, where the Yankees have been using him as a backup. Lord knows that you’re not keeping the guy around for his offense (career weighted-OBP of .297). So if he can’t do the job you’re asking him to do, why are you keeping him around at all?

Toronto Blue Jays – Kevin Millar: I initially had Vernon Wells here, but  after posting great numbers upon his return from a hamstring injury last August, he deserves a chance to prove once again that he’s not done (though moving him to LF IMMEDIATELY is a good idea). So I decided to go with a less controversial pick in Millar, a guy who looks to be about done at the age of 37. Sure, he may be entertaining in the clubhouse, but so’s the equipment manager (see enough jockstraps and I’m sure you develop a sense of humor). Millar’s defense is not nearly good enough to justify using him as a defensive replacement, nor is his bat useful enough as a pinch hitter. I’m sure it’s not easy to cut guys you like as human beings. But the point of the game is to win and Millar doesn’t help you accomplish that goal.

Tampa Bay Rays – Troy Percival: With a fastball that barely hits 90-91 mphs these days, Percival’s days as a reliable reliever are gone. In his younger years, his teams could live with him walking roughly 4 batters per nine innings because he struck out so many more. Nowadays, that’s getting harder and harder as his body begins to break down (Now go back and reread this paragraph replacing Percival’s name with Jason Isringhausen’s. Still makes perfect sense).

Baltimore Orioles – Mark Hendrickson: Centuries from now, when historians discover that there used to be a sport called “baseball” (and that there used to be something called “land”, but that’s another topic), I’d like to think that they’ll stumble across Hendrickson’s career numbers and immediately think “Holy %(*@ing mother of God! How the ^!#* did this guy keep finding teams willing to pay him &*($-loads of money?” With Scott Elarton still unsigned, Hendrickson has the highest career ERA (5.10) of any active pitcher who has logged over 800 innings or made 125+ starts. And the NBA community is forever left wondering how good this career 41.6% shooter could have been… (Here’s a hint. Not very.)

Ya got any problems with these, punk? Well, do ya? That’s what the comments section is for. Just remember. I can annihilate you in Everquest.

The White Sox started 2009 with DeWayne Wise playing centerfield. That didn’t work, so the Sox tried Jerry Owens. And when Owens didn’t pan out, Chicago went to Plan C: Scott Podsednik.

For years, the team’s centerfield carousel has been a source of frustration. The Sox haven’t enjoyed a full season of CF goodness since 2004, when Aaron Rowand roamed the middle outfield grass. Since then, in addition to Owens, Podsednik and Wise, they’ve tried Nook Logan, Nick Swisher and Brian Anderson.

The White Sox aren’t the only organization who have struggled to fill a specific position. Far from it.

Let’s take a look at some other organizations and their positions of futility:

Braves (LF): This winter, the Braves signed Garret Anderson to play left field. So far, Anderson has hit .191 with 6 runs and 4 RBI in 16 games. Before Anderson came along the Braves went with a Matt Diaz/other guy platoon in left, and before that Kelly Johnson got a shot, and before that…well whaddya know! Dewayne Wise played a little left for Atlanta in 2004. You have to go back to 2003, when Chipper “Don’t call me Hoss” Jones played there, to find a decent full-time LF in Atlanta.

Red Sox (SS): For the better part of nine seasons the Red Sox had an elite shortstop. His name was Nomar. In 2004 the Sox traded Nomar to the Cubs, and then Boston won its first World Series in nearly 90 years. But they haven’t had a good shortstop since. In fact, they’ve had the opposite of a good shortstop — Julio Lugo.

Royals (1B): It seems they’ve had plenty of opportunities to fill the position with somebody capable, but have instead insisted on the likes of Ross Gload and Mike Jacobs. Kansas City hasn’t had a really good 1B since the 2002 version of Mike Sweeney.

Mariners (DH): For a while, the M’s had the best DH — Mr. Edgar Martinez. Since Edgar’s departure, the Mariners have filled the position with a cast of lesser beings, bottoming out with Jose Vidro in 2007-2008.

Tigers (LF): The Tigers suffered through several seasons of Craig Monroe and his consistently sub-.300 OBP. They really haven’t had even a decent LF since Bobby Higginson in 2001.

Giants (1B): Since JT Snow left after 2005, it’s been a total black hole with a parade of incompetents like Lance Niekro, Rich Aurelia, Shea Hillenbrand, post-steroids Ryan Klesko (a mere 6 homers in ‘07), John Bowker, and now Travis Ishikawa.

Can you think of any positions of futility that we missed? Let us know in the comments section.

Following the emergence of the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, fans around baseball – and rightly so – began paying more attention to the value of defense. I’m sure that by now you’ve heard about the difficulties involved in measuring defensive skills ad nauseum. But just know that we are getting better. You know how we know? Because results are reflected in win-loss columns.

Take the Seattle Mariners for instance. The news around baseball on December 12th, 2008 was how the New York Mets upgraded their much-ridiculed bullpen by acquiring J.J. Putz from Seattle. Much less talked about was how good of a deal this was for the Mariners.

While Putz was certainly a very effective reliever, Seattle saw a chance to parlay his skill into something the team needed more – outfield defense. In the very same trade that brought Putz to Queens, the Mariners obtained Endy Chavez from the Mets and Franklin Gutierrez from Cleveland, two of the finest defensive outfielders in the game. Chavez would play left, Guttierez center, and Ichiro would move back permanently to right where he would be more effective. None of these three players would offer you much in terms of power. But the Mariners were OK with that. And, so far, so good.

As of this writing, the Seattle pitching corps has an MLB-leading 3.33 ERA. And I think a good chunk of that early success can be attributed to the OF who have not disappointed, leading MLB in OF Revized Zone Rating (a stellar .968) AND plays made out of their fielding zones (49), which is certainly no easy feat.

Predictably, their team offense does leave a bit to be desired with an AL-worst .308 OBP and a .370 slugging percentage (13th in AL). But this has surprisingly been offset very well by how many runs they’re not allowing to opposing lineups. Consequently, they lead the AL West with a 13-8 record, which is really amazing if you think about the lack of offense.

Now obviously it’s way too early to know for sure that their defense can keep this many runs off the board for much longer. However, I’m inclined to believe that the Mariners are for real. Sure, Jarrod Washburn is going to have more nights like he did on Sunday. But neither Carlos Silva nor Chris Jakubauskas (or whomever will take his spot in the rotation) is going to be this bad either. Plus, we know enough about Adrian Beltre to trust that he’s better than his current OPS+ of 16 suggests, which should offset the eventual decline of Russell Branyan’s performance.

However, even a believer like myself didn’t exactly predict this (alright, fine, I didn’t at all). I had little idea of just how much of an impact this defense would have. But like I said, we’re getting better at evaluating this stuff, and baseball’s going to be more fun as a result.

Riding the wave of change: Big Z and Big W

Like the new wave of hope and optimism that swept the country this year, the Seattle Mariners have reason to feel good about their expectations. Whereas the moves made by the front office in the past few years created an unrealistic sense of what could be, this year, with a new G.M. and a new on-field manager, the M’s are focusing on what is.

Back in December, General Manager Jack Zduriencik (so I copy/paste his name, sue me) had long list of priorities and very little time. One of the critical areas the team needed to improve was on run production, and even though Big Z has been wheeling and dealing, it’s hard to conclude that his moves will drastically (marginally even) improve the offense.

Due to budgetary reasons, the initial list of free-agent run producers the M’s focused on was short, with names like Adam Dunn, Cliff Floyd, and Bobby Abreu signing elsewhere.

Zduriencik instead decided to pursue low-cost players that may be undervalued and could potentially produce, signing Russell Branyan and inviting a rejuvenated Mike Sweeney to spring training with a minor league deal, for instance.

Big Z also made some interesting acquisitions via the trade route, getting Ronny Cedeño from the cubs (who may challenge for an infield spot) in a deal that sent the recently-acquired Aaron Heilman to Chicago; and in a bold move, traded closer J.J. Putz to the Mets in a three-way deal that brought in Endy Chavez from New York and Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians. Both players will likely take over left and center field respectively and with Ichiro in right field, this set up gives the Mariners a mighty defensive outfield, but I suspect neither Gutierrez or Chavez are going to open the RBI flood gates.

Then there’s Jeff Clement. The Mariner’s young catching prospect has been fast tracked into the Bigs, and will probably make the team as a designated hitter. As of now, manager Dan Wakamatsu has Johjima as his no. 1 catcher, but the Mariners may want to give Clement some time behind the plate.

Junior looks awfully good in a M's uni

Zduriencik saved the biggest move for last. After a prolonged courtship, the Mariners brought back Ken Griffey Jr. to the delight of the clubhouse and fans. More than anything, giving Junior this home coming was as much about putting butts in the seats as it is about sparking a fire in the team, and less about run production. Let’s be honest, Junior’s career is drawing to a close (albeit gracefully by coming back to Seattle), and there shouldn’t be an expectation for him to produce many runs (for the sake of argument, in 131 at-bats with the White Sox last year, Junior collected 18 RBIs). But I’ll be damned if he doesn’t look right at home in a Mariner’s uniform.

Turning to pitching, even though Putz is no longer with the team, Big Z has made some moves to solidify the bullpen, trading for David Aardsma and signing Tyler Walker who indicated he’s willing to take on the closer role (not that the fans see that as a good thing). That closer question, however, is one that is yet to be addressed, but it’ll be settled from within the current crop of arms in the bullpen.

As far as the rotation is concerned, the Mariners have a surplus of starters. They resigned Eric Bedard and avoided arbitration with Felix Hernandez, inking him to a one-year deal.

Although Zduriencik explored various trade scenarios for Jarrod Washburn, with the latest rumor surfacing as late as February 3d, no deal was made. In this case, perhaps, Big Z misplayed his hand, as Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times notes, since a Washburn deal could have landed a decent prospect instead of letting him walk as a free agent at the end of the season.

Also in the rotation are a slimmed-down Carlos Silva, Ryan Rowland-Smith and Brandon Morrow.

Notable additions: Ken Griffey Jr, Endy Chavez, Franklin Gutierrez, Mike Sweeny, Russell Branyan, Ronny Cedeño.

Notable losses: Raul Ibañez, J.J. Putz, Sean Green.

Projected rotation, line-up and closer

SP Felix Hernandez
SP Eric Bedard
SP Ryan Rowland-Smith
SP Brandon Morrow
SP Carlos Silva
SP Jarrod Washburn

C Kenji Johjima
1B Russel Branyan
2B Jose Lopez
SS Yuniesky Betancourt
3B Adrián Beltré
LF Endy Chavez
CF Franklin Gutierrez
RF Ichiro Suzuki
DH Jeff Clement/Ken Griffey Jr.

CL Mark Lowe?

Hot Offseason Grade: C

It would be an unrealistic expectation in and of itself to say that Zduriencik turned the team around in one offseason. Although he was busy all winter, making plenty of moves, the Mariners will be a work in progress in the next few years. It’s not clear that the young talent he acquired via trade will be the crop of players he’ll build his team around, and he’s banking on some of his vets (and a free agent or two) to make a strong come back. Ultimately, it’s about trying something different this year, and so far, that’s one step in the right direction.

- Hot Offseason Index -