One Team to Watch in 2010

One of the noisiest teams this off season has been the Seattle Mariners. Second year GM Jack Zduriencik has made several big deals that have lead many to suggest that Seattle is one of the teams to watch in 2010. Moneyballers have also been singing the praises of “Big Z”, calling him one of the best general managers in the game and many are picking Seattle as this year’s AL West favorites. Now there is NO ONE that wants to see Junior make it to the big dance in what is probably his last season more than I do, but I am a little more cautious about the 2010 Mariners.

Make no mistake about it, Jack Zduriencik is trying to build the Mariners around speed, pitching and defense, and this year’s major offseason acquisitions (Chone Figgins, Cliff Lee and Casey Kotchman) highlight this. Given that Safeco Field is bigger than Jay Leno’s chin (I’m with Coco) you can’t fault Z for building his team this way, but the fact is that even teams built on pitching and D need power threats, something that Seattle doesn’t appear to have. Last season’s two biggest power threats Russell Branyan and Adrian Beltre are gone, inheriting the middle of the line-up is Jose Lopez, Franklin Gutierrez and Milton Bradley - not exactly a murderer’s row. Gutierrez and Lopez are good hitters with power, but are they really number 3 or 4 hitters on a playoff team? We also need to remember that if someone sneezes in Bradley’s vicinity he may take it as a personal attack against him (or an act of racism) and become totally useless to the team. Even someone as likable as Ken Griffey may not be able to keep Mad Milton happy for 8 months. Assuming that Big Griff doesn’t put up his 1993 numbers, this leaves the M’s lacking a bona fide power threat in the middle of their order

The Mariners have other concerns as well. While Seattle’s pitching is appeared to be much improved with the addition of Cliff Lee, the Mariners will be without Jarred Washburn and Brendan Morrow, big contributors to last year’s staff. While Lee improves the staff, the loss of these two pitchers needs to be considered, which makes the staff only marginally better at best. Also troubling is last year’s run differential of -52 which suggests that the 85 wins the team accumulated are not entirely reflective of the team’s performance – the M’s may have enjoyed more than their fair share of lucky bounces. Catching is another major issue. Can anyone name a catcher on their 40 man roster?

Yes, the Angels are significantly worse than they were last year and Oakland is still at least a couple years away, but this Mariners team may not be as good as advertised. The 2007 M’s were a team built on pitching and defence on the cusp of a breakthrough. That off season they made the acquisitions necessary (Erik Bedard and Carlos Silva) to put them over the top. On top of their 100 loss season the next year, Seattle fans get to see Adam Jones rake in Baltimore as a reminder of their misplaced optimism. For Junior’s sake let’s hope that 2010 isn’t a little piece of history repeating.