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Why The Dodgers Are Better Than Your Team: Seattle Mariners
The front office in Seattle lost its patience this winter when they decided to get rid of valuable catcher John Jaso for mostly not valuable hitter Michael Morse. The same Michael Morse that was traded in 2009 for Ryan Langerhans. I understand that in order to consider playoff contention you have to score runs. No playoff team in the last 10 years was as inept at scoring runs as the Mariners have been over the last 3 years. But the playoffs should not be a priority this year for a team like the Mariners. Technically, they are a sleeper team. And, if by sleeper you mean nobody thinks they will be able to overcome the Athletics, Rangers, or Angels, then yes, they are a sleeper team.
They have improved the offense. Similar to the way that the Royals improved their pitching. Yeah, they got some guys with decent track records and most of them came pretty cheap. They moved the fences in at Safeco and they signed Felix to an unnecessary extension. They added Kendrys Morales from the rival Angels for the small price of Jason Vargas. The Mariners are quite deep in the rotation for 2014 when Taijuan Walker, Danny Hultzen and James Paxton are set to join the big league club. Sometime soon Mike Zunino will take over the regular catching duties for the Mariners, and the sooner he does, the better the team is for it. It would be wise to try and lock Zunino up long term similar to the Rays extension with Evan Longoria in April 2008.
Mar 3, 2013; Surprise, AZ, USA; Seattle Mariners catcher Mike Zunino (5) hits an RBI double during the second inning against the Texas Rangers at Surprise Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
This organization definitely has some potential. They are going to need to see improvements from their core group of Jesus Montero, Dustin Ackley, and Justin Smoak. Smoak may be a lost cause though. It’s difficult to say bad things about an organization that has learned to build its depth through the draft and made shrewd inter division trades. I sometime get the feeling that Jack Z has a specific plan for the team and that it is currently getting undermined. Raul Ibanez and Jason Bay? really?
February 22, 2013; Peoria, AZ, USA; Seattle Mariners left fielder Raul Ibanez (28) makes a fielding error off the bat of San Diego Padres center fielder
Will Venable(25, not pictured) during the first inning at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
The Mariners are an 80 win team. It’s an improvement. It’s still a 4th place team. At least its not a last place team. How soon will it be that we start talking about meaningless games? When the Mariners face the Astros in July?