Team-by-team outlooks
The rainy weather in Seattle has an effect on the Mariners' offense, despite the fact they play in a retractable-domed stadium. The damp air kept flyballs from leaving the field -- especially early in the season -- and only four other AL teams had fewer homers last year (172).
The Mariners' offense does have a number of stars on it, but as a group, they were only able to outscore the Devil Rays among AL teams. Only four AL teams stole more bases than the M's, but really, Ichiro Suzuki was the only player with more than 16 steals for the season. And you can't expect Adrian Beltre to chip in 11 swipes again either.
Speaking of Ichiro, the center fielder is in a contract year and we don't expect anything less than an average season from the Japanese superstar.
This season, the power bats in the lineup will have Jose Guillen (and surgically repaired elbow) behind them for protection. Raul Ibanez is coming off a career year and Beltre rebounded from his disastrous first season in the Emerald City.
And don't forget that Richie Sexson is entering an odd year. He has hit 45, 45 and 39 HR, to go with 125, 124 and 121 RBI in 2001, 2003 and 2005 respectively. Not that he has done poorly in even years (he totaled 34 HR and 107 RBI last year), but it's still a nice nugget to point out.
As far as their pitching staff goes, Felix Hernandez is the obvious star here and has come to camp in excellent shape -- a big difference from last spring. For a pitcher's park, this staff had a rough year last season -- they ranked below average with a team ERA of 4.60. That number only drops to 4.26 for games at Safeco Field, which ranks them just 15th in the majors.
Jarrod Washburn pitched well enough to lose 14 starts, if you can understand that. He had an unusually high ERA (4.67), but we expect him to bounce back a little.
Miguel Batista pitched 200 innings for the first time in his career with Arizona last season, posting a 4.59 ERA. But he moves back to the AL, where hitters likely already have a book on him. Horacio Ramirez and Jeff Weaver are two more new faces in the M's rotation this season. All three of these pitchers are solid picks in AL-only play, but mixed-league owners can do better.
J.J. Putz took over for Eddie Guardado in the early part of last season and never looked back. By season's end, he proved to be one of the more dominant closers in the majors. Expect him to go among the top 10 gamestoppers in your draft.
There are really only backup jobs up for grabs at this point. And among those, there aren't any you should consider in AL-only play other than the speedy Willie Bloomquist and the powerful Ben Broussard.
| Seattle Mariners Outlook | |||||
| Projected lineup | Pos. | Projected Rotation | |||
| 1 | Ichiro Suzuki | CF | 1 | Felix Hernandez | RH |
| 2 | Adrian Beltre | 3B | 2 | Jarrod Washburn | LH |
| 3 | Richie Sexson | 1B | 3 | Miguel Batista | RH |
| 4 | Raul Ibanez | LF | 4 | Horacio Ramirez | LH |
| 5 | Jose Guillen | RF | 5 | Jeff Weaver | RH |
| 6 | Kenji Johjima | C | Alt | Cha Seung Baek | RH |
| 7 | Jose Vidro | DH | |||
| 8 | Jose Lopez | 2B | Top bullpen arms | ||
| 9 | Yuniesky Betancourt | SS | CL | J.J. Putz | RH |
| Top bench options | SU | Chris Reitsma | RH | ||
| R | Ben Broussard | 1B | RP | Arthur Rhodes | LH |
| R | Willie Bloomquist | INF/OF | RP | George Sherrill | LH |
| Rookies/Prospects | Age | Pos. | 2006 high | Destination | |
| 1 | Adam Jones | 21 | OF | Majors | Triple-A |
| Rose quickly, but scouts like him more than statisticians do so far | |||||
| 2 | Jeff Clement | 23 | C | Triple-A | Triple-A |
| Coming off bad '06 and needs an injury to soph Kenji Johjima | |||||
| 3 | Ryan Feierabend | 21 | LH SP | Majors | Triple-A |
| M's don't have much in pitching prospects, he could make '08 rotation | |||||
| 4 | Wladimir Balentien | 22 | OF | Double-A | Triple-A |
| Collects homers in bunches -- but strikeouts are his weakness | |||||
| 5 | Brandon Morrow | 23 | RH SP | Class A | Double-A |
| Could end up as a closer, but will continue starting for M's | |||||
| Best of the rest: RHP Mark Lowe, 23; RHP Jon Huber, 25; 2B Yung-Chi Chen, 23; LHP Eric O'Flaherty, 22; C Rob Johnson, 23; SS Matt Tuiasosopo, 20. | |||||
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