The Mariners: Are They Really as Bad as They Seem on Paper?

As the beginning of the MLB season quickly approaches, there is a question that emerges from most informed Mariners fans: will they be as bad as they seem on paper? Let's be honest, ALL of our off-season moves were the laughing stock of the baseball community. Dealing Soriano, our only promising reliever not named Putz, was a terrible move. Getting Jose Guillen, who is as impatient and wild at the plate as he is in the clubhouse, was a disasterous move. 5 mil a year for 36-year-old Miguel Batista? 8+ mil a year for Jeff Weaver? His ERA was almost 6 last year! Vidro? VIDRO?!?

I tried at one point to justify our moves as short-term solutions that will help us this year, which may convince Ichiro to resign. But anyone with half a brain can see that our off-season moves have not helped us for this year or any year.

Sports Illustrated had us as finishing fourth in the A.L. West in their MLB season preview. The "experts" at ESPN were a little kinder, though on average, they predicted 76.7 wins for the Mariners.

Are the Mariners destined to finish last in the division again? Possibly, and it's nearly impossible to argue against. Luckily, our division is mediocre (the Angels aren't as good as everyone predicts) so there always is some hope. It's possible that we'd only need 85-87 wins to claim the division, and if everything goes right and then some (i.e. we never have to play Oakland because of a scheduling error), we might have a the slimmest chance of making a run at it. And if we get into the playoffs, anything is possible.

Honestly, what do I think will happen? Not sure. Probably a win count in the 70s, a fired Hargrove (finally) and a departed Ichiro (unless we resign him for a billion dollars).