By Josh:
After reading Trevor’s tribute to his favorite team, the Tampa Bay Rays, I decided I should do a year in review for my favorite team, the Seattle Mariners. First thing I made it to a grand total of zero games in Seattle this year. I’m a little disappointed in myself but with this season being a down year (again) for the Mariners I don’t think I missed too much.
This season had a lot of great highlights. First off there was the 6 pitcher no-hitter against the Los Angeles Dodgers….wait that was 2012. That was my daughter’s first game ever but once again that was last year.
Well there was one of the biggest moments in Mariner history when Felix through the perfect game…nope wait that was 2012 as well.
Well there are also all of the Ichiro highlights from…2012.
Well one thing that did happen in 2013 is the quitting of Manager Eric Wedge. Although I like Wedge he just is not the right fit for the Mariners right now. A part of me thinks that the Mariners Organization needs to clean house at the Major League level with the coaches and move forward. I think that the minor league system is really strong and has proven that the last couple of years.
This season hasn’t been all bad. Young players like Brad Miller, Nick Franklin, Mike Zunino, Taijuan Walker, and James Paxton all made their Major League debuts this season. These young players have shown traces developing into a strong core of players for the Mariners future.
With players like Felix Hernadez, Kyle Seager and a lot of young arms in the bullpen the Mariners have a foundation for the future.
I don’t think that magically the Mariners are going to be a playoff contender next season but with a starting rotation of Hernandez, Iwakuma, Free Agent Starting pitcher, Walker and Paxton the team has the ability to compete with any team.
The offense is going to be the question like it has been for the past decade. At the current time the lineup looks like this; 1st Smoak, 2nd Franklin, 3rd Seager, SS Miller, LF Ackley, CF Saunders, RF Almonte, C Zunino.
Although the defense looks really strong with this lineup the offense is a big question mark. Free agency is going to be the key route for upgrading the offense. With the first round pick next season protected, because it is in the top 10 picks, the Mariners are free to sign players unlike last season.
Regardless of what players the Mariners bring in the most important thing is whether or not the team makes noticeable progress. The Mariner fan base has sat through some bad years recently and each year it feels more and more like the Astros organization. Baseball in Seattle was in danger in the 90s and even though I don’t think the Mariners are going anywhere, I do think that baseball in Seattle is on the brink of not being relevant if something doesn’t change.