Mariners Sign Frankie for I yr

This is the third time I am writing about Frankie Gutierrez on my blogs. I know I could have written him even more times than this since he is one of my favorite ballplayers on the Mariners along with many other fans.

I really did hope like most that Jerry Dipoto and the Mariners would resign Gutierrez to another contract. He had an outstanding second half of the season with the Mariners primarily playing left field against left handed pitchers.

How many hitters batted .295 with 15 home runs and 35 runs batted in a limited role in 59 games. He had total plate appearances of 189 and is home runs averaged every 12.76. So you see if he had twice as many appearances 378 he would have had 30 home runs and be second on the Mariners team in home runs to Nelson Cruz.

I am sure we wouldn’t see those numbers next year for the Mariners; however, he can play in one hundred games for the Mariners that would be very nice. We can only hope that Frankie can keep healthy enough to play in a hundred games to share either left or right field with Seth Smith. I am sure we won’t see him in center field again; however, whatever accomplishment he can do for the Mariners it will be great for the team.

Now the Mariners need to do is go out and get at least a center fielder plus a right fielder. I am sure we will see Nelson Cruz occasionally in right field; however, the plus for the Mariners will be for him to play more at designated hitter this coming season.

There are several outfielders the Mariners are looking into acquiring in trade or free agency. Most likely they will through a trade instead of free agency. I am sure we will see this take place in the next few days or weeks.

In other local sports news the University of Washington Men’s basketball team starts playing Friday night against the Texas Longhorns. At this point it is hard to say how good the team will be since they have seven freshmen on the roster and Andrew Andrews is the only senior who is returning to start.

The Seahawks may have cornerback Jeremy Lane and receiver Paul Richardson back on the roster this coming Sunday again the Arizona Cardinals. The Seahawks certainly could use both of them in the lineup on special teams and backups.

We can really hope the Seahawks will have a much better second half of the season otherwise they won’t make the playoffs. On the bright side the Seahawks always play better in the second half of the season under Carroll.

So let’s go Seahawks and Mariners!