Look at the New Mariners Part 2

It look like the Mariners have signed a free agent reliever who maybe the closer for the Mariners however I will get into that later in this report after writing about the outfield and the starting pitcher.

The Mariners have returning in right field and designated hitter Nelson Cruz along with Franklin Gutierrez and Seth Smith. Primarily Gutierrez and Smith will platoon with Gutierrez against left handers and Smith against right handers. How much in right field will depend on Cruz? According to new manager Scott Servais Cruz wants to play some right field; however, the decision will be up to Servais and the health of Cruz. Personally I would like to see Cruz play less in the field especially in Safeco. Also, the amount of time will depend on his health. Cruz was the best overall player in the Mariners lineup last season and we can only hope that he can somewhat repeat this next season. Being a year older if he can hit around twenty-five home runs instead of forty that still will be a good season; the most important thing is that he does not miss a lot of games over the season. We can hope that Gutierrez can return to have a good season like he had for the Mariners in the second half when he was called up from Triple A. The Mariners will keep an eye on his health as well. Seth Smith we can hope that he will have another solid season. What I like about the platooning of Gutierrez and Smith is having one of them coming off the bench to hit. It is an area the Mariners were not good at all last year.

The Mariners signed Nori Aoki as a free agent to primarily play left field though we may see him play some time in centerfield. Being athletic and playing a solid outfield he will be the Mariners leadoff hitter.

He played his baseball career in Japan before coming to United States to play major league baseball four years ago. He has been a solid hitter batting over .280 all four years. Seeing his press conference he has a personality that seems he will be able to keep the locker room very loose. Sounds like a good addition to the team.

Another questionable position for the Mariners was centerfield especially after the trade of Austin Jackson to the Chicago Cubs. Jackson is now a free agent looking for a team. He did have some good times with the Mariners but in general he was not the centerfielder the Mariners need so Dipoto went out and got centerfielder Leonys Martin from the Texas Rangers for reliever Tom Wihelmsen. There were other players involved in the trade however they were the primary two. The Mariners hope that Martin will play a sold centerfield which he should and hope he can rebound as far as his hitting goes; most likely he will start the season as the Mariners number nine hitter because of his speed and turnover of the lineup. Martin, Aoki and Marte will give the Mariners more speed in the Mariners lineup.

The Mariners have added two members to the starting pitcher. The first one was Nathan Karns who they traded for with the Tampa Bay Rays and sent them Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, and Danny Farquhar. At this point he is considered the fifth starter which is better than the Mariners had last year. What makes him good in the Mariners starting pitching is that he should pitch around 200 innings.

The second trade the Mariners made to bolster starting pitching after losing Iwakuma was during this last week at the Winter Meetings. Right after learning that Iwakuma would not return they went to plan 1b acquiring Wade Miley from the Boston Red Sox; however, they had to give up reliever Carson Smith and lefty Roenis Elias. Miley is a lefty who is another that the Mariners hope will pitch about 200 innings.

The starting pitching will begin with King Felix Hernandez followed by James Paxton, TaiJuan Walker, Miley, and Karns. As long as they stay healthy this looks like an improvement in the starting pitching over last year. The most questionable is James Paxton who has not pitched a lot of innings the last two years. We all hope that he can be the pitcher the Mariners have wanted since he came on the scene.  Adding to the depth is Mike Montgomery who is out of options and must make the team out of spring training. When he came up to the Mariners from Triple A he started out pretty good especially with three good outings; however, he backtracked and the Mariners did not pitch him in September. Another lefty who could come out of the bullpen to start is Vidal Nuno. What the Mariners like most about him is that he is able to start or relieve. He showed last season that he could pitch six good innings in a start along with going one inning or more out of the bullpen. If he had to he could get a tough left handed hitter out. Another pitcher the Mariners are counting on if they need him to do some spot staring is right handed pitcher Anthony Bass who the Mariners got in the Tampa Bay trade. Depending on what comes out in spring training all three may start out in the bullpen.

Besides those three guys the bullpen has made the biggest change so far during the off-season. Of course, with the problems they had in 2015 it is very understandable. The only remaining member of the bullpen from 2015 is lefty Charlie Furbush. He is very key to the bullpen since is main job is to get out the tough left handed hitters. Furbush missed the second of this last season, and that is when the bullpen especially went bad. The Mariners are hoping that Furbush will be able to return to his place in the bullpen when 2016 season begins. I am sure with the new guys in the bullpen if he is not ready the Mariners will have his position covered. They do have two returning lefties who had so so seasons last year in Dave Rollins and Tyler Olson. Both did spend some time in Triple A though Rollins was suspended for 80 games at the beginning of the season. We will have to see how both of them do along with Montgomery and Nuno.

The Mariners brought in some good right handed pitching so far this off-season. There is a possibility the Mariners will bring additional bullpen depth help before the start of spring training. Most likely they will be guys that will be signed to minor league contracts and invited to the major league camp.

The right handed pitchers the Mariners brought in to bolster the bullpen are Evan Scribner, Joaquin Benoit, and newly acquired closer the Mariners signed as a free agent Steve Cishek. He pitched for the Miami Marlins and then the St.Louis Cardinals during the 2015 season. He had a poor start this season but ended the season well. He is a right handed reliever who pitches sidearm. The Mariners have other pitchers that they have added to the depth of the bullpen. According to Dipoto he has another reliever coming in soon to the fold and likely will have more. Outside the top three who will pitch the last three innings the Mariners will have a much better bullpen than last year. The key according to Dipoto is how the starting pitching does next season.

Looking at it right now the look of the new Mariners is brighter than when the season ended. Unlike last season when everyone expected the Mariners to make the playoffs there is no expectation so we can hope the players can relax and make the playoffs. What I hope for is the players can work together as a unit and we will see a fun season. Go Mariners!