30 Clubs in 30 Days: No. 30 Seattle Mariners

Welcome to the 30 clubs in 30 days series presented by The Five! In honor of pitchers and catchers reporting we will be taking an in depth look at every team in Major League baseball. The series will kick off with my worst ranked team and work right on up to my best team. A new team will be released each day starting now so by the time opening day rolls around you’ll know more than your friends about every team in the game. So without further ado I give you the worst team in Major League Baseball the 30^th ranked Seattle Mariners.

No. 30 Seattle Mariners

Projected Rotation:

1. Felix Hernandez-RHP
2. Jason Vargas-LHP
3. Doug Fister-RHP
4. Erik Bedard-LHP
5. David Pauley-RHP

Projected Bullpen

1. Closer: David Aardsma-RHP
2. Brandon League-RHP
3. Dan Cortes-RHP
4. Garrett Olson-LHP
5. Chris Ray-RHP
6. Denny Bautista-RHP
7. Cesar Jimenez-LHP

Projected Lineup

1. RF Ichiro Suzuki
2. 3B Chone Figgins
3. CF Franklin Gutierrez
4. DH Jack Cust
5. 1B Justin Smoak
6. C Miguel Olivo
7. LF Michael Saunders
8. SS Jack Wilson
9. 2B Brandon Ryan

Analysis

The one thing that almost prevented me from ranking the Mariners as the worst team in baseball heading into 2011 was the hiring of Eric Wedge as manager. Wedge is a baseball man I have a lot of respect for and was able to take the Cleveland Indians to the ALCS in 2007, however, apart from that there wasn’t much to write home about from his Cleveland club and while I like Wedge a lot I don’t believe he is the right man to handle the disaster that is the Seattle Mariners.

If you look at the top of their lineup you would expect that this is a team who could compete in the AL West. Suzuki, Figgins, and Gutierrez SHOULD be a reliable top of the order, but the sad fact for Mariners fans is that they aren’t. Figgins kept up the tradition in Seattle of another big time free agent acquisition that had the worst year of his career in a Seattle uniform. Gutierrez is highly paid and highly talented but to win in the big leagues your #3 hitter has to have a better average than .245.

Following up the Mariners not so big three is a slew of players that wouldn’t get playing time on any division winning team. The Rangers hosed the Ms when they dealt Cliff Lee for a deal that centered on first basemen Justin Smoak, who hit .218 in big league action last year. A possible bright spot could be DH Jack Cust in the four spot who’s coming off the best year of his career with the Athletics, keep in mind that Richie Sexson, Adrian Beltre, Carlos Silva, and Chone Figgins all came to the Ms after some of their best years and flopped. Also keep in mind that Cust’s best year means he hit .272, nothing against Cust but the Mariners need a lot more than that if they want to avoid 100 losses…again.

The pitching contains a couple bright spots in reigning Cy Young winner Felix Hernandez and closer David Aardsma. Felix is a lock for another dominant season that will include many strikeouts and many one-run losses. Aardsma should have a very high save percentage, considering he’ll only get a couple save opportunities each month.

Bedard has been the ultimate disappointment for this club, winning just 11 games in three years as a Mariner and not making an appearance in 2010 at all. If you’re a Seattle fan and you have any faith in Bedard what so ever please stop kidding yourself, it’s one thing to be optimistic but it’s quite another to be flat out stupid.

The rest of the rotation has some potential but very little experience; you have to give Fister and Vargas credit for pitching very well for the better part of 2010 but it’s yet to be seen if their arms can holdup for an entire big league season.

So with all of the negativity going on around the Mariners right now is there any good news? Yes! Ken Griffey Junior is coming back…as a consultant. However, even with The Kid back with the team 100 losses seems inevitable.

Good thing the food at Safeco Field is amazing; otherwise there would be a lot of long and empty days at Mariner games this summer.