Mariners season preview

   With the Seattle Mariners players reporting for spring training soon ( Pitchers - Feb 19, Position Players - Feb 24), it is a good time to take a look at the roster and take a look at the possible outcome for the 2016 MLB Season.

   Projected Lineup (Rotochamp.com)

1. Nori Aoki OF

2. Kyle Seager 38

3. Nelson Cruz DH

4. Robinson Cano 2B

5. Adam Lind 1B

6. Seth Smith OF

7. Ketel Marte SS

8. Chris Iannetta C

9. Leonys Martin OF

  Bench : 

Franklin Gutierrez OF

Mike Zunino C

Jesus Montero 1B

Jesus Sucre C

Luis Sardinas 3B

Chris Taylor 2B

Daniel Robertson OF

Shawn O'Malley OF

Stefen Romero OF

Steven Baron OF

   Starter Pitching :

1. Felix Hernandez

2. Taijuan Walker

3. James Paxton

4. Wade Miley

5  Hisashi Iwakuma

6. Nate Karns

7. Vidal Nuno

   Bullpen :

Closer - Steve Cishek

Setup - Jaquin Benoit

Mike Montgomery

Anthony Bass

Evan Scribner

Justin De Fratus

Cody Martin

Mayckol Guaipe

David Rollins

Charlie Furbush

Jonathan Aro

Joe Wieland

   I, personally believe, that with that lineup we can approach the 100 win mark and a possible AL West crown. The new regime has decided to go more of the way of OBS than the power hitters of the past regime. Not to say we don't have some smashers (Cano, Cruz, Seager, and possibly Lind can all hit 30+ HR's), but at least now, with the additions of Aoki and Martin, should allow us to have baserunners on. Our bench is solid, if nothing special, and I would like to see "Guti" replace Smith in the starting lineup more times than not. I'm hoping Zunino figures it out at the plate because his defense is legit, and if he could figure out how to hit major league pitching he could very well win the starting job back. Our defense should improve in the outfield with the addition of Martin and Aoki. If Cano can play all year like he did for the last half last year, we should be sitting pretty as an offense. Our pitching staff returns one of the game's best in "King" Felix. He is followed up by a potential #1 stud in Walker and then followed by Miley, Iwakuma and Paxton. I believe that rotochamp.com has the rotation wrong and that we will see #3 Kuma, #4 Paxton and #5 Miley. That is a formidable rotation and we got a gift when Iwakuma was resigned. Iwakuma may not be flashy #1 material but the guy is a workhorse and is coming off a no hitter last year. Miley is an innings eater and Paxton has potential, so all in all our rotation looks solid. Our bullpen should be better than last year, as we got rid of Rodney and Farquhar (two bad pieces last year) and added Cisheck to close and Benoit to setup. Hopefully our staff can average 6-7 innings a game and then give it off to a sturdy bullpen. We also got rid of McClendon, who made more dumb decisions than I have ever seen last year. Replacing him is Scott Servais who was assistant GM on the Angels staff, and who was picked to replace McClendon by our new GM Jerry Dipoto (also formerly on the Angels as GM) who should bring new, fresh styles to the team.

   All in all, I believe that this year we will finally live up to last year's expectations and potentially compete for the first World Series trip in history!

   AL West record : 101- 61, AL West Champion, AL Champion, World Series Champion

   As always comments are welcome and encouraged.