This article is dedicated to Mike Welch.
The Seattle Mariners had an off year in 2008, but in 2009, expect things to be completely turned around. Late in 2008 and in the Winter Ball Leagues, Mariner players are showing signs of their potential.
The Mariners will have a very legitimate MVP canidate on their hands, 2008 Gold Glove winner Adrian Beltre. A season of spectacular offense and defense will bring him to being the front runner in the MVP race.
Here it is:
C. Kenji Johjima .283 batting average, 12 home runs
1B. Russell Branyan .274 batting average, 32 home runs
2B. Jose Lopez .316 batting average, 23 home runs
3B. Adrian Beltre .338 batting average, 36 home runs
SS. Yuniesky Betancourt .308 batting average, 13 home runs
RF. Ichiro Suzuki .302 batting average, four home runs
CF. Franklin Gutierrez .281 batting average, 12 home runs
LF. Endy Chavez .276 batting average, six home runs
LF. Wladamir Balentein .269 batting average, 14 home runs
DH. Jeff Clement .291 batting average, 16 home runs
SP. Felix Hernandez 18-6 3.24 ERA
SP. Erik Bedard 16-4 3.47 ERA
SP. Brandon Morrow 13-7 3.97 ERA
SP. Jarrod Washburn 13-9 4.02 ERA
SP. Ryan Rowland-Smith 12-8 4.12 ERA
CL. Aaron Heilman 12 saves, 2.85 ERA
CL. Miguel Batista 16 saves, 2.63 ERA
AL West:
1. Seattle Mariners
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
3. Oakland Athletics
4. Texas Rangers
Cy Young Winner: Felix Hernandez finishes third in voting, Erik Bedard gets voted sixth
MVP: Adrian Beltre wins the award
Gold Gloves: Ichiro Suzuki, Franklin Gutierrez, and Adrian Beltre
These projections are based off of facts and figures. Don't underestimate the sleeping monster of the American League.
25 comments Last one added 4 months ago — Leave a Comment
Chad Lewis 6 months ago
haha man i hope i hope. Those are pretty amazing stats. Everyone else on here who comments is probably going to laugh. But the season before last the mariners showed that they were capable of giving the Angels a run for their money (of course now they dont have raul). But i also believe that if the mariners players play like the hundred million dollars that the organization spent on them then they can be a contender again. For some odd reason the mariners just did awful last year and are much better then the 2008 mariners we saw last year. Like i said the organization did not pay over a hundred million dollars for some alright guys. Im not saying that the mariners guys are the best but they are above average (most of them). And i think that if they all play well in this upcoming season and we dont have bedard injured and everyone off sync that we will be fine and be back in the race again. Seattle just had an absolutely horrible 2008. It almost seemed impossible to have all of the things happen that happened to them last year. I mean the seahawks had soooooo many injuries and the things that were certain to pay off for the mariners just did not happen. Bedard was a phenomenal pitcher in 2007 and he came over and got injured right off the bat....carlos silva showed up to training camp fat as hell and not ready to play a season....and the list just continues......everyone had a horrible year except lopez, ichiro, and beltre's 25 Homers and obviously Raul. Plus last year Lopez showed that he might be becoming a home run hitter probably averaging like 25 home runs a year with his power last year with 17 homers and all i am saying is there is noooooooooooo way that the mariners can have the same luck this year as they did last year. I also believe that the mariners will have a competitive season. But even if the mariners do not do as well as i hope i dont give a shit. They are a good organization and they will bounce back
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
Thanks man. I can't wait for the Mariners too dominate everyone this season. All we need is anything close to these stats and an inury from Vlad or Morales.
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ryan j 6 months ago
never have i read anything more bias in my life.
you expect Johjima, Branyan, Lopez, Beltre, Betancourt, Gutierrez, Chavez, Clement and Balantein to all hit well over their career batting averages; only Ichiro, did you predict to hit under his career average. And surprisingly every one of our starters you expect to reach double figures in wins. Rarely does this happen, even the 2001 team barely accomplished this feat.
You embarrass Mariner fans everywhere and your work is laughable and ridiculous.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
Theya re all young and all of them have either had seasons like that before or had a phenomenol last half. If your not going to look at season splits and previous seasons than you shouldn't be commenting on any articles.
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Ichiro Pacquiao 4 months ago
ONLY ICHIRO..... BEN take the goggles off so you can watch mariner games properly... you (ben) " embarrass Mariner fans everywhere and your work is laughable and ridiculous. "
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Christopher Mango 6 months ago
so biased, not a chance in the world, outside of baltimore, the mariners are the worst team in the american league
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
tell me one reason why the team will be that bad in 2009? Just one. Hint: there are none.
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Scott Mckee 6 months ago
um biased ? i think i saw this article out of CA, if anything you would think they would try and downplay the mariners
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
I just wrote this article. The Angels writers wrote an article of their own players on their website though. Do you think this will happen?
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Scott Mckee 6 months ago
I think it COULD happen, but all of them have to play to their potiental, The problem will be injuries.
If bedard stays healthy, Our rotation can carry us to October. With Felix, Bedard, and Morrow Joining the rotation, we will be a good starting team
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Ben Ernst 6 months ago
You basically just said that every significant player on the M's is going to have a career year except for Ichiro, Beltre, Johjima, Chavez, and Bedard. If that many players on ANY team had career years, I'd talk about them contending too.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
The thing is that these guess's have reasons behind them. Strong second halfs and Septembers + off season training = Playoffs.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
Washburn and Bedard have had better years than what I expect in 2009.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
Bedard almost wonthe cy young in 2007. He can easily bounce back.
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Ben Ernst 6 months ago
Thats why I mentioned Bedard in the list of players that have had better years. You're right I forgot Washburn, but the last time he had a better season was 7 years ago. Yes Bedard was a cy young contender in 2007, but he ended the season with an arm injury, and it continued last season. He also thinks that 100 pitches per game is his limit. Doesnt sound too promising to me.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
When Bedards helathy he dominates. He was good this year. a 3.67 ERA is Cy Young worthy if you have enough strikeouts and wins too. But his ERA will probably go down if he is not expected to make the difference in the American League West.
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Ben Ernst 6 months ago
Bedard wont get enough wins because he wont have enough support behind him. He wont get enough strikeouts because he wont pitch enough innings. He WILL be expected to make a difference for the M's in the AL West, because without him healthy the M's might as well just give it up anyways.
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Ben Brown 6 months ago
Bedard will have alot of support behind him. How wouldn't he? Who knows how many innings he will pitch? you have to admit that before last season there was more pressure on him to carry the teamto the playoffs than this season.
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Ben Ernst 6 months ago
Theres an easy way to answer how Bedard wont have enough support behind him, because the M's dont have a good enough offense. All they did was add a good defensive CF and Richie Sexon clone (except worse) this offseason. That does not make up for the production lost from Ibanez. Even if we still had Ibanez, that lineup was horrible last season.
We all know that he wont pitch enough innings because he himself said that 100 pitches per start is his limit. If you can find a pitcher that threw 200 innings in a season without once throwing 100 pitches in a start then I might be convinced.
Yes there was more pressure on him last season, because at the beggining of the year the M's looked like the had a chance of contending. This year, im sorry to say, they WILL NOT contend.
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Hayato Uwai 5 months ago
I like the Mariners, but they're not there yet.
They need to rebuild their team and farm system.
3-4 years, they will be a contender though.
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Derek Bradley 5 months ago
well there is no way they do anything without one more big bat..Chavez can not replace Ibanez and without innings eater Sean Green the bullpen will not have that long relief safety net..I think its time to pull the trigger on the Griffey trade and at least give the fans something to cheer for he would do the trick in the DH hole.Bedard is soft hopefully Hernandez Keeps the weight off and balentine develops some sort of plate discipline.Branyan is just a left handed Sexson without the starts Just to many "If's" with the mariners..Boy it is a sad time for us Seattle fans..all these big names out there and didn't sign any of them..Boo to the management..I just hope we are still in the race at the all star break!! And with no Sonics there is a lot of anticipation for this season.Hope the front office does something more..But I still hope for the best Go M's!!
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Ben Brown 5 months ago
Griffey Trade? He's a free agent. The bullpen is still incredibly dominant if not more dominant. Aardsma, Walker, Lowe Corcocan, Batista, Heilman and Jimenez would be one dominant bullpen.
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Cody Eads 5 months ago
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Cody Eads 5 months ago
ok ben your an idiot. dominat bullpen with Aardsma, Walker , Lowe, Corcoran, Batista and jimenez>besides for corcoran who has hardly played nonw of those guys have a career era under 4.00. I love the M's but your being totally unrealistic. Russel Branyan who hardly played is gonna all of th sudden hit 276 with 32 homeruns? cmon now ben your smarter than that. And you said that Beltre would have an MVP season if he hit spectacular and playes great defense? well obviously how else do you win an MVP? thats like saying if a runningback who rushes for 300 in a season rushes for 1500 the next year he will win the Heisman. DUH
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Isaac Barrow 4 months ago
I think you're an idiot Ben.
C. Kenji Johjima .283 batting average, 12 home runs: You say it's based off facts and figures. What facts did you use here? Johjima's barely gonna play this year.
1B. Russell Branyan .274 batting average, 32 home runs: Wow this is so moronic I'm starting to crack up. The same Russ Branyan who is 33? That guy? Oh, the guy who hit .250 with 20 RBI last year. Friggin idiot.
2B. Jose Lopez .316 batting average, 23 home runs: This is the most reasonable, but .316 is a little oddball. A little? That's crazy dude. He's never hit .300 in his career. Dumb ass.
3B. Adrian Beltre .338 batting average, 36 home runs: 36 homers I can KIND of see. Barely. If 30 games are added to the MLB schedule. .338 average?? WTF???!!!!! The last time he hit 30 was.....2004. You're gonna say that a 30-year old (on Opening Day) is gonna hit .338 when the last time he hit .300 was the fluke year he had in 2004. Dumb idiot.
SS. Yuniesky Betancourt .308 batting average, 13 home runs: I'm actually laughing at how biased you are. He's a fielder, not a hitter. He's never hit above .289! He's never had more than nine homers! Come on Ben.
RF. Ichiro Suzuki .302 batting average, four home runs: Realistic. Like seriously, good prediction. Very rare for you.
CF. Franklin Gutierrez .281 batting average, 12 home runs: I can actually sorta see this, I like Gutierrez. But that's a bit odd to expect him to hit .281 after hitting .248.
LF. Endy Chavez .276 batting average, six home runs: Ehhhh maybe. I expect like .265, four homers. Had 12 RBI last year. You're the most biased moron I've ever seen.
LF. Wladamir Balentein .269 batting average, 14 home runs: Can't even spell your own player's name right.
DH. Jeff Clement .291 batting average, 16 home runs: Next year, and Matt Wieters will fry him.
SP. Felix Hernandez 18-6 3.24 ERA: Ha! You claim in the past that the offense is "improved" when you got one guy who hit .248 last year and that'll benefit everyone. Felix is wild and 18-6 even when healthy and in the zone is out of the question. It's beyond it. Moronic projection.
SP. Erik Bedard 16-4 3.47 ERA: Ha! He's never lost less than five. In fact, people ignore the fact that Bedard has had ONE good season. 13-5, 3.16 in 2006. And that was for an offense that included Tejada, Lopez, Roberts, Palmeiro. Ben, the Mariners offense isn't the worst in baseball, but that doesn't mean it's good.
SP. Brandon Morrow 13-7 3.97 ERA: Ha! OK I'll be real here. Morrow is good. This is the most realistic pick you have in the rotation besides Washburn and Rowland-Smith, which are both incredibly stupid. I say 11-10, 4.07 ERA.
SP. Jarrod Washburn 13-9 4.02 ERA: Ha! Ahhh Jarrod Washburn. 5-14, 4.69 ERA. What makes him improve so much?
SP. Ryan Rowland-Smith 12-8 4.12 ERA: Ha! You claim he was dominant last year. 5-3, 3.42 ERA. Good? Yes. Dominant? The fuck?!
CL. Aaron Heilman 12 saves, 2.85 ERA: LMFAO that's so funny. Ben you really should stop with these humor articles. People are gonna think you're serious. And considering Heilman is a Cub, it's gonna be hard for him to save 12 games with Seattle. Lazy prick.
CL. Miguel Batista 16 saves, 2.63 ERA: Yeah ok. 6.26 ERA. 14 losses. Then a 2.63 ERA and 14 saves. LMFAO stop trying to be so funny
AL West:
1. Seattle Mariners (don't you mean 3rd)
2. Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (don't you mean 1st)
3. Oakland Athletics (don't you mean 2nd)
4. Texas Rangers
Cy Young Winner: Felix Hernandez finishes third in voting, Erik Bedard gets voted sixth. That's pretty classic stuff.
MVP: Adrian Beltre wins the award. Ha.
Gold Gloves: Ichiro Suzuki, Franklin Gutierrez, and Adrian Beltre. Markakis, Sizemore and Beltre isn't a good fielder.
These projections are based off of facts and figures. Don't underestimate the sleeping monster of the American League.
What facts? You wanna base em off facts and figures? Provide them.
And don't do a hit and run. Respond to my comment or else it makes you look bad.
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