Why I'm Not Surprised That The Seattle Mariners Haven't Lived Up To Expectations

I saw it coming.

Many experts didn't, but I did.

The Seattle Mariners did not live up to the expectations that many people gave them. They've managed to rack up a 58-94 record. That's a win percentage under .400. Their final ten games are against the Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, and Oakland Athletics, all teams playing ball over the .500 mark, so there's a very real possibility of a 100 loss season for them.

I was not impressed with the offseason moves they made prior to the 2010 season. Sure, I was surprised that they managed to swing a deal for ace Cliff Lee (who they later traded to the Rangers), and signing third baseman Chone Figgins appeared to be a nice move at the time, but other than that, what other impact players did they acquire? Milton Bradley was a gamble to begin with, with his obviously large amount of baggage. He didn't perform to their expectations, and besides, I was not convinced he was a legitimate middle of the order bat with his career year in 2008, the only good offensive year he has put together in his career.

These moves remind me of how the Baltimore Orioles constantly tried to patchwork their team into a contender between 2000 and 2007. You just can't do that; it doesn't work. The Mariners didn't have much young talent to begin with. You can't patchwork around that lack of young talent with an ace, a second leadoff hitter, and Ken Griffey Jr., who, with no offense to him, was past his prime and not considered by many to be a legitimate middle of the order threat anymore. Management's main focus should have been to acquire more young talent to build around after trading a lot of it away to acquire names that never panned out.

The one-two punch of Lee and Felix Hernandez was very appealing, and what made it even more so was imagining a healthy Erik Bedard to slot right behind their staff ace and young phenom. But Erik never got healthy, and behind Lee and King Felix, the Mariners' starting rotation had nothing doing. Their bullpen wasn't terrible, but it wasn't good enough to handle three questionable starts every five days, thought, what bullpen is?

One very obvious hole to me was the fact that the offense just didn't appear to be there, and I was proven right by how the Mariners have driven in the lowest number of runs in the league. I mean, when your staff ace, who has a 2.31 ERA over 241.2 innings pitched has a 12-12 record, you know you're severely lacking in the runs department. This team never had a legitimate clean-up hitter, something every championship -caliber team has to have, no matter how great their pitching and defense is.

Hopefully the Mariners can take another step towards next year by getting more prospects and the team's management will wise up and go after the players their team needs to build around the young talent they get and fill out their lineup. Until then, this team doesn't have a chance in a division controlled by the Rangers and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.