Mariners Add Jack Cust and Miguel Olivo To The Mix

What a difference a year makes for Seattle Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik.

Last year, Zduriencik had more people kissing his rear end than any other GM in the majors. He was like the “Teflon Don”.

To be honest, I could never figure out why. Yes, the Mariners made a couple of big splashes last year in Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee, but the way they were built, they had .500 or worse team written all over them.

Cust will try to improve the M's O in 2011

Well, the Mariners lost 101 games in 2010, and now the “Teflon Don” has turned into the Aluminum Foil Don.

Instead of making big splashes and acquiring guys like Figgins and Lee, the Mariners are signing rudy-poo’s like Jack Cust and Miguel Olivo. It’s not that I don’t believe Cust and Olivo are improvements over what the Mariners were trotting onto the field last season, but they aren’t big enough improvements to the point where the Mariners will contend in 2011.

I am glad to see Cust move on from his high school relationship with the Oakland A’s. If you don’t remember, I compared Cust and the A’s to a couple in high school that gets together, breaks up, gets together, tries to stay together when they both go to different colleges, and that lasts about a month until one of them realizes that there are a lot of better options out there.

The better option for Cust these days is the Mariners. Cust, who was non-tendered by the A’s last week, hit .272/.395/.438 with 13 HRs in 112 games with the A’s last season. Considering that Mariners DHs hit .194/.269/.340 last season, Cust appears to be an improvement.

Going into last season, Cust was a lifetime .239 hitter. His high average (for him at least) could be attributed to a very high batting average on balls in play. I have to believe his .387 BABIP is unsustainable next season.

Even with a decline in average, Cust should produce more than the $2.5 million the Mariners are going to pay him in 2011.

Olivo is an interesting signing by the Mariners. The Mariners gave Olivo a two year, $7 million contract on Thursday.

$3.5 million a year is a lot of money to give a guy who hit .211 with four HRs away from Coors Field in 2010. Mariners catchers last year hit a pathetic .201/.263/.303 with 10 HRs in 2010. Adam Moore, Rob Johnson and Josh Bard really didn’t cut the mustard last season. If Olivo hits like he did last season away from Coors, I don’t see how this is much of an upgrade for the Mariners.

It’s hard to complain about Zduriencik giving Olivo two years because Brian Schneider set the market for ham n’ egger catchers, when he got a two-year deal from the Philadelphia Phillies last winter. The Mariners were the victim of past signings on this one.

I’m sure the Mariners aren’t done tinkering with their roster this offseason, but with these two moves, they didn’t improve themselves much.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg