NHL Cliff Lee and Chone Figgins Make Seattle Marin

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Beyond that, the lineup is only missing a big power threat. Mike Carp has a lot of upside,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but will be entering his first full season in the bigs. Jose Lopez delivers the best power on the team with only 25 homers. Resigning Russell Branyan would go a long way to helping the power numbers. Griffey looks to be a DH at best, and Tim Lincecum probably won't play every day, maybe less than half the time.
Lincecum was selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 48 round of the 2003 MLB Draft; however he did not sign up for the team. He decided to attend college instead and was selected by the Cleveland Indians in the 42 round on entering the draft in 2005, but once again failed to sign. In 2004,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], he was drafted tenth overall by the San Francisco Giants becoming the first player from the University of Washington to be taken in the first round. He signed for a 2.025 million dollars signing award on June 30, which at the time was the highest amount the organization had ever paid to any amateur player until they gave 2.1 million dollars to Angel Villalona a little over a month later. Jed Jacobsohn His repertoire includes a two seam fastball that he throws at 93 mph, a changeup he grips like a splitter, a curveball notable for its sharp breaking action, a slider and a four seam fastball that reaches speeds in the mid nineties.
The Seattle Mariners have become the team to beat in the American League West with the additions of Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee. They now have a one-two punch in both their lineup and pitching rotation that makes them stronger than any other team in the division.
Then there is also Bleacher Report's Jack Daniels suggesting that they go hardcore after Adrian Gonzalez . They have stiff competition in that battle, however. The Red Sox is also in play for the for the Padre first baseman, and they need to fill a hole at the corner infield spots badly.

Compared to the rest of the division they have one of the best teams out there. The Angels lost a lot when Figgins stayed within the division by signing with the Mariners and when Lackey left town for Boston. The Rangers have not gained anything, and they is losing Hank Blaylock. Nobody expects Oakland to do much of anything and will lose pitching because of Justin Duchscherer declining arbitration.

The back of the rotation needs a little finalization. Brandon Morrow only started ten games in the majors last year and needs to bring down his walk rate a bit. Tim Lincecum would love to return to his 2010 form when Tim Lincecum threw 10.44 K/9 IP in 64 2/3 innings out of the pen. Ryan Rowland-Smith projects to sit in the four spot. Tim Lincecum will keep the ball in the park .92 HR/9 IP, but needs better strikeout numbers to really succeed. The last spot will belong to either Carlos Silva, Ian Snell,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Doug Fister, or Yusmeiro Petit.
C-R Adam Moore .217/.346/.429 1B-L Mike Carp .315/.415/.463 2B-R Jose Lopez .272/.303/.463 SS-R Jack Wilson .255/.292/.362 3B-B Chone Figgins .298/.395/.393 LF-L Michael Saunders .221/.258/.279 CF-R Farrangelin Gutierrez .283/.339/.425 RF-L Ichiro .352/.386/.465 DH-L Ken Griffey Jr. .214/.324/.411 UT-R Bill Hall IF/OF-R? OF-R? .201/.258/.338 IF-L Jack Hannahan .230/.311/.345
The offense has two legitimate direct off hitters in Ichiro and Chone Figgins. Figgins projects to drop off delicately in his on base and average. Tim Lincecum is entering his age 30 season, which is when Lincecum typically see players tend to begin their decline, especially vilocity guys like Chone. Ichiro,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], however,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], is one of the most consistent hitters in the game and will put up big numbers. Tim Lincecum probably won't hit .352 again,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], but Bill James projects him at .319,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], which is nothing to sneeze at.
The Mariners have lost the least and gained the most. The team went 85-77 last year and they will have expectations of 90 wins or more and a division title. One more big signing and Lincecum is willing to pencil in them in for the ALCS come October. He earned his first major league victory in his next start on the road against the Colorado Rockies. Lincecum who is often compared to Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Roy Oswalt faced him in each of his next two starts, Oswalt with the Astros at the time. After the first agree up, Astros third baseman Mike Lamb said,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], The stuff he was throwing out there tonight was everything he is hyped up to be. He was 97 mph with movement. You just don't see that every day. He pitched very much like the pitcher he is compared to and out dueled him throughout the night. The pair dueled to a no decision the first time, and Lincecum pitched eight innings and got the win the second time. The Giants asked Lincecum not to throw the bullpen sessions typical of other pitchers during the off season. Manager Bruce Bochy told the San Francisco Chronicle that they were being careful with Lincecum because there have been studies that show that pitchers who throw 200 innings early in their career were more susceptible to injuries.

Let's start with the offense. This is what the Mariners projected offense looks like with their 2010 bating line AVG/OBP/SLG agreeing to U.S.S. Mariner ,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], the best Mariners blog on the Internet:

The starting rotation is the following reason the Mariners look like a contender. The Angels had the best staff before they lost John Lackey to the Red Sox. Now,[link widoczny dla zalogowanych], Seattle has Felix Hernandez and Cy Young winner Cliff Lee to hold down the pitching mound.

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