With the start of the 2019 season rapidly approaching, I believe it’s time that we give you the ultimate breakdown of each division and predict their position in the standings come season’s end. It’s hard to predict record, so we’ll just give you their placement in the standings. Of course, this is coming from a fan’s perspective and what we think it could look like, not what it will. We’ll be starting off with the west coast and moving our way to the east. Today, we focus on the American League West:
Seattle Mariners
2018 record: 89-73, 3rd in AL West
Projected Lineup: Starting Rotation: Key Bullpen Pieces: Key Bench Pieces:
2B Dee Gordon LH Marco Gonzales RH Anthony Swarzak OF/1B/DH Jay Bruce
RF Mitch Haniger RH Felix Hernandez RH Hunter Strickland 1B/DH Dan Vogelbach
3B Kyle Seager LH Yusei Kikuchi RH Shawn Armstrong SS J.P. Crawford
DH Edwin Encarnacion RH Mike Leake
1B Ryon Healy LH Wade LeBlanc
LF Domingo Santana
SS Tim Beckham
C Omar Narvaez
CF Mallex Smith
It was a very busy offseason for GM Jerry Dipoto and his Mariners. It seemed almost each day, Seattle was involved in some sort of trade; trades that had Dipoto getting rid of some of the best players on the roster. 2B Robinson Cano and RH Edwin Diaz, arguably the best reliever in baseball, were dealt to the Mets for Bruce, Anthony Swarzak and three prospects including OF Jarred Kelenic. SP James Paxton was sent to the Yankees for three prospects including P Justus Sheffield, who will most likely be making an appearance at Safeco Field in 2019 (and yes, I know it’s now T-Mobile Park but I refuse to call it that! It’s Safeco, dammit!) SS Jean Segura and P Juan Nicasio and James Pazos went to Philadelphia for SS J.P. Crawford and 1B Carlos Santana, who was immediately traded back to the Indians in exchange for DH Edwin Encarnacion. A lot going on there, as you can see, but regardless of the names lost, I think Seattle still has a decent team. Headlined by Mitch Haniger, offensively the M’s could surprise us. They got the speed in Gordon and Smith at the top and bottom of the order. They’ll have power with the potential platooning of Encarnacion and Bruce at DH as well as Healy and Vogelbach at 1B. The downside with these four will be a lot of strikeouts.
What hurts the Mariners will be their pitching, both starting and bullpen. King Felix seems to be rapidly regressing from his former All Star self. Over the last three seasons, he’s pitched to a 4.58 ERA and has not hit the 30 start plateau since 2015. Gonzales and Leake are good complimentary pieces to a rotation, but neither has lights out stuff. The biggest acquisition this offseason would be that of Japanese export Yusei Kikuchi. The 27 year old left hander has spent eight seasons with the Seibu Lions of the Japanese League. During his time in Japan, he posted a 2.77 ERA with 903 and is said to have quite a nasty repertoire of pitches, include a fastball that tops out in the high 90s and a devastating slider. And don’t sleep on Marco Gonzales, who was recently named the Mariners’ Opening Day starter, ending King Felix’s 10 consecutive Opening Day starts.
Although many see as the Mariners rebuilding, I think it can be more seen as a soft rebuild. The pitching will hurt them, but the offense has the talent to put up halfway decent numbers. At the end of it all, pitching is still the key to winning and for that, I’d have Seattle finishing south of their 2018 record
2019 prediction: 4th in AL West
