Season Preview!!........
Spring Training is finally here! This past offseason many changes were made to the Seattle Mariners. The bullpen and the left side of the field got major changes. Sadly, my dear Mike Cameron left Seattle for the NY Mets. I wish him luck, and hope that Shea Stadium is a better fit for him than Safeco was. I wish he was still on Seattle, but I hope he does well in NY! Farewell Mike!
I will first adress the new bullpen. Kaz Sasaki decided to go back to his hometown of Japan, so "everyday Eddie" Eddie Guardado. Eddie is a left hander, and will take over Kazus role of closer. Shigetoshi Hasegawa returned, and Rafael Soriano will return to his spot in the bullpen. Julio Mateo also returns. The rest of the bullpen will be decided after Spring Training. The starting rotation will stay the same as last year, consisting of Freddy Garcia, Jamie Moyer, Joel Piniero, Gil Meche and Ryan Franklin. Hopefully Freddy will pitch like the real Freddy, and the other 4 will keep on doing what they do best!
The left side of the field drastically changed. Randy Winn moved from Left Field to Center field in place of Cammy. Raul Ibanez returned to the Mariners to play left field. He's coming off 2 great seasons in Kansas City, and hopefully he will continue to impress. Carlos Guillen was replaced by Rich Aurillia (bye bye Carlos, I'll miss you!) And finally Jeff Cirillo was traded to San Diego for Wiki Gonzalez. Jeff Cirillo was replaced by Scott Speizio from Anaheim. He is traditionally a 1st/2nd baseman, but will be playing 3rd base for the Mariners this year, so we'll see how he adapts.
This year there will be a catching battle between Dan Wilson and Ben Davis. I think that Bob Melvin wants to try and give Davis more time behind the plate, so that he gets more experience catching. And of course, Ichiro, Bret Boone, Edgar and John Olerud are all coming back for another exciting year. I can't wait for the season to start to see this new and exciting team! |
