Bay Area Baseball

Tyler Walker just missed the cut.

Sp1 - Tim Lincecum, Giants - 08 Cy Young award winner would be the ace of any staff.

Sp2 - Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks - Not doing too bad to have him as your #2

Sp3 - Dan Haren, Diamondbacks - Fine pitcher in his own right, definitely a playoff worthy starter.

Sp4 - Jake Peavy, Padres - Only this low because of injury last year, we’ll see if he sticks in this division.

Sp5 - Chad Billingsley, Dodgers - Narrowly beats out Matt Cain because of better win numbers.

LRP - Matt Cain, Giants

LRP - Aaron Cook, Rockies - Sinker baller could have been fifth starter as well.

MRP - Sergio Rom0, Giants - Strike-thrower who was very strong in 08 debut. Should be a top level setup man forthe Giants’ Brian Wilson

MRP - Heath Bell, Padres - The heir apparent to Trevor Hoffman is a nasty righthander.

SU - Clayton Kershaw, Dodgers - Flamethrower could find himself in the rotation for this team this time next year.

SU - Jon Broxton, Dodgers - Throws in the high 90’s but has had some choke issues.

CP - Brian Wilson, Giants - Two guys throwing 99 sounds pretty good as far as finishing out a game, Wilson’s only weakness are not trusting his fastball enough - hard to believe when the guy can go 99,98,100.

Lineup Projection

C. Jeff Clement/Kenji Johjima - Johjima is terrible but getting paid, Clement should split time and DH.

1b.  Clement - A good way to get him some more at bats and Seattle has no other real first baseman.

2b. Jose Lopez

3b. Adrian Beltre -  a good hitter who should and probably wants to be traded to a winner

ss. Yuniesky Betancourt - an annoyingly terrible playing in MLB The Show 08.

lf. Wladimir Balentien - He was a rising prospect a couple of years ago and should get plenty of at bats this year.

cf. Ichiro Suzuki - Great player seems relegated to spending the rest of his career accumulating hits in meaningless games. Would love to see him traded to a winner to rekindle the fire in him.

rf. Endy Chavez - Part Timer will battle Franklin Gutierrez and Balentien for time.

sp1 - Felix Hernandez - Still so young but has to be getting tired of his team

sp2 - Erik Bedard - Headcase who can’t seem to stay healthy.

sp3 - Jarrod Washburn - Washed up.

sp4 - Brandon Morrow - Should quickly develop into a frontline starter behind 96 mph fastball

sp5 - Carlos Silva - eeew

closer - Aaron Heilman - This guy was terrible in New York but maybe the change of scenery will do him good, he has great stuff.

The loss of Raul Ibanez is a significant one for a team that will likely spend 2009 being an insignificant one. Just a year ago it looked like Seattle was ready to take the next step into becoming an elite franchise. They had JJ Putz, coming off a fantastic season, they had Raul Ibanez, a 100 rbi rock, they had Adam Jones, one of the games very best athletes and a top prospect.

Now all three are gone and the Mariners are coming off a terrible season that saw the players that they traded prosper. George Sherrill made the all star team and Jones became a major league regular for Baltimore. Richie Sexson and Kenji Johjima were so bad that Sexson is still searching for a team and Johjima lost his job. It wasn’t to last however as his replacement Jeff Clement showed that he also was not up to the task.

While Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard have the talent to be two of the best pitchers in baseball, this is still a team going nowhere until they can cleanse their big league roster of dead weight like Jose Vidro and Carlos Silva.