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The Seattle Mariners will take the field for the first time since September tomorrow when they play the San Diego Padres in their opening spring training game.

Over the next month, the Mariners will make some key decisions on starting jobs and final roster spots. Brad Miller versus Chris Taylor for the starting shortstop position and Taijuan Walker against Roenis Elias for the No. 5 spot in the rotation will be the two key battles to watch prior to Opening Day.

Win or lose, all four of those players will have a place in Seattle at some point down the line. For others, this spring training could be critical for their future with the club.

Most long-term members of the organization will be safe either in Seattle or the minors after spring training, but a few are potentially on the chopping block.

Willie Bloomquist, UTIL

Bloomquist was brought in last offseason on a two-year, $5.8 million contract to act as Seattle’s primary utility man. Last season, he hit .278/.297/.346 while playing six different positions in 47 games before undergoing microfracture knee surgery in August.

That knee surgery is why Bloomquist is in danger of being cut this spring. While he has indicated he’s ready to play, according to Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune, it’s reasonable to expect that a 37-year-old may not be able to completely recover from a major knee operation.

The Mariners were concerned enough about Bloomquist to add Rickie Weeks on a one-year deal last month. Weeks projects as the club’s primary utility man and has much more upside at the plate than Bloomquist.

Seattle’s bench isn’t exactly set, and there’s certainly a possibility that both Weeks and Bloomquist could be on the final 25-man roster. But Bloomquist‘s role figures to be heavily reduced, and he could be gone if his recovery hits a setback or someone such as minor league utility man Shawn O’Malley flashes in the spring.

Erasmo Ramirez, SP

After a disastrous 5.26 ERA (5.38 FIP) performance last season, Ramirez’s future with the Mariners is in serious jeopardy.

He will compete for the final spot in the rotation in the spring. Given the upside of Walker and what Elias has already shown in the major leagues, it seems unlikely that Ramirez will win that battle.

Ramirez would work fine as minor league starting pitching depth in case of an emergency. However, the 24-year-old is out of options, meaning the Mariners would have to stick him in the bullpen or let him go.

Seattle could decide Ramirez is worth hanging onto and give him a relief role, as the projected bullpen dosen’t really have a long reliever. That would require the Mariners to go to an eight-man bullpen, in which case Carson Smith would be a much better candidate for a roster spot than Ramirez.

Manager Lloyd McClendon said that Ramirez isn’t even being considered for a bullpen position, via Greg Johns of MLB.com: “We’ve got some talented arms in that bullpen. The competition may be even stiffer down there.”

The best option would be to try and trade Ramirez near the end of the spring rather than cut him for nothing. Barring a monster spring training performance or some injuries, Ramirez doesn’t figure to be back in Seattle next season.

Jesus Sucre, C

In a somewhat controversial July, the Mariners released John Buck and committed to Sucre as the primary backup catcher. While Sucre posted a 26 wRC+ in 21 games, Seattle was pleased with his defense and receiving ability.

Still, Sucre will be challenged for his position this spring. His offense is going to be a liability over a full season and just about negates whatever defensive value he has, meaning the Mariners will likely look for an upgrade at some point.

Prospects John Hicks and Tyler Marlette will get looks this spring, but they are unlikely to break camp with the club over Sucre. Hicks in particular is a name to keep an eye on, as he appears to be on the cusp of the majors after an excellent performance at the plate in Double-A and the Arizona Fall League in 2014.

Sucre’s main challenger this spring will be veteran John Baker, who was brought in as a non-roster invitee. Baker has put together successful seasons at the plate in the past and is at least average defensively, although his 39 wRC+ in 68 games last year doesn’t inspire much confidence.

While Sucre would likely head to the minors rather than being cut, his role is in serious danger of being reduced. Either way, look for Hicks to take over a couple of months into the season.

All stats via FanGraphs.com unless otherwise noted. 

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Position players reported to the Seattle Mariners‘ team complex in Peoria, Arizona, on Tuesday, meaning the team is ready to begin organized workouts ahead of its first spring training game on March 4.

Significant news is already coming out of the Mariners camp after pitchers and catchers reported last Friday. Jesus Montero is apparently in the best shape of his life, Danny Hultzen has looked good in throwing sessions and James Paxton will miss a few days as a precaution after falling during an agility drill, all via Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times.

The most important things for the club in spring training are health and a couple of important roster battles. Seattle will be keeping a close eye on Chris Taylor and Brad Miller at shortstop and Taijuan Walker and Roenis Elias in the rotation as they vie for starting jobs.

Even if it doesn’t impact the 2015 team as much as those roster battles, one of the most entertaining things in spring training is getting a chance to watch prospects and non-roster invitees in game action. Top Mariners prospects such as D.J. Peterson and Patrick Kivlehan will be there, but a few under-the-radar players are also ready to impress.

John Hicks, C

Although Mike Zunino has the starting catcher job locked down in Seattle for the foreseeable future, Hicks will be worth keeping an eye on in spring training and the minors this season. He broke out with the bat in a major way in 2014 and appears to be on the cusp of making the majors this season.

After a solid but unspectacular debut in Double-A during 2013, Hicks posted a .296/.362/.418 line with Jackson last season, which earned him a graduation to Triple-A for the final 28 games of the year. Hicks followed that up with a 153 wRC+ performance in 53 plate appearances in the Arizona Fall League.

Hicks has always been regarded as at least a decent defensive catcher who works well with young pitchers and is unusually athletic for his position. The Mariners added Hicks to their 40-man roster, indicating he could soon take over the backup job from Jesus Sucre, a good defensive catcher who can’t hit at all.

Mariners minor league coordinator Chris Gwynn said that Hicks needs to iron out some things on the mental side before he is ready for that and that this spring training will be very important, via Greg Johns of MLB.com:

“I think he probably still needs that grind of playing every day in Triple-A and mentally separating his hitting from his defense at a higher level. He needs to get some confidence in Spring Training that he can play with the guys he sees on TV. I don’t think he’s there yet, but he’s definitely on his way.”

If Hicks hits well in spring training and at least holds his own behind the plate, look for him to start getting more attention as Seattle’s best candidate for the backup catcher position later in the year.

Jordy Lara, 1B

Lara isn’t the prospect with the most upside at Mariners camp and is further away form the majors than someone such as Kivlehan or Hicks. Still, Lara put up impressive numbers at every level he reached in 2014 and will be interesting to watch at spring training.

The 23-year-old produced a .353/.413/.609 line with 22 home runs in 103 games of High-A in 2014. High Desert inflated those numbers a bit, but Lara’s park-adjusted 163 wRC+ ranked second in the California League.

That earned Lara a trip to Double-A for the final 33 games last year, where he backed up his High Desert performance with a .286/.326/.492 line. Gwynn said that Lara has some plus tools and could be figuring it out after a rough start to his professional career, via Danny Wild of MiLB.com:

“He could just be a late bloomer. He played two seasons at Pulaski and finally, when he got his opportunity, he was able to put together a really, really good year. His on-base ability was really good, he has right-handed power and has a really good arm.”

Despite all that, Lara went unprotected and unselected in this year’s Rule 5 draft, indicating what teams think of his value. If Lara performs well in spring training and keeps putting up those kinds of numbers, he will start to rise up Seattle’s prospect rankings.

Besides Lara’s bat, this spring could be critical in terms of his future position. It’s unclear if Lara can stick at first base, and the Mariners said they will give him time in the outfield, according to Bob Dutton of The Tacoma News Tribune:

Ketel Marte, SS

Marte is very young for his level, and he put up some strong numbers during his ascension from Single-A Clinton in the summer of 2013 to Triple-A last September. With a strong performance in spring training and Triple-A to begin the year, Marte can further establish himself as one of Seattle’s top prospects and get some more attention nationally.

After playing just 19 games in High Desert the year before, Marte started 2014 in Double-A and posted a .302/.319/.404 line with 23 stolen bases and plus defense at the shortstop position. Marte impressively moved to Triple-A at the end of the season at the age of 20.

This spring, he’ll get a chance to showcase the skills that make him an interesting prospect moving forward. Marte has two players between him and a starting shortstop job in the majors, but his ability to make contact (strikeout rate of 13.8 percent in Jackson last year) and his plus speed make him an ideal top-of-the-order hitter somewhere down the line.

All stats via FanGraphs.com unless otherwise indicated. 

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In late 2013, shortly after the Detroit Tigers were eliminated from the playoffs in the ALCS, they traded Prince Fielder to the Rangers in exchange for Ian Kinsler.

It was a huge blockbuster at the time, and analysts immediately started predicting how potent the Rangers lineup would be with Fielder and powerful third baseman Adrian Beltre hitting in the middle of the order.

Beltre was so confident that Fielder would thrive in his new environment that he told the media that Fielder would be the 2014 AL MVP.  It seemed good at the time; Fielder would bat third in the order, meaning he would finally have a chance to be protected in the order as opposed to doing the protecting, as he did with Ryan Braun in Milwaukee and Miguel Cabrera in Detroit.

Unfortunately, Fielder was never able to put it together in his new home park.  Instead of taking advantage of hitter-friendly Globe Life Park, Fielder had a hard time hitting the ball in the air.  His 50.4 percent ground-ball rate, via Fangraphs, was a career high, and he hit only .247 with three home runs and 16 RBI in 42 games before having season-ending neck surgery.

However, 2015 is a new season, and Fielder has drastically changed his personal life in a way that should yield positive results on the diamond.  In a very insightful article by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, one can see that Fielder is making a genuine effort to have more fun playing baseball as he did when he was mashing home runs at a high rate early in his career.

If he goes back to hitting like the Prince of old, he could easily return to being one of baseball’s premier power hitters.  He averaged more than 36 homers and 111 RBI from 2007-2013, and last year was the first time he played fewer than 157 games.

And this offseason, Fielder got surgery on his neck very similar to the surgery Peyton Manning received during the 2011 NFL season.  It is anybody’s guess if Fielder will return to being his former stellar self, but he has already been cleared to participate in spring training and says he feels great.

He was especially optimistic at the team’s award dinner on January 23.

“I’ll play a pickup game right now, I’m ready to go,” Fielder said, via the Associated Press (h/t ESPN.com).  “I’m good, I’m 100 percent, whatever it was before is back.”

So all in all, if he says he is completely healthy, his doctor says he’s healthy and he is transforming his attitude on the field, then that’s good enough for me.

Fangraphs‘ The Steamer predicts Fielder to hit .279 with 23 home runs, 83 RBI and a .847 OPS.  I think those projections are a bit conservative, and if you have a chance to get Fielder in your fantasy draft, I would recommend pulling the trigger.

I’m going to go out on a limb and say Fielder hits at least 30 home runs.  The fact that he is changing his attitude toward baseball cannot be overstated, and if he is fully healthy, he should be able to feast on American League pitching all season long.

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It wasn’t long ago that Jurickson Profar looked like the future of the Texas Rangers. 

But now, you suddenly have to wonder if he even has a future with the Rangers.

After a year riddled with bad injury news, the last thing the Rangers needed on the eve of spring training was more bad injury news. But they got some, as they announced Thursday that Profar will need to undergo surgery on his troublesome right shoulder next week.

According to T.R. Sullivan of MLB.com, Rangers general manager Jon Daniels said the club won’t have a timetable for the 21-year-old infielder’s recovery until after his surgery. But every indication is that it’s not going to be a swift recovery, as Profar‘s injury isn’t exactly straightforward:

Indications are this will be no easier to fix than any other major shoulder injury. So after missing all of 2014, there’s a chance Profar will miss all of 2015 too.

Maybe it didn’t have to come to this. As recalled by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News, Profar first reported shoulder discomfort last spring, and the Rangers’ first instinct was to take the ol‘ rest-and-rehab approach. When Profar suffered a setback in September, he chose to stay the course instead of opting for what doctors were recommending: surgery.

Obviously, that didn’t work out.

If there’s a bright side for the Rangers, it’s that Profar wasn’t a major part of their 2015 plans anyway. With Elvis Andrus at shortstop and Rougned Odor at second base, Profar looked destined for either a bench role or regular playing time in the minors.

Beyond 2015, however, things could get complicated.

Now, understand that Profar‘s career hasn’t been completely derailed just yet. Two lost years is a heck of a hurdle for anybody to overcome, but at least he still has youth working for him.

Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports put things in perspective:

By the time Profar is recovered, he’s still going to be of prospect age. And assuming all goes well, he should have the same skills that all the prospect hounds were in love with recently.

You only have to go back two years to find glowing scouting reports of Profar. Per Baseball-Reference.com, Baseball America, MLB.com and Baseball Prospectus all had him rated as the No. 1 prospect in baseball before the 2013 season. So did ESPN.com’s Keith Law, who wrote:

A good defensive shortstop who posts OBPs around .400 and hits 15-20 homers a year is a player around whom you can build your roster, and who should help keep the Rangers in contention for the next decade.

Not surprisingly, the Rangers are taking the stance that Profar‘s surgery could give these talents back rather than take them away for good.

“He has not forgotten his ability or how to play the game,” Daniels told Sullivan. “My expectation if the surgery goes well and the shoulder recovers, he’ll be back and be the same player he was before the injury. As far as the arm strength, we’ll see how it plays out.” 

If Profar does make a full recovery, there will be hope for him yet. He’ll be back to being one of the game’s top young talents, and there are plenty of places for a player like that.

But then again, maybe not. Though Profar could indeed make a full recovery, there is the possibility that he and the Rangers may not be so lucky.

Daniels was right to note that Profar‘s arm strength might not be the same, which would put his future as a shortstop on thin ice. And given what we know about shoulder surgeries, there’s a chance the switch-hitting Profar‘s power might never be the same. Particularly from the left side, where his right shoulder is his lead shoulder. 

One way or another, the Rangers are eventually going to find themselves in a sticky situation with Profar.

Though Profar doesn’t even have 100 major league games under his belt, Grant pointed out that he’ll be eligible for salary arbitration next winter. That means an automatic raise over the league minimum of $500,000. Unless, of course, the Rangers choose to non-tender him.

The only way the Rangers are avoiding that decision is if they trade Profar between now and then. Since that’s most certainly not going to happen, they’ll have to weigh Profar‘s limited track record—he owns a .645 OPS in 341 major league plate appearances—and his two lost years against whatever upside he has left and decide whether they want to keep him around.

That will be an easy decision if they see a fully recovered Profar and a window for him to play at either short or second. And given Andrus’ recent struggles and Odor’s inexperience, either window could conceivably open up in 2015.

But it will be a tougher decision if Andrus re-establishes himself in 2014, while Odor establishes himself at second. And regardless of what they do, it will be an even tougher decision if Profar is still looking like damaged goods.

For now, Daniels is singing the tune you’d expect him to be singing, telling Grant: “We will have to wait and let things play out when they play out. We’ve got to get him healthy, first. Then, he’ll compete for a job based on the context of our team at the time.”

That’s GM-speak for “I have no idea where things are going to go from here,” and it’s not just Daniels who can say as much. The Rangers have watched their golden prospect fall to pieces, and they’re eventually going to have to decide what they want to do with them once they’re glued together.

Again, it bears repeating that Profar isn’t necessarily doomed. He’ll have missed some critical developmental time when all is said and done, but a full comeback is possible. If Josh Hamilton can miss three years and still develop into a star, maybe Profar can too.

But we’ll see. While it’s OK to be optimistic, it can’t be ignored that Profar‘s career and place in the Rangers organization are going to be up in the air for a while. 

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Let’s be honest. None of us will be shocked if a surprise playoff contender emerges in the 2015 MLB season. In this two-wild-card, high-revenue era, it’s the sort of thing that’s bound to happen.

But simply anticipating a surprise contender is easy. With Opening Day still moons away, the hard part at this juncture is narrowing down which team it’s going to be.

Allow me to present my candidate: the Houston Astros.

Getting to them required a process of elimination that started with Baseball Prospectus’ PECOTA projections for 2015, which project 13 teams to finish under .500. Technically, any one of them would be a “surprise” contender. But realistically, there are five exceptions:

• Pittsburgh Pirates: They’ve made the postseason two years in a row.
• Kansas City Royals: They’re the defending American League champs.
• Chicago White Sox: They had a pretty awesome offseason.
• Baltimore Orioles: They won 96 freakin‘ games last year.
• New York Yankees: They’re the New York Yankees.

Take those five away, and you’re left with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds, Arizona Diamondbacks, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins and, lastly, the Astros.

With the exception of the Phillies—who are obviously terrible—each of these teams has at least one merit. The Braves have good pitching. The Brewers and Rockies have good lineups. The Reds have some stars. The Diamondbacks have some power. The Twins were last seen lighting up the scoreboard.

But the Astros? They have the kind of weaknesses you’d expect to see on a team that’s riding four straight 90-loss seasons, but next to those weaknesses is a sneaky-good collection of strengths. And with the American League looking the way it does, they’re in prime position to capitalize on those strengths.

If you’re going to shift from perennial cellar-dweller to contender, it helps to make moves. And though they didn’t get as much press as other active teams, the Astros made quite a few this winter.

They started by hiring A.J. Hinch as their new manager. Then they signed Jed Lowrie, Colby Rasmus, Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek, and traded for Evan Gattis, Luis Valbuena and Hank Conger. That’s a lot of key additions, and the only key departure was Dexter Fowler.

Knowing the Astros finished second to last in the AL in runs last year, it’s no surprise that general manager Jeff Luhnow was mainly focused on acquiring bats. And in doing so, there’s little question he upgraded the team’s lineup.

Here, let’s use OPS+, a park- and league-adjusted version of OPS where 100 denotes average, to compare how the Astros’ new regulars would have compared to their old regulars in 2014:

If the Astros had had their 2015 regulars in 2014, they would have downgraded in going from Fowler to Rasmus. The upgrades at short, third and left, however, would have more than made up for that.

Now, there is an easy complaint to make about the projected Astros lineup, and the best way I can sum it up is like this: MY GOD, THE STRIKEOUTS.

Yup, there are going to be a lot of those. Per FanGraphs, the Astros already had the AL’s highest strikeout rate last year at 23.8 percent. With Rasmus and Gattis joining fellow strikeout merchants George Springer, Jason Castro, Chris Carter and Jon Singleton, that rate is only going to go up.

As ESPN.com’s Buster Olney noted, this is a risky approach to building a lineup. More strikeouts means a smaller margin for error, after all. If you’re going to rack ’em up, you better be able to offset them.

Well, one thing that can help is power. The last three years have produced 12 teams that made the playoffs despite above-average strikeout rates, and 10 finished above average in isolated slugging.

You know what helps a team do well in that latter department? Dingers. That’s what. And if you look at what Houston’s packing…yeah, this is relevant.

Thanks mainly to Carter (37 homers) and Springer (20 homers), the Astros finished fourth in MLB with 163 home runs in 2014. With Rasmus and Gattis (40 combined homers in 2014) joining the mix and Singleton (13 homers in 95 games) poised for his first full season, the 2015 Astros project to have five regulars who could hit at least 20 home runs. Maybe six if Castro rediscovers his 2013 form.

As Luhnow put it to Evan Drellich of the Houston Chronicle, “We also have a very dangerous team with a lot of power threats, and that’s going to be good for our ballpark.”

That second part is just as important as the first. According to ESPN.com’s Park Factors, Minute Maid Park was a top-10 home run park in 2013 and 2014. It is indeed a good place to hit dingers.

The point: You don’t need to stretch your imagination to see the Astros as 2015’s most powerful team.

And though their collective strikeout habit will create its share of problems, don’t overlook how the guys at the top could help balance that out. Lowrie and reigning AL batting champion Jose Altuve were among the tougher hitters to strike out in 2014, so opposing pitchers will have to get through two tough outs before they tangle with the power. That’s bound to create a lot of frustration.

So no, the Astros likely won’t be among the AL’s worst offensive teams again. On the contrary, they should score many runs. And if so, all they’ll need to win games is for their run prevention to do its part.

Unlike with their offense, there’s no major sales pitch required there.

One thing the Astros already had was a solid starting rotation. Their starters actually finished with a better ERA than those of the Detroit Tigers and 12th overall in FanGraphs WAR.

Scott Feldman, Dallas Keuchel and the underrated Collin McHugh were mainly responsible for that, and they’re still around. And though Brett Oberholtzer and new addition Dan Straily don’t look like a strong back end, keep two things in mind: Straily at least has swing-and-miss stuff, and top prospect Mark Appel could be along later in the year to lend his support.

What the Astros didn’t already have is a good bullpen. That’s where Gregerson and Neshek come in, and here’s ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield highlighting how they can help:

They [the Astros] were just 57-11 when leading entering the eighth inning and 61-8 when leading entering the ninth, as the bullpen had the worst ERA in the majors. The average team lost 5.9 games when leading after seven and 3.3 when leading after eight. New relievers Luke Gregerson and Pat Neshek should help here even if they’re just OK.

With Gregerson posting four straight sub-3.00 ERAs and Neshek coming off a sterling 1.87 ERA, the two of them could definitely be better than “just OK.” If they are, the Astros will have a nifty bullpen core featuring the two of them, Chad Qualls and Tony Sipp.

There to help both Houston’s starters and relievers, meanwhile, will be a catching duo unlike any other.

With Conger taking over for Carlos Corporan as Castro’s backup, Astros pitchers can now look forward to throwing to two of baseball’s premier pitch-framers. According to Baseball Prospectus, Castro and Conger both ranked in the top 12 in framing runs saved in 2014.

There’s no guarantee those figures will carry over to 2015, mind you. But if by some chance they do, Castro and Conger will easily be MLB’s top framing duo:

While Castro and Conger should perform magic with their gloves in 2015, the same can’t be said about the rest of the Astros defense. Baseball Prospectus had Houston as the No. 19 team in defensive efficiency in 2014, and drastic improvement wouldn’t seem to be in the cards with Gattis taking over in left and Lowrie taking over at short.

But this isn’t a deal-breaker. With a solid starting rotation, an improved bullpen and two elite framers, the Astros’ run prevention looks fine. And with their dingerific offense there to provide the runs, they have what they need to win their share of ballgames.

If you want a precise number for Houston’s likely win total, it’s probably not 95. That would be outplaying their Baseball Prospectus and FanGraphs projections by about 20 wins, which is asking a lot.

It’s not asking a lot, however, for these Astros to at least finish on the right side of .500 for the first time since 2008. They have enough talent for that. And if that talent meets with enough good luck, they could bounce into the 85-win range.

In this year’s American League, that could be good enough. As I outlined last week, the AL’s power structure has been completely cleared of dominant teams. There are at least 10 real contenders, and arguably more.

In a landscape like that, all you have to do to have a shot at October is stay in it to the bitter end. And though they’ve done so under the radar, the Astros have put together a team that’s more capable of doing that than you might think.

Note: Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted/linked.

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Barry Zito and the Oakland Athletics are reuniting. 

The team announced Zito has been signed to a minor league deal: 

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s Susan Slusser initially reported the news on Monday.

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman added some monetary details: 

Zito commented on the news, via Slusser: “I just want to pitch. I love baseball. I want to enjoy the game…I’ll let my pitching speak for itself—or not speak for itself. Talk is cheap. We’ll see what happens when it happens.”

Zito, a first-round pick by the A’s in 1999, spent seven seasons with the team, compiling 102 wins, a 3.55 ERA and 1.25 WHIP. He won the Cy Young Award in 2002 and was named to three All-Star Games, serving as a crucial piece on some very good Athletics ballclubs. 

Still, expectations will obviously have to be tempered. 

Zito, who failed to live up to a massive contract with the San Francisco Giants, last pitched in 2013, when he went 5-11 with a 5.74 ERA, 1.70 WHIP and a career-worst 11.7 hits allowed per nine innings. 

Perhaps the lefty’s year off will help him enjoy a career revival, but ultimately, it’s going to be difficult for the 36-year-old to crack a spot in the starting rotation. 

Still, it’s a low-risk move for Oakland, and it brings a fan favorite back home. 

Stats courtesy of Baseball-Reference unless noted otherwise.

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Oakland Athletics‘ FanFest is in the books, which means the next big event is the beginning of spring training.

It’s been a hectic offseason, so whether you’ve lived under a rock or paid full attention, you’ll probably need a refresher course regardless.

The team made plenty of additions. That, of course, was to fill the myriad losses. Oakland made some coaching changes. The farm system has been shaken up. All in all, the A’s have changed—big time.

As we head into spring training, let’s take a look at all of those changes and preview the lineup, rotation, bullpen, potential breakout candidates, prospects to watch and likely position battles.

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After an exciting winter, the Seattle Mariners are nearly ready to begin the 2015 season.

Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 20 to officially start spring training. Coming off of an encouraging 87-75 season and bolstered by some key offseason acquisitions, Seattle appears to be in its best shape to compete for the postseason in a number of years.

The Mariners found out just how much of an impact spring training can make prior to last season. Both Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker went down with injuries, leaving Seattle’s projected rotation in a bit of disarray.

Fortunately, the Mariners got a great season out of Chris Young and were able to discover a diamond in the rough in Roenis Elias due to the injuries. With less apparent depth this year, Seattle’s No. 1 priority in the spring is to have everyone healthy for Opening Day.

Seattle won’t have many roster battles to decide, with the majority of the starting lineup and rotation set. Still, those two or three spots up for grabs will be critical for a team on the fringe of contention.

All stats via FanGraphs.com unless otherwise indicated. 

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Rickie Weeks had a rough 2014 season. With a slew of injuries slowing him down and his production declining over the past two years, Weeks found himself behind youngster Scooter Gennett on the depth chart. He’ll have the opportunity to resurrect his career with the Seattle Mariners, however, after signing with the team. 

CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman reported the details of the deal:

Weeks appeared in 121 games this past season, hitting .274 with eight home runs and 29 RBI. Because he failed to reach 600 plate appearances this season or a combined 1,200 plate appearances in the past two years, his $11.5 million option for this season didn’t vest and the Milwaukee Brewers declined to pick it up, clearly putting their eggs in Gennett‘s basket at second base.

It was a rough end to an excellent nine-year stretch in Milwaukee for Weeks, who made the All-Star team in 2011 and was a major part of the 2008 and 2011 playoff teams. It won’t be easy leaving the only club he’s played for, especially as a 32-year-old with a diminishing skill set. 

Weeks has the opportunity for a second chance in Seattle but may have to make certain concessions, like playing a new position from time to time in order to contribute. The fear for both Weeks and his new club will be that his best baseball is simply behind him. Weeks has plenty to prove, in other words.

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It appears that $125 million man Josh Hamilton could be headed for another rough season in 2015.

Limited by injuries to just 89 games last season, the Los Angeles Angels slugger is now scheduled for surgery this Wednesday to repair the AC joint in that same right shoulder.

That according to tweets from the team’s official Twitter account:

The immediate question that jumps to mind is why this was not taken care of immediately following the season, considering that same right shoulder cost him 11 games in September. But let’s instead focus on what this means for Hamilton going forward.

The former No. 1 overall pick in the 1999 draft joined the Angels in the offseason leading up to the 2013 season, signing a five-year, $125 million deal as the top bat on the market.

That came just a year after the Angels shelled out $240 million over 10 years to sign Albert Pujols and another $77.5 million over five years for starter C.J. Wilson.

However, that high-priced trio has only managed to produce one disappointing American League Division Series exit in three years, and at least for Hamilton, it looks like 2015 could bring more disappointment.

The 33-year-old outfielder has fallen a long way from his time with the Texas Rangers, when he was one of the most productive run producers in the league and an All-Star in five straight seasons.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports may have put it best when news broke that Hamilton was headed for surgery:

Hamilton was entering his age-32 season when he joined the Angels, so there was plenty of reason to think he had at least a few more prime seasons in the tank.

However, there were also red flags of the injuries to come, as he topped 140 games in just two of his five seasons in Texas and averaged just 129 games per year.

Injuries were not the issue during his first season with the Angels, as he played 151 games. It was a simple lack of production.

In fact, his statistical drop-off from 2012 to 2013, when you consider that he had an identical number of plate appearances (636), is staggering.

Despite those struggles, a bounce-back season seemed to be in the works this past year when he opened the season hitting .444/.545/.741 through his first eight games.

A thumb injury quickly put a stop to that, though, and he missed 48 games after undergoing surgery to repair a torn UCL.

He returned on June 3 and managed to stay relatively healthy until his early September shoulder injury, but he would hit just .247/.310/.386 with eight home runs in 308 at-bats over that 80-game span.

With the thumb injury behind him and a full offseason to prepare for 2015, Hamilton had high hopes for a big turnaround.

Just over a week ago, Alden Gonzalez of MLB.com tweeted about his expectations for Hamilton’s upcoming campaign:

Now a more realistic goal seems to be simply getting healthy and staying on the field, and that’s not exactly the sort of thing a team wants to be shooting for when it’s set to pay a player $23 million.

To the Angels’ credit, they were proactive this winter despite a roster that looked more or less complete heading into the offseason.

One of the pieces they picked up was outfielder Matt Joyce in a trade with the Tampa Bay Rays, and he gives the team a player capable of stepping into an expanded role and producing.

When Hamilton went down last year, the team was forced to go with a combination of Grant Green, Collin Cowgill, J.B. Shuck and Raul Ibanez in left field, with none of them providing much in the way of consistency.

Now they at least won’t have to mix and match on a daily basis, though they will likely still opt for a platoon, considering Joyce hit just .147 with a .408 OPS against left-handed pitching last year.

With a late start to the regular season, Hamilton will be playing catch-up once he debuts, and that does not bode well for a player coming off of back-to-back disappointing seasons.

At this point the Angels are still on the hook for $83 million over the next three years, so they will give him every chance to turn things around.

However, it’s hard not to think this latest setback is just the start of another disappointing season for a player who has fallen a long way from his days in Texas.

All stats courtesy of Baseball Reference.com, unless otherwise noted.

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