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Ah, yes. Chone Figgins. The man that was supposed to tag team with Ichiro to form a 1-2 punch in the lineup that would drive managers and pitchers batty.

Things didn’t go so hot for Figgins. Which, under normal circumstances, wouldn’t make him a guy you’d give up on. However, consider almost ever other Mariners player had a poor season and the team now looks to rebuild, Figgins and his big contract are no longer a good fit.

Before we jump to any expectations of a trade happening, we must first realize that the odds of a deal happening are low. At least until (if) Figgins rebuilds some of his value. Currently, his trade value couldn’t be any lower. If he gets off to a hot start, though, another team may become interested.

Moving back to third base will help get him part of the way there. Getting on, stealing bases and scoring runs will be the other needed ingredients. Then, of course, there needs to be another team with a need.

Here’s a look at five potential deals to get this done.

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The Mariners continued their expected bargain shopping today by signing infielder Adam Kennedy to a minor league deal with an invite to spring training.

Kennedy, who turned 35 today, is coming off a poor season with the Nationals where he hit .249/.327/.327 with only three home runs. Although, he’s only one season removed from his last productive season, where in 2009 he hit .289/.348/.48 with 11 homers.

He does provide above-average defense at second base, so even when the stick isn’t working, he’s not a complete black hole on the roster.

It’s difficult to gauge how a player will progress as his career reaches the mid 30’s. Many players start to regress, as Kennedy did in 2010, but there’s also a chance that last season was an off year.

This is a no-risk move with some upside, of course.

If Kennedy doesn’t show anything in spring training, the Mariners can dump him for nothing. If Dustin Ackley doesn’t break camp with the team, though, and Jack Wilson gets hurt again, Kennedy is a nice low-cost veteran to plug the second base hole allowing Brendan Ryan slides over to shortstop.

This also means there is no situation that would see either Chone Figgins playing second base, or Josh Wilson playing every day. Both of those things are a net plus for the team.

It’s never a bad thing to have a log jam when it costs you nothing.

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Word came out today from Kirby Arnold of The Herald up in Everett that the Mariners have asked Chone Figgins to slide back over to third base.

Figgins has agreed to do so. Not that he’d really have a choice, and it’s silly to think he wouldn’t want to.

Though he bounced around during his days with the Angels, third base is quite obviously Figgins’ best position.

In 2008 and 2009, Figgins posted a UZR of 10.6 and 16.6 in each year respectively. For the Mariners in 2010, Figgins’ UZR at second base was a meager -12.3. While UZR is a dish best served after two years of aging, it’s quite obvious he’s better suited to the hot corner.

This now opens the door for newly acquired Brendan Ryan to start the season at second base until Dustin Ackley gets the call. At that point, Ryan can slide over to shortstop if—when, Jack Wilson gets hurt.

Who knows if this will lead to Figgins being more comfortable and thus a return of some of his offensive value? It surely can’t hurt, though.

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Los Angeles Angels owner Arte Moreno could probably be accused of a lot of things, but one of them will never be loyalty to his fan base. In the seven plus years that Arte Moreno has owned the Angels, he has steadfastly committed himself that the baseball experience at Angels Stadium remains affordable for fans, and that, with the exception of the 5-year, $90 million contract given to center fielder Torii Hunter, the team remains committed to exercising fiduciary responsibility.

However, Angels fans have increasingly voiced their obvious frustration at the Los Angeles Angels lackluster performance at the free agency negotiating tables in recent years. Mark Teixeira, John Lackey, Chone Figgins, C.C. Sabathia, Carl Crawford. All have slipped through the Angels fingertips in the past three years. And Angels fans are not happy to say the least.

Yesterday, Dec. 17, the Angels made what was termed a “significant offer” to free agent third baseman Adrian Beltre, who enjoyed an outstanding season with the Boston Red Sox last year, hitting .321 with 28 HR and 102 RBI, while continuing to play his usual stellar defense at the corner bag.

However, Arte Moreno told the LA Times that this offer was final and would not be increased. Take it or leave it.

Reports have come out that indicate Adrian Beltre is looking for a six year offer, somewhere in the neighborhood of $90 million. While Adrian Beltre would love to play closer to home, at this point in his career coming off an excellent season, it would be foolhardy to think he would take a hometown discount.

While it may be admirable that Halos owner Arte Moreno remains committed to financial responsibility in support of his team fan base, he also needs to understand and listen to his fans concerning the product on the field. Sure, signing Hisanori Takahashi and Scott Downs were nice moves to shore up a sagging bullpen, but now comes the time to address the power-lacking lineup, and signing Beltre would go a long way toward appeasing the disgruntled fan base and addressing power concerns.

I’m all for the stance that Arte Moreno appears to be taken. He told the LA Times that he’s not the Boston Red Sox or the New York Yankees.

However on the other, he is the steward of a team that has only missed the playoffs twice in the last seven seasons, and fans have come to expect excellence from their team on the field.

Moreno is going to have to pony up, whether he likes it or not.

For updates on breaking sports news, follow Doug on Twitter @Sports_A_Holic.

You can also read articles Doug has written about celebrity athletes, charity news and breaking celebrity stories at Green Celebrity Network.

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When the Seattle Mariners signed Chone Figgins they expected that he’d be an offensive upgrade over Adrian Beltre. Little did the fans know that he’d play second base instead of third base, where he’d made a home in the past two seasons with the Angels.

Figgins’ fielding aside, he’s had a significant drop off in production since becoming a Mariner. And while expectations have been of high-level production have made Figgins a frequent scapegoat, he seems to have taken on some of the fan disappointment that should be aimed at Jose Lopez, who has taken Beltre’s place at the hot corner. The truth is that Figgins has been about equal to the 2009 version of Beltre with the bat, though his transition to second base hasn’t been one to be characterized as successful.

Figgins is a player that relies pretty heavily on balls in play turning into hits. He doesn’t frequently hit the ball with much authority, with only 32 home runs in almost 4,700 plate appearances, and only 220 doubles and triples, several of which were assuredly helped by his foot speed rather than his bat speed. While Figgins .305 BABIP comes in at an above-league-average mark in 2010, he’s actually taken a pretty significant hit on what may be considered his true talent, a career BABIP of .337.

What is Figgins doing wrong?

Analyzing Figgins BABIP goes beyond just the number. 2006 was the only other season in which Figgins posted a BABIP under .333, and unsurprisingly, that was also the only other year where he hit less than 22 percent line drives. Line drives rate is kind of a convoluted stat, as scorer bias could play a role in the rate, and it’s not always steady from year to year. However, a generally accepted truth is that while line drives may be subjective, what is considered a line drive by most score keepers is also very likely to be a hit.

Figgins career BABIP on line drives, which he hits at a 23.2 percent rate for his career, is .725. In 2010, Figgins has doubled down on decreased rate, reaching base on less line drives, while hitting them at a lower rate, with a BABIP on line drives of .695.

Figgins has hit 82 line drives this year. If he’d hit 23.2 percent line drives instead of 20, he’d have 95 line drives. If he’d performed up to his career BABIP average on line drives he’d have accrued 12 more hits this season. That’d equate to a .271 batting average, rather than the .249 he’s presently sporting.

As a guy without a lot of power and a propensity for contact, one may assume that Figgins reaches base on a lot of infield hits. The reality is that Figgins’ 18 infield hits this season mark his highest output since 2004. That said, his BABIP is only three points lower than his career average on ground balls. On fly balls however, his BABIP is about 20 points lower.

Teams could be playing Figgins differently in Safeco, where his already low-level threat of clearing the outfielders may be reduced by unfriendly hitting conditions, but more likely is that he’s simply been unlucky on fly balls this year.

So if we believe that Figgins is simply unlucky in 2010, something around a .270/.350/.330 line seem more realistic in 2011.

The most interesting part of Figgins’ offseason however, is whether or not he’ll ultimately make the switch back to third base. Jose Lopez appears likely to be non-tendered, and the Mariners have Dustin Ackley waiting to take over at second base. Ackley is a walk machine with great speed and developing power. His strikeout rates are incredible in the minors considering that he walks so frequently, and his .165 ISO in AAA is a promising power rate.

Figgins posted two straight 17+ UZR/150 seasons at third base. According to UZR, he was MLB’s second-best fielding third baseman, behind only Evan Longoria (and ahead of Beltre) from 2008-09. Presuming that he hasn’t forgotten how to play the position, a shift back to third may prove highly beneficial for the Mariners, where even half that defensive production would basically give Figgins an extra 2 WAR without including his batting numbers. If he regresses to the mean at the plate the team could easily be looking at a four win player where they’re presently boasting a replacement level player in Jose Lopez. If Ackley is worth a win (which is a modest, realistic expectation), it would be a total 5 WAR gain.

Figgins is set to make $26 million in the next three seasons, and could vest his $9 million option with 600 plate appearances in 2013. The Mariners may have had the opportunity to trade him at the deadline, but declined to. That opportunity likely won’t exist this offseason.

Lopez seems likely to be non-tendered in the offseason. While his transition to third base went very well defensively (6.4 UZR/150), his year at the plate has gone equally poorly. Lopez has been criticized for being a dead-pull hitter, impatient at the plate, and lacking the power that his weight gain should have fostered. His ISO is at an all-time low (.087), while his walk rate remains below four percent, and he’s seen less pitches per plate appearance than ever before (3.41). He’s shown little willingness to work on his game, and it’s possible that the book is finally out on Lopez. The pull hitter has seen more curveballs and changeups this season than any other, and is performing at the worst rate of his career on each pitch. He’s seeing more pitches outside the zone this season than ever before, but also swinging at the highest percentage of pitches outside the zone he ever has.

And it is very likely that if Chone Figgins were to hit the free agent market this season as a third baseman, he’d be the best third baseman on the market apart from the productive reincarnation of Adrian Beltre.

The Mariners may have bought high on a volatile asset in the soft-hitting Figgins, but if his luck returns in 2011, and he returns to third base, the Mariners should see a positive shift in total production.

Other Fixing the 2011 Mariners profiles

Ted Lilly

Ramon Hernandez

Michael Saunders

Colby Rasmus

Adam Dunn

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Now that the Los Angeles Angels have snapped a three-game losing streak at the hands of the Seattle Mariners last night, they’ll look to capture their first series win since mid-August tonight at Safeco Field.

Tonight’s pitching matchup: Angels, Dan Haren (2-4, 4.02 ERA) vs. Mariners Felix Hernandez (10-10, 2.47 ERA)

What to expect: Haren will be looking for his second straight victory as a member of the Angels. During last Wednesday’s victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, Haren gave up one run on three hits, striking out eight in six innings. This will be Haren’s first start against Seattle since 2007 while a member of the Oakland Athletics.

Hernandez, second in the American League with 192 strikeouts, has been a victim of poor run support throughout the season. King Felix has won three of his last four starts, but is 0-2 with 5.12 ERA in three starts vs. Los Angeles thus far this season.

Hitting matchups: Angels LF Bobby Abreu has had great success versus Hernandez in his career, hitting .367 with one homer. RF Torii Hunter has also had moderate success, hitting .314 off Hernandez in his career.

For the Mariners, very few hitters have seen much of Haren. RF Ichiro Suzuki is only hitting .268 versus Haren in his career, a full .063 below his career batting average. 2B/3B Chone Figgins has had little success against the Angels overall since leaving the team after eight seasons, hitting just .163 versus his former team.

Angels Notes: Angels’ catcher Mike Napoli was pulled back from waivers by the Angels yesterday afternoon. The Angels were unable to finalize a deal with the Boston Red Sox, who had claimed Napoli off the waiver wire, by the time Monday’s deadline for an agreement had passed. Napoli will now remain a Halo until the end of the season.

New Angels closer Fernando Rodney, elevated to the role after the trade of Brian Fuentes to the Minnesota Twins, picked up his first save since the promotion last night. It was far from a clean outing, as he walked the leadoff hitter, Casey Kotchman, and later allowed him to score on a wild pitch.

Angels DH/LF Hideki Matsui continued his torrid pace in the month of August, ripping a two-run homer off Mariners starter David Pauley in the sixth inning of last night’s victory. Matsui is now hitting .313 for the month of August, after a dismal July in which he hit just. .228.

Although minor league callups for September 1 have not been announced yet by the Angels, one would expect that Triple-A 1B Mark Trubmo would certainly get the call. The twenty-four year old Trumbo has been on a tear for the Salt Lake Bees since the All-Star break, hitting .362 with 13 HR’s and 43 RBI’s. Trumbo has shown much more plate discipline as well, with a respectable 27/45 walk-to-strikeout ratio, a dramatic improvement over his 28/73 pre All-Star numbers.

You can follow Doug on Twitter, @desertdesperado.

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The MLB “Non-Waiver” Trade Deadline has come and gone but another has yet to arrive, the August 31st Waiver Trade Deadline. This simply means teams can still trade players but with the requirement of placing their players on the waiver wire, which is pretty secret in MLB and often if a contract is too hefty a player goes free.

Last year the Chicago White Sox shocked the baseball world by claiming outfielder Alex Rios from the Toronto Blue Jays and his expensive contract, in the neighborhood of $50 million left on it and getting him with no trade whatsoever. This scenario is unlikely to happen this time around but I can tell you that there are a handful of players out there likely to clear waivers for postseason hungry teams needing a final piece in order to win and here they are…..

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After a season that disappointed most Mariners fans, it seems as if more disappointment is coming.

Yesterday during the game against the Boston Red Sox, Mike Cameron hit a line-drive against the left field wall. Michael Saunders picked it up threw it in to second where second baseman Chone Figgins didn’t even attempt to pick it up and let it roll by, having Cameron make the double into a triple.

The play seemed like a lackadaisical attempt at anything baseball, so when Figgins came into the dugout manager Don Wakamatsu had a word with him.

Figgins did not take too kindly to it and things got physical.

Third baseman Jose Lopez had to keep Wakamatsu and Figgins apart, then first baseman Russell Branyan got into it. It seemed as if he was angry with Figgins, too and was yelling at him, and then Lopez started yelling back.

Everyone was separated with even starting pitcher Jason Vargas helping, which is never a good thing. It seemed as if this frustration had been building since the beginning of the season and finally exploded.

After a offseason that was filled with great trades and signings, it seemed as if the Mariners might have a chance to win the AL West this season, especially after a surprise season in 2009 where they finished eight games above .500.

Cliff Lee came in as the second man in the rotation behind Felix Hernandez who was Cy Young-worthy last year so the Mariners looked stacked at pitching, but, of course, that didn’t work out very well.

The pitching worked well most of the time but our offense came in struggling more than anything.

The pitching is ninth in the MLB with a 3.90 ERA and a MLB-high 10 complete games, but the offense is last in RBI’s and batting average. No other team in the MLB with a ERA lower than 3.90 has a record lower than .500 and even some teams with a higher ERA are above .500—such as the division-rival Los Angeles Angels with an ERA of 4.42.

So now that our season is over it seems like the worst is here.

Not true.

In the offseason general manager Jack Zduriencik will have a lot to decide with this team. Will Don Wakamatsu be the manager after a season that was full of high hopes, and especially after this later incident, can he control this team? What kind of moves will be made to better this team?

I know the Justin Smoak trade was made recently and will better this team in the future but it more than Smoak will be needed to improve this team.

Zduriencik needs to find bigger and better bats to compliment this pitching, such as maybe Prince Fielder as a DH.

The pitching looks fine with Jason Vargas having a career year and Doug Fister maturing. Of course something will have to be done with Ryan Rowland-Smith and the fifth pitcher of the rotation.

Maybe they can bring up Michael Pineda who has been having tremendous success in the minors. Also the bullpen needs some help but maybe putting Rowland-Smith in there would help.

Overall this team needs another makeover just after a makeover that was supposed to help last season. This team needs a lot of changes and a lot of decisions will be made in the offseason and hopefully these decisions actually work out this time.

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Although cloudless days continue to appear in Seattle’s summer sky, locals are still advised to carry umbrellas… because Jack Zduriencik is quickly plummeting downwards.

Just months after being hailed as a hero in the Emerald City for his roster overhaul filled with top-flight players, the Mariners general manager is now being scrutinized for not meeting his team’s needs in the off-season. Much of the blame is being pointed towards Zduriencik for the lost 2010 season, which carried in high expectations but has completely faltered.

However, the atrocious 35-53 record should be linked to the under-performance of the players, especially those acquired last winter, not the man that signed them.

The All-Star Break is the perfect time to evaluate how the season has gone thus far. Similar to the end of first semester, it’s time to handout report cards and grade the newest Mariners based on their first-half play.

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In the final game of June, the Mariners came out swinging against Javier Vasquez and the New York Yankees. Putting up seven runs for the second consecutive games against the Yankees, and finishing out the month with a 14-13 record. Including wins in seven out of the last 10.

Over those 10 games, The Mariners have averaged 4.3 runs per game. Thanks in large part to rookie Michael Saunders, who has cracked four home runs, and driven in 10 over that span, and a resurgent Chone Figgins who has stolen 10 bases, and helped the Mariners create runs.

With Cliff Lee being the best pitcher in the American League, Felix looking like his dominant self again, and the reacquisition of slugging first baseman Russell Branyan, things are beginning to look up for the once struggling Mariners.

I’m here to warn you, however: do not expect that magic from the 1995 season to show itself again 15 years later.

I would love nothing more than to see the Mariners, the team I love, make another historic run at the postseason. But sadly the pit the Mariners dug for themselves with that awful May will, in the end, keep them from making that surge toward glory.

Despite the fact that the Mariners have shown great improvement over the last two weeks, Cliff Lee is still as good as gone. While this sucks for the fan, it would be more damaging in the long run for them to hold on to the former Cy Young winner just to finish out the season as a .500 club.

With Lee, the Mariners have a chip that will allow them to bring in guys who can help the club next year.

If they keep Lee, they still don’t make the playoffs, they’ll get two draft picks when he goes and signs with another club—and he will sign with another club—and the team ends up worse off than when they started just to finish off a disappointing season as an average ball club.

I know playing the rest of the season with Felix, Lee, and a healthy Eric Bedard in the rotation is an exciting scenario, and there is always that eternal hope that lives in the fans mind that says, with a little luck, they can pull this off, but we also have to think about the future.

I’m glad to see the team I love playing better ball, but I fear it’s just too little, too late.

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