Kuzul

2011 is finally here, which means we can forget about the disaster that was 2010.

We know that the Mariners won’t be very good this season. We could focus on that, but I think our time could be better spent looking at where the team is headed.

Prospects Dustin Ackley and Michael Pineda should make their debuts this season. Justin Smoak will try to take a step forward in his age 24 season. Michael Saunders and Adam Moore hope to improve and remind us of why they were interesting prospects. King Felix will hold court and Ichiro will be Ichiro.

There are plenty of things to look forward to in this 2011 campaign, and payroll relief will arrive next season.

Below you’ll find a table of contents with links for your convenience.

Slide 02: Player Profiles

Slide 27: Prospects to Watch

Slide 30: Coaching Staff

Slide 38: Bold Predictions

Slide 43: Division Rivals

Slide 46: Team Projection

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Outside of the Seattle Mariners farm system, both of these players are virtually unknown.

Also, both have taken different routes prior to being put on the Mariners’ active roster list.

Ackley went the college route and played three years for the University of North Carolina.

Not to mention he finished runner-up to Stephen Strasburg for the 2009 Golden Spikes Award (nation’s top amateur baseball player).

As for Pineda, he bounced around through six different minor leagues from 2006 through 2010.

However, currently he ranks as the Mariners’ second best prospect.

The Seattle Mariners look to be on the rise, and 2011 has higher expectations.

Both players have a great amount of potential, but who will be the better Mariner?

There’s only one way to to stir up a discussion.

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Defense may not be the most entertaining part of a baseball game, but it is certainly important.

We tend to only recognize when players make outstanding defensive plays, and fans will always criticize players for making defensive mistakes.

The following slides will show you who is truly the best defensive team in baseball based on a number of factors.

The methodology is as follows: Teams were ranked from No. 1 to 30 based on statistics from the 2010 season. The lower the better.

The categories considered were UZR, stolen bases allowed, Total Zone (TZ) and Gold Gloves. One point was deducted for each Gold Glove winner and two were deducted for each Fielding Bible winner.

This difference is because the Fielding Bible award is based on more quantitative information.

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It’s like hitting the big red reset button.

Spring comes and players report to Arizona. Some have new looks with their hair or physical condition. Some spent the winter hibernating while others never stopped to enjoy the downtime.

You never know what you’ll get from your team heading into a new season. Unfortunately, the 2010 Mariners saw that these surprises aren’t always as sweet as the contents of a box of chocolates.

So we turn the page to 2011 and find out what surprises lie ahead. Here are 10 of those that we might (maybe, possibly, could) see.

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Felix Hernandez took the Cy Young last year after going 13-12 for Seattle. He went 1-9 when the Mariners scored two runs or less, and had the lowest run support of any pitcher in baseball.

Seattle needs some help in the bat department.

In homers, RBI’s, batting average, runs scored, on base, slugging and OPS, the Mariners were the major’s worst offensive team in every department.

The 513 runs that the Mariners managed to score were the lowest in the designated hitter era.

This off season the Mariners added Jack Cust and parted ways with Russell Branyan.

Seattle brought in Branyan back in 2009, and the organization believed that he could be a run producer in the middle of the lineup. He was productive when he played, jacking 31 homers in just 116 games back in 2009; but that was the problem. Branyan often found himself on the disabled list.

The Mariners hope Cust can come in and an anchor an offense that is so very desperate for some power.

Cust and Branyan look very similar on paper, but the Mariners made a major upgrade when they added Jack Cust to their lineup.

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This week, we take a look at the best hitter-pitcher combo in the American League.

I’m one who believes total value wins championships. Not pitching, not defense and not a power bat. If you have the overall balance and more total value, you’re the best.

So, then, it would be important to have both a solid bat (who can play defense, but that’s not factored in here) and an ace on the mound. A door slammer if you will.

There are a few things I valued highly when sorting these rankings. Some of them will be viewed as unconventional to some readers, and that’s fine. I welcome any and all comments below.

For batters, I used an advanced metric called Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+). The link can explain this to you far better than I can. In a nut shell, though, wRC+ is a park and league adjusted stat that combines everything a player does to contribute to runs scored.

Why is this better than conventional stats? It’s not Player A’s fault no one is ever in scoring position when he gets a hit, so RBI is kind of sneaky in that it doesn’t tell the whole story. Same with Player B who always gets stranded at third. His run total isn’t revealing everything.

For pitchers, I went with Fangraph’s version of WAR. Pretty much every way I looked at pitchers, they shook out in the same order. I put very little stock into stats like wins for pitchers, but having to defend that became a lot less likely now that Felix Hernandez won a Cy Young with such a low win total.

For both pitchers and hitters, I made some adjustments for expected regression due to age, luck etc.

Now that we have that stuff out of the way, let’s get to the results.

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From “Mr. Mariner” to “The Bone,” there have been nicknames.

From Arquimedez Pozo’s one plate appearance to Edgar Martinez’s franchise record 8,678, there have been different lengths of stays.

Since 1977, the Mariners have employed hundreds of players. While not every team has a history rich with players like the Yankees, they all have a large pool of players where you’ll find interesting characters who defined the franchise.

The following rankings were determined by a combination of stats, longevity with team and character. Only factors we know were considered.

Without further delay, here is a look at 50 players who wore the trident or compass rose that we’ll never forget.

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With football season coming to a close, many sports fans now turn their attention to the sunny beacon of hope that is spring training.

Even at this early stage of the season, it is always fun to pick who will win the major awards and which teams will be playing in October, but the following goes one further, not only picking those things, but also making some more player-specific predictions for all 30 teams.

So here are my 50 bold predictions for the 2011 season, because when you predict 50 things, you’re bound to be correct on at least a few of them, right?

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You can almost smell it, can’t you?

The warm breezes of spring air gently blowing across green grass.  The intoxicating aroma of dirt mixed with chalk.  You’re starting to hear the distant sounds of wood cracks and leather pops.

It’s sometimes difficult to think of baseball being just around the corner when you’re stuck in the doldrums of a cold, snowy January.  But the college football season is over.  The NFL Playoffs are in full swing and will be a memory before long.  That means that Spring Training will be here before we know it.

Before we get there, though, there are a number of things that still need to be addressed as we look towards the coming season.  Free Agents left to sign.  Trades left to make.  And Hot Stove news to evaluate.

Who’s done enough to hoist that trophy next October?  And who still has to do more?  Get all that information and more, right here, right now, while it’s piping hot.

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Make no mistake about it—there are still some Major League Baseball trades and free agent signings forthcoming, but the Hot Stove has ended. That means it is not too early to release the MLB 2011 offseason power rankings.

See which teams still have some moving and shaking to do to resurrect from the cellar, and see which ones can sit back and wait for something to fall into their lap, secure in the knowledge they have already had a successful offseason.

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