Chone Figgins

Apparently, Chone Figgins is sick of playing for the Seattle Mariners. At the risk of stating the obvious, the feeling is definitively mutual. Does Figgins have a suggestion on how to end this relationship?

The Miami Marlins signed Heath Bell in the offseason as part of their expensive and aggressive push to win in their new stadium for 2012.

If anything has gone over worse than the dancing Marlins statue in center field, it has been Heath Bell's first year in Florida.

Seattle Mariners fans have been tormented over the past few years with incredibly disappointing seasons.  This is in part due to the unfairly high expectations that have been set by analysts.

Other factors include poor performance, inconsistent pitching, injuries, and bad management; but let's put those behind us and examine the successes of 2011.

Everything looked a bit different on Opening Day today as I watched the Mariners after six months of waiting. Maybe it was because of the new ROOT Sports look instead of FSN. Maybe it was all the changes the M’s had made to their team in the offseason.

Maybe it was the fact that we were missing Dave Niehaus and his sweet, sweet voice...I found my eyes misty as I watched the pre-game Opening Day introduction narrated by Niehaus.

Every year the Mariners come out with a new set of five or six commercials in which they feature their most exciting players.  This year we got to meet Larry Bernandez and watch Ichiro hit tic-tacs.  The marketing team always comes up with something pretty clever.

Here's a look at some of the best:

Begin Slideshow

How do you fix a team that has lost 100 games twice in three seasons?

That's the glaring question that general manager Jack Zduriencik and manager Eric Wedge are tasked with in 2011.

After a few nice trades and additions propelled the team a giant step forward in 2009, they took another giant step back in 2010. Though most assumed that '09 team overachieved, the additions to the club last season led those same pundits to believe we'd at least see a similar outcome, perhaps even a better one.

Prior to 2010, Chone Figgins was viewed as a viable third-base option, bringing speed to a position that rarely brings any.  Of course, that was before he signed with the Mariners, who promptly moved him to second base and saw him struggle at the plate. 

However, from 2005-2010 (not including Figgins in ’10 since he played 2B), there were seven seasons where a third baseman posted 25 SB or more:

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.

Pitchers and catchers report in a few weeks, but there are still some big stories simmering on the MLB Hot Stove as we get closer and closer to the start of the 2011 regular season.

There are still some high-profile free agents, such as Vladimir Guerrero to name just one, out there looking for work. As spring training approaches, the time to find a new team is dwindling for some of the key guys left on the open market, so I'll cover all the possibilities for unsigned players expected to latch on somewhere they can make an impact in 2011.

The latest talk out of the rumor mill has Seattle's Chone Figgins headed to Oakland in a deal that involves Kevin Kouzmanoff and may or may not include Toronto as a third team.