Russell Branyan

The San Francisco Giants' eternal search for a masher to pair with slugger Pablo Sandoval would end if they landed Russell Branyan, who is one of the best free agent first basemen on the market. 

Branyan has played on six teams over the last four years, bouncing from San Diego to Tampa Bay to Philly to St. Louis, back to San Diego, to Milwaukee, and then to Seattle. 

The Mariners are fast. T3 fast.

Team officials announced that they had come to terms with free agent Chone Figgins.

With the announcement, the Mariners have added a dangerous one-two at the top of their lineup with Ichiro and Figgins.

In addition to obtaining Franklin Gutierrez last year and bringing up Michael Saunders, the Mariners have speed.

Throw Ichiro into the mix, and you have four guys who will burn up the base-paths.

Throw in some power and the awesomeness of Ken Griffey, Jr., and you've got yourself a contending ball club.

According to mlbtraderumors.com , the Seattle Mariners signed SS Jack Wilson to a two-year, $10 million contract. Wilson is known as best defensive shortstop in the MLB as he posted best UZR among all shortstops, but his 2010 option was bit expensive($8.4 million) so the Mariners were trying to rework his contract.

This deal gives the Mariners a decent everyday shortstop as they played Yuniesky Betancourt on the opening day last year. The Mariners' already impressive defence looks even better with this move.

As is the case every season, the official announcement of the rosters for the All-Star game has created some controversy.

The fans and players votes have been tallied and some glaring omissions need to be mentioned.

So without further adieu, let's take a look at the five biggest All-Star game snubs of 2009.

Every season, there are free agents who are expected to be superstars for the team they sign with.

Then there are those free agents who are less publicized, but still are able to make a significant impact on their new team. Here are some of the top underrated free agent signings of 2009.

Orlando Hudson/Los Angeles Dodgers

No doubt about it, the A.L. West is one of the worst divisions in baseball.  Good thing for Mariners fans: The M's are 2.5 games back in the division, trailing only the Rangers and Angels through the first half of the season. 

Fans cannot look at just the negatives surrounding the ball club. With the negatives there are also many positives following the Mariners into the second half of the season.

One of the many things going the Mariners way is their starting pitching.

In the first game I have attended since moving back to Seattle, the Mariners rallied from a three-run deficit to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-3.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit a two-run pinch hit homerun in eighth inning to tie the game and Rob Johnson had the go-ahead RBI as the Mariners earned a victory in their MLB-leading 27th one-run game.

The Diamondbacks drew first blood, scoring two runs in the third inning after a costly throwing error by Mariners SP Jarrod Washburn. A Miguel Montero solo homerun in the fourth inning gave the Diamondbacks an early 3-0 lead.

I had no idea that a series win in Anaheim could be this depressing. Nevermind the fact that the Mariners should have completed a three game sweep though, let's look at exactly how they were able to take two out of three from their division rivals, the Angels.

Game One: 5-2 Mariners

After scoring three early runs, the M's took this game pretty easily. Jason Vargas showed once again that he's got the poise to be a Major League starter, and the Mariners offense was able to tally a respectable five runs against the formidable John Lackey.

<!--StartFragment-->

The Mariners started off the 2009 red-hot and gave us all a glimmer of false playoff hope when they were a top the AL West at one point with a 15-10 record. We seemed to forget this was a team that was supposed to be in a full-blown rebuilding mode.

The Mariners coughed up a sweep. David Aardsma had his worst outing of the year, blew his first save and exhibited the same shaky control he’s had all year, sans a dominating fastball. The bullpen and the pitching staff as a whole has been better than this all season. No need to worry.

The Mariners received an uncharacteristic power surge from Ichiro. The leadoff hitter had four hits, including two doubles and a home run. But he won’t do this often, this is unconventional, and goes against every trend in Ichiro’s career. No reason for hope.