Seattle Mariners

Forget the Chinese Zodiac. 2010 was supposed to be the Year of the Mariner. 

As a result of a promising 2009 season and the acquisition of many talented players, there were extremely high expectations for the Seattle Mariners to reach the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

But through the first two and a half months of the season, the Mariners stand 28-41 and 13 games behind division-leading Texas Rangers.

If the Seattle Mariners trade Cliff Lee before the 2010 trading deadline, he has made sure that the Mariners will get top value in return.

Lee has posted an historic start to his 2010 campaign. Over his first 10 starts, Lee has 67 strikeouts and only four walks. Since 1900, no pitcher has posted as many strikeouts with as few walks over his first 10 starts. Additionally, over his last five starts, Lee has put in five quality starts, three wins, two complete games, and a tidy 1.75 ERA.

SEATTLE — Michael Saunders’ three-run homer helped Seattle to a 5-1 win Saturday night at Safeco Field.

The Seattle Mariners cruised through a typically tidy game — getting quality pitching from Felix Hernandez and a minimal amount of offense — when something out of the ordinary broke out.

Nearly a week’s worth of runs by the Mariners.

Cliff Lee just finished perhaps his best start of the season—thus proving once again that he should not be traded.

Lee (5-3), lowered his ERA to 2.55. He allowed no runs and struck out seven Cincinnati Reds batters in a complete game. It was his second complete game of the season.

Well Mariners fans, lets face it, the 2010 season is a bust.

There will be no comeback, no 1995 style legendary run to the post season. No, I'm afraid the last exciting moment for the Mariners will be watching who they dump in the upcoming midseason fire sale.

Cliff Lee is a lock to be traded, and rumor has it that everybody not named Felix or Ichiro is up for grabs. I'd expect a lot of familiar names to be playing in different markets come August.

So, what does that mean for the 2011 squad? What does the future hold for Seattle baseball?

There are rumors that the New York Mets and the Seattle Mariners have been in discussions regarding pitcher Cliff Lee.

Lee obviously will not bring back the package he did the past two times he was traded. He will be a half season rental and has stated that he wants to test the waters of free agency after the year. This is a smart move by Lee as he is likely to get more money on the open market with this winter's weak free agent class.

Seattle Mariners’ manager Don Wakamatsu made a very odd decision at the end of the Mariners’ game on Sunday against the San Diego Padres. With two outs in the ninth, and with the Mariners leading 4-2, Wakamatsu removed starting pitcher Felix Hernandez to bring in David Aardsma to record a one-out save.

Despite the move working out, I didn’t understand the move then, and I don’t understand it now.

From George A. King III :

The Mariners are scouting the Yankees’ organization thoroughly.

They had two scouts recently in Charleston (Single-A). Last night they had two scouts watching Trenton play Reading, one of whom was former Yankees minor league coach Bill Masse.

They are slated to have at least one scout check on SWB shortly.

Last Wednesday, Ken Griffey Jr., one of the greatest baseball players of all time, hung up his cleats, capping a historic career, both on and off the field.

Much has been made of his 13 All-Star nods, 10 Gold Gloves, seven Silver Sluggers, and one American League MVP Award, but lost in the fray of statistics and record books (in which Griffey certainly plays a dominant role), are the little things that made Ken Griffey Jr.’s career so great.