Seattle

This is an insane column, folks. Why would the Seattle Mariners trade Felix Hernandez before the trade deadline? Why would they trade him ever?

To butcher a line from my good friend (never met the man) Allen Iverson, “Felix? We talkin’ ‘bout King Felix?”

I went to Arizona last year for spring training with a friend who was “in” with the Seattle brass. We were hooked up with game tickets, as well as being able to meet and mingle with the players, etc.

Felix Hernandez in pinstripes is something that a lot of people still see as a possibility, even as early as this season.

A lot has been ballyhooed about the reigning Cy Young's status with the Mariners, his no-trade clause and whether or not the Mariners should consider shipping off their ace for a true king's ransom.

The Mariners were bad in 2010. There's no getting around that. The real worry here, is how do we get better?

We get better with trades. What do you need for trades? Prospects.

We get better with new talent. What is another word for new talent? Prospects.

It's all simple math, really. Here, I'll try to lay out some of those prospects that could serve a purpose in the Mariners getting over that 61-win mark.

If you're into listening to people in the know, such as scouts, coaches, front office guys and other players, you'd be led to believe that Michael Pineda could be pretty special.

Of course, all you have to do is see his mammoth size and ability and you can draw the conclusion all on your own.

There are good reasons for the Mariners to bring Pineda up now, but there appear to be good reasons not to as well.

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162-0. 

I still believe. We all still believe at this point.

As the MLB season draws near, the amount of belief you have in your team may begin to shrink, especially for a team like the Mariners, who only managed 61 wins last year.

But it's spring training, and it's a time for hope, a time for speculation and a time to make predictions that will inevitably be proved wrong.

That's where I come in. Without further ado, here is the lineup I believe the Mariners will roll out on April 1st in Oakland for the first of their 162 wins.

About a month ago, I wrote about some bold predictions for this upcoming Mariners season. In it, I said that Ichiro will win a batting title.

It really isn't an insanely bold prediction since this is something entirely possible in any given season with Ichiro. That doesn't make it something that is a lock, though, either.

I'll expand on that prediction a bit, and give five reasons that show he can still do it.

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.

It's time we all take a breather from worrying about the sports themselves and focus on the players involved. This article is written with the intent of recognizing that there are bigger things that we should be focusing on at this time in the world rather than sports. On 3/11/2011 an unprecedented 8.9 earthquake rocked the country of Japan. It brought devastation, injuries, life loss and widespread panic but that was only the beginning.

Bobbleheads, t-shirts and refrigerator magnets.

Oh, my!

One of the pleasures a fan of a lousy team has to look forward to every season are the cool promotions that sucker you in to handing over a hundred bucks you may not have otherwise.

I've become an expert at this in recent years rooting on the Mariners, unfortunately. I have more dolls than any 31 year old man should, thanks to the annual Ichiro bobbles. Though, they're sucking me in again this season.

Have you ever wondered what goes through your girlfriend's mind when she stops dead in her tracks, her eyes glaze over and she goes into a trance while looking at that ring in the window?

That's what this is for men. Players like this only become freely available once a generation, and we too have paused and slipped into an alternative universe where this shiny jewel could be ours.