SeattlePI

This season the Washington Nationals shocked the baseball world by doling out an enormous seven-year, $126 million contract for Jayson Werth. The Nationals finished last in the division and, desperate to stay relevant, paid top-tier money to a second-tier star.

With Stephen Strasburg injured and Bryce Harper still years away from the show, GM Mike Rizzo was looking to maintain fan interest in the interim by signing this offseason’s No. 3 prize. But was it really worth it?

Cliff Lee just shocked the baseball world by going back to the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Texas Rangers and New York Yankees were widely thought to have been the front-runners for his services, but they're now left in the dark after his signing.

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Now that the Winter Meetings are over and Carl Crawford and Jayson Werth have signed mammoth contracts, what's next? What other impact free-agents are still out there? 

It looks more likely this winter that there will be significant player movement via trade. In this economic climate it makes sense for smaller market teams to trade players who are looking at large salary increases in the near future in exchange for younger players that they can control for a significant amount of time.

You can never have too much pitching. Pitching wins championships. Momentum is only as good as your next day's starting pitcher. General managers, broadcasters and baseball columnists tell us as much each and every year, and each and every year these beliefs are reinforced when the biggest Free Agent starter on the market is signed to a massive contract that takes him into his late 30s.

Free agency is a fickle beast in that money doesn’t always constitute the quality level of any given player. More often than not, teams fork over a hefty coin simply based on a player’s prior experience and what the agent “sells” the buying team into thinking.

Take for example starting pitcher Cliff Lee. His track record over the past two years arguably suggests he is worth over $100 million—arguably! But what about all those players who are better buys than Lee, isn’t that where the true value rests?

The Seattle Mariners did not have a picture perfect 2010 season. After a surprise 85-77 campaign in 2009, the Mariners lost 101 games last season, matching their 2008 low.

Ace starter Cliff Lee - their main acquisition a year ago - was traded to a division rival, and the Mariners finished the year with the worst record in the American League for the second time in three years.

It is not the World Series that most predicted, or the FOX network (and probably MLB) wanted, but a Texas Rangers vs. San Francisco Giants World Series has a lot of great story lines.

One is the fact that both teams would be looking for their first World Series title in their current city.

The Rangers have never been to the World Series before and neither has their predecessor, the second Washington Senators franchise.

The Seattle Mariners enter the 2010-2011 Major League Baseball offseason in dire need of some runs. The team did not merely take up the rear in American League run scoring: They finished with 100 fewer runs than the Baltimore Orioles, who finished second-to-last. The Mariners pitching staff had a 3.95 ERA, good for the fifth-best in the AL, but because of the dreadful, anemic, monumentally inept offense they put on the field, Seattle won just 61 games.

Seattle Mariners manager Jack Zduriencik announced today that they are shutting down star pitcher Felix Hernandez for the rest of the season.

He’s only missing one start, but come on, Mariners—you can’t be serious.

I understand being cautious with your franchise cornerstone, but Hernandez is in the midst of a tight Cy Young race, and one more win could certainly push him into the lead.

The list of things that went right with the 2010 Seattle Mariners season starts and ends with Felix Hernandez.

King Felix should be the favorite for the Cy Young after a stellar season that includes a 2.31 ERA (second in baseball), a 1.06 WHIP (tied for fourth in baseball), and 227 strikeouts (second in baseball). 

Ichiro Suzuki is pretty good too, recording his 10th straight 200-hit season early last week.

After that, however, the Mariners roster is a collection of misfits, underachievers, over-the-hill veterans, and colossal busts.