This is an open letter to the Seattle Mariners front office with a realistic list of moves that need to be made whether that be trades, call ups, free agent signings etc.
The reason I have included the word realistic is because this will not include dreams like Ronny Cedeno to the Cardinals for Albert Pujols. No, all of the moves will be realistic.
Now before I start the list of moves that need to be made by the Seattle Mariners in order for them to make the playoffs, the Mariners are going to be buyers and sellers.
Let’s get started.
1) Call up C Jeff Clement, C Adam Moore and OF Michael Saunders
Examination: Calling up Clement, Moore and Saunders gives two things to the Mariners that they continue to need. One is hitting, the Mariners really only have Russell Branyan, Ichiro, Jose Lopez as their main hitters and production in the lineup.
Clement is hitting .281 in class AAA Tacoma, along with 45 RBI's, 78 hits, 22 doubles, 52 runs, 10 HR, and 136 total bases in 278 AB this season.
Moore is hitting .314 in class AAA Tacoma, along with 3 HR, 20 RBI's, 44 hits, 9 doubles, 17 runs, and 62 total bases in 140 AB this season.
Saunders is hitting .303 in class AAA Tacoma, along with 10 HR, 26 RBI's, 11 doubles, 60 hits, 49 runs, and 103 total bases in 198 AB this season.
So calling three up, the three that would go down are C Rob Johnson, SS Josh Wilson and Chris Woodward.
2) Trade Jarrod Washburn (5 million left on his contract)
Examination: A Fox Sports.com article recently said that the Mariners should trade Erik Bedard or Jarrod Washburn, but it concluded with the fact that they will need both to make the playoffs.
That is not the case.
The Mariners can trade Jarrod Washburn to the Phillies, Mets or LA Dodgers, get back one or two players that can help right now and then acquire another pitcher to take his spot.
The Mariners would probably target from the Phillies maybe a Greg Dobbs and Carlos Carrasco package, the Mariners could include a hitter to the Phillies like Wladimir Balentien.
Dobbs would fill the 3B hole and Carrasco would be added into the rotation.
3) Extend the contract of Erik Bedard AND Felix Hernandez.
Examination: This is the most important move that the Mariners are going to NEED to make.
Erik Bedard has done great this season, but is currently sidelined with an ailing shoulder soreness. He is going to throw 60 pitches this Saturday.
Felix is the ace of the staff and has really stepped up this season.
Now some people have said Erik Bedard is injured way to often and doesn’t like Seattle. Ok, well look at how many players the Mariners have on the DL, don’t tell me they don’t like it in Seattle either.
Erik Bedard came onto 950 KJR in Seattle and said "I love it here and if they offered me an extension I would gladly take it."
Bedard is useless on the trade market because teams would say that he's injured too often to be worth top blue chip prospects.
The Mariners need to keep their one-two punch in the rotation together for a long time because they don’t have another top pitcher, let alone a LHP.
Bedard would get around maybe a six-year 50 million dollar contract (8.3 million per) and Felix would get a little bit more. Probably six years 60 million.
I think both players would take six-year contracts because Jack Zduriencik has all the piece in place and the players love their new management and it shows this season.
4) Sign either Pedro Martinez or Ben Sheets to a "rest of the season contract'
The Mariners need a better SP at the back end of the rotation. They will have, if these moves happen a rotation that looks like this.
1) Felix Hernandez
2) Erik Bedard
3) Brandon Morrow
4) Carlos Carrasco
5) Chris Jakubauskas/Garrett Olson or Pedro Martinez/Ben Sheets
I think the Mariners would take Martinez or Sheets and put Olson and Jakubauskas in the bullpen where they have been great. It would only cost about 1-3 million to sign either one and it would help out a lot.
So if the Mariners can make a few of these moves turn into a reality then they can have a great shot at making the playoffs.
Let’s put it all together, what would the team look like if all of these moves happened.
Starting Rotation
1) Felix Hernandez
2) Erik Bedard
3) Brandon Morrow
4) Pedro Martinez
5) Carlos Carrasco
Starting lineup
1) RF Ichiro
2) 1B Russell Branyan
3) 2B Jose Lopez
4) C Adam Moore
5) LF Michael Saunders
6) CF Franklin Gutierrez
7) DH Ken Griffey Jr/Jeff Clement/Mike Sweeney
8) SS Yuniesky Betancourt
9) 3B Greg Dobbs
Bullpen
CL David Aardsma
Jason Vargas
Chris Jakubauskas
Garrett Olson
Sean White
Mark Lowe
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