The future of this club

[JosephC]

Let's take a look at players we have on our roster right now who we could expect to see on our roster in several years so we can get an idea of where our holes are and where they are filled...

Pitchers first:
We've got Jason Vargas until 2014, so he has a huge future in Seattle.
We've got Doug Fister who has at least 2015, so he's got a huge future here.
We've got Felix Hernandez who has a contract through 2014.
Should Ryan Rowland Smith or Garrett Olson get it together, we've got them until 2014.

Thus we are pretty darn set in pitching... All we need is one or two more pitchers and we have Pineda on the way. This raises the question whether we should resign Cliff Lee and be set for years in the pitching spectrum...

In the infield we have a little less certainty for sure.
Kotchman is a free agent in 2012, so he is not the future whatsoever if that isn't already obvious enough.
Jack Wilson is gone in 2012, so he is not the future here whatsoever either.
Chone Figgins IS the future since he has a contract through 2013 and an option for 14.
Lopez has a contract next year but is considered as good as gone in my books. He does not fit the Mariners team.

I am not sure on Josh Wilson's status. Can someone help me out with that?

We've got a hole wider than a cannon ball hole at the catcher position. No one is the future there IMHO.

Ichiro is the future through 2012, but after that I wouldn't be surprised to see him hit the road so we are gonna need a replacement for that fairly soon.
Milton Bradley is not the future whatsoever.
Franklin Gutierrez is the future. Nothing wrong with that :).

Relievers we've got
Brandon League until 2013, so he's got a couple years ahead of him with the Mariners.
David Aardsma until 2013, so we've got a couple years with him as well.
Chad Cordero is probably not the future
Sean White is probably not the future
Mark Lowe until 2013, so he's the future provided his back gets better.


So what holes are pretty obvious?
I'd say catcher is #1 priority,
1st base (BIG BAT NEEDED!) #2 priority,
2nd base, #3 priority (here's why: Move Chone back to 3rd base. I'd say Ackley is our future at 2nd base)
Left Field #4 priority (I just don't see "The Condor" filling this spot)
Shortstop #5 priority (Jack Wilson will retire after this contract, perhaps Josh Wilson?)

Our Pitching is the ace in the hole right now and for a long time folks.

[TellItToTheDA]

A couple of thoughts:

At catcher, I don't think we've seen anywhere near enough of Adam Moore to write him off. There's a reason he was ranked 3rd in the Mariners Top 10 Prospects by Baseball America. But at the same time, I think the most likely destination for Cliff Lee is Minnesota, and of course any deal with the Twins would net us their top catching prospect, Wilson Ramos. If we make that deal, I think we'll be set at catcher for quite some time.

In left field, Michael Saunders has shown that he has some pop in that bat of his (6 homers this season), but that .208 average is disconcerting. If we wanted to spend some dough this offseason, Jonny Gomes, Carl Crawford, and David DeJesus will all be free agents (with Gomes by far being the most realistic option).

At pitcher, I wouldn't leave out Mauricio Robles, the starter we received in the Jarrod Washburn deal. The 21 year old Venezuelan turned some heads during spring training, and has looked good in his first season at Double-A (6-4, 4.61 ERA, .243 OBA). Also, Dan Cortes, from the Yuniesky Betancourt deal, has looked good in his last three starts with West Tennessee. There's definitely talent throughout the system.

[Igoe4Mariners]

Pitching wise we are set like you guys stated.

As for next year I think the biggest holes we need to fill is left field, first, and DH. Also what do we about the situation at shortstop. Josh has looked great with the stick and doesn't look to be slowing down any. He shows great patience at the plate unlike Jack and gives us more consistent at-bats overall.

Also, relegate Kotchman to pinch hitting/late game defensive replacement duty. The guy has lost all of his hitting ability since he came to the Northwest.

I think we can get by with our catching situation for another year because I don't see us getting rid of Rob Johnson anytime soon since the pitchers seem to love him. As long as we fill the DH and first baseman holes with decent bats we could compete next season. I say we give Saunders the full-time job in left to start the season and see what he can do throughout the year. As for Milton Bradley, I really don't know what to about him. He seems to be a very streaky hitter that can carry the team on his back when he is on, but can also look like a fool at the plate when he's off. See how he plays out for the rest of the season and he could be a possible DH candidate headed into next season.