Outfield

Let’s talk about the Mariners outfield. The majority of the play time in 2010 was seen by Ichiro in right, Gutierrez in Center, and Michael Saunders in left.

Ichiro put together another great season in right for the Mariners in 2010. He hit .315 with 214 hits (Most in AL) and 42 stolen bases while setting a few milestones. This was his 10^th straight season in which he has recorded over 200 hits and was awarded a Gold Glove. Pete Rose is the only other player to record 10-200 hit seasons but Ichiro did them consecutively. He also tied the AL record for gold gloves by an outfielder.

Ichiro has always been one of the most reliable hitters for the Mariners year after year. Although Ichiro is getting older I don’t expect him to slow down at all. He is still showing great athleticism in all aspects of his game. Ichiro is one of the surest things the Mariners have going into the 2011 season.

Franklin Gutierrez came to Seattle in 2009 via a three team trade involving the Indians and the Mets. Guti put up fantastic numbers in his first season with the Mariners while showing great defense. He hit .283 with 18 homeruns and 16 stolen bases. We saw his numbers drop last year.


Last year he hit .245/.303/.363 with 12 homeruns, 25 stolen bases, and 64 RBI which was the highest among Mariners last season. He is still only 27 and I believe he could put up 20-20 numbers with homeruns and steals as he still develops his bat.



Franklin Gutierrez



Despite having a drop in offensive numbers last year for Guti, the defense certainly was there. He was awarded his first Gold Glove as he showed he is one of the best defensive players in the league. Gutierrez did not make one error last year in a total of 1277.1 innings!

Just like Ichiro, Gutierrez is a lock in center for 2011. He is under contract through 2013 and he has an option for 2014. I think he could be one of the games top center fielders if his bat is back to what it was in 2009.



While right field and center field are all locked up, left field is where it gets crazy. The Mariners have so many options to go.

Last year Michael Saunders and Milton Bradley saw a majority of the playing time.



Michael Saunders put up disappointing numbers but he did show signs of serious pop in his bat. He hit .211 with 10 homeruns and 33 RBI. He still needs to work on his plate discipline as he struck out 84 times in 289 at bats. I think he has the potential of putting up a 20 homerun year. He is still only 24 and I expect to see him platooning in left field this year for the Mariners with him seeing a majority of the play time.

 Milton Bradley had a disappointing year marred by injuries and off the field problems. The Mariners paid him 9 million dollars last year for only 244 at bats in 73 games. That’s $36,885 an at bat and $123,287 a game. In the short time he did play he hit .205 with 8 homeruns and 29 RBI. It would be very hard to trade Bradley because of his contract, disappointing numbers last year, and off the field problems. I think the Mariners will just stick with this project and hope he can get even somewhat close to when he was hitting near .300 with 15-20 homeruns. I think we will see him at DH and LF this year.

Saunders and Bradley appear to be the guys that will see the most time at left field in 2011 but there are some guys that could certainly emerge after a strong spring.

The Mariners have a few young outfielders in their system with a lot of raw talent that could potentially put up great power numbers.

One of these guys is Greg Halman. His natural position is center field but with that blocked by Gutierrez I think we could see him shift to Left Field to platoon with Saunders. He has shown great power, speed, and a great glove but he just hasn’t been able to put everything together. He hit .243 with 33 homeruns and 80 RBI but he still strikes out far too many times. He is still very young at the age of 23 and he still has plenty of time to improve his discipline.

 Similar players to Halman in terms of their raw talent that are also on the 40 man roster are Carlos Peguero and Johermyn Chavez. Peguero, age 23, finished the year at AA where he spent the whole season. He hit .254 with 23 homeruns. Chavez, age 21, spent all of last year in the hitter friendly High A California league. He hit .315 with 32 homeruns and 96 RBI. Let’s hope these numbers continue as he advances his career.

These guys still may be a little too far away to consider them to be a part of the Mariners outfield for 2011. There is still a chance that we could see one of them as a September call-up but out of the three I think Halman is the best bet to see time this year.

We still can’t rule out free agency or a trade to fill left field. Some possible free agents that may appeal are Brad Hawpe and Jose Guillen.

 Hawpe has had a disappointing year and a half going back to 2009 after the all-star break. From 2006-2009 Hawpe hit about .280 with 20 plus homeruns in each year. Last year he hit .245 with 9 homeruns which has greatly hurt his FA value. He would probably come pretty cheap and if things work out he may be back to producing to where he once was. That would be a steal for the Mariners.



There has also been the whole Justin Upton theory. Arizona discussed that Justin Upton is available and the Mariners were indeed interested. Then there was the whole confusion about his no trade list- First the Mariners were not on the list and then they were on the list and now they are not on the list. When it’s all said and done I don’t see the Mariners seriously pursuing Upton. They would have to give up 2 of the big 3 (Ackley, Smoak, Pineda) Arizona also expressed that Ackley will need to be a part of a deal but there is no way the Mariners trade him.

 

The Mariners could also look to acquire Colby Rasmus. There were rumors that he requested a trade and it seems his days in St. Louis are over. He is under contract through the 2014 season with the MLB minimum salary so you would expect a raise to be coming his way if he is traded.



Michael Saunders

Seattle could possibly piece together a big package around Aardsma and Saunders for the talented 24 outfielder. He does play center field but I think they could transition him to left field. I still don’t see the Mariners acquiring him either but we can’t totally rule the possibility out.

It would be great for the Mariners to acquire a for sure bat via free agency or a trade but I’m not sure it will happen. Michael Saunders could be a great MLB outfielder but the chances aren’t the best for that to happen. This is a big year for Saunders and by the looks of it currently he will be the Mariners starting LF on opening day.