Around 11am Friday the Seattle Mariners shocked the world when they signed All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano to a 10-yr, $240 Million Contract. This is a huge step for the Mariners and I am going to give you several reasons why the Mariners will be competing in the AL: West as soon as this year and competing for the World Series within the next 2-3 years!
1. Robinson Cano - The huge 1st step for the Mariners was the signing of Robinson Cano. Bringing in Cano will double the Mariners offense this season and will bring in revenue just because of who he is. In his 9-yr tenure with the Yankees Cano has hit .309 with 204 HR's, 822 RBI's, 375 2B's, and has drawn 350 walks. With this It will help lift the rest of the Mariners team and make them a threat in the AL West.
2. Pitching - As many of you know the Mariners have one of the best pitchers in the league in Felix Hernandez but with the signing of the Robbie Cano I think we could see the Mariners make a package deal of young prospects and possibly Nick Franklin or Dustin Ackley to the Tampa Bay Rays for David Price. Yes, that's right David Price!! WIth doing that we could see the Mariners starting 5 look something like Felix Hernandez, David Price, TaiJuan Walker, Hisashi Iwakuma, and James Paxton. That is an elite pitching line-up that could compete with any team in the AL-West or really even the American League.
3. The Future - If you don't keep up with the Mariners usually you might not know that they have one of the best Farm leagues in all of Baseball. Most of their young prospects are about 2 years from making their Major League/ The Mariners have some of the best young pitchers in TaiJuan Walker, Danny Hultzen, Tyler Pike, and James Paxton. Most Mariner fans seen a brief glimpse of how good Danny Hultzen and Taijuan Walker when the Marineres called them both up to make a couple starts this past September. Walker pitched in 3 ML games where he posted 12 SO's, 4 walks, and a WHIP of 1.00. Paxton was just as impressive when he started 4 games had 21 SO's, 1.50 ERA, and a .92 WHIP. The Mariners also have several good fielding prospects in in D.J Peterson, Gabriel Guerrero, and Julio Morbin. Peterson was the Mariners 1st round draft pick in 2013 and will be going into his first season of professional baseball I expect Peterson to start the season at Hi-A and he should finish this season at AAA no less than AA setting up Peterson to be the starting 3B in 2015. Gabriel Guerrero is the nephew of former MLB player Vladimir Guerrero. Gabriel doesn't have the power that his Uncle had yet but he is still a solid athlete. In 2013 he hit .271, 4 HR's, 23 2B's, and 12 SB's in 125 games. Julio Morbin is one of the most promising prospects in the Mariners organization and the best part of Morbin is he is only 21 years old and Morbin will turn 22 in Feb of 2014. The youngster spent his 2013 season with the Mariners AA affiliate the Jackson Generals where he posted a .295 BA with 7 HR's, 5 3B's 20 2B's, 7 stolen bases and Morbin's fielding is amazing to watch I personally got to see him play this year where he gunned down 2 different players at home from the OF.
With all these things lining up for the Mariners they will continue to build around Cano and King Felix and try to pull more athletes into the Seattle area. With saying this they will for sure will be in the race for the AL: West this year and, we still have 4 months till the season starts and the Winter Meetings start in just 3 days so it will be interesting and makes you wonder what else is in the Mariners front office has up their sleeves.
1. Robinson Cano - The huge 1st step for the Mariners was the signing of Robinson Cano. Bringing in Cano will double the Mariners offense this season and will bring in revenue just because of who he is. In his 9-yr tenure with the Yankees Cano has hit .309 with 204 HR's, 822 RBI's, 375 2B's, and has drawn 350 walks. With this It will help lift the rest of the Mariners team and make them a threat in the AL West.
2. Pitching - As many of you know the Mariners have one of the best pitchers in the league in Felix Hernandez but with the signing of the Robbie Cano I think we could see the Mariners make a package deal of young prospects and possibly Nick Franklin or Dustin Ackley to the Tampa Bay Rays for David Price. Yes, that's right David Price!! WIth doing that we could see the Mariners starting 5 look something like Felix Hernandez, David Price, TaiJuan Walker, Hisashi Iwakuma, and James Paxton. That is an elite pitching line-up that could compete with any team in the AL-West or really even the American League.
3. The Future - If you don't keep up with the Mariners usually you might not know that they have one of the best Farm leagues in all of Baseball. Most of their young prospects are about 2 years from making their Major League/ The Mariners have some of the best young pitchers in TaiJuan Walker, Danny Hultzen, Tyler Pike, and James Paxton. Most Mariner fans seen a brief glimpse of how good Danny Hultzen and Taijuan Walker when the Marineres called them both up to make a couple starts this past September. Walker pitched in 3 ML games where he posted 12 SO's, 4 walks, and a WHIP of 1.00. Paxton was just as impressive when he started 4 games had 21 SO's, 1.50 ERA, and a .92 WHIP. The Mariners also have several good fielding prospects in in D.J Peterson, Gabriel Guerrero, and Julio Morbin. Peterson was the Mariners 1st round draft pick in 2013 and will be going into his first season of professional baseball I expect Peterson to start the season at Hi-A and he should finish this season at AAA no less than AA setting up Peterson to be the starting 3B in 2015. Gabriel Guerrero is the nephew of former MLB player Vladimir Guerrero. Gabriel doesn't have the power that his Uncle had yet but he is still a solid athlete. In 2013 he hit .271, 4 HR's, 23 2B's, and 12 SB's in 125 games. Julio Morbin is one of the most promising prospects in the Mariners organization and the best part of Morbin is he is only 21 years old and Morbin will turn 22 in Feb of 2014. The youngster spent his 2013 season with the Mariners AA affiliate the Jackson Generals where he posted a .295 BA with 7 HR's, 5 3B's 20 2B's, 7 stolen bases and Morbin's fielding is amazing to watch I personally got to see him play this year where he gunned down 2 different players at home from the OF.
With all these things lining up for the Mariners they will continue to build around Cano and King Felix and try to pull more athletes into the Seattle area. With saying this they will for sure will be in the race for the AL: West this year and, we still have 4 months till the season starts and the Winter Meetings start in just 3 days so it will be interesting and makes you wonder what else is in the Mariners front office has up their sleeves.