Mariner’s Roster Problems (Good Problems)

This post is not about all the problems the Mariners have.  Yes, they need more hitting.  No one’s denying that.  This post is about what is going to happen when all the players that are unavailable right now come back to the team.  The Mariners have 4 regulars out right now, they are:

• Milton Bradley
• Jack Wilson
• Mark Lowe
• Erik Bedard

All 4 of these players will be on the major league roster once they are healthy/not filled with anger.  All 4 of these guys will be back my late May or early June (we don’t really know with Bedard) so that will bring us some roster changes soon.  Who will leave to make room on the roster?  Well, the easiest way to answer that is to start with who will definitely stay:

C: (2) Rob Johnson/Adam Moore.  Sure, the Mariners might upgrade this position (I hope so) but they will carry 2 catchers no matter what. 

1B: (1) Casey Kotchman.  It’s Kotchman for now at least.  I firmly believe an upgrade will come soon if the Mariners are in contention.

2b: (1) Chone Figgins.

SS:  (2) I’m betting both J. Wilson’s will be on the team when they both get back.  This is a very safe bet.

3B: (1) Jose Lopez.

LF: (1) Milton Bradley.  Yes, there will be another guy here but it’s hard to know that will be at the moment.  Maybe there will be 3 guys here.

CF: (1)  Guti.

RF: (1)  Ichiro.

DH:  (1)  Right now we carry 2.  It needs to be one.  By DH I mean a player that can’t play anywhere else.

That’s 11 players right there.  The M’s will carry 13 or 14 position players.  That leaves Langerhans, Saunders, Tui, Sweeney/Griffey all fighting it out for 2 or 3 spots.  You could throw Hannahan in there but he is really struggling in Tacoma right now.  Now, for the pitchers who will definitely be here:

• Felix
• Cliff Lee
• Doug Fister
• Jason Vargas
• Erik Bedard
• David Aardsma
• Mark Lowe
• Brandon League 
• Ryan Rowland-Smith/Ian Snell

I have a hard time seeing the club keep both Hyphen and Snell in the bullpen.  I really hope that Hyphen stays and Snell is either released or sent to the minors.  That is 9 pitchers.  The Mariners will carry either 11 or 12 pitchers.  That leaves Sean White, Shawn Kelley, Jesus Colome, and Kanekoa Texiera battling it out for 2 or 3 spots.

So, lets have some fun and say the Mariners go with a 6 man bullpen.  I really hope this happens and why shouldn’t it?  Right now, this might be the best starting rotation in the league.  Why waste a spot on someone who’s going to pitch every 2 weeks?  This leaves 2 guys cut.  One needs to be Jesus Colome.  Jesus isn’t bad he’s just not that great and someone I don’t really care about having in the bullpen.  If the Mariner’s have a 12 man bullpen I think Ian Snell and Colome will be the ones to go.  If it’s an 11 man bullpen I hope Sean White is sent down but no one really knows who it would be.  Texeira is probably the least valuable but I don’t think he has any options left.  The team like Sean White, no one else really does.  Kelley is good but he might be the only one with options left.  If any 3 of these guys are gone it’s not a huge loss and don’t be upset no matter who it is.  The Mariners could also stick one on the DL.  Speaking of the DL, that brings us to the offense.

The Mariners need to put Griff-dawg on the DL.  He’s not playing as much lately and Sweeney is starting to hit.  If this happens we could keep Tui, Langerhans, and Saunders on the team (that is with an 11 man bullpen, if a 12 man bullpen happens then Tui could be sent down since you have Josh Wilson as your backup infielder).  This leaves us with these lineups:

Against a RHP:

• Ichiro-RF
• Figgins-2B
• Guti-CF
•  Bradley-DH
• Kotch/Langerhans-1B. If Kotch doesn’t start hitting than why not?
• Lopez-3B
• Langerhans/Saunders- LF
• Johnson/Moore-C
• Wilson-SS

Against a LHP:

• Ichiro-RF
• Figgins-2B
• Guti-CF
• Bradley-LF
• Sweeney-DH
• Lopez-3B
• Kotch-1B
• Johnson/Moore-C
• Wilson-SS

This is probably not what the organization will do and I won’t be too upset when they don’t but I think this is ideal right now.  A bench of Josh Wilson, Tui, Langerhans, and Saunders/Sweeney isn’t great but it’s pretty solid and much better than what we had a month ago.

Sorry, this post is all over the place but hopefully you were able to keep up!  Thanks for reading!

Andrew