Seattle Mariners

With the MLB playoffs set to begin, there is a subtle difference in the air compared to start of any other postseason. In the NHL, fans can potentially look forward to a great Canadians/Bruins series that is not only exciting, but has a historical kick to it. Likewise basketball fans always have the chance to see if the Suns can finally get past the Spurs and football fans love seeing the rivalry of the Eagles Vs the City of Philadelphia when the Eagles so much as get tackled for a loss.

Continue reading "The Ups and Downs of the MLB Playoffs"

its and on-base percentage, and he hasn't come close to matching those numbers since.  But the Seattle Mariners took the bait, signing him to a five-year, $64 million contract.

    Do these contracts ever work out?  Sure, they sometimes do.  But let the buyer beware, because more often than not players who have career years in their contract years don't live up to their salary.

Continue reading "Pelfrey Goes The Distance"

    The Mets' woes with the bases loaded finally ended Tuesday night when Carlos Delgado doubled off the wall in left to score two and put New York ahead 4-3 in the eighth.  Prior to Delgado's two-bagger, the Mets had just three hits in their last 42 at-bats with the bases loaded.  Then, after an intentional walk to Fernando Tatis, Damion Easley came up with a bases-loaded hit of his own, singling into left center to score two more runs.  Ramon Castro topped the five-run inning off with an RBI double down the line in left, and the Mets completed the comeback from a 3-2 eighth inning deficit.

Continue reading "Delgado, Easley Spark Comeback Against Braves"

Two bits of news from former Seattle players, one surprising, but the other one, not so much.

Easy one first: the Yankees designated Richie Sexson for assignment yesterday, in a roster shakeup that included demoting starting center fielder Melky Cabrera. Sexson had hit .250 in 28 at-bats, with a grand slam and six RBis. Ever the all-or-nothing guy, Sexson had one or two big hits, and a whole lot of hits and weak groundouts. Yankees GM Brian Cashman was gracious about Sexson, saying he was an everyday player, not a bunch guy, and that was the problem.

Continue reading "Ex-Mariner News"

To add to yesterday's post, neither Ibanez nor Washburn was dealt after they were claimed on waivers. According to the Post-Intelligencer, the Twins put in claims on both, and their waiver number was higher for Jarrod, while the Tigers claim was highest for Ibanez.

Continue reading "Waiver Update"

According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, teams have claimed both Jarrod Washburn and Raul Ibanez, contradicting earlier reports I'd heard that Washburn had passed through waivers. This happened on Tuesday, meaning that Seattle has until today to work out a trade with the claiming team or simply allow the players to be claimed. If the Mariners pull them back from waivers, it means that if Seattle tries to waive them again, it's irrevocable, and the claiming team can simply take the players (and their salaries) without compensation to Seattle.

Continue reading "More Waiver News"

Even if it ended badly for the Mariners, and for Willie Bloomquist in particular, last night's game against first-place Tampa Bay showed that the Mariners still have some fight in them. Though they blew a four-run lead on errors by Jose Lopez and failed to drive home a run in what should have been an easy game-winning situation, Seattle provided some excitement and refused to give up, even with an utterly depleted bench that had them giving up the DH in order to have enough position players. And we got another glimpse of the Mariners' future, at least on the mound.

Continue reading "Rollicking Ride Against the Rays"

The Mariners announced today that Jarrod Washburn has cleared waivers, meaning he can now be freely traded to whatever team wants to take on his massive salary. There's no real surprise here, as it's doubtful any other team would want to take on his bloated $9.85M salary. So the failure of Seattle to deal him before the deadline isn't so awful, except that his value seemed to have peaked at that point for a couple of reasons: (1) he'd pitched really well to that point (4 ER in 19.2 IP in the three starts before the deadline, (2) his value diminishes with each day that passes, since that means less time he can spend with a contending team (e.g., the Yanks) starved for starters, which leads to (3) the team in question being more likely to go in another direction.

Continue reading "Washburn is ready to move"

Well, someone in the front office has been reading my blog (as well as those of other Mariners fans), since Seattle's housecleaning continues with the long-awaited designation of Jose Vidro for assignment. This gives the Ms 10 days to trade, release, or assign Vidro to the minors. Since they have no plans to bring him back up, it's doubtful they'd put him in Tacoma (and even more doubtful that he'd accept the assignment). It's even more doubtful that any team would take him on, at least at his current salary, anyway.

Continue reading "Jose Vidro, No Mas"

    The Mets limped home from a disappointing 1-5 road trip with a slew of injuries.  Marlon Anderson and John Maine were put on the DL over the weekend and Billy Wagner joined them today with a strained left forearm.  Ramon Castro is still shaken up from the bizzare home plate collision on Saturday, and is listed as day-to-day with a sore ankle.  Rather than make any external moves, the Mets have turned to their farm system for help.  Although for the time being Jerry Manuel says he will use a bullpen by committee in the ninth inning, Eddie Kunz, the heir apparent to Billy Wagner, is on the major league squad and may get some looks in the closer role over the next two weeks while Wagner is out.  Daniel Murphy, who was a third baseman in the minors but requested some work at second base and the outfield--a smart move, considering David Wright isn't going anywhere anytime soon--is getting the start in left field tonight agains the Padres.  The Mets really love the way he hits, so he could be a fixture at the major league level for the remainder of the season and perhaps into the future.  And rumor has it that the Mets are considering calling up Jon Niese to make a few starts in Maine's stead.

Continue reading "Mets Look to Bounce Back at Home"

In last night's game, we got to see why Raul Ibanez is a valuable commodity, even to a flailing team like the Mariners, and beyond even the good-but-not-great numbers he puts up. During the seventh inning, when Ibanez had a chance to take a swipe at history, with his team already ahead three runs in a game amid season that's lost virtually any meaning, he put his team first.

Continue reading "Raul and the Blowout"

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

Continue reading "Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros"

A few trades of note for Mariners fans--the ones made, the ones not made, and the ones made by other teams. Here are the Top 3 Seattle Deadline Stories:

1. Rhodes is now a Marlin. This was the guy everyone figured the Mariners would deal, and it came through. It makes complete sense, as the Mariners don't need Rhodes down the stretch, for a handful of lefty specialist innings, while the Marlins do. In return, Seattle gets Gaby Hernandez, a once-well-regarded starter who's scuffled at Albuquerque (where every pitcher scuffles), and he'll get a fresh start with Tacoma and the Mariners. He's nobody special, but Rhodes is an aging lefty in a one-year deal, so Lee Pelekoudas got who he could. Nice job, Lee.

Continue reading "Mariners Deadline Analysis"

    For the third time in a week, the Mets showed some moxie last night in winning convincingly the day after a disconcerting loss.  First, it was John Maine's solid performance against the Phillies the day after the bullpen blew Johan Santana's eight-inning gem.  Then, it was Santana going the distance to conserve the worn out bullpen the day after the five-hour, 14-inning loss to St. Louis.  And last night Oliver Perez fought through six innings, allowing just the one first-inning run, after the bullpen blew an eighth-inning lead on Monday.  David Wright gave the Mets an early lead with an RBI double in the first and Carlos Beltran put New York ahead with a rare two-out RBI single in the sixth.  Carlos Delgado jacked a two-run homer in the eighth for insurance, and Heilman pitched two scoreless innings for the hold, before Billy Wagner tossed a perfect ninth for his 27th save.

Continue reading "Heilman Holds Perez's Lead, Delgado Puts it Away"

    The trade deadline is approaching and the Mets still have some needs to fill.  It's still unknown whether Ryan Church will be able to come back and play everyday, so a corner outfielder is certainly a priority.  On Monday Jerry Manuel named Fernando Tatis the everyday left fielder, but his red-hot month may not, and probably will not, last.  Even if Tatis remains decent as a starter, the uncertainty surrounding Church's health calls for a stronger bench.  Endy Chavez is an excellent defensive replacement outfielder, but when he plays everyday he eventually gets exposed offensively, so he is really more suited to a role as a fourth outfielder.  Casey Blake would have been a good fit because he can play both corner outfield positions as well as first base, but he has already been traded to the Dodgers.

Continue reading "Trade Market: Will The Mets Be Involved?"

    Monday night in Miami was an all-around bad experience for the Mets.  John Maine cruised into the fifth inning with a 2-0 lead, and looked just fine to the naked eye.  But after Maine missed with a 1-0 fastball to John Baker, Jerry Manuel, Dan Warthen and Ray Ramirez, the trainer, jogged out to the mound to consult with Maine.  He appeared to say he was fine, and stayed in the game for the time being.  But after his next pitch to Baker left the yard for a solo home run, and his 1-2 pitch to Marlins pitcher Ricky Nolasco chased Endy Chavez to the warning track to make the catch, Manuel and Warthen decided they had seen enough, and pulled Maine in favor of Carlos Muniz.  Maine is listed as day-to-day with shoulder stiffness, and Warthen said he was most concerned that Maine might develop further injuries if he tried to compensate in his delivery to protect his shoulder.  In all likelihood Maine will miss a start in order to rest his shoulder, and hopefully pitch again next week.  After the game Manuel was adamant that Maine will not pitch through any pain.

Continue reading "Mets Fried By Fish, Maine Leaves Early"

In what is largely perceived as his final start in a Mariners' uniform, Jarrod Washburn threw his longest and best start of the year, logging 8 innings of one-run ball, giving up just four hits and walking two against two strikeouts. His only blemish was a solo homer to John McDonald, the Toronto shortstop's first of the year.

Continue reading "Washburn's Farewell"

    Neither the good nor the bad version of Oliver Perez showed up on Thursday at Shea--the spectacular version came to play against the Phillies.  Perez struck out 12 batters over 7.2 innings, including six whiffs of Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, as he out-dueled Jamie Moyer, who pitched a gem of his own.  Carlos Delgado came through with the big hit, a two-run double off the previously unhittable J.C. Romero, in the eighth, and Billy Wagner nailed down the win in the ninth with his 26th save.  Fittingly, Jimmy Rollins, who did not start because he arrived an hour late to the ballpark, made the final out of the game.  After Tuesday night's ninth inning meltdown, the bullpen tossed 4.1 scoreless innings, including back-to-back saves by Wagner, and the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia, despite losing the first game of the series.  New York is now 9-4 against the Phillies this season.

Continue reading "Mets Continue to Roll Behind Delgado, ..."

As the July 31 deadline approaches, one of the most likely trade candidates mentioned in Seattle-New York trade rumors has been Jarrod Washburn. The Ms would love to shed his massively overpaid salary, while the Yanks need a starter who can eat innings, even if he does it in mediocre, Jarrod-esque fashion. That Wishy-Washburn has been good of late (since a May 21 2IP, 9ER meltdown, he's only given up more than 2 ER in two of his ten starts) makes him seem all the more attractive to the pinstripes.

Continue reading "Washburn to the Yanks?"

s have been rumored to be interested in a power-hitting third baseman, such as Adrian Beltre of the Seattle Mariners, but those talks have supposedly cooled off.  Minnesota is looking to move a starting pitcher in any potential deal, in order to make room for Francisco Liriano, who is healthy at long last, and tearing up Triple-A.  The Yankees have been beleaguered by a plethora of injuries, and are in the market for an outfield bat, a starting pitcher and a left-handed reliever.  It is doubtful that they will trade Ian Kennedy or Phil Hughes in any potential deal, considering they chose not to move either young arm in return for Johan Santana in the winter.

Continue reading "Johan Santana Takes the Hill With ..."

   After splitting the four-game series in Cincinnati, the Mets are back in a first-place tie with the Phillies for the lead in the NL East.  Lately it hasn't only been Jose Reyes, David Wright and Carlos Beltran leading the offense; Carlos Delgado has been on fire recently and came through with the clutch, game-tying hit in the seventh inning on Sunday, and the Mets' bench players have been carrying the torch as well.  The "irregulars," (as Mets television broadcaster Gary Cohen puts it) such as Fernando Tatis, Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Ramon Castro, have been igniting the Mets' offense for the past three weeks.  But two new players with anything but household names were just as instrumental to the Mets' success in Cincy as anyone getting paid upwards of $12 million per year:  Argenis Reyes and Robinson Cancel.

Continue reading "Makeshift Mets Back In First, But ..."

The AP is reporting the obvious, that Jose Vidro will lose time to the recently promoted Bryan LaHair at the DH spot, making me wonder (for the eleventy-millionth time) why he’s using up a roster spot at all. A backup DH? That’s about as useful as a left-handed monkey wrench, and about as valuable, too.

Continue reading "No Way, Jose"

As I expected, Richie Sexson was signed by the one team in major league baseball who signs every single castoff, just in case he might turn it around in pinstripes: the Yankees. The temptation of that short porch in Yankee Stadium right field, combined with Sexson’s power potential, was too tempting to the team that claimed Jose Canseco off waivers in 2000, just to be sure he didn’t go to a division rival.

Continue reading "Sexson a Yankee; LaHair a Mariner"

One of the All-Star Break traditions: Reassessing our predictions from the first half of the season. Some of mine have changed, some have stayed the same—and some were just damn wrong. Living in the West, I will take the contrarian position and roll from west to east in my choices.

Continue reading "Second Half Predictions"

    Mike Pelfrey pitched another gem Sunday night, throwing eight shutout innings in the Mets' 7-0 victory over the Rockies, and won his sixth straight start.  New York cruised through their six-game homestand, outscoring the Giants and Rockies 31-4 with four shutouts to boot.  They now stand just a half game behind the Phillies for first place in the NL East.

Continue reading "Big Pelf and the Mets Take Nine Into ..."

For my loyal readers, sorry for the hiatus, as I was out of town at a trade show.

So much to cover from while I was gone, including the two big NL Central pitcher trades (you might be surprised as to which one I think will have the bigger impact) and Tampa Bay suddenly falling into the tank (are Rays fans scared yet?). But I want to start with something near and dear to Mariners fans, especially those on this blog.

Continue reading "Sexson Becomes Ex-Son"

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Continue reading "Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea"

and land a spot in the Padres' rotation.

2)  Raul Ibanez, LF, Seattle Mariners:  This year has been a disaster for Seattle, and they will most likely go into rebuilding mode this off-season.  Amidst all the Erik Bedard trade rumors, the 36-year old left fielder might be the first player to go.  Ibanez has been a legitimate run producer over the last six years, averaging 17 home runs and 95 RBI over that span, and he is a .284 career hitter.  Like Giles, he isn't much of a fielder, but he has proven he can play the outfield well enough in the large confines of Safeco Field.  The main problem with Ibanez is that he is a left handed batter so it would be tricky to bat him next to Delgado in the order since he isn't much of a number two hitter, but a plus is that he can play first base, so he can spell Delgado for an occasional day off.  The Mariners are trying to get younger, so they would probably need a similar combination of Evans and Muniz, or possibly infielder Argenis Reyes in return for Ibanez, but I'm not sure that package would be enticing enough for interim GM Lee Pelekoudas.

Continue reading "Pelfrey and the Mets Finally Make It Easy"

"It's not a game, it's an arms race" - Kanye West and Fallout Boy belt this hook over and over again on a recent hit with that same title. In that context, Kanye and the Fallout Boy guys are referring to the battle of musical artists not only surviving in a competitive worldwide market, but one with hindrances around every music sharing online ripping program. While that's an issue for another day and another blogsite, it's relevance is crucial when talking about the current state of Major League baseball and the National Basketball Association.

Continue reading "From the NBA to MLB, the Arms Race Has Begun"

Don’t look now, but the Mariners have suddenly won two series in a row, sparked by Jeff Clement’s two-dinger performance last night. They’ve got a huge hike just to get back to respectability and avoid the specter of being the first team with a $100M+ payroll to lose 100 games—hey, I’d take $1M to lose a game, wouldn’t you? —but the signs are there. Some of them, anyway.

Continue reading "Clement and M’s Show Some Life"

But perhaps this is: the Seattle Mariners have won three in a row, won two of their last three series, and are now a mere half-game behind the Padres and last year’s NL World Series-representative Rockies for the worst record in baseball. The last shall be first, the first shall be last, and the Mariners may not suck as much as we thought they did.

Continue reading "Hold On To Your Hats"

Apropos of yesterday’s blog about what a last-place team should be doing, let’s look at the Toronto Blue Jays, in a similar situation as the Mariners, if not nearly as dire. In last place in one of baseball’s toughest divisions, the 38-43 Jays canned manager John Gibbons on June 20, replacing him with veteran Cito Gaston.

Continue reading "The New Jays"

I'm going to deliberately provoke the ire of my easily ire-provokable friend/reader Drano by using horse racing once again as a blog segue (blogue? Have I created a word here?) For those who aren't privy to our emails--which is anyone outside of the NSA, I suppose--Drano doesn't like that I've mentioned a failed Triple Crown in horse racing while utterly failing to mention the victory of his team in the exciting Stanley Cup that happened a few weeks back. His team . . . the Stanley Cup . . . darned if I can't remember the name of his team or the sport he follows so avidly . . . but anyway, on to horse racing and baseball . . .

Continue reading "Rebuild!"

Well, if there was ever a reason to just hang up the cleats and call it a season, it happened to the Ms today and last night. After a brilliant performance where he hit the first HR by a Mariners pitcher, and the first grand slam for an AL pitcher since Steve Dunning of Cleveland in 1971 (that was before the DH was introduced).

Continue reading "More Holes in the S.S. Mariner"

The Yankees and Red Sox are rivals in many ways—traditional and league rivals for years, they now regularly battle for free agents, as they might do with Indians trade bait C.C. Sabathia. And now both teams have some pretty crazy pitchers in their minor league systems, both of whom have a good shot at making the bigs in the next few years.

Continue reading "Two Kooky Pitchers"

The dominoes continue to fall in Seattle, as John McLaren was handed his walking papers yesterday, three days after GM Bavasi tried on his own pink slip. In some ways, this was handled better than the Mets’ embarrassing and insulting firing of Willie Randolph. At least McLaren wasn’t dangled for weeks before a midnight assassination, and there were suitably kind words for McLaren upon his dismissal, with new GM Lee Pelekoudas obviously distressed about having to fire his longtime friend and colleague.

Continue reading "Down Goes McLaren"

My attention is divided today, between the two coasts, and between moves major and minor.

Beginning in the East and the earlier time zone is appropriate to the biggest story: the firing of Willie Randolph. Say what you will about Willie, he’s been a classy guy in both New York teams (he earlier served as a Yankees’ bench coach) and deserved better. That Minaya reportedly declined to fire him on Father’s Day, only to axe Randolph in the middle of the night on Monday, replaces a reprehensible act with a cowardly one.

Continue reading "Two Brief Bits"

Along with the rest of the Mariner community on this site (and Seattle fans across the NW) I've been howling for the head of Bill Bavasi, and that chorus of angry villagers only became more raucous as the Ms have stumbled to the worst record in baseball this season, and the siege on Castle Frankenstein had begun. Miraculously, Mariner management saw the light (or perhaps the flickering torches) and fired Bavasi yesterday, a move that began joyous celebrations across the tri-state area.

Continue reading "Buh-Bye Bavasi"

Though they don't seem as devastating as the Soriano/Pujols loss I wrote about yesterday, two key players have gone down on two other teams today. Cleveland put Victor Martinez on the DL, while Seattle placed its once-reliable closer JJ Putz back on the DL, both with elbow injuries. And unlike Soriano's freak fracture, there were hints at undiagnosed problems with both Martinez and Putz.

Continue reading "Two Big Injuries, Day Two"

To Junior, it must have felt like giving birth after a long and complex labor. Hitting his 600th home run last night was probably the most overpredicted and overdue statistical milepost in baseball history. We've been waiting for this to happen for at least ten years, ever since he put up back-to-back 56 homer seasons for Seattle in '97 and '98. When that season wrapped up, he had 350 career longballs at age 28, becoming the fastest player in history to hit that many, a feat he repeated when he cracked his 400th.

Continue reading "Junior's 600"

Well, it was all over ESPN last night, and the Seattle bloggers and sportswriters are buzzing about it: the normally cool-headed John McLaren lost his temper in yesterday's news conference. His Mariners are 18 games below .500 in spite of a $120M payroll, and they play like a team of Little Leaguers, or at least overpaid Little Leaguers who are just waiting for their candy bar and Gatorade at the end of the game. McLaren railed about how tired he was of losing, how tired his players are of playing hard but getting nothing for their efforts, and of how something was going to have to change--and soon.

Continue reading "McLaren Blows His Top"

Facing the second batter in last night's game against the Giants, Randy Johnson tied Roger Clemens at #2 on the all-time strikeouts list. With the third batter, he gained sole possession of the second spot, a place he should hold for a very, very long time.

Continue reading "The Big Unit Climbs Over Clemens"

With the strangehold that FOX has on Saturday afternoon baseball (see my earlier rant on this), I get the distinct pleasure today of watching the 23-31 Tigers muddle around the diamond with the 20-35 Mariners, a matchup with all the excitement of watching two toddlers tussle in the sandbox over a broken Tonka truck. I'm sure this looked like a good game during the preseason FOX schedule-making, but now it's barely enough to hold my interest.

Continue reading "Weak Saturday Baseball: Mariners vs. Tigers"

It's been difficult to blog about the Ms this season, as I hate to add my voice (and bad-fan juju) to all the naysayers out there bemoaning Seattle's poor start (if one can call nearly two months of 14-games-under-.500, 11.5-games-out-of-first baseball a "start"). I'm not ready to write their season off just yet, nor am I calling for the head of John McLaren, but they have had me worried, scouring the dank bottomland of the weak AL East like a scrawny catfish on his last . . . er, fins.

Continue reading "Bedard is Back!"

One of the talked-about items in two of my fave teams (Reds and Mariners) is the possible return of Griffey to the place where he got his start. Seattle's been scouting him, and there's a bit of a buzz, but it's not much more than idle talk at this point, but it's an interesting feel-good possibility that could help out both teams. Let's look at the pros and cons and possible stumbling blocks:

Continue reading "Junior Back in Seattle?"

Living in Portland, I've adopted the Mariners as my team. They're generally fun to root for, play at a good park, and succeed just enough for fans to feel like This Year Might Be The Year. But is it?

Continue reading "Season Prospects for the Mariners"

Hard to know what to make of the flurry of predictions regarding the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox and all of the other teams which make up Major League Baseball. The predictions right here on this site are sort of mixed. You get a self-proclaimed Boston hater (all sports) predicting that the Sox won't even make the playoffs, which even on the face of it seems a little ridiculous. Even I wouldn't count the Yankees out. This guy figures the Yankees to win it all, beating the Indians, Mariners and then the D-Backs. Yeah, well good luck with that.

Continue reading "Prognostications, the Boston Red ..."

Given their track records, that remains a pretty big if.

Seattle Mariners

Will this be Felix Hernandez’ breakout season?

Seattle ended up a surprise contender last season despite a pitching staff that ranked 10th in the American League in both ERA and strikeouts. To fix that, they went out and traded for Erik Bedard who could team with Felix Hernandez to be the best front end of a rotation in the entire Major Leagues this season. This is all contingent upon Hernandez taking the next step in his development as a pitcher.

Continue reading "MLB 2008 Season Preview: American League West"