Seattle Post

Well another offseason is coming to an end, and Mariners Gm Ray Meade feels that he has built a club that can try and win the World Series for the second straight year. "I think no doubt our biggest strength is our pitching. All of our 1-4 starters in the rotation can arguably be number 1 guys on many other teams." "Our bullpen has also inproved with the addition of Takashi Saito." The mariners seemed to have transitioned to a youth movement this offseason, seeing many of their veteran guys go and bringing young talent in. Every player in their starting lineup is not older than 30 except Juan Pierre, who will try and replace Ichiro this year as the M's Leadoff man. Also, Meade is in the final stages of a 5 year contract with Zack Greinke to fill out the number 5 spot in their rotation. Lets take a look at exactly what changes the Mariners have made.

WHOS IN:
James Loney
Mark Teahen
Andre Eithier
Juan Pierre
Takashi Saito
Ryan Raburn
Andy Marte

WHOS OUT:
Kenji Johjima
Adrian Beltre
Jose Guillen
Jose Vidro
Ichiro Suzuki
Ken Griffey Jr.
Elijah Dukes

Their projected lineup is as follows:


1. CF Juan Pierre
2. 2B Howie Kendrick
3. 1B James Loney
4. LF Jason Bay
5. 3B Mark Teahen
6. RF Andre Eithier
7. SS Yuniesky Betancourt
8. DH Dmitri Young
9. C Jeff Clement

Porjected Rotation:

1. Felix Hernandez
2. Erik Bedard
3. Tim Hudson
4. Dontrelle Willis
5. Zack Grienke

--GM Ray Meade has also stated he would like to get a power bat in the middle of lineup but if not, he's content with what he has.