The Mariners have not been very good for a few seasons now, even thought they probably have the best starting pitcher in the American League West in King Felix. They have been very offensively challenged. Very, very challenged. They finished dead last in batting average in 2012 (.234 team average, the league average was .255), hits, runs batted in, on base percentage and slugging percentage. Ichiro did not have a good season and even wound up getting traded. They have added a few people and released a few people, but they are not all that different from the 2012 Seattle Mariners.
Starting Rotation:
(RHP)- We all know about King Felix. Career 3.22
ERA, two hundred and twenty three strikeouts to just fifty-six walks in 2012, and thirteen wins with a team that struggled winning even with him on the mound. Felix has always been and will be for the foreseeable future a problem when we face him. He has some of the best stuff I have seen and I am always frustrated as a Rangers fan when it is our turn to try and beat him. He is the real deal and it is easy to forget that he is still a fairly young pitcher. I look for Felix to win 12-15 games in 2013.
2. Hisashi Iwakuma (RHP) – 2012 was the first year in the majors for Iwakuma, and he did well. He was 9-5 with a 3.16 ERA, struck out one-hundred and one while walking just forty three. This years spring was not bad to him either, and I expect him to be a pretty good number two starter behind the King. He, like Yu, looked pretty good his first year in the majors and I expect that he will look pretty good in his second year as well. I believe that he will win somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-12 games in the 2013 campaign.
3. Joe Saunders (LHP) – Joe was with the Angels from 2005 through 2010, and we all remember the 2008 and 2009 seasons, his best in the majors. But Joe has bounced around a little since that time, pitching with the Angels, the Diamondbacks, and the Orioles over the past three seasons. In fact, he pitched the Wild Card game for the O’s, which I am sure we all painfully remember. Joe has a career 4.15 ERA and averages around 110 strikeouts per season. In his low thirties, I still think Joe has something left in the tank and I believe that he will be a pretty good pickup for the Mariners. I look for him to win 8-12 games this season, depending on how his offense does and how his defense looks behind him.
4. Brandon Maurer (RHP) – twenty two year old rookie Brandon Maurer had a pretty good spring, going 3-1 with a 0.90 ERA in 3 starts. Now it is time to see how a good spring translates to the bigs during the regular season. Brandon is a highly touted prospect who the organization thinks is ready to be brought up and pitch at this level. Like other young pitchers before him, I believe that he will have some really impressive games, and he will have some bad games. I just hope that the bad games happen against the Texas Rangers. He will struggle, that is just a fact. I see him winning 5 to 8 games in 2013.
5. Blake Beavan (RHP) – Ex Texas Ranger prospect Blake Beavan has not had a good spring, but he has been okay at the major league level for the Mariners so far in his career. In the last two seasons combined, he has sixteen wins in 
forty-one starts. He has an ERA of 4.37 in those two seasons as well. He is going to be a very good pitcher in my opinion, and I am kind of sad that the Rangers had to give him away to rent Cliff Lee (although I am still glad we did rent Cliff Lee). Blake is still going through some growing pains, but I think he can get to 10 or 11 wins this season.
The Bull Pen
The Mariners pen is bringing back a pretty good closer from the 2012 season in Tom Wilhelmsen. Tom had 29 saves in 2012 in 34 opportunities. If the Mariners can get to that point of the game, he is becoming a pretty good close that they can depend on to get the job done most of the time. After Tom, the Mariners have guys like Stephen Pryor (3.91 ERA in twenty-six games in 2012), Charles Furbush (4.51 ERA in 2012, was a starter for a while) and Kameron Loe. That’s right, old Ranger and roommate to one C.J. Wilson Kameron Loe. Loe went to Japan, then Milwaukee, and now he has landed back in the AL West with the Mariners. He averaged a 3.63 ERA over the past three seasons with the Brewers, getting into an average of 65 games per season. Their pen is decent, and the Mariners pitching as a whole is always a little worrisome for their opponents. Their pen should be good, but not great.
Offense and Defense
As mentioned at the top of this piece, the Mariners offense was not good at all last season, but I believe that it will be better this season. I think they will 
have a higher team batting average, hit some more home-runs and play better ball all around than they did in 2012. That being said, I still don’t see them as a top ten offense in the American League. I just see them finishing higher then their last place finish of 2012.
Their defense should be pretty good as well. The actually finished below league average in errors in 2012, and I think that trend will continue. They have some solid gloves around the infield and some speed in the outfield, so I look for them to play in a lot of close games yet again. If you are a Mariners fan, get ready for some stressful baseball in 2013. Your team likes to play them tight.
Record: 80-82
Fourth Place in the AL West
Up Next: LA Angels of Anaheim
