To all the Mariners fans who are waiting until next year, I have some disturbing words.
This mess won’t be fixed in a year.
Unless the Mariners dive into the free-agent pool with Yankee-like spending, there are too many holes for anyone to believe they aren’t at least two years from fielding a playoff-caliber team.
The Mariners will go into the offseason without proven players at shortstop, third base, designated hitter, closer, setup relief and one spot in the starting rotation. That doesn’t include the annual re-stocking of the bench.
Twenty-year-old Jose Lopes looks every bit the real deal at shortstop, although it may take him a couple of seasons to get there. There aren’t many playoff-caliber teams with apprentice shortstops, but the Mariners would be wise to put Lopez there next year and let him grow.
Justin Leone hasn’t shown, in 30 games, that he’s a third baseman to build an offense around. Greg Dobbs, who has played well at Class AAA Tacoma, just might be, although after missing all of last year with a ruptured Achilles’ tendon he’s probably another full season away.
Bucky Jacobsen, with seven homers, 15 RBI and a .301 average in 23 games with the Mariners, certainly hasn’t removed himself from the picture as Edgar Martinez’s replacement at designated hitter. But if the Mariners see a chance to land a bona-fide veteran slugger at DH, they should go for it.
Miguel Olivo just might develop into a true backbone of the team as the Mariners’ everyday catcher, but it looks like that will take time, too. He has struggled defensively, especially blocking balls in the dirt that have allowed runners to advance.
Closer Eddie Guardado and right-handed setup man Rafael Soriano will both have surgery soon and, although the Mariners say they’ll be pitching again by next August, don’t hold your breath. These are both major surgeries – rotator cuff for Guardado and ligament replacement for Soriano – and pitchers typically don’t return to full effectiveness for two years.
The bottom line is this: The Mariners must decide how to rebuild for 2005.
They could overspend on free agents and bring in veterans at every opening. Doing that would shove their top prospects aside, not to mention risk a repeat of 2004 when Rich Aurilia and Scott Spiezio didn’t invigorate the offense as advertised.
They could continue to give Lopez, Leone, Dobbs, Olivo and the young pitchers another year to develop into the solid major leaguers the organization projected them to be. Doing that, though, would truly be a sign of surrender to any postseason hopes.
Or, the Mariners could strike some middle ground by mixing a few veterans with the best of their youngsters like Lopez and Olivo. The Mariners would be much improved, although they’d still be hard-pressed to make a playoff run.
Wasn’t life so much simpler when all the Mariners needed was a third baseman?
* As if umpires hadn’t done enough to irritate the Mariners this month (remember the “obstruction” call that cost them a game in Tampa?), they got downright ticky-tack last week.
Bobby Madritsch, who has tattoos on his arms that stand out like a black sheep grazing at night, was forced to wear long sleeves during his last start. The Minnesota Twins never complained, but umpires made him cover up anyway, saying they’d been ordered to crack down on such things.
It might be a valid issue if Madritsch had multi-colored artwork that was a true distraction to hitters. His tattoos are black, his skin is dark and there’s more contrast in the shadows on his shirt than what’s on his arms.
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