Here's another great photo by Marc W, with Swamp-Thing comin' right atcha:

Coug

6 spots in the lineup to fill is quite a bit and this team still needs a starter or two. They also need several relievers. All of this with very limited payroll space. Right now the Mariners need to get MUCH better and they will probably need to do that via trade.

No doubt they could use a starter, and would love to see one.  But if it's Felix-Pineda-Vargas then SSI is willing to endorse Scrubs at the 4-5 ... If Mauricio Robles, for example, is looking hot in ST then that's okay by me...

Here is the Can You Win Your Next Pennant With This Player compass again.  If David Pauley, Garrett Olson and Luke French are manning the 4-5 slots then SSI will be scathing all year.  But if it were, say, Robles, Wilhelmsen, Fister, guys like that, it's another story.

The 2011 club is looking awfully Oaklandish :- )

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That there are a LOT of spots to fill ..... no doubt.  And you run into Steve Nelson's principle too:  nobody performs as they did last year.  Supposing that Ichiro hits worse?

Yuk.

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Paracorto

Sure, but who is really interesting for other clubs to obtain what the M's need via trade ? I'm afraid the usual names, Ackley, Smoak, Pineda. And so we'd be again in trouble, maybe for years to come. If there're really problems with payroll to upgrade roster there's only one option left, forget Upton and all that kind of stuff and going on with the farm system players.

As Padna, G-Money, I and others have pointed out many times .... before the Lee trade, the Seattle blog-o-sphere would never have granted the M's capability to trade for Cliff Lee at all.  Much less for the class-A players they actually used.

There are approximately 30 MLB organizations, plus or minus zero, with the minor league talent to make major trades :- ) and of those 30, the Mariners are better-stocked than the average Mother Hubbard.

Please note, one more time, that MLBTradeRumors.com was never going to be discussing Tyson Gillies for Cliff Lee.

We fans ------ > if it's explicitly stated on MLBTR, well, it's plausible.  If it's not stated there, it's a pipe dream, eh .... :- )

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Supposing that Capt Jack doesn't gain traction on Pineda, Guti/Saunders, and goodies for Justin Upton... am certainly down for a quick flashover to Colby Rasmus and a box of fine biscuits with my tea...

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