Partly because I feel like Rodney will fall off the rails and we'll be slow to fix that issue. With good setup men it won't be a huge deal, though. More issues with Kuma are of bigger concern., hence my expectation that we hedge our bets with a vet of some sort, maybe start Elias in the minors til that vet blows up. And that assumes Elias is healthy (no, I do not trust the Ms medical staff when it comes to those sorts of judgments).
But still: Felix, Paxton and Walker should front a good staff. Elias and Kuma in some combo make up a good #4, so we're looking for a #5 starter - which very well may be Wilhelmsen if we don't look outside. I have to like that rotation.
The bullpen has 15 potential GOOD arms in it. Hitting has gone down since the Roid Era so a 3.50 ERA doesn't go as far as it used to, but I expect to be back in the low-3s again.
The Mariners still haven't given up 550 runs on the season yet, which is 2nd lowest in the Majors. We may not do THAT again, but anything 600 and below puts us in contention with even a decent offense (there are 10 or 12 teams in that range and below). Nobody will score even 800 runs this year, and league average is 640. We're at 617 - with THIS offense that was near-useless for large swaths of the season.
Like I said: we're right there.
The right move puts us over the top. If Jack can't find the right move, it's on him at this point. I said 2016 looked nice before we added Cano, and it still looks nice with internal adds and the like.
But getting us to the playoffs in 2015 is a GM move, not a player development one. Show me, Jack.
~G
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