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What have you seen from the Mariners in the last 7 years that would make you believe that?
Figgins fell off a cliff.  Olivo's been over this cliff before too.  Guti might not be able to stay in the lineup for a week, let alone contribute.  If we believed in Wilson or Carp they would have been up to start the year and Cust would never have been signed.  They've had years to make an impression and have made such a bad one that we won't let them hit in Tacoma's MOTO let alone ours.
Limonta is lazy and we hate him, because he spent half a decade in AA regardless of his production so he's not in anyone's version of a plan.
We actually are asking a lot of people to do things they've never done before.  None of the minor leaguers have ever been successful in the bigs before.  Figgins has never been successful for us.
And those who have been previously successful? Cust is past the point of his success as a power hitter - it's gone, and not coming back.  Needing Ichiro to win another batting title at his age in order for us to compete is asking too much. I expect him to play forever like Omar Vizquel, but that doesn't mean he can carry more than his share. Olivo was atrocious here before, succeeded in Coors Field (like Cirillo) and now is back and looking just like the lost hitter that left us.
I'm not spooked by 2010.  I'm spooked by having seen what aging, marginal and/or mentally weak players look like in the past and seeing the same signs in many of these hitters.
Maybe enough of them can change their stripes for us to make a go of it.
Not holding my breath.  We need reinforcements, for this year and the ones beyond.  Ichiro cannot carry this (or any) offense with his skillset and these hitters aren't gonna ALL climb up to decent just because we think they should.
They aren't capable.
~G