I am commencing a Special Report with 12 articles comparing the 2014 Mariners to the team's 2013 results.
Details on access will be coming soon, but the first one is on MarinerBrainstorm now.
It compares the 2013 Mariner hitters to the three teams that qualified for the Wild Card. Same thing for pitchers coming next.
Article here.
Homepage here.
So basically...the Mariners sucked at all of the skill positions last year and now you look at our roster and the ONE place we definitely do NOT suck...is the skill positions. :) Well...Zunino and Almonte might not hit...so there's that. But Miller and Cano are probably going to hit better than Ackley/Franklin and Ryan/Miller. :)
We should be better at catcher, as Zunino gows into the position with the bat.
We should be certainly better up the middle. Cano and Miller may be the best hitting keystone combo in the game (and slick defensively). All those Brendan Ryan and pre-recovery Ackley AB's last year killed us.
We need Morrison or Hart to hit in the DH position.
There is pressure on Almonte to hit in CF AND Saunders to hit in RF. Saunders production works fine in CF but likely not in RF. Romero becomes a key guy in that equation. He will get his whacks.
Ackley has big shoes (offensively) to fill in LF.