2004 Amateur Draft
Round 1: Adam Jones (OF) (66/87)
We picked this guy from San Diego first because our scouts think that he has a excellent arm and is very fast. We believe that his bat will develop and may help the big club in a few years.
Round 2: Joba Chamberlain. (P) (57/85)
The Nebraska native was our second pick. He could either be a starter or a reliever and we aren't sure on what to do with him yet. He is a power pitcher and already has a plus fastball. He needs to work on his palmball and on his curve before he is ready for the bigs.
Round 3: Rick Vanden Hurk (P) (42/91)
The man from the Netherlands is a high ceiling type of guy. He just started playing baseball a few years ago but we think he could be a decent starter one day. He goes deep into games which is good. He has a fastball and a slider and may need to learn a third pitch.
Round 4: Ken Wildridge (1B/DH) (47/80)
This 17 year old from Texas really broke out his senior year hitting 12 homers in 28 games. He reminds me of a Cecil Fielder kind of guy where it was all or nothing when at bat.
Round 5: Juan Borges (2B) (44/76)
So we used our 5th pick on a light hitting second baseman who plays excellent defense. If he develops in the minors, he could be an excellent defensive replacement at the end of games.
Round 6: Troy Sloan (P) (43/77)
We don't know much about Sloan, we just threw a dart at the list of remaining draftees and we hit his name. We think he's a reliever and that we doubt he will ever amount to anything.
M's Sign 3 Players
Seattle has agreed to terms with 3 players to 1-year deals. They have signed catcher Dan Wilson, shortstop Julio Lugo and second baseman Fernando Vina. There was a large outcry from the fans after the Mariners let Dan Wilson go so they fought hard and resigned him. Wilson appreciated the gesture and agreed to sign for 2 million dollars. Lugo was signed for 5 million and will most likely be the starting third baseman until Ryan Zimmerman is ready. Vina was signed for 1.5 million and he will platoon with Jose Lopez at second base.
Mariners Trade for Capps, sign Bubba
In a cap saving move, the Seattle Mariners sent outfielders Mike Cameron and Scott Podsednik to the Pittsburgh Pirates for minor league prospect Matt Capps. Capps, 20, is thought to be an excellent pitcher and may become the closer in a few years. After the trade, Seattle signed outfielder Bubba Trammell to a one year deal. He will play left field against lefties and will be the primary pinch hitter off the bench.
Spring Training Preview
As player-GM Edgar Martinez enters his second season in his role, he has many things to do before the Mariners become an elite team. This starts now, the best 25 players will be selected and will start the season as Seattle Mariners. The rest will either be released or sent to the minors to develop.
Position Battles:
1. Starting Catcher: Dan Wilson and Kenji Johjima will be fighting for this spot. We like Johjima as he can hit for a better average and has better power. Wilson on the otherhand is the veteran who finds ways to make plays and make the team better. The winner will start Opening Day and the loser will most likely be the backup catcher.
2. Starting First baseman: There are three youngsters fighting for this spot. Kendry Morales, Jeff Clement and Travis Ishikawa will be fighting it out during the spring to see who will start at first. All three of them can hit for an average and are great contact hitter. If one of them can develop some power, they will win the job. The winner gets the starting nod and the losers will be sent down to AAA Tacoma.
Mariners Send Pineiro in a 10-Player Deal
With the surplus of pitching for the Seattle Mariners, they sent a few of them to Tampa for Carl Crawford and Prince Fielder. Pineiro along with pitchers Aaron Looper, Aaron Taylor, Sean Green, Justin Kaye and catcher Rob Johnson were sent to Tampa. Fielder projects to be the first baseman of the future and may start in a year or two. Crawford will get in the mix in the outfield soon or may be traded later on.
Projected Lineup
1. Ichiro Suzuki RF (88)
2. Jeremy Reed CF (81/88) Reggie Willits (76/81) vs. Lefties
3. Julio Lugo 3B (90)
4. Carlos Guillen SS (94/95)
5. Edgar Martinez DH (77)
6. Jose Lopez 2B (81/91)
7. Kenji Johjima C (79)
8. Kendry Morales 1B (73/94)
9. Carl Crawford LF (76/89) Bubba Trammell (76) vs. Lefties
Pitchers
Starters
1. Freddy Garcia R (93)
2. Bobby Madritsch L (92)
3. John Patterson R (90/95)
4. Cha Seung Baek R (88/94)
5. Joe Saunders L (82/93)
Relievers
Closer: JJ Putz R (94)
Setup: Rafael Soriano R (91)
Short Relief: George Sherrill L (88)
Short Relief: Julio Mateo R (88)
Middle Relief: Matt Thornton L (88)
Long Relief: Jered Weaver R (81/88)
Setup: Rafael Soriano R (91)
OH YEAH!!! Please don't trade him for Horacio Ramirez![]()
Projected Records
AL East
New York 97-65
Toronto 81-81
Boston 77-85
Baltimore 64-98
Tampa Bay 57-105
AL Central
Chicago 94-68
Cleveland 88-74
Minnesota 87-75
Detroit 73-89
Kansas City 64-98
AL West
Oakland 97-65
Texas 95-67 (WC)
Anaheim 87-75
Seattle 74-88
NL East
Atlanta 101-65
New York 95-68 (WC)
Philadelphia 90-72
Florida 75-87
Montreal 70-85
NL Central
St. Louis 95-67
Houston 93-69
Chicago 83-79
Pittsburgh 78-84
Cincinnati 63-99
Milwaukee 63-99
NL West
Arizona 85-77
Los Angeles 80-82
San Fransisco 80-82
San Diego 78-82
Colorado 70-92
April 2004
11-16 3rd Place AL West 7.0GB Texas
Good:
Rotation: Other than John Patterson, the rotation has done great. The two rookies have a low 3 ERAs while Saunders and Garcia have respectable ERAs
Shortstop Production: Eight games in, Carlos Guillen got hurt and Yuniesky Betancourt just steped right in acted like nothing has happened. Combined, they have hit .362 with a .400+ OBP.
Bad
Everything Else: The pen is not producing and the offense is not hitting. The team really is struggling and this is very frustrating.
Stats:
Code:2004 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Betancourt, Yuniesky SEA 17 .354 65 23 3 5 1 0 5 0 1 9 10 .600 .382 Crawford, Carl SEA 19 .290 69 20 3 3 2 1 8 5 2 12 9 .507 .296 Guillen, Carlos SEA 8 .385 26 10 2 0 0 4 1 0 0 4 9 .462 .452 Johjima, Kenji SEA 22 .203 79 16 3 0 0 2 13 0 0 4 3 .241 .232 Lopez, Jose SEA 27 .163 92 15 2 1 0 2 14 1 0 7 7 .207 .189 Lugo, Julio SEA 26 .223 103 23 5 1 1 8 22 8 3 8 8 .320 .279 Martinez, Edgar SEA 27 .229 96 22 1 0 0 10 18 0 1 7 7 .240 .339 Morales, Kendry SEA 25 .274 84 23 8 0 2 5 15 1 0 11 12 .440 .315 Reed, Jeremy SEA 21 .237 76 18 4 1 1 6 15 0 0 11 9 .355 .293 Suzuki, Ichiro SEA 27 .220 109 24 5 0 2 11 15 4 3 11 8 .321 .287 Trammell, Bubba SEA 16 .255 47 12 3 1 6 5 7 0 0 9 11 .745 .315 Vina, Fernando SEA 11 .192 26 5 0 0 0 1 1 2 1 2 1 .192 .222 Wilson, Dan SEA 7 .211 19 4 0 0 0 2 6 1 0 2 2 .211 .286 Willits, Reggie SEA 8 .148 27 4 1 0 0 5 7 0 1 5 1 .185 .281Code:2004 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 31.0 3.19 5 5 2 2 0 19 13 10.45 Garcia, Freddy SEA 38.1 3.52 6 6 2 3 0 41 10 9.39 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 40.2 3.10 6 6 1 1 0 32 11 11.51 Mateo, Julio SEA 14.2 6.14 10 0 2 0 0 12 6 11.66 Patterson, John SEA 27.0 7.00 5 5 1 3 0 28 7 13.00 Putz, J.J. SEA 9.0 5.00 10 0 0 2 4 10 8 18.00 Saunders, Joe SEA 30.1 4.75 5 5 1 1 0 17 7 11.27 Sherrill, George SEA 15.2 3.45 16 0 0 1 0 27 10 12.64 Soriano, Rafael SEA 16.0 5.06 14 0 2 3 0 15 10 14.06 Thornton, Matt SEA 10.2 3.38 6 0 0 0 0 10 3 5.91 Weaver, Jered SEA 4.2 5.79 2 0 0 0 0 2 4 17.36
wow Chae Seung Baek is doing very well, granted it's only been 31 innings. Besides him, however, your pitching is doing just terrible. Even the guys who should be performing well are off to a pretty bad start.
May 200429-23 3rd Place AL West. 3.5GB Texas
Good:
We started to win and this may be the start of something special. Everything has clicked and people have gotten healthy.
Rotation: 4 of the 5 pitchers have played well with a sub-3.5 ERA. John Patterson is also coming along and may turn is around soon. Freddy Garcia figures out ways to win and has won 7 games so far. Cha Seung Baek and Bobby Madritsch have showed why we placed them in the rotation
Offense: After a dismal start, they have showed signs of turning it around. Guillen has come back and is still hitting well. Julio Lugo and Jeremy Reed are hitting over .280 while everyone else's average are still increasing.
Bad:
We have had some injury problems as some of our starters have been hurt. Today we learn that Joe Saunders, one of our young pitchers, is out for the rest of this year and most of next with a torn rotator cuff. We don't know if he will ever be the same. To compensate, we traded Jack Hannahan and Mike Napoli to the Chicago Cubs for Jon Lieber. Lieber is a control pitcher who has one year left on his contract.
Offense: Even though they have started to turn things around, some players are still struggling. Edgar Martinez, Jose Lopez and Kenji Johjima are having are a poor season but we are gonna keep them in the lineup for now.
Transactions
Traded Jack Hannahan and Mike Napoli to Chicago for Jon Lieber
Signed Freddy Garcia to a 5/33.75 million contract.
Stats:
Code:2004 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Betancourt, Yuniesky SEA 27 .292 106 31 5 6 1 0 9 0 1 14 15 .481 .312 Crawford, Carl SEA 37 .250 144 36 6 8 3 3 22 8 3 25 19 .465 .268 Garcia, Freddy SEA 1 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 Guillen, Carlos SEA 26 .356 87 31 7 0 5 14 6 3 0 20 30 .609 .441 Ishikawa, Travis SEA 13 .234 47 11 3 0 2 6 14 0 0 7 4 .426 .321 Johjima, Kenji SEA 41 .228 149 34 5 0 4 2 20 0 0 12 14 .342 .256 Lieber, Jon SEA 9 .111 18 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .111 .111 Lopez, Jose SEA 49 .189 169 32 3 2 3 7 24 1 0 16 26 .284 .233 Lugo, Julio SEA 51 .280 207 58 12 2 2 17 40 17 6 25 25 .386 .332 Martinez, Edgar SEA 50 .256 176 45 10 0 2 23 30 0 2 16 22 .347 .359 Morales, Kendry SEA 36 .264 121 32 10 0 2 7 23 1 1 14 13 .397 .310 Patterson, John SEA 1 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Putz, J.J. SEA 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Reed, Jeremy SEA 40 .284 134 38 7 1 1 12 24 0 2 22 17 .373 .342 Suzuki, Ichiro SEA 52 .263 213 56 11 0 4 22 24 10 6 32 15 .371 .332 Trammell, Bubba SEA 28 .288 80 23 10 1 8 7 13 0 0 17 19 .738 .344 Vina, Fernando SEA 18 .222 45 10 0 1 0 2 2 2 2 5 4 .267 .271 Weaver, Jered SEA 1 .000 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Wilson, Dan SEA 14 .317 41 13 2 0 1 7 12 1 0 5 8 .439 .417 Willits, Reggie SEA 16 .232 56 13 2 0 0 11 9 2 1 12 3 .268 .358Code:2004 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 68.0 2.38 10 10 5 3 0 50 22 9.66 Campillo, Jorge SEA 3.0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 9.00 Garcia, Freddy SEA 70.0 3.47 11 11 7 3 0 67 23 10.80 Lieber, Jon SEA 58.2 3.07 9 9 3 3 0 47 10 10.13 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 48.2 2.59 7 7 2 1 0 38 13 10.91 Mateo, Julio SEA 26.2 6.41 18 0 2 0 0 23 9 13.50 Patterson, John SEA 60.0 5.10 10 10 3 4 0 59 12 10.65 Putz, J.J. SEA 17.2 4.58 20 0 0 4 11 21 13 16.81 Saunders, Joe SEA 65.0 3.05 10 10 6 1 0 44 21 10.94 Sherrill, George SEA 25.2 3.51 27 0 1 2 1 41 11 12.27 Soriano, Rafael SEA 30.1 4.15 28 0 2 3 1 29 14 11.87 Thornton, Matt SEA 20.1 3.54 15 0 0 0 1 19 9 11.07 Weaver, Jered SEA 26.1 5.81 6 4 1 2 0 23 16 15.38
June 200440-38 3rd Place AL West 4GB Anaheim
Good:
We are still in the race. I did not expect this three months into the season. The team has really surprised me. This may be the start of something special in Seattle.
Our rotation is still our strong point. Cha Seung Baek and Bobby Madritsch are still on fire and are pretty much the aces of the staff. John Patterson has figured things out and have played better this month, getting his ERA under 5. Freddy Garcia has struggled after getting his extension but it doesn't worry me yet.
Offensively, Julio Lugo and Carlos Guillen have led the offense. Overall, we are not much of a power team and I may address that later on. Jeremy Reed has been a surprise in the two hole. He has gotten on base for the middle of the order to drive him in. Carl Crawford has had a good rookie season but he needs to work on getting more walks if he wants to be a great player.
In our minor leagues, we have many good prospects who could help in the near future. Third baseman Ryan Zimmerman has been promoted to AAA Tacoma and may see some time this year for the big club. AAA is filled with many outfielders and first basemen who could be traded. Guys on the block include either Travis Ishikawa or Jeff Clement, Andre Ethier, Chris Snelling and Fred Lewis. Catcher Rene Rivera has continued his development and could be a starter soon. Pitchers Matt Capps and Travis Blackley could be called up this year if certain pitchers cannot improve their stats. Jon Huber can also see some time later on in the season.
Stats:
Code:2004 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Suzuki, Ichiro SEA 78 .269 323 87 14 1 5 28 40 15 9 53 23 .365 .328 Lugo, Julio SEA 77 .285 305 87 18 3 4 24 58 22 8 34 45 .403 .334 Lopez, Jose SEA 75 .188 250 47 10 2 3 9 38 1 0 19 28 .280 .223 Martinez, Edgar SEA 74 .244 246 60 12 0 3 36 47 0 2 24 26 .329 .356 Reed, Jeremy SEA 62 .303 208 63 13 3 2 17 31 0 4 35 27 .423 .352 Morales, Kendry SEA 62 .232 207 48 12 0 3 24 39 1 1 20 18 .333 .315 Crawford, Carl SEA 56 .277 206 57 9 10 5 6 27 16 4 31 25 .490 .302 Johjima, Kenji SEA 56 .197 198 39 6 0 4 7 31 0 0 13 15 .288 .238 Betancourt, Yuniesky SEA 40 .242 153 37 6 7 1 0 14 0 1 16 18 .392 .261 Guillen, Carlos SEA 36 .336 122 41 8 0 6 15 12 4 0 24 37 .549 .406 Trammell, Bubba SEA 42 .255 106 27 11 1 9 13 18 0 0 19 23 .632 .336 Willits, Reggie SEA 25 .250 88 22 2 1 0 12 20 3 1 15 4 .295 .340 Wilson, Dan SEA 25 .289 83 24 6 0 1 9 20 1 0 9 13 .398 .359 Vina, Fernando SEA 23 .218 55 12 1 1 0 2 5 2 4 5 5 .273 .259 Ishikawa, Travis SEA 13 .234 47 11 3 0 2 6 14 0 0 7 4 .426 .321 Morse, Mike SEA 6 .136 22 3 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 1 3 .136 .240 Lieber, Jon SEA 9 .111 18 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .111 .111 Garcia, Freddy SEA 2 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 .167 .143 Weaver, Jered SEA 2 .000 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 2 .000 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Patterson, John SEA 2 .000 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .200 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .500 Putz, J.J. SEA 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Soriano, Rafael SEA 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000Code:2004 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 101.0 2.50 15 15 7 4 0 68 29 9.71 Patterson, John SEA 100.0 4.32 16 16 4 7 0 92 22 9.63 Garcia, Freddy SEA 95.0 3.98 16 16 8 6 0 87 34 12.22 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 84.1 2.35 12 12 5 2 0 64 25 10.46 Lieber, Jon SEA 74.0 3.28 11 11 4 4 0 57 11 9.97 Saunders, Joe SEA 65.0 3.05 10 10 6 1 0 44 21 10.94 Weaver, Jered SEA 52.1 5.33 11 6 2 3 0 42 27 13.76 Soriano, Rafael SEA 43.2 3.92 40 0 3 4 1 37 20 11.95 Sherrill, George SEA 38.0 3.32 38 1 1 4 1 53 15 11.37 Mateo, Julio SEA 33.1 6.48 24 0 2 1 0 25 13 14.58 Thornton, Matt SEA 30.0 3.90 22 0 1 0 1 27 18 12.60 Putz, J.J. SEA 28.0 3.21 32 0 0 5 20 32 13 11.25 Campillo, Jorge SEA 3.0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 9.00
July 2004
53-51 3rd Place AL West 6.5GB Texas
We played .500 ball this month and fell a few games back in the West hunt. All-Star weekend came this month and we only had one representative. Rookie pitcher Cha Seung Baek was the only Mariner selected. Many believed that shortstop Carlos Guillen was snubbed. He had a great first half and we thought he was the best shortstop in the league.
We were still doing poorly offensively so we made a move at the deadline sending first baseman Travis Ishikawa and reliever Julio Mateo to the Chicago White Sox for first base/DH Frank Thomas. Thomas, in his final year of his contract, will most likely not be renewed at the end of the season but he will be a huge part of our playoff run. He will start at first and bat fourth. We hope that he will hit many homers for us.
Freddy Garcia has gotten worse and worse as the year has gone on. He may be traded in the offseason as we have many prospects that could fill in for him. Matt Capps was called up when Mateo was injured and he played well enough for Mateo to be expendable.
In our minor leagues, Ryan Zimmerman has killed AAA pitching in his month and could be called up in September. Outfielders Andre Ethier, Fred Lewis and Chris Snelling continue to fight to see who we keep and who we trade later in the offseason. We don't know what to do with our first basemen. We traded Ishikawa already and we still have 3 more ready first basemen in Morales, Clement and Fielder. We will keep Fielder for sure and might trade either Morales or Clement. Morales or Clement may be moved to the outfield if things cannot be figured out.
Stats:
Code:2004 Batting Team G AVG AB H 2B 3B HR BB K SB CS R RBI SLG OBP Suzuki, Ichiro SEA 104 .263 434 114 20 2 6 41 54 19 14 65 34 .359 .326 Lugo, Julio SEA 103 .278 413 115 23 3 7 30 84 28 12 47 56 .400 .324 Martinez, Edgar SEA 99 .260 331 86 20 0 5 51 64 0 2 33 37 .366 .369 Lopez, Jose SEA 94 .217 322 70 13 3 4 12 50 2 1 27 36 .314 .253 Thomas, Frank SEA 95 .281 302 85 14 0 18 62 52 0 0 52 56 .507 .402 Morales, Kendry SEA 88 .235 298 70 22 0 3 36 49 2 1 26 24 .339 .321 Reed, Jeremy SEA 84 .279 290 81 18 3 2 22 39 3 7 41 32 .383 .328 Johjima, Kenji SEA 80 .200 280 56 8 0 4 10 42 0 0 19 23 .271 .237 Crawford, Carl SEA 68 .300 237 71 12 11 6 8 34 20 6 38 31 .519 .327 Guillen, Carlos SEA 61 .335 203 68 13 1 9 25 25 4 0 36 51 .542 .403 Betancourt, Yuniesky SEA 53 .223 202 45 7 7 2 1 21 0 1 19 21 .356 .242 Trammell, Bubba SEA 63 .243 177 43 16 1 11 17 28 0 0 26 32 .531 .308 Willits, Reggie SEA 34 .248 113 28 3 1 0 13 24 3 2 18 4 .292 .325 Wilson, Dan SEA 32 .278 97 27 7 0 1 9 21 1 0 11 13 .381 .340 Morse, Mike SEA 6 .136 22 3 0 0 0 2 5 0 0 1 3 .136 .240 Lieber, Jon SEA 9 .111 18 2 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 0 .111 .111 Garcia, Freddy SEA 2 .167 6 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 .167 .143 Weaver, Jered SEA 2 .000 6 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 2 .000 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Patterson, John SEA 2 .000 4 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 .000 .200 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 1 .000 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .000 .500 Putz, J.J. SEA 0 .000 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 Soriano, Rafael SEA 0 1.000 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 1.000Code:2004 Pitching Team IP ERA G GS W L SV K BB R/9 Baek, Cha Seung SEA 136.0 3.31 21 21 7 7 0 95 37 10.46 Patterson, John SEA 132.0 4.09 21 21 4 8 0 128 34 9.89 Garcia, Freddy SEA 120.0 4.80 21 21 9 8 0 108 44 12.98 Madritsch, Bobby SEA 112.1 2.88 17 17 6 3 0 81 34 10.82 Lieber, Jon SEA 107.2 3.51 16 16 6 6 0 83 21 10.95 Saunders, Joe SEA 65.0 3.05 10 10 6 1 0 44 21 10.94 Soriano, Rafael SEA 62.2 3.30 53 0 6 5 1 55 30 11.35 Weaver, Jered SEA 58.2 4.76 13 6 3 3 0 44 28 12.73 Sherrill, George SEA 54.0 3.33 51 1 1 6 2 68 20 11.33 Putz, J.J. SEA 42.0 3.00 45 0 1 6 27 44 23 12.21 Thornton, Matt SEA 37.0 3.41 28 0 2 0 2 37 22 11.92 Capps, Matt SEA 15.2 3.45 11 0 2 0 0 9 9 11.49 Blackley, Travis SEA 3.1 5.40 1 0 0 0 0 3 0 10.80 Campillo, Jorge SEA 3.0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 9.00