Seattle Mariners Winter Meetings Strategy Guide

If Jack Zduriencik can make magic happen again this winter, Seattle might want to look into knighthood. (AP Photo/Marcus R. Donner)

Major League Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings are right around the corner. Next week, December 6-9, the executives of every big league club will head to Florida to mark what many consider the true start to the offseason.

In the past few years under Jack Zduriencik, the Mariners have seen some pretty exciting meetings results. We’ve seen our once All-Star closer, J.J. Putz, get dealt away and in turn saw Gold Glover Franklin Gutierrez and starting pitcher Jason Vargas come over from the New York Mets. Last year saw the departure of 2007 first round pick Phillipe Aumont and speedy outfielder tyson Gillies to Philadelphia in a HUGE blockbuster trade that brought Cliff Lee to the northwest. That same trade sent 2010 NL Cy Young winner Roy Halladay to the Phillies (not bad eh? Lose Lee to pick up Halladay?). Last year’s meetings also saw Chone Figgins sign with Seattle as well.

Talk is that Jackie Z and the M’s will not be major players in many, if any, of the big name, top-tier free agents. With supposedly not a whole lot of money to spend, $60 million of their desired $90ish team salary spent on the group of: Felix Hernandez, Ichiro, Gutierrez, Figgins, and Milton Bradley.

The Mariners have a very solid core group of minor leaguers waiting to play at the Safe, and if the M’s are patient enough, some of them will pay big dividends in the future. The Lopez deal all but blasts the door wide open for Dustin Ackley to be at least on the 25 opening day roster, if not the starting 2B. Pitching prospect Michael Pineda is licking his chops as he waits for his chance to pitch in the big leagues with Josh Lueke and Mauricio Robles not far behind him. The Giants winning the World Series with a completely homegrown rotation throughout the playoffs will be these prospects best friend as I feel many teams will start to turn their focus to bringing up their own prospects, instead of using them as bait for trades.

This year for the Mariners, their golden eggs lie somewhere in the 52 players who became free agents yesterday. One of those being Ryan Rowland-Smith, the australian left-handed starter/long reliever. The Mariners also avoided letting go of Jose Lopez for nothing yesterday as well in trading him to Colorado for a pitching prospect.

The needs that are clear for Seattle are there. They need to pick someone up to split with Adam Moore behind the plate, while it’s been a long time since our bullpen has been really bad, we still need a few upgrades there. Perfect options for those needs come right out of the pool of newly made free agents. J.P. Howell is a lefty coming from the Tampa Bay organization. He had both some starting experience and closer, but with a majority of his major league experience being from the ben. He would fill the gap left by Rowland-Smith and provide the always wanted veteran presence. Former All-Star catcher Russell Martin is also available this winter. He has fallen from where he was a few years ago, but honestly all that does it make him more available for Seattle. He would be a perfect fit to help mentor and train Moore into a legitimate major league catcher.

The Mariners have also been linked to former Rockies pitcher Jeff Francis. He is a pitcher very similar to our own Jason Vargas. A left who is more about the changing of speeds and placement than about overpowering batters. If we picked him up and tossed him behind Doug Fister and before our fifth spot (whether that is Pineda or someone like David Pauley) it would make for a solid rotation. But we all know that a good team “on paper” means nothing unless they can actually win games on the field (see 2009 Mariners).

Next week will be a fun time. Check headlines consistently, because these winter meetings have been where Zduriencik has shown his almost heavenly ability to make magic happen.

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