I’ve just been through the looking glass, and my experience brightened my outlook on a gloomy 2008 season.  The Ms are 18-32 and you have every right to be depressed and utterly frustrated with the Ms.  But for those of you who might not be aware…it could be worse.  Put down the pitchforks and beer cans for a minute and take a look at this roster.

 

Let’s compare using my Red Light/Green Light analysis (green if you can win your next pennant with him, black if it’s unclear and red if you cannot), shall we?

 

  • C) Wil Nieves/Pau Lo Duca vs. Kenji Johijma/Jeff Clement
  • 1B) Nick Johnson vs. Richie Sexson
  • 2B) Felipe Lopez vs. Jose Lopez
  • 3B) Ryan Zimmerman vs. Adrian Beltre
  • SS) Cristian Guzman vs. Yuniesky Betancourt
  • LF) Wily Mo Pena vs. Raul Ibanez
  • CF) Lastings Milledge vs. Ichiro Suzuki
  • RF) Austin Kearns vs. Wladimir Balentien
  • BAT) Dmitri Young vs. Jose Vidro
  • OF4) Elijah Dukes vs. Jeremy Reed
  • UTL) Willie Harris vs. Willie Bloomquist
  • IF) Ron Belliard vs. Miguel Cairo

 

The Nats’ big franchise player, Ryan Zimmerman, is at best an average-solid third baseman, both offensively and defensively.  You can’t build a winner around him in the next few years while he’s in what’s left of his prime.  Three of the Mariners’ biggest problems are going to be gone very soon.  Jose Vidro, Richie Sexson and Miguel Cairo aren’t long for the club (no longer than the end of this season).  And below them, the Mariners have organizational depth that solves each of those problems except possibly first base where there are decent free agent options available.

 

On the pitching side:

 

  • SP1) Odalis Perez vs. Erik Bedard
  • SP2) Tim Redding vs. Felix Hernandez
  • SP3) John Lannon vs. Carlos Silva
  • SP4) Shawn Hill vs. Jarrod Washburn
  • SP5) Matt Chico vs. Miguel Batista
  • CL) Jon Rauch vs. J.J. Putz
  • SU1) Luis Ayala vs. Brandon Morrow
  • SU2) Jesus Colome vs. Arthur Rhodes
  • MR1) Joel Hanrahan vs. Sean Green
  • MR2) Saul Rivera vs. Ryan Rowland-Smith
  • MR3) Brian Sanches vs. Mark Lowe
  • LR) Jay Bergmann vs. R.A. Dickey

 

The Washburn/Batista situation has been much discussed but how would you like your ace to be Odalis Perez?  I mean seriously, guys, perspective helps.  Besides which, unlike the Nats, whose minor league depth is spearheaded by Tyler Clippard, the Mariners have a lot of options for the rotation in the immediate near future including, but not limited to, R.A. Dickey, Ryan Feierabend, Ryan Rowland-Smith, and Brandon Morrow…and those are just the major-league ready options.

 

I felt bad for the Nats’ Assistant Director of Player Development, who gave a talk today on the Nationals’ farm system.  He was a good, very bright, baseball man who was in the impossible position of trying to make his utterly lifeless franchise appear to have some hope.  He listed about 20 different prospects and gave some background on each, but exactly ONE of them is what I would call a blue-chipper, and that was Justin Maxwell.  The rest of the system was populated with guys they acquired from the sluff-off of other farm systems, and guys who would qualify as organizational fillers here in Seattle.  When you follow baseball long enough, you learn to recognize the buzzwords of losers and I think this hour-long presentation set a world’s record for loser-phraseology per minute rate, through no fault of Mr. Scialabba.

 

I know there is frustration in Seattle; but let’s try to remember that it could be a LOT worse.  If you want to be utterly hopeless for a day, try to be a Nationals fan.

 

You may now resume burning Bavasi in effigy.