As the downtime between the World Series and spring training begins, so do the signing of the free agents. The Mariners are in need of a few players and they have already made an effort to get started signing. Earlier this week the Mariners announced that they had agreed to sign veteran outfielder and baseball legend Ken Griffey Jr. The 2009 season saw Griffey as the nearly every day DH. However, he managed to only hit .219 with nineteen homeruns.

Griffey agreed to play for one more season only if he was wanted by the team. He did not want to force his way onto the Mariners only to struggle and end his career with a fizzle. While Griffey will play a much reduced role in the 2010 season, he will likely see quite a few at bats and be a feared pinch hitter coming off the bench in clutch situations. The people of Seattle love Griffey, and I do not believe that he could, or would, sign to another team.

A second signing (and an expected one) done this off-season is of middle infielder Jack Wilson. Jack Wilson came over to Seattle in a trade with Pittsburg near the 2009 trade deadline. He brought with him his amazing glove and his love of the game. He boasted a .979 fielding percentage at Shortstop, a number that is welcome on any major league roster for a middle infielder. That number, while impressive, fails to incorporate his amazing plays on balls that other fielders would have no chance of getting. While he was sidelined for most of the final month of the season, he is sure to be a building block for this team in the years to come.

The Mariners have yet to sign free agent Russell Branyan. Branyan signed a now expired one year contract with the Mariners last year and was given his first chance to play First base everyday. His numbers soared and he was quickly given the nickname “Russell the muscle”. The Mariners offered Branyan another one year deal, but he is hoping for a 2-3 year contract. While he would like to play for the Mariners, he would also like to play in the same city for an extended period of time. Other Mariners who have filed for free agency include pitcher Erik Bedard, third baseman Adrian Beltre, and left fielder Endy Chavez. The Mariners (I hope) would love to let Bedard go. Beltre cost the team a ton of potential free agent money the past few years while seeing his once great numbers take serious hits. Endy Chavez brought the team an everyday left fielder, something the team has struggled to obtain since Raul Ibanez left a gaping hole in the lineup. Chavez took a serious hit from former Shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt on a bloop fly ball hit into very shallow left field. Chavez brought a decent batting average (career .270) and some speed into the team’s lineup and was sorely missed for the better half of the season.

Mariner’s GM Jack Zduriencik has a lot of work to do during this off-season, and no one can forget about his young powerhouse pitcher Felix Hernandez who will be sure to be worth a pretty penny when his contract expires. The fans of the Seattle Mariners have trusted Zduriencik in his first year and hope his wisdom can bring a pennant to Seattle very soon.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 1:03 pm and is filed under AL, AL-West, Baseball, Seattle Mariners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.