Season Preview: Seattle Mariners

Continuing our American League West season previews is a look at the incredibly long Seattle Mariners' upcoming season.

Six-time gold glover and All-Star Ichiro Suzuki will patrol center field, as he did for the final two months of last season after Jeremy Reed broke his thumb. Reed will serve as the primary backup in center on the rare occasions Ichiro sits. Left-fielder Raul Ibanez and the recently secured Jose Guillen, who will be roaming right field, will be backed up by Mike Morse.

Ichiro should continue to smoke the ball, as he hit .322 last season in 161 games while Ibanez hit 33 bombs and 123 RBIs. Guillen, who played the last two seasons with the Washington Nationals, hit .216 in 69 games during 2006.

With youth up the middle in short stop Yuniesky Betancourt and second baseman Jose Lopez, the Mariners are building a solid infield. Betancourt flirted with a .300 average up until the final weeks of last season, before finishing at .289 while Lopez came up huge when Seattle needed him most, hitting .327 with 67 RBIs with runners in scoring position. Willie Bloomquist is set to back up all infield positions.

First baseman Richie Sexson and third baseman Adrian Beltre will hold down the corners and provide the club with plenty of offense in 2007. Sexon hit 34 longballs with 107 RBIs last season and Beltre batted .286 with 89 runs batted in on .465 slugging.

Ben Broussard is available for first should Sexson need a rest, as well as seeing time at the designated hitter spot behind Jose Vidro, who managed to have a slightly better 2006 season than Rondell White, who was such a terrbile DH, he plays left field now in the Metrodome. Vidro hit .289 with 7 homers and 47 RBIs with the Nats last season.

Felix Hernandez will lead the starting rotation, joined by lefties Jarrod Washburn and Horacio Ramirez. Righty Miguel Batista, who held an 11-8 record last season with the Arizona Diamondbacks, may get the fourth spot with the recent addition Jeff Weaver through free agency from the St. Louis Cardinals.

J.J. Putz will return as Seattle's closer after he converted 36 of 43 save opportunities in 72 games last season, with an impressive 2.31 ERA and a 4-1 record.

Lefty George Sherrill will return to the bullpen along with left-hander Eric O'Flaherty, whose major league experience only stems to last September. Sean Green and John Huber, who also have but one month of big league time under their belts, will join Chris Reitsma, who had a tumultuous season with the Atlanta Braves last year going 1-2 with an 8.68 ERA in 27 appearances with the club.

Arthur Rhodes, who played with the Mariners from 2000-2003 before trying out the Oakland A's, Cleveland Indians and Philadelphia Phillies organizations, will return to the pen as well.

Lefty Jake Woods, who was acquired from Seattle last season from the Los Angeles Angels, will look to improve his 4.20 ERA and Cha Seung Baek should continue to improve as a third-year reliever.

Kenji Johjima, who hit .291 last season with 18 home runs, will hold down the backstop position, followed by fourth-year backup catcher, Rene Rivera.

Seattle ended last season dead-last in the West, going 19-38 among their division. This was partly due to an inexperienced line up and poor pitching, but look for Mike Hargrove's club to improve in his third year as manager, when presumably their club will grow and get used to playing together. Maybe?