Mariners Meet With Zito

[rsox]

Re: Mariners Meet With Zito

82 games is a little too low, but I don't see anyone in our division winning more than 90.

The Rockies will be the Rockies. I really can't take them seriously even though they're a pest to the Padres.

Arizona has a young talented lineup, but I think their pitching will be their downfall. Especially that bullpen.

The Dodgers are alright in pitching but I don't know how they stack offensively, they're one of the three teams I consider that would win this division by chance.

The Giants rotation is questionable outside of Zito. Their offense even with Bonds is questionable too, but if things go right for them they can take this division too.

The Padres probably have the best pitching in this division, but their offense is as inconsistent as Oliver Perez's starts. Their offense will make or break this team's chances at another division title.

And on a side note, no one from the NL West has gotten pass the divisional round in the playoffs since 2003.

All of that, is the point i was trying to make. There is no one player on any of those teams that scare anyone and no one team that looks like it could dominate.

The Dodgers and Giants lineups are similar in you have the two speedsters at the top in each teams lineup (Pierre/Furcal in LA, Roberts/Vizquel in SF). You have a couple of guys who can hit with some power (Garciaparra/Kent in LA, Bonds/Klesko or Aurilia in SF) and the rest of the lineups are made of middle of line offensive players. Their starting rotations aren't that different, the Dodgers do have the edge in the bullpen.

The Padres offense is as you said "inconsistant". Adrian Gonzalez is the only real power threat and we don't even know that for sure. The Padres may have the best starting pitching if Peavy returns to his 2005 form, Chris Young builds on last season and Greg Maddux has anything left in the tank. Outside of Trevor Hoffman the Padres bullpen is shakey.

I actually think the Diamondbacks pitching could be a strength. Webb, Hernandez and Davis are innings eaters and Randy Johnson would be a nice addition to the back of the rotation. The biggest problem could be the bullpen which may not see much action 3 games out of the week. I don't know if Jorge Julio is the answer as their Closer. Offensively they are young and but i don't see them as being explosive and they lack speed for a team that does not have any proven power threats.

And the Rockies...you never know what you will get out of them night in and night out.

I agree 82 wins is low to win the division (thats was meant as more sarcasm than serious) but consider the NL Central was won with 84 wins last season and that division has improved. In the NL West, a divison that seems to recycle many of the same players from team to team and all of the reasons stated above, 90 wins may not be likely or necessairy to win this divison.

[BatsareBugs]

Re: Mariners Meet With Zito

The bullpen is no different than last year and last year's bullpen was good for us.

We still have Scott Linebrink and there's still Cla Meredith, the guy who had that consecutive inning streak without giving up a run, as our set up men. Now each year we rotate our relievers around who had good seasons with us and we've had relievers come here and pitch pretty well so i'm not worried.

I think Jake's season last year was an anomaly. If he had any run support he'd have a different record and he still was K'ing people. I think a lot has to do with him getting too worked up for the WBC last year. Another starter who is really flying under the radar who came onto his own in the role last year is Clay Hensley, who I believe managed to rank in the top 10 in ERA in the NL among starters.

Like I said, the Padres downfall will be the offense unless someone steps up.