Environmentalists Rejoice! The AL West is Going Green (and Blue, and Sometimes Black)

Tomorrow and Thursday are two of the most important days of the year for an avid sports fan like myself. The Super Bowl is two weeks in the past, March Madness is still a few weeks away, and, well, the snoozefest that is NBA All-Star Weekend isn't cutting it. Anyone who follows baseball has been waiting anxiously since November, and the time has finally come - pitchers and catchers report to spring training. It was a relatively quiet winter in terms of trades and free agency. Sure, Roy Halladay traded Toronto blue for Philadelphia red, and Cliff Lee went to Seattle. On the field, Matt Holliday remained a Cardinal and Jason Bay went from Boston to that other New York team (which for someone who is a Red Sox fan and has a man-crush on Matt Holliday was doubly disappointing, especially because Mike Cameron was what the Sox settled for). But overall, there were very few high-profile shakeups that will have a major impact. Heck, even the Yankees were somewhat dormant, although they did get Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, who is going to become a superstar under the bright lights of the Big Apple. There was one team, however, that went out and got the help they needed to become a playoff team once again. You're reading it first here... the Seattle Mariners are going to win the AL West this season.

No, I'm not crazy, stupid, or drunk. Hear me out on this one.

Last year the Mariners finished 85-77, twelve games behind the division-winning Angels and good enough for third in the division. For awhile they were in the wild card chase, which is a testament to manager Don Wakamatsu considering who the Mariners had to work with. Of course they had Ichiro and Felix Hernandez, but that's about it. Ichiro was 2nd in the AL with a .352 average, but that's it for hitting. Of the 15 players who played at least 45 games for Seattle last year not named Suzuki, two - Jose Lopez and Mike Sweeney - hit above .275. In a related story, they finished tied for last in the AL in average and were 2nd worst in the majors in on-base percentage. They also finished 7th worst in the majors with 105 errors. Basically, they couldn't hit, get on base, or field. So what do they do? They killed four birds with one stone by going out and getting utility man Chone Figgins from the Angels. How is this doing four things in one?

1) Batting: Figgins is a life-time .291 hitter, and if you take out 2006, in which he hit .267, that average goes up to .297. His on-base percentage is 30 points more than the league average. Plus, there's this crazy thing in baseball called "bunting." It's a nearly prehistoric term that is a foreign idea to everyone outside of Anaheim. Under Mike Scioscia and his philosophy of manufacturing runs (which have led to 5 division titles in 6 years, 6 playoff appearances, and a World Series title... just saying), Figgins knows how to be useful in ways other than getting hits, through things like sacrificing and slapping grounders to advance runners. Put Ichiro and Figgins 1-2 in the lineup and it will cause fits for opposing pitchers. Could you imagine it? Ichiro will either get a hit or walk a good portion of the time. With Figgins up next, he can do a multitude of things to get Ichiro into scoring position: get a hit, use a hit-and-run, or bunt. With Jose Lopez up third, he can drive Suzuki in relatively easily. The small-ball abilities that Figgins brings to the table open up a whole new world of opportunities for a team that lost its only real power threat in Russell Branyan.

2) Fielding: Figgins has played 1307 games in the majors. Here's how his positional abilities span:

• Outfield: 607 games
• Middle Infield: 140 games
• Third Base: 540 games
• Designated Hitter: 20 games

He's capable of playing six positions, and isn't a liability at any of them. Last season the Mariners used 5 left fielders, none of whom played more than 56 games. With the signing of Eric Byrnes and Milton Bradley, it is likely one of them will man left, but Figgins is more than capable of doing so if need be. Chances are he'll replace Gold Glover Adrian Beltre at third base, who had an uncharacteristic 14 errors last year. The team isn't downgrading here by any means.

3) Speed and Durability: In each of his last 6 seasons he's played 115+ games, surpassing 145 games in 4 of those seasons. Over that span he has averaged just over 44 steals per season. His speed on the base paths lead to a higher on-base percentage and adds another base stealing threat to complement Ichiro.

4) He's not on Anaheim: For 6 seasons Figgins was amazingly consistent and reliable for the Angels. From the 7th inning on his career average is .295, and in 216 games against the two other AL West teams, Texas and Oakland, he is a career .281 hitter, not great, but not bad either. I always considered Figgins one of the secret weapons that never got the credit he deserved while in Anaheim.

(Tangent Time! I am refusing to call the Angels the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim". First off, how am I supposed to say it when the Angels aren't included in the name? "Chone Figgins used to play for Los Angeles of Anaheim" sounds ridiculous. Calling their stadium Angel Stadium of Anaheim is just as stupid. I refuse to say it. They play in Anaheim, not L.A. The only reason it is this way is because Bud Selig and Co. wanted the team to be "Major League Baseball's American League representative in the Greater Los Angeles territory that Major League Baseball expects the team to serve." At least, that's what the official press release said. In other words, $18 million a year for Bud Selig isn't enough.)

Anyways, now the Angels have one less weapon in their lineup, while the Mariners gained one.

There! Four good things came out of signing one guy. And the scary part? He's not even close to being the team's best off season pickup. That's right, with the addition of Cliff Lee to the rotation, the Mariners have the most dominant 1-2 punch in the majors. I still wholeheartedly think that the Red Sox have the best rotation in baseball, but even the combo of Josh Beckett-Jon Lester- John Lackey isn't as consistently dominant as Lee and Felix Hernandez should be. With no offensive or defensive support, King Felix managed to go 19-5 with an earned run average of 2.49. Last year he was the second best pitcher in the league, behind only AL Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke. Behind him in the rotation? An aging Jarrod Washburn (who actually pitched pretty well all things considered), Erik Bedard (injury-prone isn't a strong enough term to describe him. A walking injury? Mr. Disabled List? Whatever, you get the idea), Jason Vargas, and Ryan Rowland-Smith (Quick! Where did those two go to college? Ha, you don't know do you?). Not exactly the cream of the crop to work with. If King Felix were a football player, he'd definitely be Matt Schaub. Think about it: He's fantastic at what he does, has only one guy who he can count on consistently (Ichiro to the Texans' Andre Johnson), and he plays for a fairly young franchise that has never lived up to expectations. But now he has Lee, the 2008 AL Cy Young winner with Cleveland. Last year his numbers with the Indians didn't tell the whole story. He went only 7-9, but had an ERA of 3.14, and also had zero run support. When he went to the National League, Lee dominated once again, helping the Phillies reach their second World Series in as many years. Hernandez brings the heat, while Lee devastates hitters with his change-up. Both could easily be in the hunt for this year's Cy Young, and having them go 1-2 come October could carry the M's deep into the playoffs. Just remember that in 2001 Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling started 11 of the Diamondbacks' 17 playoff games. In the World Series they started 5 of the 7 games, and Johnson pitched in relief in Game 7 after pitching 7 innings the day before in Game 6. I'm not saying Lee and Hernandez will be as dominant as Johnson and Schilling, two of the most dominant pitchers of this generation, but they definitely are not Frank Castillo and Mike Maroth. (That's right Frank Castillo, I'm taking a shot at you and your 16-24 record with Boston. You compile a 4.66 ERA in 2 pathetic seasons, come back in '04, pitch in two games, then accept a ring that you didn't deserve? Congrats!)

Simply put, baseball comes down to hitting, pitching, and fielding. My dad's old baseball coach said if you do two out of the three you'll win the majority of games. This off-season the Mariners improved in all three areas with the signing of just two players. In a weak division like the AL West, it is certainly good enough to win, reach the postseason, and strike fear into the rest of the league.