Are We Undervaluing the Mariners Heading into this Season?

The Seattle Mariners, a club that has been handed a big dish of bad luck during the past several seasons, is a club that is in win-now mode once again and ready to break their 17-year playoff drought, the longest in all of professional sports.

Seattle has finished the last few seasons either in the middle or bottom of the AL West and the picture doesn't seem to favor them much differently heading into this year as the reigning World Series Champion, Houston Astros, look like the clear favorite to win the division. However, with that being said and the idea that anything can happen over a 162 game season, are we undervaluing the Mariners and not giving them nearly as much credit as they deserve?

The answer to that question would probably be yes according to anyone around the baseball industry that you might ask. Maybe it's because we are giving them an automatic dismissal because they've already had a couple of injuries during Spring Training and some think that will continue? Another reason could simply based on where the Mariners play and the fact that teams on the west coast, not named the Dodgers or Giants, don't get nearly as much credit as they deserve. While those are two logical reasons, let's dig into the question more and see exactly why this year's Mariners team deserves more attention.

Let's begin with the starting rotation and the two marque names that Seattle has headlining its rotation in Felix Hernandez aka King Felix and James Paxton aka The Big Maple. When Hernandez and Paxton are healthy, they are as good of a 1-2 punch as you're going to find in baseball. In fact, James Paxton was in the conversation for the Cy Young Award at the start of last season and could have been right up there until the very end, if he hadn't gone down with a left forearm strain at the beginning of May and a strained left pectoral muscle, in August. Same goes for Felix Hernandez, who has had a couple of down years now, but has the veteran leadership and the track record needed to provide some stability within the Mariners starting rotation.

Felix Hernandez and James Paxton 

Over his 5-year big league career, James Paxton has  put up a 3.28 ERA over 422.0 IP with a 8.72 strikeouts-per-9 rate. Considering Paxton is 29 years old, he is in the prime of his career right now and if he stays healthy this year, he should be able to provide a lot of force to the front of the Mariners starting rotation. In addition, Felix Hernandez, who will turn 32 next month, has a solid track record. It was just three years ago that Hernandez posted a 2.14 ERA over 236.0 IP and started in a career high 34 games. Don't overlook the fact that he recorded a strikeouts-per-9 rate of 8.1 last year and has a 52.2 cumulative career WAR either. While there is likely to be some regression from the earlier portions of King Felix's career, there is still that potential that he can return to form and give the Mariners another reliable starter to pair with James Paxton.

Moving over to the offense now, there is also a lot to like and quite honestly, the Mariners probably upgraded their lineup even more with the acquisition of, Dee Gordon, from the Miami Marlins this winter. While Gordon won't wow you with out of this world offensive statistics, he gives Seattle a top of the lineup, leadoff hitter who can steal bases and provide some much needed speed on the base paths. Beyond Gordon, the Mariners still have Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz, and Kyle Seager. That trio of hitters all have at least 20 home runs a piece over the past three years along with an on-base percentage over .300 and have combined for a 41.8 WAR in that span. Furthermore, Nelson Cruz is coming off a season in which he recorded a career high 119 RBI over 645 plate appearances at 37 years old.

If that still isn't enough, how about the fact that the Mariners possess one of the best right fielders  in the game right now in, Mitch Haniger? Haniger, who turned 27 last December, burst onto the scene in a handful of games with the Arizona Diamondbacks before being included as part of the Jean Segura/Taijuan Walker trade in November 2016. Haniger really started to capture national attention at the beginning of last season when he hit: .342/.447/.608 with 27 hits, 4 home runs, 16 RBI, 13 walks, and 2 stolen bases before going down with a strained right oblique which sidelined him for a little over a month. Assuming Haniger is able to stay healthy this season, he looks to only continue to build off of the success that he's had to this point and provide another offensive weapon amid a deep Mariners lineup.

Mike Zunino

Also included within the Mariners deep lineup is catcher, Mike Zunino. Zunino has provided stability to the Mariners catching situation over the past five seasons and knows how to hit the ball also. As a matter of fact, you could argue that he is one of the better hitting catchers in the league right now and should be in the conversation more often when it comes to determining who the Top 10 Catchers in the game are. To illustrate the power he has, Zunino's 25 home runs over 435 plate appearances puts him third, among catchers last year, behind only Gary Sanchez and Salvador Perez.

If you're still not sold on the Mariners, then let's switch to the bullpen. The Mariners bullpen finished 7th in the American League last year in ERA and while it's not the splashiest bullpen in the league as far as who the relievers are, there is still a lot of depth. Since General Manager, Jerry Dipoto, took over the day-to-day operations of the club, Dipoto has been focused on deepening the bullpen and looking for ways to add pitching depth down in Triple-A as well.

Every conversation about the Mariners bullpen, needs to start with 23-year old, Edwin Diaz, who is the team's closer and has recorded 52 saves in 60 save opportunities the past two seasons. Diaz has a .203 Batting Average Against in that span along with a a 13.54 strikeouts-per-9 rate. Beyond Diaz, another exciting name to watch is Nick Vincent who has a combined 3.46 ERA with the Mariners the past two seasons and has recorded 115 strikeouts over that period. Vincent had a career low, 0.4 home runs-per-9 rate last season as well based on an innings pitched basis, which is phenomenal.

Besides Diaz and Vincent, James Pazos is another reliever who looks to do big things this year in the Mariners bullpen. Pazos, who finished last season with a 3.86 ERA in 53.2 IP, is still only 26-years old and had a strikeouts-per-9 rate last season of 10.9. Beyond Pazos, keep an eye on Tony Zych as well. Zych has a .217 Batting Average Against over the past three seasons along with a 0.37 home runs-per-9 rate in that span. Add Pazos and Zych to the equation and the Mariners have four legitimate relievers that can get them big outs when they matter the most and know how to strikeout hitters.

While the Astros will continue to be the favored team to win the AL West and rightfully so considering that they won the World Series last October, don't sleep on this years Mariners team. They are hungry, ready to win now, and if luck can stay on their side and keep them healthy this year, anything is possible with this team.