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Seattle Mariners Predictions | 2011 Season Betting Preview

Shea Matthews weighs in with his Seattle Mariners 2011 Team Gambling Preview. Bedard and Pineda could pitch the whole season and Smoak could hit 30 homers and I still think this team would only win 80 games and change. Do your MLB betting with Cappers Picks MLB expert picks in 2011…

2011 MLB Team Preview: Seattle Mariners

Hard to believe, as some of us still have VERY cold temperatures outside, that the Boys of Summer are almost back. But it’s true; teams have started reporting to 2011 Major League Baseball training camps and it’s time to start our team-by-team baseball gambling previews for the year.

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Mariners Calender

FEB. 1-18, 2011 – Salary arbitration hearings
FEB. 14, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for pitchers, catchers and injured players
FEB. 19, 2011 – Voluntary Spring Training reporting date for non-pitchers and catchers
FEB. 26, 2011 – Mandatory Spring Training reporting date for all players

There was egg on plenty of pundits’ faces – including my own – after the much-hyped Seattle Mariners flopped horribly in 2010. The outlook is far different for 2011. Simply put, it’s bleak. Seattle sucks. But will its crop of prospects at least be a silver lining?

SEATTLE MARINERS
World Series odds: +10000

The Mariners’ cupboard of prospects is totally bare. They have a few youngsters to get excited about entering 2011. The problem is that they’re all unproven and perhaps too many of them are cracking the lineup at once. Left fielder Michael Sunders, second baseman Dustin Ackley and first baseman Justin Smoak all look like they’ll be Opening Day starters. The problem is that they’ve had little to no success at the major-league level and nothing suggests they’re ready to change that yet. Ackley, the second pick in the 2009 draft, hasn’t even played a game in the bigs.

The rest of Seattle’s lineup is laden with capable but underwhelming veterans. Franklin Gutierrez is among the best defensive outfielders in the game but seems to have hit his (somewhat mediocre) offensive ceiling. Jack Cust has power and patience but doesn’t hit for average; Chone Figgins’ production plummeted last season and, at age 33, he’s no guarantee to bounce back. Jack Wilson? Gross. Miguel Olivo has good pop for a catcher but struggles to get on base.

That leaves the one hitter resembling a star in Seattle: Ichiro. While he probably deserves to be a Hall-of-Famer and has been everything the Mariners hoped he’d be and more for a decade, Ichiro arguably isn’t an elite weapon anymore. Or, at least, he doesn’t have the support to be elite. He still hits .300 in his sleep and has wheels to boot but he doesn’t have the A-Rods, Brett Boones and Raul Ibanezes of the world to drive him in anymore. He’s posted back-back career lows in run totals (88 in 2009, 74 in 2010).

Seattle has the reigning Cy Young Award winner in Felix Hernandez. The phenom turns just 25 on April 8. Scary to think that he can still get better. After King Felix, however, the Mariners rotation is sketchy at best.

Michael Pineda is a good prospect and whispers suggest he’ll make the Opening Day roster. Even if he does, there’s no guarantee that he’s ready to excel. Even if he does excel, he’d give Seattle just two above-average pitchers. After that, opponents get a delectable diet of Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and possibly Luke French.

It would go a long way toward Seattle’s chances of staying afloat in the American League West if Erik Bedard could find  a way to stay healthy. He’s still an ace whenever he pitches but the power lefty has made 30 starts just once in his career, didn’t pitch at all last year and started a combined 30 games in two seasons before that.

It’ll be interesting to see what flamethrower Brandon League does in Seattle’s bullpen this season. He’ll start the year as the de facto closer with David Aardsma opening the season on the DL. League is the more talented pitcher, so it’s possible that he’ll claim the role for good.

2011 OUTLOOK

Look at all the “ifs” Seattle has to overcome this season. The saddest thing is that, even if they all come true, that would still make the Mariners just a moderately competitive team. Bedard and Pineda could pitch the whole season and Smoak could hit 30 homers and I still think this team would only win 80 games and change. Seattle looks like a safe bet for last place to me.

Then again, what do I know? I thought these guys would contend for the Wild Card last year.

Prediction: 4th, American League West

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By Shea Matthews

Shea Matthews the Senior Writer at CP. Lives and breathes sports. He made the transition from athlete to sports journalist at a young age, writing in TV & national papers. Shea applies his knowledge to sports betting + handicapping daily, and shares winning picks with the world.