YBB American League preview: Seattle Mariners

By: Gavin Ewbank | Lead Writer

You probably started to really hate the Seattle Mariners over the offseason, and for good reason. Back in December, they went where no other team would.

The Mariners, in a state of desperation, gave a Robinson Cano a 10-year, $240 million contract.

The Yankees were only willing to offer a Cano worth seven-years, $175 million-ish. They were smart in not giving Cano the type of money that he ended up getting for, but while the money will be a total loss for the M's, his presence in the lineup will be a massive gain.

The only real start on this team before Cano's arrival was Felix Hernandez. For years, Seattle had been without a true star in their lineup, because there was nothing that could convince players of coming there.

They found that with Cano and the large sum of cash they offered him.

Realistically, Cano does not make the Mariners a much better team because you still need to put other pieces around him, and that didn't happen.

Seattle added a couple of bats besides Cano in Corey Hart and Logan Morrison. Hart is more of a gamble because he is still working back from knee surgery, but if he can stay healthy and round back into form, he can actually be a decent piece in the Mariners' lineup.

Other than that, there isn't much to drool over in Seattle. Cano made some comments to the media a couple of weeks ago that he wanted the Mariners to add another bat to help him out, they didn't, and they're going to regret it.

Offense was a major concern for the Mariners last season, as they only hit .237, the worst average in the American League. Their 624 runs scored ranked them 12th in the AL. I really don;t see those numbers improving very much this season, even with Cano in the lineup.

On the other side of the ball, the Mariners could not pitch last season. With an ERA of 4.31, they were one of three teams to give up more than 700 runs (703).

The Mariners didn't add an starting pitchers over the offseason because they thought that they would be set with a starting rotation of King Felix, Hisashi Iwakuma and Taijuan Walker, but injuries to both Iwakuma and Walker that could keep them out until early in the season will be a big blow to their pitching staff.

Yes, the Mariners added Robinson, the best second baseman in the league. But no, the Mariners will not be a better team than the Texas Rangers, Oakland Athletics and Los Angeles Angels in 2014. Those teams are far more complete than Seattle.

The early focus will be on you-know-who, when once things start to play out, we'll all be looking at the AL West standings and see who the Seattle Marines really are.

Follow @GavinEwbank