4:05pm Via Joel Sherman, the Rangers are set to acquire Cliff Lee and reliever Mark Lowe from the Rangers for Justin Smoak and three others. Lowe is on the disabled list after having back surgery and isn’t expected back anytime soon. I have to assume that Seattle is paying Lee’s salary given Texas’ financial plight.

3:40pm Buster Olney (ESPN): The Mariners expressed health concerns about the Yankees’ second prospect in the deal, David Adams. They asked for others, and (more).

3:22pm Buster Olney (ESPN): Rangers are back on Lee. Hard to imagine Texas making this deal happen without Justin Smoak being part of the deal.

3:07pm Joel Sherman (NY Post): Hearing Rangers are working really hard on Lee now. Tricky because of finances with team sale not complete and MLB-imposed budget.

3:04pm Buster Olney (ESPN): The Yankees had hoped to strike aggressively, strike quickly, and get a resolution to this – but SEA might still be shopping for alternative.

2:55pm Jon Heyman (SI):  Yankees about to “walk” after Mariners don’t accept Montero, Adams and 3rd prospect. Pessimism surrounds those talks now.

http://twitter.com/SI_JonHeyman

2:54pm Buster Olney (ESPN): SEA-NYY talks stalled over identity of second player in the deal, second baseman David Adams.We’ll see if another team has jumped in.

2:45pm Buster Olney (ESPN): Big concerns arising within the negotiation that the SEA-NYY Cliff Lee deal could break up. Fluid situation.

http://twitter.com/Buster_ESPN

2:45pm Joel Sherman (NY Post): To repeat the Yankees aren’t getting Cliff Lee, Mariners concerned about David Adams ankle plus apparently another team has jumped in hard.

2:44pm – Joel Sherman (NY Post): Mariners have turned in a different direction and Yankees do not believe they are in it now (more to come).

2:42pm – Joel Sherman (NY Post): Mariners backing off Yankees offer, Post has learned. Does not look like Yankees are in it.

http://twitter.com/Joelsherman1

There team ERA is at 3.62 which is pretty darn good, but that is not problem. The problem is the offense, with a team batting average of only .233.

You can’t win games if you can’t hit even with the two studs in the rotation. Milton Bradley is batting .214 followed by Ken Griffey Jr. at .200, Casey Kotchman at .186 and Chone Figgins at .185. These numbers for this time of year is horrendous.

Is it time to say goodbye to Ken Griffey Jr.? I think so and what a career Junior had. He will be a first ballot Hall of Famer. But right now the Mariners need a bat and there are a few players looking for employment.

Doug Fister and Seattle’s bullpen were just good enough Friday night when they got some needed power from Franklin Gutierrez, Adam Moore and Mike Sweeney all homered in support of Fister, helping the usually light-hitting Mariners beat the baseball-best Tampa Bay Rays 4-3.

There’s time to get it together, but the Mariners need to do it sooner than later.

Last year, he was one of the worst designated hitters in baseball – hitting .214 with a .735 OPS, the worst numbers of his career – while playing an injury-shortened 114 games.

Ken Griffey Jr was expected to break Hank Aaron’s home run record, but injuries hurt his chances. He missed a lot of games in 1995, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. In those years he missed time, he averaged only 77.8 games played. If he was to average 35 home runs per year during those injury years, he would have had 725 home runs for his career. Yes I know Barry Bonds holds the record, but that record should be accompanied with an asterisk (*).

I still own three Upper Deck rookie cards. I hope that one day they will be worth a lot more, but I doubt it, they way over produced baseball cards in those days.

The Kid is 40 and it makes me feel old as I was 27 when he first came up. Where does the time go?

He had a Hall of Fame career based on the number below;

Games 2638, AB: 9703, Runs 1656, Hits 2763, 2B 522, 3B 38, HR 630, RBI 1829, BB 1762, SB 182, AVG .285, SLG .541, OPS .912

He is a first ballot Hall of Famer for sure!

The Mariners have acquired some needed reinforcement in 2009 with the acquisitions of;

Cliff Lee (SP), Felix Hernandez (SP) – Resigned for 5 years, Chone Figgins (3B), Casey Kotchman (1B), and Franklin Gutierre (OF)

Other additions include; Erik Bedard, Ryan Garko, Eric Byrnes, and Brandon League. The Mariners are hoping to get production from these players.

The Mariners were also successful in dumping their overpaid pitcher, Carlos Silva.

Steve Henson writes – “The Mariners were outscored 692-640 last season, meaning their finish eight games above .500 was partially the product of good fortune. No one in their lineup is projected to hit 30 home runs. Second baseman and cleanup hitter Jose Lopez belted 25 last year and is due for a regression. Ichiro Suzuki and Figgins might become the best top-of-the-order duo in baseball, but they might be stranded quite often.”

The Mariners will be competitive as they have the best one-two punch in baseball with Felix Hernandez and Cliff Lee, but after that, it’s all downhill.

Jack Zduriencik was busy in 2009 and made some great moves, but not as good as the moves Brian Cashman made in 2008.

Seattle Mariners Transactions – http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/sea/transactions

Felix Hernandez is a much better pitcher than Verlander and he is three years younger. Felix won 19 games and posted an incredible 2.49 ERA last season. He also pitched for 238 innings, two less innings than Verlander, but close enough.

Verlander won a career-high 19 games with a career-best 3.45 ERA last season. A far cry from Felix Hernandez ERA he posted last year.

I am not sure what the Detroit Tigers were thinking or were they at all. Justin Verlander is a work horse who pitched 240 innings last year. I just have a problem with Verlander getting more money than Felix Hernandez. Let’s be honest, who would you rather have?

Detroit fans let me here what you have to say. I am sure you will debate with me, but the numbers tell the true story. I am confident that Felix will outperform Justin in 2010. Are there any betters out there?

The Seattle Mariners are no slouch at offense with Ichiro Suzuki, Chone Figgins, Jose Lopez, and Franklin Gutiérrez. They still have the kid Ken Griffey who still has some pop left in his bat. The Mariners finished 85-77 and good for 3rd place in the AL West.

The Seattle Mariners are a much improved team and could even win the division after the Los Angeles Angels had a little fire sale this winter. Los Angeles Angels have lost Chone Figgins to the Mariners and John Lackey to the Red Sox.

I have a strong feeling that the American Wild Card will not come from the beasts of the East.

Prediction

AL East: Yankees (104-58)
AL Central: Twins (90-72)
AL West:  Angels (97-65)
Wild Card: Mariners (95-67)

Red Sox: 2nd in AL East (94-68)

What are your predictions?