MLB Seattle Mariners

Seattle Mariners 2015 AL West Contenders After Picking Up SP Hisashi Iwakuma’s Option

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By @JordanWevers

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Clayton Kershaw imploding for a second straight postseason was a surprise. The Seattle Mariners choosing to exercise their 2015 club option on starting pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma was not.

$7 million for a second starter of Iwakuma’s caliber is a fortunate bargain. He would attract ace status on a number of other teams in MLB. Matt Garza was perhaps the most coveted free agent starting pitcher with previous MLB service time following the 2013 playoffs. His annual salary is $12.5 million, to go alongside a career 3.81 ERA. Kuma has a career ERA of 3.07 in the big leagues and 20 more wins than Garza since he entered the league in 2012.

AL West opponents should be concerned, because while the Mariners’ rotation looks to be even better than it was this past season with larger contributions from James Paxton and Taijuan Walker on tap, none of their division foes have the immediate resources to match Seattle’s high profile arms.

The Oakland Athletics gained Jeff Samardzija with trade deadline transactions, but are unlikely to re-sign free agent Jon Lester. Fellow free agent Jason Hammel should be considered a question mark as well.

The Los Angeles Angels will get Garrett Richards back, but their rotation was otherwise average this year. Their only pitching prospect approaching possible service time with the club is RHP Cam Bedrosian, who missed 2011 due to Tommy John surgery and has been working as a reliever in the minors.

In Arlington, the Texas Rangers look to rebound from one of the worst injury riddled seasons in history. Yu Darvish is signed through 2017 and Derek Holland is as strong a No. 2 option as there is in the league, but the drop off is substantial after that.

Finally, you have the Houston Astros. Plenty of unproven prospects get in line behind ace Dallas Keuchel, who was a very pleasant surprise for the club in 2014. Meanwhile, 27-year old Collin McHugh will try to continue overachieving beyond his spotty minor league track record.

Worth noting as well, is that both Lone Star State teams will have new, relatively inexperienced managers guiding their ball clubs in 2015. Texas will have a rookie in Jeff Bannister. Houston will have A.J. Hinch, who has a career record of 89-123 in less than two full seasons at the helm dating back to his tenure with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Of course, free agency provides a lot of unknown scenarios that should reveal themselves in the coming weeks. While it’s probable a few of the above teams improve their rotations with a signing or two, it’s not out of the question for Seattle to be included on that list. They failed to re-sign 2014 AL Comeback Player of the Year Chris Young before the season ended, though Young expressed his desire to continue suiting for the Emerald City in the future.

GM Jack Zduriencik pulled the trigger on a very easy decision to hold onto Iwakuma. With Felix Hernandez, Paxton and Walker set to round out the rotation in 2015, second year bench boss Lloyd McClendon may only be a skillful right-handed bat in his lineup away from an AL West crown in the new year.

Jordan Wevers is a writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @JordanWevers, “Like” him on Facebook, or add him to your network on Google.

 

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