Mariners moves are coming to frution

When Mariners general manager Jack Z is alone in his office he probably does a little dance. The roster he formulated over the last couple years is coming together and the progress is obvious. Sure the lineup still needs a threat at the cleanup position and it still needs Ichiro to man up and act like a leadoff hitter.

Instead of nit-picking the lineup to death, I choose to instead present to you the silver lining that exists. First of all, the Cliff Lee for Justin Smoak and some good minor-league pitchers is proving to be a great move. Smoak has shown lots of potential. He leads the team in homeruns and on-base percentage. Not bad for a kid with a mere 156 career games played.

How about when Jack Z brought back catcher Miguel Olivio? All he has done is clutch up for Seattle multiple times with huge game-winning hits. Guys like Adam Kennedy and Brendan Ryan have filled in nicely while the future works itself in the minors. Second baseman Dustin Ackley is set to arrive in Seattle in the next couple weeks and will hold down that part of the infield for at least the next 5 years. Ackley is the type of player teams drool over. He hits for average and has pop. While in college he won the top hitters award. Currently, he is dominating Triple A in Tacoma so we will see if that translates this summer in the bigs.

The Mariners also called up outfielder Mike Carp who forced himself onto the team by crushing minor league pitching. He batted .350 and hit 19 HR with 58 RBI in 56 games. You think Seattle could use that bat? Carp figures to play DH and left field.

Management has shown they can judge pitching as well. Their pitching staff leads the American League in many categories. We all know the rookie Pineda is on fire and Bedard is finally showing his worth but did you know the future of this staff is even brighter than it was last week?

Seattle had the 2nd overall draft pick in this week's MLB draft and they selected the best left-handed pitcher available. Danny Hultzen, who is rated as the most major league ready player in the amateur draft absolutely dominated the collegiate level. He won the Atlantic Coastal Conference pitcher of the year award the last two season by going 31-5. Hultzen was a wise choice but he won't reach Seattle until 2012 spring training.

Mariner fans should embrace this team for what it is and for where it is going because I can tell this is going to be fun ride back to the top...