RealGM

RF - Ichiro (.361/6/25/21)
3B - Adrian Beltre (.259/5/31/9)
DH - Raul Ibanez (.310/25/68/4)
1B - Russell Branyan (.275/23/53/2)
LF - Shin Soo-Choo (.286/13/54/13)
CF - Adam Jones (.300/13/51/8)
2B - Jose Lopez (.269/12/52/2)
C - Kenji Johjima (.270/3/12/2)
SS - Ronny Cedeno (.193/5/16/3)

SP - Felix Hernandez (10-3/2.51/129Ks)
SP - Jarrod Washburn (7-6/2.87/75Ks)
SP - Ryan Rowland-Smith (2008 - 5-3/3.50/77Ks)
SP - Brandon Morrow (0-4/5.28/45Ks)
SP - Miguel Batista (6-3/3.23/32Ks)

RP - David Aardsma (2-3/1.83/53Ks)
RP - Sean Green (1-2/5.27/31Ks)
RP - Sean White (2-1/2.49/20Ks)
RP - Matt Thorton (4-2/3.03/45Ks)
RP - George Sherill (0-1/2.35/35Ks)
CP - J.J. Putz (1-4/5.22/19Ks)

On the bench would be Franklin Gutierez, Ken Griffey, Jr, Mike Sweeney, Chris Woodword, Rob Johnson

How far would this team go?

Believe me, I can get plenty worked up over those "what if the Bavasi era hadn't happened" questions. Minor nits: no Gutierrez on the bench if the team is keeping Putz (but personally, I'd much rather have Gutierrez and all the other pieces from that trade); and if the team had kept Ibanez, they may not have signed Branyan, and certainly not Griffey.

Oh, and welcome.

Why would Guitierez be playing behind Shin Soo-Choo? Is Choo better? I really haven't seen him this year.

It's tough to say. The last couple of years Seattle has defied the laws of baseball. We won 88 games in '07 despite being woefully outscored (if memory serves) over a 162 game season. That's one of the reasons why I didn't think we would compete in the West in '08 (even with Bedard), even though a lot of people figured we'd edge out the Angels. I thought winning 88 games was somewhat of a fluke. Still, no matter how "fluky" those 88 wins were, to go from 88 wins to 101 losses with largely the same team was pretty perplexing. Then, this year, we return the bulk of a 101 game loser and we're in a division race. Go figure.

That team looks pretty good on paper, but who the heck knows. Seattle is insane in the membrane when it comes to baseball logic.

It wouldn't have existed. Without the horrible moves Bavasi ended up making last year, the M's probably have a decent team, tread water, and Bavasi/McLaren keep their jobs. I know I'm not the first person to suggest this but I guess the talent we lost in the Bedard deal was, essentially, the sacrificial lamb that lead to the needed purge.

Meh. All of our previous **** ups led us to landing Franklin Gutierrez (aka my new favorite player), so I'm not much fussed over what could have been.

Ofcourse Bavasi messed up bad and we've been put through some torture, but the future is looking bright. Our new FO seems to know what they are doing and I'm really excited about what this team is capable of a few years down the line.

We'll get back to the playoffs, fellas. AND TEAMS BETTER WATCH OUT!

seems like a good offensive team but the pitching rotation doesn't give me faith.