Though the Mariners are still without a big bat in their lineup and Cliff Lee has yet to pitch a game, AL teams shouldn’t count them out. After getting off to a very slow start, opening the season 2-6, the Mariners rebounded nicely and as of April 21st were 8-7 with Lee set to return to the team some time in the next week. Backed by some improving young pitchers, timely hitting and a strong bullpen, the Mariners seemed to have stayed afloat long enough to bring their co-ace back to the rotation.

The main reason the Mariners have been able to rebound from their rough start has been their starting pitching, which has been surprisingly strong even in Lee’s absence. Doug Fister, Jason Vargas and Ian Snell have all posted very nice starts, which have allowed Lee to recover from his painful abdominal injury without having to rush him into the rotation. Though there was plenty of skepticism surrounding the back-end of the Mariners’ rotation, their youngsters have responded with poise – at least for now. Even if no one is expecting guys like Fister, Vargas and Snell to continue their recent string of success, their improvement still suggests that the Mariners are in better position than many originally anticipated.

Not only is Lee expected to return shortly, Eric Bedard is also slated to make a return to the rotation some time in early May, which should give them a very strong top three pitchers in the rotation. Everyone already knows that Felix Hernandez is one of the most dominant pitchers in the entire league and Lee is capable of shutting down a team every time he takes the mound. Though Bedard has cialis cheap been hampered by a myriad of injuries since the Mariners signed him a couple of seasons back, he will have the least amount of pressure in his career and all signs seem to suggest that he has recovered successfully. As a third starter, Bedard, even if he’s not his former self, still could be the best third-starter in the division and be a tremendous help to the team as a whole.

What Lee and Bedard’s return to the lineup will do for the Mariners is allow them to pick and choose which back-end starters they will send to the bullpen and which ones they can slot in as their fourth and fifth starters. With one of the best defensive squads in the league behind them, the Mariners should be boasting one of the very best rotations in the entire league by mid-May.

There is still a question about their abilities to hit, however, as the Mariners do have a general lack of power in their lineup. Ken Griffey Jr. is still beloved in Seattle but his impact is much more in the clubhouse than on the field; that he is frequently batting in the fifth or sixth slots doesn’t bode well for the viability of the offense. But the Mariners do have a very strong top of the lineup, with Ichiro leading off, Chone Figgins as nearly the perfect two-hitter and Franklin Gutierrez off to a great start in the three-hole. Though Milton Bradley has been up and down already in Seattle, he has had some clutch RBIs in recent games that has hand-delivered wins to the M’s.

Still, the Mariners will need to add a bat to their lineup at some point to be able to compete with the more talented lineups in the league like the New York Yankees and the Tampa Bay Rays. If they can stay at .500 or a few games above for the first half of the season, the Mariners have the prospects and payroll to attract a guy like Adrian Gonzalez or, if they really are aiming high, then for a guy like Hanley Brand Viagra Ramirez. Both guys would go a long way in helping to sell Seattle Mariners tickets.

For the immediate future, though, it appears the Mariners have the pitching and defense good enough to keep them in contention. With Lee set to make his first start shortly, it looks like they finally have the team that had analysts picking them to win the AL West.

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