Oh, Hello There...

Uhh...wow...what the hell happened to The Bush Leagues?

I've gotten that from a few people over the last four months as Garbs and I have seemingly disappeared off the face of the planet. It's true, it's true, The Bush Leagues took a bit of a hiatus, ironically about the same time football started and the weather began to turn shitty. We became lethargic with our posting which led to them being absent. But I'm going to work on building the posts and the commentary back up to a respectable level. Ok, maybe The Bush Leagues were never a beacon of respectability, we might as well be filming a TV show in our parents basement. But you get the point.

With that being said, there are plenty of things for Mariners fans to get excited about this upcoming season.

- Chone Figgins: The free agency season started with a bang as the M's were able to lure Figgins away from AL West rival the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and put him in Mariner blue. The move will give us one of the best tandems at the top of the line-up as all Figgins does is get on base while giving Zduriencik options on how he puts together the remainder of his infield. Welcome to the M's Chone, I used to think you were a horrible person, but now, you're ok in my book. Funny how changing teams can influence perception.

- Cliff Lee: We were able to trade for one of the Top 5 pitchers in baseball and all it cost us were three guys who might make an impact for the Philadelphia Phillies one-to-three years down the road. Granted, we only have Lee inked for one-year at present, but this is a great sign from the M's front office that they're focused on winning in 2010. Not to mention, is there a better 2-man top of the rotation than King Felix and Lee?

- Milton Bradley: Obviously the best part of this addition is what we gained by subtraction: No more Silva! But also, Bradley will give us the bat we needed in the heart of the order to follow Ichiro and Figgins. Although it has been made very public by the media of Bradley's past problems and his seven different teams in ten years, I feel confident all he needs are some good hard Griffey tickles to keep him in check.

And the best part is, we're not done yet! There is still a glaring hole at first base and a group of bottom of the rotation starting pitchers to be less than excited about. Although he will most likely break camp, I do not see Mike Carp as our regular starting first baseman. It's just not going to happen. Look for Z to make something happen through free agency or trade, but I guarantee you we will have a Number 4 hitter to follow Ichiro, Figgins and Bradley.

For the fifth spot in the rotation we have the hold-overs from last year; Jason Vargas (not Justin), Luke French, Doug Fister and Garrett Olson. None of these pitchers offer anything to get truly excited about as far as talent go, but they would be well-suited for the bottom of the rotation. However, there are still pitchers in free agency that could offer plenty of upside for a moderate salary. Pitchers like Ben Sheets, Chien-Ming Wang or even bring back former M's pitchers Erik Bedard, Jarrod Washburn or hell...even Randy Johnson.

There's still plenty of things we can do in the offseason to build a team for an AL West Championship. But, early signs point that we are well on our way.