Well, after 3 weeks of snow, planning and progress the blog is back! Ive gotten a lot of messages and tweets about where the hell I went. I went into a deep deep hiding lol! No, we had a freakish snow storm that took us out for a good 5 days. After that I had the get progress rolling to get back into school. Should be finalized in the next month or so! Also, I have been working on my video blog and kind of hit a snag. As far as the video blog it should be up fairly soon, but it changed and also changed my blog. My blog will no longer be about wrestling and Seattle sports. From here on out this is just a Seattle sports blog. While my video blog will be dedicated to wrestling. So Watch out for the video blog! (should be up by next week). In the meantime. Here we go!
ARE THE SONICS HEADED BACK TO SEATTLE!?
So the talk this week has been about the Seattle Supersonics possibly coming back to Seattle. Christopher Hansen, a hedge-fund manager, has been working with the city the past eight months to build a basketball arena south of Safeco Field — the home stadium of MLB’s Seattle Mariner, as the Seattle times reports. They say the plan is for Hansen to buy both the sonics and the NHL's Phoenix Coyotes. Then he would have the sonics play in Key Arena for one season until they can build the new arena. But there is a little issue. Voters approved an initiative in 2006 stating that the team has to prove they will turn a profit to get public funding. And that might be tough to do considering Seattle is a very conservative City. However, I think a deal will get done. We all know the NBA is losing money and you can put some of that blame on the fact that they dont have a team in one of the biggest markets here in Seattle. You also have to think that fans would foam at the mouth for a chance to have an NHL team in Seattle. For those two reasons and the revenue a NBA and NHL team can bring to Seattle is enough for me to believe that a deal will get done. Stay tuned!
PITCHERS AND CATCHERS REPORT TOMORROW!
Can you smell it? baseball is in the air. And tomorrow it begins. Due to the Mariners starting the season in Japan, they will show up to spring training about 10 days early. Yes, It will be another rebuilding year. But with a full and (hopefully healthy) season by guys like smoak, carp, ackley, and montero. I think your gonna see the mariners score a few more runs and they will probably get out of the cellar of the AL West. Heres how I see the lineup for the beginning of the season:
1. 2B Dustin Ackley:
.273 BA, .348 OBP, .417 SLG, 6 HR, 36 RBI in 2011
2. RF Ichiro Suzuki:
.272 BA, .310 OBP, .335 SLG, 5 HR, 47 RBI in 2011
3. LF Mike Carp:
.276 BA, .326 OBP, .466 SLG, 12 HR, 46 RBI in 2011
4. DH Jesus Montero:
.328 BA, .406 OBP, .590 SLG, 4 HR, 12 RBI in 2011
5. 1B Justin Smoak:
.234 BA, .323 OBP, .396 SLG, 15 HR, 55 RBI in 2011
6. CF Franklin Gutierrez:
.224 BA, .261 OBP, .273 SLG, 1 HR, 19 RBI in 2011
7. C Miguel Olivo:
.224 BA, .253 OBP, .388 SLG, 19 HR, 62 RBI in 2011
8. 3B Kyle Seager:
.258 BA, .312 OBP, .379 SLG, 3 HR, 13 RBI in 2011
9. SS Brendan Ryan:
.248 BA, .313 OBP, .326 SLG, 3 HR, 39 RBI in 2011
and the pitching rotation:
Projected rotation
1. Felix Hernandez, 14-14, 3.47 ERA in 20112. Jason Vargas, 10-13, 4.25 ERA in 2011
3. Hisashi Iwakuma, 6-7, 2.42 ERA in 2011-a
4. Kevin Millwood, 4-3, 3.98 ERA in 2011 -b
5. Blake Beavan, 5-6, 4.27 ERA in 2011
a -With Rakuten in Japan
b-With Colorado Rockies
And finally the bullpen:
Closer: Brandon League, 37/42 saves, 2.79 ERA in 2011RH setup man: Tom Wilhelmsen, 3.31 ERA in 2011
LH setup man: George Sherrill, 3.00 ERA in 2011-c
c-With Atlanta Braves
Okay, so they may not look good on paper. But dont sell these guys short. You have to think the mariners have potential 30hr 100RBI guys in smoak, carp, and montero. Olivio can hit 20 bombs. The offense is young but has a lot of potential. I think our pitching is sturdy has heck, especially when you flank one of my favs in millwood. And the Bullpen is pretty darn good if you ask me. But it is a long season. So we shall see. I just cant wait to hear the words "PLAY BALL"!
