My two cents - Mariners again will start again, but with less flourish

As area entrants vanish in the early brackets of March madness, sports fans change focus. Suddenly the distant dispatches from Peoria, Ariz., begin to carry weight, and fans realize it’s going to happen again. The Mariners will launch.

Will expectations of another spring grind down to another August of drooping batting averages and call-ups of unknowns from Tacoma?

Although the 2010 sinking of the Mariners’ ship was not unique, it carried an extra ration of disappointment because the expectations of the previous spring were gone.

Felix did win the Cy Young award, and Ichiro set a record with his 10th 200-hit season, but the Mariners as a team were out of it.

Will 2011 be better?

Overall, the winter’s trade season didn’t light up expectations like last year. The M’s are lurching toward the spring start with less flourish.

But hope springs eternal, as they say.

Again, an effort was made here over the winter to log reports and comments from our big brother writers on sports dailies. The intent is to give fans some idea of what went on in the hot stove league over the winter as the front office decisions were made and executed before the spring launch.

Oct. 3 - It’s Sunday when the season stats get published with one game left. For the record, the Ms are 29 games out of first place with a 61-100 record. That’s a .379. Texas, 90-71, takes the division title and winds up later losing to the Giants in the Word Series.

The Mariners rank third in AL team pitching with a 3.92 earned run average. They walked 448 batters, a league low, and gave up 1386 hits. Pitcher Felix Hernandez, later named as the Cy Young award winner, topped the majors with 250 innings and a 2.27 ERA.

The Mariners’ team batting average was .235, lowest in baseball. They had 1,255 hits, also lowest in baseball.

A report notes the Mariners in 2010 totaled just 513 runs, lowest total by any club in the designated hitter era.

Oct. 19 - Eric Wedge, formerly of Cleveland, is announced as the new manager. Wedge takes over from Daren Brown who was brought up from Tacoma to finish the season after Don Wakamatsu was turned out in August when the Ms were 28 games under .500. Brown’s record for the balance was 19-31.

John Blanchette of the Spokesman Review in a column the next day notes Wedge was part of the Cleveland charge in 2007 which ended a game short of the World Series. After that, he notes, the Cleveland management began to sell off the talent.

Blanchette notes general manager Jack Zduriencik this time around disqualified candidates who lacked big league managerial experience. He also reports the Mariners last summer quit or mutinied and Wakamatsu was left out on a limb by Howard Lincoln and Chuck Armstrong.

Wedge will be the eighth manager for the Ms in eight years.

Nov. 3 - Pitcher Erik Bedard is gone? Mariners drop option to sign him for $8 million next year. Options for Jose Lopez and Russell Branyan also dropped. Russell (The Muscle) had a $5 million option but will get a $500,000 buyout. Branyan hit 31 homers for the Mariners in 2009, was let go, and then re-acquired in a trade last June when the Mariners hit-drought emerged. He hit 15 this year despite back problems.

Bedard, the big name import from Baltimore in 2008, last pitched for the Ms in 2009. He had a 3.24 ERA and 11-7 record, but it was posted over three years on the payroll. Bedard could return, but not with the big contract. He inked for $7.75 million last year and never made it to the mound.

Lopez has a $4.5 million option, but he becomes eligible for salary arbitration. Moved to third base, he hit just .239 last year and just 10 homers, down from 25 last year.

Ryan Langerhans and catcher Guillermo Quiroz decide to become free agents after rejecting assignments to the minors.

Nov. 4 - New manager, new coaches: Robby Thompson, a special assistant with Cleveland for the last eight years, will be bench coach. Chris Chambliss, a 17-year veteran as a player, will be hitting coach. He managed Chicago’s triple-A team for the last two years.

Jamie Navarro will be bullpen coach after being a pitching coach for the last three years in the Mariners organization. He played in the bigs for 12 years with his last stop at Cleveland.

Jeff Datz, bench coach for Wedge at Cleveland in 2007-2009, will be third base coach. He was at Baltimore last year.

Two coaches who survived the change are Carl Willis, pitching coach, and Mike Brumley, first base coach.

Nov. 11 - Sad day. Dave Niehaus, the voice of the Mariners since 1977, dies of a heart attack at his home at age 75. For fans in the “outback” parts of the Northwest, Niehaus always seemed like a summer friend.

Observation: We don’t see many “behind the scenes” books from retired baseball broadcasters because few retire. Imagine the tales Niehaus could have told if he separated himself from the payroll and wrote a book.

Dec. 3 - Lopez, in limbo since the Ms declined to pick up his option, traded to Colorado for Chaz Roe, AAA right handed pitcher. Rockies reportedly signed him for $3.6 million.

Also, Bedard tendered a one-year contract, if he makes the team in spring training.

Also, Josh Wilson, de facto Ms shortstop last year, will get a major league contract to avoid arbitration. Terms not revealed at this point.

Pitcher Ryan Rowland-Smith, who had a tough finish on the mound, now a free agent after rejecting M’s offer. Pitchers David Aardsma, Brandon League, and Jason Vargas get contract offers and face arbitration. They can be traded.

Dec. 9-Word circulates that Miguel Olivo, now 32 and a free agent, will sign for two years at $7 million. Olivo played for the Ms in 2004-2005 after coming here from the White Sox in the Freddy Garcia trade. He hit .269 with 14 homers last year for the Blue Jays.

Olivo, reached at home in the Dominican Republic, confirms he has signed.

Dec. 10 - Jack Cust, 31, signed for a year at $2.5 million. Cust became available after Oakland declined to sign him five days earlier. He hit .272 with 13 homers and 52 RBIs last year. Cust figures to be a designated hitter.

Dec. 11 - Ryan Rowland-Smith signs a one-year deal with Houston, $725,000.

Dec. 12 - Mariners acquire shortstop Brendan Ryan from St. Louis on trade of Maikel Cleto, minor league pitcher. Ryan reportedly has had wrist problems. He underwent surgery before last season. His batting average dropped from .292 in 2009 to .223 last year.

Dec. 13 - Catcher Rob Johnson designated for assignment to make room on the roster for Cust. Johnson, 28, played 61 games with the Ms and hit .191. He underwent operations on both hips and a wrist and finished at Tacoma with a .297 in 19 games.

Dec. 13 - Players Association reports average salary for the 912 players on major league rosters before the September roster expansion was $3,014,572, up six tenths of a percent. The Yankees average $7,604,937. Pittsburgh players average $1,140,598.

The USA Today players salary breakout for the Mariners lists nine players at or above the 2010 league average with Ichiro tops at $18 million.

Dec. 31 - David Aardsma will undergo surgery in Vail, Colo., to repair torn labrum in his left hip. He is expected to be ready to start this season. Aardsma’s ascension is one of the few happy tales for the Ms over the last two years. He saved 31 games last year and 38 in 2009.

Jan. 4 - The Miguel Olivo contract is announced, and it’s $7 million over two years as rumored after the winter meetings. His .269 average last year was a career high, and 23 homers with the Royals in 2009 offers hope for more offense out of the catcher’s slot.

Brendan Ryan signs for $2.75 million over two years. Again, Mariners hope for more offense and turn to Ryan’s .223 average for help.

Pitchers Aardsma, Brandon League and Jason Vargas remain eligible for arbitration.

Jan. 6 - Where are they now dept.: after one year at Boston where he hit .321 with 102 RBIs and 23 homers, Adrian Beltre, 31, signs a six-year deal with the Texas Rangers for a possible $96 million. Some bloggers note the Rangers had funds to sign Beltre after their attempt to keep Cliff Lee failed. Lee went back to the Phillies, although Texas and the Yankees were willing to pay more.

Jan. 27 - Adam Kennedy, 35, former Angels MVP who signed a minor league contract with the M’s Jan. 10, reported to be contrite following a DUI arrest on an Orange County freeway. If Kennedy cracks the 40 man roster he gets a $750,000 major league salary.

Feb. 14 - Zduriencik now points out the Mariners “didn’t have a lot of flexibility going into the off season.” Geoff Baker of the Seattle Times said the statement relates to the team’s payroll limit of $93.5 million.

Feb. 15 - Bedard penciled as possible big plus in spring training. He has been on disabled list five times since acquired. Bedard was shut down July 25, 2009, with a 5-3 mark and 2.82 earned-run average.

Feb. 22 - AP writer Tim Booth notes the oft-injured Jack Wilson, who has a $5 million guarantee in the last year of his contract, realizes he hasn’t delivered on his part of the deal when he came from Pittsburgh just before the 2009 trade deadline. Wilson played in 61 games last year and has a .240 average in a Mariner uniform.

Brendan Ryan is now also a shortstop candidate. Young player Dustin Ackley also a candidate. Chone Figgins looks like he’ll go to third.

The other Wilson, Josh Wilson, is also in this picture some place, or maybe out of it via a trade because he is out of Tacoma options.

Also pitchers Doug Fister, Michael Pineda sign. Infielders Matt Tuiasosopo and Justin Smoak sign.

Feb. 19 - Milton Bradley status: Picked up in a trade last year, Bradley was knocked out last July after surgery for a knee problem. He hit .205 in 73 games with a staggering 29 RBIs. Bradley reportedly will not be charged after a domestic violence arrest in Los Angeles. He has a year left on a $30 million three year contract. Wedge says Bradley is a candidate for left field.

Feb. 27 - AP’s Booth reports on Franklin Gutierrez and his lingering stomach problems. The Gold Glover center fielder underwent a series of tests when his stomach acted up again. Gutierrez went from a .294 average at the start of June last year to a .245 at the close for a career low.

March 7 - Kirby Arnold of the Everett Herald checks in on Michael Saunders, a 2004 draftee who has hit .214 in 411 at-bats in the majors. Saunders is a candidate for left field. Arnold two weeks later predicts Bradley makes the roster while Saunders will be parked at Tacoma for a call-up after another possible Bradley flare-up.

Bradley leads the M’s hit charts for spring training.

Play ball.