an article from espn

[Baseballnut77]

The Seattle Mariners have confirmed that they will bring back general manager Jack Zduriencik for the 2014 season. For Zduriencik to stay on the job beyond next season, however, his sixth as Seattle's GM, the Mariners will need to make marked improvements in the win column, where they haven't reached .500 for four straight seasons.

Here are the key areas Zduriencik must address this offseason:

• Adding offense without sacrificing defense: Last winter's acquisitions of Raul Ibanez, Michael Morse and Kendrys Morales were intended to add veteran leadership and offensive punch. To a degree, that did happen; Ibanez and Morales have produced, at least in spurts, offensively. But it came at far too great of a cost defensively. With Ibanez in left field and Morse in right, the M's suffered terribly on defense; the veteran duo rank among the worst outfielders in the game in Defensive Runs Saved (minus-16 runs each). Zduriencik will need to find players such as Gerardo Parra in Arizona, who is sneaky good offensively and solid defensively, and the need is there at all three outfield spots.
• Add a strong No. 3 starter: Seattle tried Joe Saunders in this role this season, and the team is must do better than that to compete against division opponents Oakland, Texas and the Los Angeles Angels. With a pair of All-Stars atop the rotation in Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma and two talented, hard-throwing youngsters ready to join the back end of the rotation in Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, adding a reliable No. 3 arm (probably via trade) is one way the M's could improve their odds of victory every fifth day.
• Fix the bullpen and settle on a closer: Until 2013, one of Zduriencik's strengths had been his ability to compile a quality bullpen composed entirely of cheap, young fireballers. This year, it was a disaster. Adding a proven veteran or two, without breaking the bank, is badly needed. The other huge question is at closer. Is the team going to give that role back to Tom Wilhelmsen, who completely unraveled midway through the season? If not, it needs to determine if Danny Farquhar is the answer going forward. As Jason A. Churchill of ProspectInsider.com mentioned recently, others with experience closing, such as Edward Mujica, Fernando Rodney or Joaquin Benoit, could make more sense.

Also there is an article about the chances of signing timmy but the writer puts it at 50/50 at best if timmy is looking for 10 mill plus

 

[seahawksfan234]

Solid article but on a semi unrelated note I would not touch Tim Lincecum if he is looking for $10m plus. Fact of the matter is he is no longer a $10m + pitcher and with all the speculation of him getting sent to the bullpen he and his agent should realize that.

I don't think there is anyone in baseball stupid enough to give him $10m. He improved on his disastrous 2012 campaign but he is no longer a #1, he's looking more like a #3 or #4. He is just not the pitcher he used to be. With a 4.80 ERA over his last 64 starts pitching in a pitchers park I don't think he is going to command $10m.

 

[Baseballnut77]

couldn't agree more. cant see paying him more than about 5 mill on a short term deal

 

[Baseballnut77]

even though some do not want to hear it I am going to say it anyways lol. we really need to get a couple of bats for next year as we should have at least 4 and who knows with F.A maybe 5 solid starters on our staff with king iwakuma paxson and walker. but having gone to many minor league games this year we have 4 more extremely young yet possibly high ceiling pitchers in the minors a few years away. a 17 year old 2- 18 year olds and a 19 year old who all had solid seasons. I like the core we are building with seager, miller/franklin( I think only one survives here for the long haul) and zunino. I think all of us can agree that we need 2 solid OF to help and someone to perform at first. I think if we can somehow make that happen in F.A. we can have at the least a winning season next year