Seattle Mariners

As reported by ESPN, a three-team blockbuster deal is all but done. The deal will involve the Blue Jays sending Roy Halladay to the Phillies, the Phillies dealing Cliff Lee to the Mariners, and a handful of prospects going in all different directions. Call me crazy, but there’s only one winner in this deal—the Mariners.

The Phillies are already loaded. They already have Cole Hamels, Jamie Moyer, Joe Blanton, and J.A. Happ. This is arguably the best starting rotation in the NL East.

For the Mariners, this trade is, to sum it up in one word, awesome. Not only are they significantly improving their chances of being a serious contender in 2010, but they're doing it without giving up all that much of the future.

As of right now, it appears that the Mariners will be sending Phillippe Aumont, JC Ramirez, and Tyson Gillies to the Phillies, in exchange for Cliff Lee.

Whoa.

This isn't final, for starters, but the rumor is starting to snowball. The gist of it goes like this:

Seattle gets: Cliff Lee

Philadelphia gets: Roy Halladay

Toronto gets: A whole bunch of prospects. Mariners will supposedly send two or more from this bunch: Brandon Morrow, Phillipe Aumont and Michael Saunders.

It's not like we are heartbroken to see him go, but the Mariners made Ryan Langerhans a Free Agent and will not be retaining his services.

Despite his pedestrian offense and mediocre defense, Langerhans did churn out two walk off wins for the Mariners with his bat. 

His essential release creates an opening on the 40 man roster, a spot that is more then likely going to be filled by a Free Agent. 

As we wait out Russell Branyan and look into signing Nick Johnson or trading for Andre Ethier, the Oakland Athletics may have done us a big favor.

They non-tendered Jack Cust.

His production slipped a little last year, which is a cause for alarm. He wasn't driving the ball like he had done before, as most of his flyballs found outfielders' gloves rather than one of a twelve year old in the right field stands.

It’s finally that time of year, folks. This is what we’ve been waiting for since the Mariners fell out of the AL West race back in July: the winter meetings are finally here.

Day one was relatively uninteresting, with no major news taking place. There were a few minor signings and arbitration decisions—however none of them involved the Mariners so I’m not even going to talk about them.

There were a few developments on the Mariners front, though.

The Seattle Mariners mean business.

General Manager Jack Zduriencik is entering just his second offseason at the club’s helm, but clearly has the franchise headed in the right direction.

Last offseason, he engineered a number of low-risk, high-reward deals and helped turnaround a club that had just 61 wins in 2008 to 85 victories a year ago.