FanPost

Who else is excited about our young talent?

Dustin-ackley-241x300_mediumThis is Dustin Ackley. Let's hope he looks less silly as a Mariner...

via www.keeperleaguegm.com


I'm really liking where this organization could be in a couple years. We have Guti, who's very busy showing how great of an all-around player he is. We could easily lock up Kotchman, and I think we should in a couple months if he's still playing this well (keep hitting it in the air, Casey!). We have Adam Moore, who could be a league average hitter as a catcher (which we all know is VERY good for the position), and we of course have King Felix, lord of the mound.

Now think of who's waiting in the wings. We don't have a lot of high-end talent, but we have it where we need it. Dustin Ackley could be Chase Utley Jr at 2B, Michael Saunders is one of the few prospects in all of baseball who could end up a 30-30 guy out in LF, and I haven't given up on Carlos Triunfel at SS. And I don't know about you guys, but I like the idea of Tui at 3B. If Tui can give us above average production at 3rd, we can trade Lopez for a decent SP prospect (someone who projects to be a #3 in a few years or, if we're lucky, a #2) and push Chone Figgins to a super-utility role for the remainder of his contract.

That's likely above average production (possibly star-quality production) at 7 of 9 spots from cheap young talent. If Ichiro can stay Ichiro for the next 5 years, we could have a very inexpensive, very productive lineup. That means we would have money to spend on the Clif Lees of this world. Not this coming offseason probably, but three or so years down the road. And we would have had several years to develop Jack Z's first few years of draft choices, which could provide us with more exciting young talent.

Is anyone else this optimistic? Am I hoping for too much from too many unknowns? Are there any prospects I've missed? Please discuss.