Uncustomed Heroes of 2016: Mariners

The Mariners started the season with promise, and ended the season with progress. Unfortunately, the bit in the middle did them in.

Look, honest to God the Mariners are a nice squad, and with some more retooling they could make a run in 2017. The flaws, the cracks in the roster, was their doom this year. They had good performances, but they had injuries and just a bad run in June and July.

Nori Aoki had his first true down season, after a few great ones with Kansas City, San Francisco and Milwaukee. He did...alright in Seattle, but not as good as usual. Next year he'll be in Houston, which will hopefully be a better fit for him.

Edwin Diaz came late in the season and took over for a struggling Steve Cishek as closer (is that all he does? Struggle?), and did a more than admirable job as the ninth inning man. Hopefully he'll continue the streak when given a full season.

Dae-Ho Lee was a 1st Base, DH type that came up late and started hitting pretty well. The problem with the Mariners is that they have a ton of 1B/DH types, and one of them's gonna need to either strike gold or leave.

Coming Tomorrow- Another team on the verge of greatness, the Miami Marlins, who'll have to figure out how to survive without their dearly departed ace.