With three prospects in the top 20 and five in the top 80, the Mariners fared very well. In fact, according to Mayo’s rankings the Mariners are one of five teams in baseball with five or more prospects in the top 100 and produced the highest rating (329) among those teams. Kansas City coming in second at 290.

Jesus Montero, the newest addition to the Mariners, came in as the No. 12 rated prospect. The 22-year-old catcher is expected to be a fixture in the Mariners lineup beginning opening day. He was joined in the top 20 by 19-year-old right-hander Taijuan Walker (No. 18) and last year’s No. 2 overall pick, lefty Danny Hultzen (No. 16). Of the two, Hultzen at 23-years-old is the closest to the big leagues. It is expected that he could debut as early as April but more likely by mid-June of 2012.

The other two players to make the rankings were shortstop Nick Franklin (No. 52) and left-hander James Paxton, ranked 77th. Paxton completes the trio of future aces the Mariners have coming through the pipeline ready to join the rotation by mid-2013. In fact, these three (coupled with others like Erasmo Ramirez, Blake Beavan, Charlie Furbush and Forrest Snow) enabled Seattle to swing the deal for Montero with the Yankees, giving up Michael Pineda and young Jose Campos in return. All three of the highly touted arms have the potential to be better than Pineda down the line, that’s how good they are.

Going deeper, the Mariners not only have one of the top systems as far as top-end talent is concerned but also as far as depth is concerned. It was rated by Baseball America as the fourth best system in the majors as of January and is clearly on the rise.

The depth seems to come in through pitching and outfielders. In addition to those previously mentioned, the Mariners also have arms like Chance Ruffin, Stephen Pryor and Mauricio Robles that have high upsides. The outfield is well stocked with players like Guillermo Pimentel, Trayvon Robinson, Casper Wells, Chih-Hsien Chiang, Johermyn Chavez and Denny Almonte.

Additionally, the Mariners have begun to stockpile some solid to outstanding third base talent. Youngsters Francisco Martinez (picked up from Detroit in the Doug Fister/David Pauley deal), Alex Liddi, Vinnie Catricala, Carlos Truinfel and Kyle Seager (favored to be the Opening Day starter) are all players in the top 20 of the system with high level talent.

General Manager Jack Zduriencik has re-made the Mariners system from one that was completely dereft (decimated?) of any talent when Bill Bavasi left in 2008 to one that is now top five in the game and bursting with both elite pitching and some quality young bats. Another draft (the Mariners have the third overall pick in 2012) and year of seasoning and the Mariners system will be even better.

Things are indeed looking up in the Pacific Northwest.

When the Seattle Mariners dealt their probably No. 2 starter for 2012 in Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees (along with P Jose Campos) for C Jesus Montero and P Hector Noesi, they made such a gamble.

Pineda, 22, was pretty special in his rookie season in 2011. In 171 innings, Pineda struck out 173 and walked 55. His ERA was 3.74 and his WHIP 1.10. His impressive start to the season was good enough to make the AL All-Star team.

Despite these facts, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik made the right move in trading Pineda and Campos (who we will get to shortly) for the Yankees star young catcher, Montero (and Noesi).

Montero, 22, is a natural hitter. The fact that he has only played in 18 games thus far in his career has more to do with the fact that the Yankees didn’t really have the room in their starting lineup nor time while they competed for a divisional title, to play the youngster. What he is not, is a natural catcher and whether he is able to stay at that position will determine the true value in this deal.

Wherever Montero plays, whether it’s as a 1B/DH or C or even 3B, he will have value because of his bat. His hitting talent is such that he can contend for batting crowns while clubbing 30+ homers and driving in 100+ runs each and every season. But as the Mariners look to continue to improve an offense that has been historically inept the last two seasons, having the ability to add a player like Prince Fielder for instance, at DH or 1B, while Montero catches and Justin Smoak plays first, is critical.

The fact is the Mariners have pitching. Lots of it. What they were in desperate need of was, and still is, hitting. Lots of it. Adding a player like Montero, who can be a MVP contender in his career, is absolutely necessary for their chances to win divisional titles and make continual trips to the playoffs.

Because no matter how good the Mariners pitch, they still won’t win games without scoring runs. The past two seasons have shown that as the team finished 61-101 and 67-95 while posting team ERA’s of sub-4.00.

This was a deal that showcases four players that are laced with loads of potential but little results. Not a single one of these players have proved themselves yet.

Pineda could be a perennial All-Star and perhaps even a Cy Young winner with the Yankees. So could Campos who is just 19-years-old and probably three years away from making his MLB debut.

Montero, as mentioned, could also be a perennial All-Star and a MVP. Noesi could be a solid middle-of-the-rotation pitcher. Or they could not be.

It is a gamble. One the Mariners had to make and one that they will be able to endure due to the talent they are getting in return and the pitching depth they have in the system.

In the next couple of months, as the Mariners conduct spring training, you’re going to hear a few names over and over again. That of pitchers Danny Hultzen, James Paxton and Taijuan Walker. All three are former first round draft picks and on the short track to the big leagues. All three have higher ceilings than the 6-foot, 7-inch Pineda.

Hultzen and Paxton will be in the Mariners rotation in 2012. Walker will be there in 2013. They will all be good, possibly even great.

And now the Mariners could have an offense that matches them.

Last week’s Fielder update was a story out of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the Washington Nationals were now the frontrunners to sign the Brewers first baseman. Apparently Nationals’ team officials had a meeting with Scott Boras, the agent for Fielder, and Fielder was in the D.C. area.

I don’t know about any of you, but I take reports like this with about a pound of salt, nevermind the requisite grain. First of all, how do you think this reporter discovered that the Nationals and Boras were meeting? I don’t think it would surprise too many people if Boras himself publicized this with an “oh,-by-the-way” comment.

The other thing is Washington and Boras have a number of reasons to be talking to each other that don’t include Fielder. Boras, after all, has a number of clients and a couple of his more high-profile clients already play for the Nationals. I’m sure recent No. 1 picks Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper will ring a bell. He’s also the agent for Jaysen Werth, last year’s huge free agent signing.

So to take one small fact that the two parties had a discussion and immediately think they were talking about Fielder is jumping to conclusions. The fact is, there is no reason to believe that Washington is even remotely interested in Fielder.

Here we are a week later now, and still Fielder remains unsigned. Obviously Boras is holding out for additional teams to jump in the fray with the Texas Rangers being the most likely. The Rangers won the Yu Darvish posting sweepstakes last month with a $51.7 million bid. They were given a 30-day window to sign the Japanese pitcher and are down to their final days (January 18th is the deadline) in which they can agree to terms with Darvish before the posting fee is returned and Darvish is left to play in Japan for another season.

You would have to think that the Rangers are setting aside in excess of $100 million to sign Darvish with the posting fee included. If they suddenly find themselves with that $100 million in their pocket when January 19th rolls around, Fielder may have a hot new suitor.

At least that’s what Boras hopes.

But here’s the good news for Seattle fans. For one thing, it’s highly unlikely that Darvish and the Rangers don’t come to terms and for another, the Rangers were never interested in Fielder prior to winning the bid for Darvish and there is really no reason to believe that they would be after Darvish. Texas is looking to build its pitching, not hitting.

So while this isn’t any news on the Fielder front (which we are all hoping for), this isn’t rumor or speculation either. I report facts because I’m tired of listening to media reports that team A is possible interested and team b may be a front runner. All of it is just speculation by reporters who need something to write on. Considering I haven’t broached this topic in close to 40 days, I would say I have some credibility.

The candidates seemed to include former Mariner Jamie Moyer, Jeff Francis and Erik Bedard. All pitchers who could be had relatively cheap and all with ties to the Northwest.

Then Thursday happened.

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim agreed to terms with Albert Pujols and C.J. Wilson for a combined financial commitment of $331.5 million. Forget about adding the most dominant hitter of his generation in Pujols, adding Wilson to a rotation that already included 2011 Cy Young runner-up Jared Weaver, Dan Haren and Ervin Santana upped the ante to the three other current members of the AL West.

If the Mariners want to make an equally large statement, they will have to one up the Angels by putting in the highest bid for Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish who was posted by his team, the Nippon Ham Fighters, on Thursday.

Teams have until the 5 p.m. Wednesday posting deadline to submit blind bids to the Ham Fighters. The highest bid will either by accepted or rejected by the Ham Fighters. If it is accepted, the team that submitted the winning bid will acquire a 30-day exclusive negotiating window with Darvish to sign him to a major-league contract.

Darvish, 25, posted the best season of his young career in 2011 for the Nippon Ham Fighters. In a league-leading 28 starts, Darvish went 18-6 with a 1.44 ERA in 232 innings. He struck out 276 and walked just 36 batters all season. His WHIP was a miniscule 0.82.

Considering the fact that the Mariners are the only franchise in all of MLB to have a majority owner of Japanese descent in Hiroshi Yamauchi, the team has always been interested in acquiring Japanese players.

Chief among those has been recent franchise icon Ichiro Suzuki who was signed in 2001. Suzuki though, now 38-years-old, is in the last year of his contract and in the twilight of his career after suffering through the worst season of his career. It would take a remarkable turn-around season by Suzuki just for GM Jack Zduriencik to consider re-signing Suzuki at this point.

That’s where acquiring Darvish comes in. Darvish would be the Japanese star replacement, taking over where Suzuki left off. A seamless transition for the next five or so years (depending on the term of his contract) that would ensure the Mariners maintain a hold on their Japanese fan base and corresponding market.

Darvish won’t be without his suitors. Toronto, Texas, Washington, Miami and possibly the Yankees will all be involved on signing Darvish.

But the Mariners need to take control of this posting. They must be aggressive. If Yamauchi hasn’t already stated that he wants the team to sign Darvish at all costs, Zduriencik needs to go to the owner and tell him that Darvish is a necessary addition to not only supplement an improving rotation but to take up the mantle that Ichiro is soon to leave abandoned.

I doubt Yamauchi would proclaim at that point that he doesn’t want to add a star like Darvish to his team no matter the cost. Yamauchi is a fan of baseball and especially the players of his native land. That’s why he bought the Mariners in the first place. He stepped in to keep the team from moving out of Seattle.

A Darvish signing would essentially kill two birds with one stone. His signing (hopefully along with that of Prince Fielder) would give the Mariners and their fans an answer to what the Angels have done as well as give the team a Japanese star to take over when Ichiro retires.

Get it done Zduriencik.

To put it succinctly, draft and player development were the operative words. Quite a contrast from what is going on in the Winter Meetings this week as far as the Miami Marlins are concerned.

Quite frankly, Epstein knows what it takes to win a consistent winner in the game of baseball. Consistent being the key word. Sure you can go out and spend hundreds of millions dollars (see Miami this winter and New York Yankees in previous winters) and win one season in ten. But ultimately those deals will only stifle future progress.

How do you think the Yankees feel about still owing A.J. Burnett $33 million over the next two seasons? Or the oft-injured A-Rod another $169 million over the next six seasons?

If you don’t think it’s a serious problem, take a glance at the Mets trying to completely shed payroll and the White Sox re-tooling after a disastrous Adam Dunn signing from last winter.

The way you craft a perennial playoff and title contending ball club is to develop a corps of young and talented players through the draft and deft trading.

Now this process takes time initially, but once an organization is five years into this process, that youthful corps will have presented itself.

As long as it has been done right — forming strength in players up the middle (shortstop, centerfield, second base), a corner infield spot (either first or third) and elite pitching (two dominant starters), this team will be ready to contend in year five, if not sooner. All following seasons will only further progress the state of the organization.

The Seattle Mariners have been following this modus operendi for three full seasons under the Jack Zduriencik regime. Under Zduriencik, Seattle has built up a wealth of elite young starting pitching as well as a corps of young position players that are in the early stages of their baseball careers.

Players like Dustin Ackley, Justin Smoak, Mike Carp, Trayvon Robinson, Kyle Seager and Casper Wells are in this early stage of their careers in which they are still growing into their bodies and learning the game at the major league level.

If you believe in that group of players, you don’t interrupt this process. It is absolutely critical in their development for very few players can come into the league and play at a high level from day 1.

If the Mariners were to sign Prince Fielder or any other free agent position player to an exorbitant deal (six years or above and $90 million or above), the move(s) will only end up hindering that progress.

“We’re not going to do anything in the short term that will hurt the long term.”

New Executive Vice President and General Manager for the Chicago Cubs, Jed Hoyer. Words that Mariners fans should take to heart this holiday season.

Life is an interesting phenomenon. I think we all have days like this where you wake up to devastating news and the rest of your day, perhaps even your week or month is left meaningless — you go about it in almost a haze.

Today was like that for me. While I didn’t know Greg personally, I guess I felt like I did having followed his career closely for the better part of the last three years.

As an avid Mariners fan I recognized Greg pretty early on as a talent that could soon be a major force in Safeco, one that would help carry the team to tremendous success in the near future. But then I got to see him play and I immediately was reminded of my idol, Ken Griffey Jr., with the passion in which he played and of course by his effervescent smile.

He only played in 44 games for the Mariners but every time he was put on the lineup card he gave it is all on the field. I’ll never forget a game this past season against the Chicago White Sox in which he went 4-for-5 with like three runs scored and two stolen bases when the rest of the team could do nothing against White Sox starter John Danks. His performance alone carried the team to a win. His talent just jumped off the screen at you.

A lot has already been written about Halman and the tragic end to his life and rather than try to expound on those thoughts, I’ll just send you to a couple pieces I found extremely moving.

Jeff Sullivan of Lookout Landing

Jim Caple ESPN.com

RIP, Greg. You will be missed.

Seattle added OF Chih-Hsien Chiang (23), 3B Francisco Martinez (21) and SS Carlos Truinfel (21) to its roster which previously sat at 35 and now leaves the Mariners with two openings for free agent additions or trade acquisitions prior to the draft on the 8th.

Since the end of the 2011 season, the 40-man roster for the Mariners has undergone change much like it has for the 29 other teams across the league. Gone are free agents INF Adam Kennedy, DH Wily Mo Pena, P Jamey Wright and C Josh Bard.

Also taken off the 40-man since September were former closer David Aardsma who underwent Tommy John surgery in July and won’t pitch until mid-summer at the earliest and starting pitcher Anthony Vasquez who made five starts as a September call-up.

Those detractions made room for the trio of Martinez, Truinfel and Chiang to all be protected from the Rule 5 draft as well as afford the team leeway to make moves in the coming weeks. One such move could be simply picking up a player off of another squad in the Rule 5 draft.

Ever since our creation, humans have resorted to fighting to survive amongst creatures such as wolly mammoths, sabertooth tigers and lions. Over time our means of fighting has evolved from bare fists to the creation of weapons until the technique and power of each has grown exponentially more devastating.

We fight for our survival. For our families. For our country. For our freedom.

Out of this instinctual behavior grew the sport of boxing. Boxing can be traced back as far as the 3rd millennium B.C. Over the last five centuries the sport has progressed as one that has clearly defined rules and regulations, weight classes and is highly technical.

But boxing over the last decade plus has seen its following decrease due to a number of factors but chief among those being too many different organizations and lack of premium heavyweight fighters. The death of former heavyweight champion and boxing Hall-of-Famer Joe Frazier brings these facts into even starker contrast. The glory days of the sport are long behind us.

Into that void has stepped the sport of mixed-martial arts and its lead organization of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The UFC has been around for some time (since 1993) but it only in the last five or so years has the sport of MMA and the promotion itself taken a strong foothold among the consciousness of society. The promotion’s president, Dana White, has for a long time stated his ultimate goal of making MMA (with the UFC at the forefront) the No. 1 sport in the entire world. For some, that was and remains a laughable notion what with soccer as prevalent as it is across the entire world and the NFL dominating North America. Yet, it remains White’s doctrine and the reason he has any kind of chance is because of the sports nature — fighting.

On Saturday, White takes his company to network television in primetime with a heavyweight championship fight between champion Cain Velasquez and challenger Junior Dos Santos on Fox. In many ways, it is the seminal moment for the sport and the UFC.

Back when White’s partners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta purchased the UFC in 2001, the sport was held in such low regard and with such disdain that fights couldn’t even be shown on pay-per-view. Behind the Fertitta’s money and White’s vision, the sport has risen from the depths to the point where it now dominates pay-per-view. On average the promotion does 16 fights a year on PPV and another six on cable television networks like Spike and Versus.

Then, in August of this year the UFC and Fox agreed on a seven-year, $100 million broadcast partnership in which the UFC will transfer all of its cable programming to the Fox networks beginning in 2012 as well as show four primetime fight events annually.

The deal was a watershed moment for the sport. Putting the leading promotion of MMA on network television and in front of more than 100 million households across the nation (potentially double with partnership deals across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia) is the next step in achieving White’s ambitious goal.

On Wednesday at the UFC on Fox press conference, White detailed his feelings about the event and it’s importance in the long term goals of the UFC:

“As big as the UFC may seem, it’s not. We’re so far from mainstream still, and now we’ve been given the opportunity to do it. That’s why Saturday is so important. It feels good and I’m excited, yeah, but I’m nervous man.”

Saturday all the hard work over the course of the last decade culminates. It is without a doubt a seminal moment for the sport. When Velasquez and Dos Santos get in the cage to do what is so innate to our being, the UFC will have arrived.

In time, we all may look back at Saturday’s fight as the springboard to what became the biggest sport in the entire world.

One of the key dates to look forward to before any of that action really starts to heat up is November 18th when 40-man rosters need to be finalized in preparation of the Rule 5 draft on December 9th.

Teams like the Mariners will have big time decisions to make heading into the offseason of who to release in order to make room for free agent acquisitions, trades and those players with 4-5 years of service time in the minor leagues that they want to protect from the Rule 5 draft.

For those who don’t know what the Rule 5 draft is, a quick definition is that it involves minor league players with at least 4-5 (4 if drafted out of high school or college, five if signed as an international free agent) years of service in a team’s organization.

So once those players become eligible for that draft, teams have to either put them on their 40-man roster or risk losing them to another franchise. The purpose is to give players toiling in a particular organization’s minor league system (due to being blocked by more talented players at the major league level or a team hoarding talent, etc.) a better chance to reach the majors with another.

Currently (as of Oct. 12th) the Mariners 40-man roster looks like this:

Pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Michael Pineda, Jason Vargas, Blake Beavan, Charlie Furbush, Anthony Vasquez, Brandon League, David Aardsma*, Shawn Kelley, Dan Cortes, Josh Lueke, Jeff Gray, Steve Delabar, Tom Wilhelmsen, Chance Ruffin, Danny Hultzen, Cesar Jimenez, Yoervis Medina, Mauricio Robles and Jamey Wright.

Infielders: Justin Smoak, Mike Carp, Dustin Ackley, Brendan Ryan, Chone Figgins, Kyle Seager, Alex Liddi, Luis Rodriguez and Adam Kennedy.

Catchers: Miguel Olivo, Adam Moore*, Josh Bard and Chris Gimenez.

Outfielders: Ichiro Suzuki, Franklin Gutierrez*, Trayvon Robinson, Casper Wells, Greg Halman, Michael Saunders, Wily Mo Pena, Carlos Peguero, Johermyn Chavez and Mike Wilson.

If you’re counting at home, that’s 43 players, three over the max as a result of having three players (denoted by an asterisk) being on the 60-day DL. Those players don’t count against a team’s 40-man roster during the regular season but do need to be added to the roster prior to the deadline or be released.

Gutierrez and Moore are locks to be added but given the fact that Aardsma is coming off of Tommy John surgery and won’t be ready to pitch until the summer at the earliest, he’s likely to be released.

Another point to keep in mind is that teams like to be well under 40 as the offseason gets under way for flexibility purposes. Last year the Mariners, I believe, were at 32 after making all of their moves so expect about the same.

Likely additions to the roster include shortstop Carlos Truinfel, 21, third baseman Francisco Martinez, 21, and outfielder Chih-Hsien Chiang, 23, acquired from Boston in the Erik Bedard trade. There are other names but these three are locks to be added prior to the deadline.

Those three plus the two in Moore and Gutierrez means the Mariners need to at least clear five spaces just to get to 40 and, like I said, will likely clear another five plus for flexibility purposes.

I’ve bolded 15 names of the most likely candidates to be released from the 40-man (not including Aardsma who really isn’t on it right now to begin with) heading into the November 18th deadline. Let’s take a closer look at each, though.

Luis Rodriguez, Wily Mo Pena, Chris Gimenez, Adam Kennedy, Josh Bard and Jamey Wright are all not under contract for 2012 and are six players you can take off the roster right now.

So with those six cleared and the five I’ve already mentioned added, the roster now stands at 39. I think the Mariners release another five to get to 34 so who are the most likely candidates to be parted with by November 18th?

1. Mike Wilson: he made his major league debut last season in May but didn’t do much and now is a part of a crowded outfield group at the age of 28 looking to become the starting left fielder.

2. Anthony Vasquez: he received an extended look in the starting rotation at the end of the season due to the fact that the M’s were trying to preserve some of their arms and wanted to see what he could do. Quite frankly, he’s not ready at this point in time and may not ever be a major league caliber pitcher.

3. Jeff Gray: was picked up in May and finished with a 4.28 ERA in 48 IP with 21 walks, 23 k’s and a .275 avg against. The Mariners have a ton of young relief candidates already on the roster and more (Stephen Pryor and Forrest Snow in particular) knocking on the door. He turns 30 on Nov. 19th.

4. Cesar Jimenez: turns 27 in a month and is a career 5.40 ERA pitcher who has dealt with serious arm problems which have killed his velocity. The one thing going for him is that he’s a left hander, of which the Mariners only have two (Furbush and Robles) who are likely bullpen candidates heading into ’12.

5. Yoervis Medina: 23-year-old really struggled in 2011 between A and AA affiliates with a 1-14 record and 6.18 ERA in 24 starts. The Mariners like his promise which is why he remains on the roster currently but it’s doubtful he makes it through the next round of cuts with the pitchers coming up through the system.

I think you’ll see all five be released prior to the deadline. The other bolded names — Saunders, Peguero, Robles and Vargas — are serious candidates to be dealt this offseason.

Make no mistake about it, there will be serious attrition on the Mariners roster this winter and it will start in early November with the cleaning of the 40-man roster.