Dec 6, 2011; Dallas, TX, USA; Seattle Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik answers questions on the MLB.com set during the MLB winter meetings at Hilton Anatole. What will happen during the 2012 MLB winter meeting and will Zduriencik be able to bring home a team that will win this year? Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

It’s no secret that the Seattle Mariners are in big need of some strong offense. General Manager Jack Zduriencik is very active at the 2012 winter MLB meetings in Nashville, Tennessee.

Rumor has it that there are three prospects for pitchers for the Seattle team: Danny Hultzen, James Paxton, and Taijuan Walker who may be up for trade when the Mariners go batter-hunting. While the Mariners do have some funds freed up to pick up a free agent this year, they may still need to pull some trade strings to get someone who will work hard for their team. It boils down to a big decision for the Mariners’ team management: Trade away young, unproven prospects for players that have shown their stuff or spend more money on their payroll for the roster.

With attendance falling, and confidence in the team low, the pressure is on for Zduriencik to build a team that can compete. A lot more than bringing in the walls at SafeCo Field is necessary in order to develop a winning team. The question is, will the team be able to gain the members it needs in order to compete against big-budget teams like the New York Yankees?

If the Oakland Athletics could pull out of a slump to become the AL West Champions this past year under the logic put forth by the Billy Beane Moneyball tactics that changed the face of baseball, perhaps the Mariners need to start thinking in an out-of-the box way as well.Who will get on base, and more importantly, once on base, who will be able to get home for the all-important score?

Some of the players the Mariners are rumored to be interested in include:

• Josh Hamilton
• Justin Upton
• Mike Napoli
• Nick Swisher
• Cody Ross
• Ryan Ludwick
• Mark Reynolds
• Garrett Jones

A lot of this will be contingent upon how much the M’s are able to put forward financially and who they are willing to trade for the various players on their wish list. What do you think the beloved Seattle team should be looking at in order to get to a pennant win in the 2013 season?

Sep 19, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez (34) pitches to the Baltimore Orioles during the 2nd inning at Safeco Field. Felix Hernandez is one of the Mariners’ recruits from Venezuela. The new complex in the Dominican Republic is intended to develop more talent like our “King Felix.”  Mandatory Credit: Steven Bisig-US PRESSWIRE

On November 7th, the Mariners announced that they were planning to build a baseball academy to appeal to prospective players in the Dominican Republic. The team spent $7 million dollars on a 24-acre complex that is located near Boca Chica, which is near the Southwestern border. The plan, the Mariners managers report, is that this complex will serve as an institution where prospective players will be able to live, attend school, and of course hone their baseball-playing skills.

The team had already shared a complex in the Dominican Republic with the L.A. Dodgers and they have a complex in Venezuela dedicated to building team skills. They see investing in these training complexes and baseball academies as investing in their future as a team. Only a handful of teams own such academies, and Seattle will be one of the few owning such a complex in the Dominican Republic.

The complex is scheduled to be built by the end of 2013. It will contain two fields with plans for a third, and an infield. In addition there will be bullpens, batting cages, dorms, dining facilities, and classrooms. It will be a very nice facility that accommodates potential players in Latin America and develops them so that they will be ready to play ball at the professional level.

The Mariners (and former Mariners) who have come out of the Dominican Republic and Venezuela include:

• Michael Pineda
• Carlos Triunfel
• Hector Noesi
• Carlos Peguero
• “King” Felix Hernandez
• Franklin Gutierrez
• Jose Lopez
• Jesus Montero

Since so many baseball players, including star pitcher King Felix have come from Latin America, it does seem prudent to invest in training complexes in the area. However, it also seems as though a small budget team may have better uses of $7 million. What do you think about this development? Is it worth the money to create a baseball academy to educate and train potential players from where the Mariners can draw? Post your thoughts in the comments.

I will start in AA which has two players declining in their prospects statuses, Johermyn Chavez and Chih-Hsien Chiang. Both of these players started the season on the 40-man roster, but both were removed during the year which seemingly indicated that they are no longer a part of the long-term plans of the Mariners.

Denny Almonte was a second round pick out of high school in 2007 but was has been slowed down by having to repeat both class A and class high A. Random fact: Almonte was selected by then GM, Bill Bavasi, just one spot before the Marlins took a 17 year old outfielder named Mike Stanton. That is correct; we took Almonte instead of Stanton. SIGH. Yet another tear-prying mistake by Bavasi. Back to Almonte, he has struggled with his strikeouts but he has lowered his K% for each of the past three seasons. He also added 6 points to his BB% this year, so he is moving in the right direction. He also brings an interesting combination of power and speed that could translate to the MLB level should he be able to keep moving up the minor league ranks. Time is running thin for the 24 year old, however, so he needs to make a move quick if he wants to get a chance in the big show.

The High Desert Mavericks had much better play from the outfield this past season, but it is always difficult to judge the legitimacy of High A prospects since their power numbers are inflated by the favorable hitting conditions of the California League. Some of the outfielders at that level are Leon Laundry, James Jones, and Julio Morban.

Landry came over from Los Angeles in the Brandon League deal and instantly looked like an impact player after the trade. He doesn’t have a high tendency to strikeout that many young hitters have but he doesn’t walk enough. However, he still hits for a high average and has good speed and defensive ability that could help him stick in a major league outfield. His ridiculously high BABIPs tend to point towards a future drop in the batting average, but he is still an impressive prospect.

At 20 years old, Guillermo Pimentel has been one of the more fascinating prospects over the last few years. When the Dominican native signed with the Mariners as a sixteen year old, Pimentel was one of the top prospects on the international market. However, he has struggled in America. His power from the left side of the plate is undeniable, but his poor strike-zone awareness and tendency to swing and miss have translated into high strikeout rates and low walk rates.

Entering the 2011 season, MLB.com ranked him as the #37 prospect in all of baseball, but after a rough 2011 in rookie ball and a disappointing 2012 in class A, he has dropped all the way down to #20 prospect in just the Mariner organization. Although his rapid decline is discouraging, he still has lots of time. He will be 20 for all of next season, so he still has lots of time before he can be labeled as a bust. If he can improve his contact rate enough to tap into his great power, Pimentel will be well worth the wait and will be a big bat in Seattle’s order for the future.

Gabriel Guerrero is not a prospect whose name you will hear floating around the water cooler very often, but he is a sleeper prospect who I like. He is just 18, and has only played 18 games on this continent, but he has a good build and a solid approach. He played his first 50 games of the year in the Dominican Summer League were he posted a 1.014 OPS. In his hand full of games in rookie ball, he hit .333 and posted a .227 ISO. His respectable 16.3 K% seems to indicate that he will avoid the strikeout problems that have plagued so many other talented young hitters from the Caribbean Islands. The cherry on top of this Sunday is the fact that Gabriel is the nephew of Vladimir Guerrero, so hopefully an all-star bat is in his family genes.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Mariners don’t have a plethora of great outfield prospects, and they certainly don’t have any “sure things” at the position. However, there are a couple of guys that you may see transfer to the outfield from other positions. Among these potential transplants are Stefen Romero, Patrick Kivlehan, Steven Proscia, Francisco Martinez, and Jack Marder. These guys are just the surface of the possibilities of players that could move to the outfield. Let’s be honest, if Mike Carp learned to man left field, I think that just about anyone can. These prospects’ abilities to stick there will depend on their bats.