So, MLB Spring Training begins next week.

That magical* time of year, when baseball fans from across the league look forward to the new season with hope and expectations.

Especially those fans whose teams sucked last year.

Like my home team - Seattle.

Yes... we've had a few bad years up there. Bad signings (Chone Figgins - I'm looking at you), veteran players who faltered (Ichiro Suzuki - I'm looking at you), repeated injuries (Franklin Gutierrez - I'm looking at you... a whole bunch of times), and a team that frankly, just couldn't hit its way out of a greasy paper bag (Dick's Drive-In - I'm looking at you).

Now, I don't blame Ichiro for wanting out of Seattle. If I'd played as well as he had for a team that went nowhere, I would've wanted out, too. But I probably wouldn't have just slacked off for two years until the team got tired of me and traded me away.

We have, however, had some high points. Notably, our pitching. Especially Felix Hernandez. He threw a perfect game last year, and I expect he'll throw at least another no-hitter or two in his career before all is said and done.

We've got some promising new talent coming up through the team as well. But unfortunately, for the most part, they've been just that - promising.

Now, however, is the time not to reflect back, but to look forward. Ignore the mistakes of the past, and just hope they don't happen again. Or something like that.

The Mariners have made some good moves this offseason. We desperately needed some power hitters, and managed to pick up several prospects pretty cheaply without having to mortgage the farm (or in our case, the farm system). While I think getting rid of Jason Vargas (pitching) and John Jaso (catcher) may very well come back to bite us this season, our hitting should be markedly improved, even if only half the guys we picked up produce runs. I'm particularly pleased to see Raul Ibanez return to the Mariners. I was sorry we ever let him go in the first place.

We managed to hang onto our best young prospects, too. Some of the supposed deals being discussed included trading away players that, frankly, we can't afford to lose. We have five of the top 100 prospects in the major leagues, and the highest point total overall (351, with the Cardinals coming in at #2 with 340). We kept all of them, and should be getting a good look at them in Spring Training, to see how far away they may be from playing in the big leagues. Hopefully, they'll live up to their potential.

I think the Mariners' approach this offseason was very smart. Sure, they reportedly dabbled in the waters of high-priced free agents, but I'm glad they weren't able to sign any of them. I think it's a huge mistake to dump all of your money into one player at the expense of being able to bring on others. Prince "Lard-butt" Fielder, for example. Rumors had it that the Mariners were interested in him a year ago, but Detroit got him. Did he produce runs? Sure. But a 10 year contract? $214 million dollars? That's insane! He's almost 30. The guy is as big as a house. His knees will give out in a few years, and he'll lose his swing faster than you can say "Tiger Woods". Detroit is going to be stuck with this guy at some point, and will be forced to eat his contract, or try and unload him on someone else. Not over-paying for free agents was the single best move Seattle made. It gave us the flexibility we needed to bring in multiple options, and choose from the ones that succeed.

The second-best move the Mariners made this offseason were the fences at Safeco field. We moved 'em in. Not a lot, but enough so that Safeco doesn't have quite the same cavernous proportions as before. We actually had an okay hitting team last season, except when they were at home. So hopefully this will result in more runs - even if the effect is just psychological. It's been theorized that a lot of their problems were because they were over-swinging, because they knew the ballpark was so huge. Of course there's the whole "sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander" thing, where this means opposing teams are likely to score more runs, too. Hopefully, someone has done all the math, and figured out who this will benefit more. Anyway, it's all the more reason to hang onto as many of our pitching prospects as we possibly can.

Finally, a move that the Mariners didn't make, but is a welcomed one nonetheless, is the move of the Houston Astros to the AL West from the NL Central. Every other division had five teams in it, except those two. The AL West had four, the NL Central had six. So just to balance things out, it made sense. It also helps the Texas Rangers, in that more of their divisional games can take place within Texas, and also helps other AL teams in that they could make more successive stops in Texas during intraleague road trips. Now, I'm sure that there are fans in Houston who aren't terribly thrilled with the move either to the AL (designated hitter rule - they're looking at you), or to a principally west coast division (time zone difference - they're... well, you know). But as a Mariners fan, I'm delighted, and I for one welcome the Astros to the AL West.

We could really use the company in the basement.

*Note: Time of year is not actually magical.