In lieu of what is sure to be a busy offseason for new general manager Jack Zduriencik, there are the priorities that I think should be highest on his list.

1) Find a #2 hitter!

Unless they land some big market free agents, the Mariners will have a shortage of power bats next year. Richie Sexson and Adrian Beltre were signed in 2004 to put up monster numbers at Safeco and it never really worked out.

In my opinion, these signings are the cornerstone of the failed Bill Bavasi regime. He tried to build the Mariners with power; in a large ballpark and in a division where small ball has prevailed.

The Angels and Athletics have been beating the Ms up for years with their patience at the plate, good base running, and manufacturing runs. It makes sense to me from a personnel standpoint to adopt this model.

To start, the Mariners need as much efficiency as possible at the top of the lineup. They have not had a legitimate #2 hitter since John Olerud was here five years ago, and they have let Ichiro's production from the leadoff spot go by the wayside.

It seems to be that a lot of the good teams in baseball have especially good #2 hitters (i.e. Jeter in New York and Youkelis in Boston). Find a guy like that to hit behind Ichiro, and you will certainly get something going. Finding stability in the lineup then becomes easier as the Mariners will no longer have to tinker with using Adrian Beltre and Jose Lopez in the 2-hole as they have the past few years. Beltre is no where near patient enough to hit in that spot and Lopez is naturally a bottom of the order hitter, on a good team.

2) Sign Felix, and sign him fast!

The only other constant besides Ichiro the past few years has been the presence of Felix Hernandez in the rotation. This was something Bavasi and company never had the opportunity to botch because Felix is under contract through 2009.

I did not trust that Bavasi would ever work out a new deal with Felix because the phenom pitcher has been here for several years now and there were never any indicators that it would happen.

Why it hasn't happened is obvious…the Ms have not won since he's been in the big leagues. Why would he not choose to go to the national stage in Boston, New York, or L.A.? I'm sure glad that someone besides Bavasi will get the opportunity to prevent this from happening.

3) Trim the payroll fat

It boggles my mind that the Mariners and Angels had almost exactly the same payroll last season, yet the Angels were able to acquire Torri Hunter and Mark Texiera and still afford one of the best rotations in baseball.

If you want to spend like the Angels, then fine! But don't do it by handing out big contracts to Miguel Batista and Carlos Silva, who consumed almost a fifth of the Seattle's payroll last year but got credit for nearly a third of the team's losses in the games they started.

Even worse than the Batista and Silva situations is the three-year $25 million contract the Mariners gave to Kenji Johjima. He might be great for our owners and the Japanese market, but his language barrier has not helped what has been an underperforming pitching staff. Plus, kenji isin his ealry 30s, which is not known as the age where catchers are in their defensive primes.

The positive thing is that Kenji has an opt out clause after this season to go back to Japan to play. This arrangement is conditional on Kenji having legitimate personal and family reasons to go back, rather than any unhappiness he might have here (Geoff Baker. Seattle Times, September 25, 2008).

This is tricky terminology. I hope G.M. Jack has the ability (and autonomy) to twist and contort it, and save about $10 million in payroll for 2010.