February 21, 2006, 9:42 AM

FLB: Mariners preview

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Cockcroft By Tristan H. Cockcroft
ESPN Fantasy Games
We're going team-by-team through the majors and discussing each team for fantasy baseball. Check when your favorite team is up! Index

Money can't buy a baseball team happiness. Just ask the Mariners, who shelled out $114 million in contracts to Adrian Beltre and Richie Sexson last winter, only to manage six more wins than the 2004 team that won 38.9 percent of its games. Beltre saw his home-run total dip by 29 and RBI decline by 34, and while Sexson bounced back from an injury-plagued 2004, he was one of only a few reliable hitters on the team. Ichiro Suzuki, coming off a record-setting 262-hit 2004 campaign, batted a career-worst .303; Bret Boone, who averaged 30 homers and 112 RBI from 2001-04, hit an empty .221 before the team released him in July; and Jeremy Reed, a favorite for American League Rookie of the Year honors entering the season, displayed excellent defense but did extremely little with the bat.

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