22-year old righty swinging outfielder Greg Halman was the Mariners’ top prospect heading into this season according to Baseball America. He played in 124 games in Rookie+AA ball this season and he was 98 for 468 (.209 avg, .698 OPS) with 65 runs scored, 25 homers, 74 RBIs and 9 stolen bases. Halman is a hacker with not much plate discipline yet as he has whiffed 191 times and walked 31 times this year. The Mariners will have to take is slow with Halman who has a lot of power but also a lot of holes in his swing.

The Mariners are having huge problems in LF so why not give 28-year old lefty swinging Jerry Owens a chance? Owens has played in 69 games in AAA-ball this season and he is 83 for 260 (.319 avg, .754 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 23 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. Owens has also played in 12 games for the White Sox earlier this season in which he was 1 for 12 (.083 avg, .350 OPS) with 1 stolen base. The Mariners would have nothing to lose in giving Owens a chance as he would add speed and defense to the lineup.

19-year old righty swinging SS/2B Carlos Triunfel has had surgery to replace a ankle that he broke last weekend. He will be out 4-6 months putting the 2009 season in question. Triunfel played in 1 games in AA-ball this season before his injury and he was 2 for 6 (.333 avg, 1.000 OPS) with 1 run scored and 2 RBIs. In his first two seasons in the Mariners’ minor league system, Triunfel played in 204 games in which he was 235 for 807 (.291 avg, .723 OPS) with 126 runs scored, 8 homers, 88 RBIs and 37 stolen bases. The Mariners think that Triunfel will eventually be a impact player for them at the major league level.

It’s very likely that righty reliever Jorge Sosa will never pitch for the Seattle Mariners. He was suspended for 50 games by major league baseball for testing positive for amphetamines. Sosa pitched in 10 games in AAA-ball for the Mariners this season and he was 1-0 with a 3.68 ERA and a 1.84 WHIP. What a waste it turned out to be to even sign Sosa. At least he didn’t cost the Mariners much cash.

With rumors swirling around Raul Ibanez’ name in trade talks it makes sense to think that Balentin might be back soon. If the Mariners do bring him back they should play him every day and see if he’s ready to play in the show. He played in 32 games earlier this season for the Mariners and he was 21 for 107 (.196 avg, .611 OPS) with 12 runs scored, 4 homers and 9 RBIs. Balentin had trouble making contact in the majors as he whiffed 35 times which was his reason for getting demoted. He has done a good job of making contact in AAA ball and he’s playing very well there. Balentin has played in 53 games in AAA ball this season and he is 51 for 200 (.255 avg, .908 OPS) with 41 runs scored, 15 homers and 43 RBIs. The Mariners really need to get a good look at Balentin to see if he can be a key player in the Mariners’ future or not.