Cammy, Winn and Ichiro was a 3-CF outfield - that also OPS+ed 107, 108 and 112. We are PRAYING this OF goes 80-85-90 out there.
Martin: 84 OPS+ career, can't hit lefties at all or righties much.
Dyson: 85 OPS+ career, ALSO can't hit lefties.
Haniger: the 25 yo thumper of the group, who's only had a cup o' coffee so far as a hopefully-overlooked prospect.
Heredia: same age and ML experience as Haniger, half the power.
Gamel: same experience and age as Haniger and Heredia, bat's probably in the middle, looks like a minor league start to his campaign.
O'Neill: All the power, not as much of the defense, strikes out like he's trying to stay warm in winter, won't be on the club for at least 2 months.
I remember when Zduriencik put together a team based on defense and I ground my teeth to dust while trying to explain that offense is additive but defense has a peak efficiency tail-off. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz both hitting home runs turns the scoreboard, but there's only one ball to catch and if fielding zones overlap too much you're wasting that extra range.
Winn, Cammy and Ichiro all hit. Their combined range out there was a bonus, not the only design element in their favor. This shouldn't be like that epic Zduriencik collapse where the offense imploded in a black hole of ineptitude, because this team has the hitting infield. But I wasn't really looking at Aoki and Smith and wishing I 25% off their OPS+ figures and hope defense made it all up. It might, and hopefully the additive power of defense shows up in the pitching staff's comfort levels (no need to worry about Aoki taking routes to the ball like a distracted house fly or Smith leaping for something 10 feet beyond his reach).
But being as good as last year isn't enough, and Seattle's main hopes are going to rest on catching the ball and putting the OF offense in the hands of a pair of rookies. Unless that mysterious 3rd move is still out there anyway. I never put anything past DiPoto - even when I look at the game of three-card monty he's playing to amuse himself until Spring Training and think it's all a lot of sound and fury, signifying... not much.