Jose Lopez appears to be on his way out

Last Friday, when Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik announced that Dustin Ackley would begin working out at second base, he took great pains to state that this has little to do with incumbent second baseman Jose Lopez. On the surface, that may be true. Ackley won't be in the majors as a regular before at least the 2011 season and the team will obviously need a second baseman before then. But it doesn't take an advanced degree in baseball team building to see the writing on this particular wall. At this point, I seriously doubt Lopez suits up as a Mariner this coming spring. There are simply too many options available to the Mariners in the interim while they wait for Ackley to arrive. First off, the reasons why the M's want to trade a guy who hit 25 homers and drove in 96 runs from a middle infield spot last season: they don't value those num,bers I just mentioned as much as they do others. Lopez is a lousy on-base guy. As much as we've applauded him in this corner f...