Mariners will be looking for better approach and discipline at the plate this season

Now that we know the Mariners will be staying young for the next little while, it may be best to explore some of the things to look for in 2012. Too many people will be focused on things like won-lost record while missing the bigger picture of what's going on. The won-lost record won't tell you much until it starts approaching 90. I've seen too many teams soar past 80 wins and have it mean absolutely nothing the following year. That said, if the Mariners can hit 80 wins this season, it should be a good thing. But if they don't, it doesn't mean the year was a waste. But there are other measurements that will carry importance. And one of the biggest will be in seeing how much improvement the younger players are making in terms of their approach and discipline at the plate. We touched on this back in September, when talking about the "control ratios" of players -- namely, their walk-rates, walks-to-strikeouts rate and their strikeouts-per-plate-appearance ...