Seattle Mariners 2022-2023 Offseason To-Do List: Part 1 – Free Agents
Outfield
The main options for a corner outfielder via free agency are Andrew Benintendi, Mitch Haniger, and the AL home run king Aaron Judge.
Aaron Judge
First, let’s get Judge out of the way. The Seattle Mariners aren’t a realistic option for Judge. This will be a bidding war that Dipoto doesn’t want to get into.
Seattle has payroll space to sign him, but at what cost? If they sign him to the $40M+ per season deal Judge is looking for, it will handcuff the M’s as they try to fill other holes as well as what they can do in arbitration. Finally, that kind of contract, along with the one they signed J-Rod to last summer, will make the team payroll very top-heavy.
Andrew Benintendi
Bringing in Benintendi would be a decent move. He is more of a slap hitter who gets on base and plays decent defense. The key part is that he’s a decent on-base guy with a career .351 OBP. That’s better than everyone Seattle had last season, with the exception of Dylan Moore (.368 in 302 plate appearances).
Since Benintendi is a left fielder, Jarred Kelenic would have to move to right field. The Mariners really need to find out if Kelenic is a true Major Leaguer or a Quad-A player.
Back to Meetch
As the Seattle Mariners know very well, a healthy Haniger fills the need for a power-hitting right fielder. They also know that he is a locker room leader.
Haniger might be willing to take a hometown discount to return to the Emerald City. After all, he’s vested in the Mariners winning. Remember, it was Mitch that promised at the end of the 2021 season that the M’s would make the playoffs in 2022.
The biggest question with Haniger is: will he remain healthy enough throughout the season to be available come playoff time?
Outside the box
A dark horse candidate to fill the outfield spot is Masataka Yoshida. Since 2016, Yoshida has been one of the best hitters in Japan. Coming off a season in which he hit .335 with a .561 slugging percentage, he was a high-contact, low-strike-out for the Orix Blue Wave.
Stop me if you’ve heard this before. No one can say he will be Ichiro. But their play styles are slightly different. Yoshida has better power and a bit less speed.