Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto.
2022 was an amazing season for the Seattle Mariners. They FINALLY ended the longest playoff drought in North American sports.
The M’s weren’t happy to just make the postseason They went on to sweep favored Toronto in the Wild Card round before losing to the eventual champions from Houston in the Division Series.
Some of the young kids came broke through in 2022. Julio Rodriguez is going to be named American League Rookie of the Year soon. And after early season troubles, Cal Raleigh turned it around in the second half of the year. He hit arguably the most important and iconic home run in team history.
The Seattle Mariners’ bullpen was lights out all year long, and the starting rotation was not only solid, but they also didn’t suffer any major injuries. Going forward, Seattle Mariners fans have plenty to be optimistic about.
After a season of success, Seattle faces an offseason of questions.
The main holes to fill are a middle infielder, a lefty in the pen, a corner outfielder, and/or someone who can get on base and set the table for Seattle’s middle-of-the-order bashers.
How the Seattle Mariners go about obtaining players to upgrade those positions will be fun to watch.
I have a few outside-the-box ideas about what I think the Seattle Mariners will do, starting with internal free agents.
First up, we look at the M’s internal free agents. Then decide what to do with them.
Available to walk away from the Seattle Mariners this winter are Adam Frazier, Mitch Haniger, Carlos Santana, Curt Casali, and Matt Boyd.
Of the five players, I would tender a qualifying offer to Mitch, which currently stands at 19.65 million. In doing this, Mitch would then have 10 days to accept the offer or not, during which he can also negotiate with other teams as well.
If he does end up signing with another team, then the Seattle Mariners would receive a compensation draft pick depending on the amount of the contract he signs elsewhere. At the very least, I try to sign him to a new deal.
Although it looks like Haniger won’t get a qualifying offer, Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto would like to have the right fielder back.
I think we’re in a healthy place with Mitch,” Dipoto said. “He is aware that we would like to have him back… We also know that if all is equal, I think Mitch does have interest in Seattle” he said. “But all may not be equal, and we have to see what that looks like in the weeks or potentially months to come.”
Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto on Seattle Sports 710-AM
Santana is a tough one to call. He lit a spark upon his arrival in a midseason trade, filling in for injured Ty France. Santana also had quite a few clutch hits over the last half of the year.
Clutch, yes, but overall he hit just .192 in 79 games with the Seattle Mariners. With Dipoto’s stated goal of raising the team’s batting average, Santana doesn’t seem like a good fit going forward.
As of now, the only way Frazier gets another deal with the Seattle Mariners is if Dipoto whiffs on landing one of the superstar free agent shortstops. Or he can’t obtain younger talent to fill the M’s second base job.
That also assumes Frazier can’t find work elsewhere. It’s entirely possible he signs somewhere else while Seattle pursues one of their main targets.
The best-case scenario for his return is a 2-year deal, but that seems like a last resort.
No doubt Boyd was outstanding down the stretch in his limited role. Boyd is a local boy that got to live his childhood dream by playing for his MLB hometown team. How lucky is he?
But that’s not enough to get tendered. It is, however, enough to get a free agent offer from the Seattle Mariners. Boyd can fill Seattle’s needs for both a long reliever and a lefty in the pen. He can also make spot starts in case of an injury to someone in the rotation.
The Seattle Mariners will thank Casali for his defensive contributions to the team after he came over from San Francisco at the trade deadline. He is replaceable.
Tom Murphy will be back in 2023 after missing the entirety of 2022 with a shoulder injury. Seattle also has Luis Torrens in the fold.
Now on to filling some holes.
The main options for a corner outfielder via free agency are Andrew Benintendi, Mitch Haniger, and the AL home run king 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.
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.
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?
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.
Moving on to the biggest question of the offseason, which, if any of the star-studded shortstop class will Seattle sign? This year’s class includes Trea Turner, Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts, and Dansby Swanson.
Dipoto’s stated goal is to get one of these players to agree to move to the Pacific Northwest and have him switch to second base.
29-year-old Trea Turner will be the most costly to sign. He turned in a very nice season in 2022, to the tune of .298 with 21 home runs and 27 stolen bases and 101 runs scored, and 100 RBI.
That production would look mighty nice in the Mariners lineup. He slots into anywhere from 1-5 in the batting order. I would offer him 6-years, $180 million with 2 option years at the end that can push it to 8 years and $250 million.
Carlos Correa is the most notable option, but is he really an option? Correa played for the hated Astros and was a part of the cheating scandal that won them a World Series. Does he have the character that the Mariners want in their locker room?
As a hitter, he is Trea Turner with no stolen bases. Their average and home runs are nearly identical, Correa also had fewer runs scored and RBI than Turner.
It will cost around the same to sign either Correa or Turner. In my humble opinion, Turner is a better fit. Besides, Correa and the Twins want a reunion.
If the Seattle Mariners are looking for high batting average players who can get on base, the best choice might be Xander Bogaerts. In 2022 he hit .307 with a .377 OBP, 38 doubles, 15 home runs, and 84 RBI. Like the above two, Bogaerts has postseason experience, which will come in handy and replace what Carlos Santana brought to the team.
Moving to second base probably isn’t a big deal for the 30-year-old, four-time all-star. It might even extend his career.
Assuming Dipoto strikes out on Turner, Bogerts gets the next offer somewhere in the neighborhood of 5-years, $130M or so, with incentives and a 2-year option that can push the total to $190M.
Dansby Swanson is the last of the big-name free agents of the 2023 free agent class. He was a big part of Atlanta’s run to the NL East title this season.
Swanson was solid, batting .277 with 25 home runs and 96 RBI. Great numbers, but they also came with 183 strikeouts and a .324 OBP.
Swanson is widely expected to resign with the Atlanta Braves, so like Correa, I wouldn’t spend much time on him. If he somehow makes his way to Seattle, there will be no complaints from me.
Lastly, we talk about the bullpen hole for a lefty specialist.
The best available options via free agency are Taylor Rogers, Aroldis Chapman, and Brad Hand. All with postseason experience, and all three with closing experience as well.
At almost 32 years old, Rogers is the youngest and best of the bunch, in my opinion. He threw a combined 64 innings for San Diego and Milwaukee, with 84 strikeouts and 18 walks with 31 saves.
Having him available in the ninth inning to close or the eighth to set up Andres Munoz works well. He could be the right piece to the puzzle. But keep in mind, after going to the Brew Crew at the trade deadline, Rogers threw 23 innings over 26 appearances with a 5.48 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.
A former triple-digit flame thrower, Chapman is a little older (turns 35 in spring training) and reportedly quit on the Yankees right before the playoffs began. He’s not someone Seattle needs in their clubhouse.
Brad Hand is an okay backup plan. He doesn’t strike out as many people, but his experience can help in high-leverage situations as a lefty specialist.
In the next article, I’ll take a look at how the Seattle Mariners can also fill these same holes via trade.