Seattle Mariners: 5 lessons learned from an unexpectedly good 2020 season
Kyle Seager, Seattle Mariners. (Photo by Blake Handley, via Flickr)
Time to say goodbye
Kyle Seager
All good things must come to an end. In this case, it’s time for the Seattle Mariners to part ways with Kyle Seager. For the last ten seasons, he has been the team’s rock. Unfortunately, at 33 years old with an $18M price tag, he’s a luxury the Mariners can’t afford.
While some teams like the Yankees and Dodgers can afford to spend on contracts and say the heck with the luxury tax, at least a third of the league is in the opposite position. They work with internal budget restrictions. Seager’s contract eats up over 15 percent of the Mariners payroll.
That is too much money and too big a chunk of salary allocation for a player who hasn’t hit better than .250 since 2016 and had one season with an OPS over .790 once. DiPoto missed a huge opportunity to sell high on the third baseman at the July 31 trade deadline. On that day, his slash line was .290/.361/.516/.877.
From August 1 to the end of the season, his number dropped to .233/.354/.419/.772. Worse, his batting average after August 31 was a dismal .188. If he didn’t get hit by a pitch five times, his OPS would have taken a serious nosedive.
Ty France, acquired from San Diego in the Austin Nola trade, hit .305 last year with a solid glove. While he might not have as much pop as Seager, he projects as a 20 home run per season hitter. The position is covered moving forward.
Even if Dipoto has to eat a little money or add a mid-level prospect as a sweetener to make a deal possible, it’s time for Seager to move on.
Two more departures
In addition to Seager, there is another tenured and popular Seattle Mariners player who shouldn’t be back next season. The M’s have a $1M buyout option on Dee Strange-Gordon. They have to use it because when it comes to bang for the buck, Gordon is due for big bucks ($14M in 2021), but his .482 OPS in 2020 shows there is absolutely no bang behind them.
Don’t expect the Mariners to re-sign relief pitcher Yoshihisa Hirano, either. The 36-year old was brutal in September. Servais handed him the closer role in September to which Hirano responded with an 8.64 ERA. 2.59 WHIP, and 1.098 OPS against. It would be a huge surprise if he got another chance to pitch in the Majors next year.