Taijuan Walker, Seattle Mariners.
Here we are on the precipice of another Major League Baseball Season. One that is rife with intrigue and questions. The Seattle Mariners roster situation is no different. Many questions remain as pitchers and catchers report next week.
One of the most significant question marks is whether to add another starting pitcher from the free-agent market. James Paxton is a done deal for the M’s, but last season’s surprise, Taijuan Walker, is still on the market. This has Mariner fans split. On the one hand, his availability this late into the offseason is tugging at the heartstrings of the sentimental. On the other hand, this conversation is annoying to the strategists.
Dipoto does have an obligation to balance what is most important for the Seattle Mariners organization while keeping fans interested in the product. The overall answer is winning. Instead of winning, though, sentimental value has a place. Bringing back these two players would placate those sentimental value fans until the Mariners field a winner.
The danger here is an itchy trigger finger. There is plenty of trade value on the farm, and Dipoto could start making moves that involve sending prospects to other teams for veterans. Those prospects’ value depends upon the success that they’ve had at the highest possible level. Adding Walker and/or Paxton would put a ceiling on advancement from our most prized prospects. It also sends a message to the rest of the league that Dipoto doesn’t have faith in our prospect’s abilities beyond Tacoma.
We shouldn’t be surprised when we trade away prospects, especially if we’re in a position to make the post-season this year. This is definitely going to happen; ask San Diego. When it does happen, Dipoto needs to utilize the highest possible value for our prospects. Walker poses a threat against this very important ripple effect. Every single decision has a complicated scenario of consequences that will impact our immediate and long-term future.
Some have gone to social media to post their desires to have Walker rejoin the Mariners. They have even stated that there is strategic value, but these folks are not actual strategists. Using statements like, “we can win now with them on the roster.” It doesn’t mean they are wrong or right as a fan. But it isn’t an ideal strategy.
Taijuan Walker doesn’t have a nickname, but he was also a fan favorite. He was a Seattle Mariners top prospect who made his debut around the same time Paxton did in 2013. The two-time Mariners pitcher didn’t have any special section or anything like that, but he was well-liked.
After the 2016 season concluded, Seattle traded Walker and Ketel Marte to the Diamondbacks for Jean Segura, Mitch Haniger, and Zac Curtis. A deal that mostly didn’t work out for the Mariners. For his part, Walker did something that happens more often with the Mariners than other teams.
He returned after being away, joining an interesting group of players to do so. Raul Ibanez, Bret Boone, Ken Griffey Jr. are also part of that list. Sentimental fans cling to hope and an idea that these players are linked forever to the Mariners.
Right now, that fan is hoping to get Walker back to join Paxton as a much-needed righty on a lefty-dominated rotation.
Walker had a healthy 2020, as much as anyone can claim that anyway. The Seattle Mariners were able to trade him at the deadline for a fringe prospect. He is another year removed from Tommy John surgery, but Walker bounced back well enough to pitch in the Major Leagues, as I said. Only 28-years-old, he hasn’t had a history of injuries like Paxton, but he also hasn’t thrown many innings in any of the seasons he’s pitched.
While Paxton gives any strategist multiple reasons to doubt why the Mariners were interested, Walker does not. The right-hander had a tremendous impact on the Blue Jays playoff run. Some of it was having luck on his side, but some of it was legit signs of an improving pitcher. Also, he’s 28, should be in his professional prime, and offers rotation balance.
Despite the potential positives, it would be a disaster for the development of Seattle’s pitching staff. Logan Gilbert is nearly a sure bet to make the rotation early in the season. CBS Sports projects George Kirby as a late-season call-up. Emmerson Hancock’s trajectory shouldn’t be impacted by a Walker signing this season, but it could bottleneck him behind Juan Then and LJay Newsome.
The last piece that the strategist would acknowledge as a stumbling block is what happens if Walker joins the team. It forces the Mariners to decide what to do with Justin Dunn (4-1 in 2020) and Nick Margevicius (2-3) before camp breaks on April 1st. Effectively ending their M’s starting pitcher prospect lives and forcing them back to the minors or into the bullpen.
Dipoto needs more time to see what he has with the M’s talented young players. This takes time, and proper evaluation in larger sample sizes than the M’s have seen so far. We’ve waited this long, and we need to let the strategy play out.
Despite the threats that social media warriors make about losing interest in the M’s, at the end of the day, Emerald City’s baseball team won’t be abandoned. Once the Mariners start winning, the fans will return in droves.
What’s interesting is that the Mariners never really bottomed out. Well, sort of, but not entirely. Dipoto realized he didn’t have a winning hand before they hit rock bottom and tore it all down.
Seattle is about to enter the next exciting phase of its rebuild, and that’s the impact of a top-tier farm system coming to fruition. This injection of young talent will serve the Seattle Mariners well and hopefully results in more wins than losses. So the answer on Walker is not this time. Sentimental fans, the Seattle Mariners’ young arms will provide plenty of reasons to forget about bringing Walker back to the team.
Joe Swenson is a Life-Long Seattle Sports Fan, Author, Award-Winning Playwright, Writer of the Quarantine 2038 Project (a web series), Playground Rules (Kids web series), and Director and Producer at Broken Arts Entertainment.
www.brokenartsentertainment.com
www.joeswensonauthor.weebly.com