Seattle Mariners: Jarred Kelenic and the art of service time manipulation
The Seattle Mariners have one of the best farm systems in baseball. When the top prospects arrive is a factor of both talent and control of service time.
With the recent acquisition of James Paxton, the Seattle Mariners shifted their rebuild for a moment. Paxton is a proven winner when healthy, and should he find a way at age 32 to have his first fully healthy season, the M’s should be able to win more often than they lose.
Pitchers and catchers report midweek with the rest of the Spring Training invitees joining the club over the upcoming weekend and into the start of next week. All eyes will be on two of the high-level prospects in the camp who have a chance at making the club early in the season. Logan Gilbert and Jarred Kelenic.
Jerry Dipoto
The Mariner’s GM has been all over the place and non-committal at the same time about everything related to Kelenic and Gilbert. In fact, in Dipoto’s weekly chat with 710 ESPN’s Danny and Gallant two weeks ago, he said in regards to timeframe:
“It could be a very short period, it could be one that takes a little bit longer, but we want to be prudent in how we make that decision because we are so much more concerned about the big picture development of Jarred in his career as well as the long-term outlook for the Seattle Mariners.”
Also, Dipoto has been very open about bringing in a left-handed bat that could play the outfield and possibly second base. While he hasn’t really discussed how he would go about acquiring said hitter. It’s assumed that it would be through free agency.
There isn’t much left on the market. The remaining left-handed bats still available include Shin-Soo Choo, Josh Reddick, and former Red Sox Gold Glove centerfielder Jackie Bradley Jr.
Reading Between The Lines
If we take a trip in the ‘Way Back Machine,’ you may recall that Trader Jerry hasn’t always been forthcoming in interviews. He refused to call the rebuild an actual rebuild initially, only to embrace it once it became evident that it was a rebuild. Dipoto has continued his ambiguity by remaining non-committal with the prospects that are in or near the Majors.
Part of this is by competitive design. By doing so, he can continue to set players’ value and not have his own words held against him. Another reason for being tight-lipped is to ensure that decisions are made with the most information available. But this is baseball; front office people are always discussing plans behind closed doors.
For example, the Mariners management can’t feel confident about a multi-year deal with Kelenic (agent Brodie Scoffield), or they would be all-in on starting him on opening day. Without a multi-year deal, like the one with Evan White, the Seattle Mariners will want to capture as much service time as they can. This means that the Mariners have to make a Cubs-like 2015 decision.