Seattle Mariners General Manager Jerry Dipoto.
Baseball is a funny game. A year ago, the Seattle Mariners won 90 games and narrowly missed the postseason. This year they won 90 again and made it. Speaking of funny…
When looking ahead to the 2022 season, fans were trying to figure out how the M’s would fit all their outfield talent into three spots.
Seattle had 2020 American League Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis, as well as the resurgent Mitch Haniger, who was coming off of a 39 home run, 100 RBI season.
Also on the roster was, Jarred Kelenic, the former top prospect in baseball, and his successor to that title Julio Rodriguez, who was expected to be part of the team by midseason.
Speedy Taylor Trammell showed signs that, at least defensively, he was a Major League player. They also had utility man Dylan Moore, someone that could give one of the regulars a day off.
Mariners’ GM Jerry Dipoto wasn’t satisfied with all that talent, so on March 14, he added Jesse Winker in a trade with Cincinnati. The left fielder was coming off of an all-star season in 2021.
The Seattle Mariners had an embarrassment of outfield riches. But as they say, “the best laid plans often go astray.”
Things certainly didn’t work out as either Dipoto or Seattle Mariners fans envisioned they would. To start the season:
It was a very erratic season for Mitch Haniger. He started slow, then got hurt (again), keeping him out of action until August 6.
“Meetch” came back with a vengeance, with hits in 16 of 18 games after he returned. But then slumped at the end of the season, batting .240 over the last month, with 36 strikeouts in 100 at bats.
Winker was a huge disappointment. In addition to playing leftfield like the real-life Edward Scissorhands, he hit .219 with an OPS of .688. As it turns out, Winker needed knee and neck surgery after the season ended.
Out of all that preseason optimism, the only outfielder that had a good season was the one without expectations. As it turned out, Rodriguez became the Seattle Mariners’ messiah in 2022.
In his rookie year, JRod took the MLB by storm. He hit 28 home runs, stole 25 bases, and put up a .285/.345/.509/.854 slash line. In addition, Rodriguez played a Gold Glove-caliber centerfield.
It’s not that he wasn’t going to be a great player. No one thought Rodriguez would be this good this soon. He was the catalyst that helped the Seattle Mariners break their 21-year playoff drought.
JRod has centerfield locked down, but how will the Seattle Mariners handle the corner spots?
They can’t count on Kelenic or Trammell. Meanwhile, Winker has two big surgeries to rehab from. He’s supposed to be back by spring, but will he be the 2021 version?
Appearing on his show with Brock and Salk, Dipoto said the M’s want to have four outfielders so they can play lefty/right matchups. The fourth outfielder would also spend time as the DH.
That last part is the role they see Winker filling. Also, as much as they love Haniger, Dipoto implied the pending free agent is no lock to come back. Whether or not that’s just posturing is another issue.
Right now, there are more questions than answers. Do the Seattle Mariners want to add a free agent to the mix? Aaron Judge is headed back to New York. Brandon Nimmo‘s name has been kicked around, but someone like Andrew Benintendi or Joc Pederson may work better.
Dipoto may have to make another deal. Easier said than done because he used a big chunk of capital to acquire starting pitcher Luis Castillo.
What do you think the Seattle Mariners will do to fill their corner outfield jobs? Let us know in the comments section below.