Seattle Mariners 2025 Season was Bliss - 2026 Has High Expectations

At the end of the 2024 season I was upset at the Mariners. Not the players but the organization as a whole who yet again put out an inferior product and tried to sell the fans on a championship mindset. The fans weren't buying it after 24 years of said promise not coming to fruition. However, last season was the first the Mariners finally did what the fans asked, make big moves for big bats who could help carry the team to their goals. The Mariners finally put together a lineup to go with their pitching so they could compete and it worked just as the fans expected. The Mariners won the AL West and were a few innings away from the World Series. What a great season and expectations are high heading into 2026. Let's talk about where the Mariners are at and what they can do to repeat as AL West champions and make another deep playoff push.

Credit: Seattle Times

First let's give credit to Dan Wilson and this coaching staff. They heard the feedback after 2024, made the necessary changes to their coaching staff, and changed their approach and process to every practice and game. This paid dividends for building the championship culture they needed to compete. Also, credit to the front office, general managers, and ownership for going all in at the all-star break and getting 2 big bats from Arizona in Naylor and Suarez, while also grabbing a much needed bullpen depth piece (who unfortunately didn't work out but there was no way to know he wouldn't at the time). 

Naylor's presence was key. He was a clubhouse favorite and fan favorite. He provided clutch defense and offense that's been missing at 1B in Seattle for a very long time. Every fan is happy he was able to re-sign with the team in the off-season and hopefully he heals fully this off-season so he can take over where he left off last year.

Let's dig in to how the Mariners can shake off a bad ending to a great season and make a championship caliber team in 2026. 

1) Getting On Base and Moving Base Runners (again)

There needs to be more focused on small ball in Seattle. Yes they have the power to win every game but playing in Seattle, the best way to win is sometimes simply stringing together walks, hits, stolen bases, and sacrifices. This puts a lot of pressure on opposing pitchers and the threat of the home run is always there making it scarier for opposing teams to face. Last season the Mariners were 20th in batting average at .244 and were bottom of the league in strikeouts. They need to clean this up, strike out less, and get on base more. Overall the Mariners were #3 in home runs, #3 in stolen bases, and #10 in OBP which is a huge improvement over the previous season so they are trending in a good direction offensively. The challenge here will be filling holes of lost players at 2B and 3B where Suarez and Polanco were both offensive threats.

2) Coaching (again)

I was pleasantly surprised to see Dan and his staff mature last season after squandering the previous season. They really changed up their approach and the results spoke for themselves. However, there's still a lot of coaching decisions that I question throughout the season and playoffs. For instance, when to change pitchers and who to bring in from the pen. Dan has a tendency to let starters go too long who are not on their A-game or pull guys too soon who are dealing. He also has his go-to guys in situations which leads to overuse. This showed in the playoffs when certain arms were simply gassed. I also believe when bases are open to fill them with feared hitters. Springer should've never been able to bat when he hit his 3-run homer in game 7 of the ALCS. First base was open, put him on and pitch for a double play, or at least limit damage to 1-2 runs. Springer was the last person you wanted to face there with 1b open. Hopefully Dan learns from last year's mistakes (he's proven he can) so this season he makes better decisions. 

3) Roster Improvements (again)

Yet again, the Mariners need to replace a couple key positions and bolster their bullpen for next season. They have key decisions to make in the infield. They also have a couple RP spots to consider. 

I'm skeptical that the Mariners will make anymore big moves this off-season as they re-signed who they needed and still have to deal with arbitration. I would assume the trade deadline will yield any missing pieces of injuries or subpar play require it. 

What should the Mariners do to replace the few pieces that are leaving, as well as bolstering their lineup to be more successful and make another championship run? Here's a few areas they can look at: 

Weak or Missing Positions: 

• 2B/SS: The Mariners don't really have an all-star middle infielder. J.P. is awesome as the oldest Mariner on the active roster but his play has been so up and down that it's hard to rely on him. Additionally, Polanco has left at 2B leaving the middle infield very weak. I would not be against bringing in a 2B or moving J.P. to 2B and getting a good SS. Overall the remaining FA's are not great and using the farm system may be a potentially better option with Cole Young being close to ready for the big leagues and Leo Rivas being a great backup. 
• Some FA available at 2B: Adam Frazier, Luis Urias. Some SS available are Luis Rengifo, Ramon Urias, and Tim Anderson.

• 3B: The Mariners are also short a starting 3B with Suarez being gone. The only available FA's left also aren't that great so promoting Ben Williamson again may be the best option. 
• Some FA available at 3B: Ramon Urias and Jose Iglesias. 

• RP: The Mariners had one of the top bullpens in baseball last year but it was heavily reliant upon a handful of pitchers. The bullpen wasn't very deep and the playoffs showed it. The best RPs were gassed and the middle relievers were not up to the task. The Mariners need to bring in a lefty and righty to use in low leverage situations so the backend of the pen doesn't have to pitch multiple innings.
• Some FA available at RP: Paul Sewald, Andrew Chafin, Joey Lucchesi, Shelby Miller, Jose Leclerc, Rafael Montero, Jalen Beeks

• DH: The M's revolving door of below average hitters at DH needs to stop. They need to find a big bat in free agency who can hit in cleanup. No more experiments like Mitch Garver. I hope they can go grab a bat at some point or find a way to platoon guys to give people a day off from playing defense.

In a nutshell, the M's need a to figure out their infield and bullpen. If they do this then they have a high likelihood of repeating as AL West champions.

Seattle Mariners Are Bad 2024 Edition - Another Season and Another Playoff Miss

The Mariners, once again, got eliminated from post-season contention in the final week of the regular season, and it never felt at any point like they stood a chance during the second half of the season. The first half of the season the team was overachieving while the rest of the league was struggling. The Mariners had a 10 game lead over the Astros before falling apart completely. 

All off-season, and pre-trade deadline, the fans and media were clambering for management to go find some bats. Instead the Mariners signed a bunch of washed up veterans (as they always do), and the team unfortunately faltered offensively and defensively. Jrod didn't show up statistically until the last month of the season and the rest of the team struggled mightily, outside of Cal Raleigh who had an amazing season.

The lone bright spot this season was the firing of Scott Servais. I've been calling for this for years and it's about time management got rid of him. Unfortunately a lot of his assistants stayed and the replacements are 1995 Mariner veterans with no caching experience. While the team finished strong, it was too little too late. I still went to a game to show my support for the firing, but this offseason needs some serious bats and infielders if they plan to make a push. I won't hold my breath.

I still believe the Mariners need to bring in an actual manager with actual championship coaching experience. The Mariners need a guy who understands how to build a lineup, how to position the defense on every play, when to pull pitchers, and who to put in for key situations. We'll see if Dan Wilson and Edgar Martinez can have a good season but I still saw similar blunders at the end of the season. Bad defensive plays, awkward pitching changes, and lots of strikeouts. Perhaps a whole offseason building the roster and chemistry they desire will change things around.

Credit: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson

Last year I saw the Mariners actually regress, and that is not want you want to see as a fan whose team made the post-season 2 years before. Instead of signing a big name middle infielder and bat to be DH, they rolled with guys like Garver, Rojas, Haniger, Polanco, and Urias. Most of these guys are off the roster going into the off-season because of how horrible they were. Most were replaced mid-season by AAA callups and mid-season trades. 

On top of the bad free agents in the lineup, the Mariners also allowed their bullpen to regress yet again. The year they made the playoffs 2 seasons ago, they had a top 10 bullpen in MLB. This latest season they were middle of the league. They dealt with multiple key injuries and players underperforming, but relying on those injured players was a bad bet. The Mariners starters only go for 5-7 innings max and Servais replaced starters with the bullpen with runners on too often, which resulted in a lot of inherited runners scoring. 

Let's dig in to how the Mariners can shake off a bad season and make a championship caliber team in 2024. 

1) Getting On Base and Moving Base Runners (again)

The focus from Dan and Edgar needs to be with OBP and manufacturing runs via sacrifices and putting the ball in play. Once again the M's were middle of the league on OBP. They had the most strikeouts in the league and set a franchise record for striking out. This was after they told the fans that the focus this off-season was on eliminating strikeouts (an excuse used to justify getting rid of their best hitters). The plate discipline needs to be an off-season target. Additionally, the Mariners were horrible at sacrifices and lost multiple extra inning games because they were unable to score the free runner on 2nd. 

2) Coaching (again)

We will see how Dan and Edgar do as coaches. They finished the last month of the season on a decent note as the Mariners had a better W/L ratio under Dan than under Servais. It still wasn't enough to come close to making the playoffs. Their lack of coaching experience makes them wild cards but also elicits hope as they can learn and improve as they go. However, we need to see them consistently making the right strategies and decisions to match their players and stadium.

3) Roster Improvements (again)

The Mariners need to replace a couple key positions and bolster their bullpen for next season. They have key decisions to make in the entire infield. They also have a couple RP spots to consider. The only thing they have is a stacked rotation, but that wasn't enough to help them this season.  

I'm skeptical that the Mariners will make any big moves after hearing the GM and owner consistently tell fans the same story, which has had the same results. Dipoto says the same thing every year and it scares any potential major players from signing with Seattle, which is why they always have to get players via trades.

Players Who are Free Agents: Who to re-sign and who to let go (most have been let go already so here's the remaining list).

• Justin Turner - starting 1B/DH, JT came mid-season via trade in hopes of bolstering the lineup. Unfortunately he was terrible defensively and offensively he regressed. Given his age I wouldn't be shocked if he retired or had a homecoming in LA. - ($13M/yr, should not re-sign)
• Yimi Garcia - Yimi was a RP who came in and helped Seattle but was up and down to end the season before getting hurt. They shouldn't re-sign him as his WAR was less than 1 and he's hurt.  - ($5.5M/yr, should not re-sign)
• Jorge Polanco - Jorge was one of the "big" off-season acquisitions that resulted in mediocrity. He was hurt for a month mid-season, and was up and down from there. Some games he was on fire, while other games he struck out a ton and played average defense. Overall he was ok but not great.  - ($5.1M/yr, already gone) 
• Josh Rojas - Rojas was a surprising early season league leader in hits and average. Then he fell off as teams figured him out. He couldn't hit at all after that, and his defense was average at best, which is not good for the hot corner. He still had an above average season given he wasn't supposed to be the team's starting 3B.  - ($3.1M/yr, already gone)
• JT Chargois - Chargois was brought in mid-season via trade to bolster the bullpen. Similarly to other RPs, he had bright spots and bad spots. Overall he underperformed and wasn't worth the trade as he had a less than 1 WAR.  - ($1.3M/yr, already gone)
• Austin Voth - After decent playoff season in Baltimore, Seattle brought in Voth to bolster the  middle of the pen. Unfortunately he extremely underperformed and had a negative WAR.  - ($1.2M/yr, already gone)
• Sam Haggerty - There was a time where Swaggerty was a potential future utility player for the Ms but he's been very inconsistent and often injured. Unfortunately he never lived up to his hype and is more of a AAA caliber player.  - ($900k/yr, already gone)
• Luis Urias - he was so bad that he was already release by the Mariners before free agency decision even began.

What should the Mariners do to replace the few pieces that are leaving, as well as bolstering their lineup to be more successful and make a championship run? Here's a few areas they can look at: 

Weak or Missing Positions: 

• 1B: The Mariners don't have a starting 1B entering next season, but there are some huge names available in free agency such as Christian Walker, Pete Alonso, Paul Goldschmidt, Anthony Rizzo, and Connor Joe. There's rumors they're targeting Carlos Santana who would basically be the same type of player Turner was at 40 years old. Hopefully they get someone younger like Alonso, Walker, or Joe.

• 2B/SS: The Mariners don't really have an all-star middle infielder. J.P. is often injured and has regressed as a player. He's never lived up to the hype of the future star SS that was promised. At 2B the Mariners have nobody right now. The Mariners need to serious look at signing a major middle infielder or trading one of their many SP's for one. They can roll with J.P. at 2B or SS and pickup someone else who's willing to play the other spot.
• Some FA available are Gleyber Torres, Kyle Farmer, Nicky Lopez, Whit Merrifield, Willy Adames, Ha-Seong Kim, Jose Iglesias, and Paul Dejong. I'd like to see them make a push for Ha-Seong if they can and move him or J.P to 2B.

• 3B: The Mariners are also short a starting 3B with Urias and Rojas being gone. Bregman is best available in free agency but nobody wants him on the team. I'd like to see a trade here as Rojas is actually the second best FA available and they let him go. Perhaps the Alec Bohm trade rumors are true but every team is interested in him.

• RP: The Mariners had a top 5 bullpen in 2022 and then dropped to middle of the pack in 2023 & 2024 after losing arms. The M's are now lacking good consistent arms outside of Munoz. Getting Brash back could help but he missed an entire season after a bad injury so it's difficult to know if he'll be back to his old self. They're going to need to replace Chargois and Garcia. They also have some guys who are mediocre who could be replaced easily. There are 27 RPs available in FA with a WAR of 1 or higher.

• DH: The M's revolving door of below average hitters at DH needs to stop. They need to find a big bat in free agency who can hit in cleanup. No more experiments like Mitch Garver or Justin Turner. They need someone who can hit consistently, or someone younger with upside. There's many free agents available at DH and other positions that could rotate with DH. If they go with Garver again then it'll be disappointing. Maybe they can package Garver in a deal to another team start or mid-season.

• OF: The Mariners have great depth in the OF currently but they also have some guys who are injury prone. I wouldn't be surprised if they added depth to platoon with Haniger, Arozarena, Robles, and Jrod. They could also swap these guys to DH occasionally to get them some rest. 

In a nutshell, the M's need a new infield and some relief pitchers so they can try and make a run at the division this season. The Astros have been slowly regressing as time is catching up with their aging and expensive players. 2025 may be the last chance for the Ms to win the division before they have serious contracts to consider with their pitchers and catcher.

Seattle Mariners 2023 Season Comes to Disappointing End

The Mariners disappointing season came to an abrupt end. The Mariners, once again, got eliminated from post-season contention in the final week of the regular season, after their promising 2022 season and anticipation from fans to return to playoffs.

Last season I was very critical of the team's bad coaching, ownership, and management. I still feel the team is winning despite the coaching and team management. The obvious holes from last season were not addressed at all and the Mariners decided a few bad free agent signings in the off-season, and a very bad mid-season trade, would somehow improve the team's chances. Instead it completely killed the morale of the fans and players.

I still believe the Mariners need to bring in an actual manager with actual championship coaching experience. For instance, Kris Negron won a championship as the head coach of the Rainiers and should be given a chance. I believe he understands how to build a lineup, how to position the defense on every play, when to pull pitchers, and who to put in for key situations. I no longer believe the team supports Servais. As the season was nearing an end several players came out against the coaching in frustration to some questionable calls, mostly involving pitching decisions. The one thing he had going for him was being a players coach, but if he's no longer that either I'm confident that he needs to go.

Credit: MLB.com

Last year I focused on relief pitching, defense, coaching, and finding an all-star middle infielder in free agency as target areas for the Mariners to focus on. I saw the Mariners actually regress, and that is not want you want to see as a fan whose team made the post-season the year before. Instead of signing a big name middle infielder and bat to be DH or corner OF, they signed a handful of washed up players in Wong, La Stella, and Pollock. By the end of the season none of those guys were still on the team because of how awful they were. Additionally, they traded their closer Seawald to a team who is now in the World Series. If they simply kept their closer they most likely would've made the playoffs. 

Let's dig in to how the Mariners can shake off a bad season and make a championship caliber team in 2024. 

1) Getting On Base and Moving Base Runners

In 2023 the M's improved from .230 to .242 and were middle of the league on OBP. While this is an improvement from the previous season, but it's still not good enough to be a playoff contender. They had the second most strikeouts in the league and the plate discipline needs to be an off-season target. Additionally, the Mariners were horrible at sacrifices and lost multiple extra inning games because they were unable to score the free runner on 2nd. 

2) Coaching

Coaching comes down to developing the talent, improving the team, and making the right decisions during key moments. I believe the Mariners have done a very good job at developing their talent and a horrible job at improving the team and making good key decisions. 

Like I say every year, Servais has a history of making bad decisions when it comes to starting lineups, defensive substitutions, sacrificing runners over, defensive alignments, and management of pitchers. 

The team's struggles against better teams, lack of consistency, and inability to manufacture runs when they need to, really comes down to the manager. Servais needs to focus more on small ball. Good teams know how to get on base and move runners, which is 100% on the coaching staff who'd rather lead the league in strikeouts just to have a few home runs. 

3) Roster Improvements

The Mariners need to replace a couple key positions and bolster their bullpen for next season. They have key decisions to make in corner OF as well as 2B. They also have a couple RP spots to consider, along with needing a reliable closer. 

I'm skeptical that the Mariners will make any big moves after hearing Dipoto tell fans that we are lucky to win 53% of our games and insinuated that he has no consideration for making big acquisitions. Dipoto says the same thing every year and it scares any potential major players from signing with Seattle, which is why they always have to get players via trades.

Players Who are Free Agents: Who to re-sign and who to let go

• Teoscar Hernandez - starting RF, Teo was one of the best hitters on the team but given how expensive he is ($14M), the amount of strikeouts he has, and the fact he's UFA, I'm shocked the M's didn't trade him mid-season for someone with team control. - (should let go)
• Tom Murphy - backup C, Murphy is injury prone and streaky. The M's can find a better backup C. - (should let go)
• Didi Gregorious - backup SS, he hardly plays and is barely major league quality. - (should let go)
• Tommy Milone - SP, Milone is more of a AAA player and should be let go. (should let go)
• Dominic Leone - RP, Leone is a terrible relief pitcher that you only want to use in blowouts to eat up innings. - (should let go)

What should the Mariners do to replace the few pieces that are leaving, as well as bolstering their lineup to be more successful and make a championship run? Here's a few areas they can look at: 

Weak or Missing Positions: 

• 2B/SS: The Mariners don't really have an all-star middle infielder. J.P. is teetering on the edge of being an all-star and opposite of him has been a revolving door of sub-par players. The Mariners need to serious look at signing a major middle infielder or trading one of their many SP's for one.

• RP: The Mariners had a top 5 bullpen in 2022 and then lost multiple big arms in the off-season and via trades. for the second straight season and will be keeping a majority of their relievers if they want. The M's are now lacking good consistent arms outside of Munoz and Brash who are incredibly overused.

• Corner OF: The Mariners are most likely losing Teoscar and don't have any suitable backups in the corner OF outside of a couple mediocre players in Kelenic and Canzone. There will be a bunch of good OF free agents and potential trades available should the M's finally be willing to pay some big name hitters. 

• DH: I have to admit the M's revolving door of below average hitters at DH needs to stop. They need to find a big bat in free agency who can hit in cleanup. No more experiments like Mike Ford. They need an every day bat who's either a solid DH, or is a very good hitter at a position where the M's have better defenders. 

In a nutshell, the M's need a new coach, they need a couple good bullpen arms and a couple big bats, and ownership/GM needs to utilize the plethora of extra SP's they have to go get some of those solved if they can't find it in free agency.

Mariners 2022: Magic Season Ends

The Mariners magical run in 2022 has come to a bittersweet end. The upside is the team overachieved this year and made it to the ALDS, while hosting their first playoff game in 21 years. Most people, outside the circle of overly positive fans, believed the Mariners were a year away from having a scary playoff team but some unexpected acquisitions and breakouts happened in 2022 to help make a push for the playoffs. 

Let's not gloss over the fact that the AL was weaker this year and that the MLB didn't expand the playoffs because the Mariners actually finished with the exact record that they had in 2021. Last year  they barely missed the playoffs due to the Red Sox and White Sox being good last year but both of those teams have since faltered.

While I have been critical of the team this year, it's mostly due to bad coaching/management of the team, and less on the players. I believe in the passion and desire these players have to win, but I often feel they are winning despite the coaching and game management. 

There's a large part of me who believes Kris Negron would be a better game manager since he actually won a championship as the head coach of the Rainiers. I believe he understands how to build a lineup, how to position the defense on every play, when to pull pitchers, and who to put in for key situations. I believe Servais is a great players coach and a fan/media favorite at the podium, but he cost the Mariners a lot of games in his tenure with bad decisions, including all 3 games against the Astros in the ALDS, 2 of which were easy wins that he faltered away. Servais should be moved to a new position as someone in the front office for player relations or something similar. 

Credit: MLB.com

Last year I focused on pitching, defense, coaching, and free agency as target areas for the Mariners to improve. I saw improvements in all but 1 of those areas (coaching) which is promising. Let's dig in to how the Mariners can continue their rise to success and make a championship caliber team in 2023. The last time the Mariners hosted the All-Star game they also tied the record for most wins in a season, so the expectations are high next year.

1) Getting On Base and Moving Base Runners

In 2022 the Mariners were 3rd from the bottom in batting average at an abysmal .230 team average. They were also well below league average for runners left on base, ops, strikeouts, and team sacrifices.

Since the MLB season is very long, teams can live and die by the long ball to survive. However, when you play tougher opponents, especially in the playoffs, the ability to force pitch counts, get on base, and manufacture runs is paramount. 

It was extremely embarrassing in the ALDS when the M's players were swinging at garbage pitches trying to be heroes, when simple walks and base hits would've won all 3 games that they lost. The players and coaches need to stop relying on the home run to win them games and start focusing on being patient at the plate, hitting away from the shift, bunting to advance runners, hitting sac flies with someone on third, and choking up to put the ball in play when behind in the count.

2) Consistency

In 2022 the Mariners started with a sub .500 record then had a staggering 14 game winning streak followed up by a hit or miss second half of the season. Being consistent is key in baseball, especially at the end of the season and into the playoffs. It helps to be hot at the right time but you have to also put together a solid season to even make the playoffs. 

The best way the Mariners can be consistent is to beat who they are supposed to beat by not underestimating their opponents, and play their tougher opponents harder to avoid blowouts. It's very clear the road through the AL is still through their division rivals in Houston so they need to find a way to unseat the perennial powerhouse. That starts with more consistency and better coaching, which we'll get into next.

3) Coaching

Coaching comes down to developing the talent, improving the team, and making the right decisions during key moments. While I credit Servais for back to back 90 win seasons, I feel like most of the kudos goes to the players who are winning despite bad management. 

Like I said last year, and every year, Servais has a history of making bad decisions when it comes to starting lineups, defensive substitutions, sacrificing runners over, defensive alignments, and management of pitchers. The one thing Scott is good at is capturing the admiration of fans, media, and the players for being an overly positive guy. 

The team's struggles against better teams, lack of consistency, and inability to manufacture runs when they need to really comes down to the manager. Servais needs to focus more on small ball. The home runs can be fun, but good teams know how to get on base and move runners, which is 100% on the coaching staff to emphasize over swinging for the fences every at bat. 

Servais seems to play the lottery with his lineups as the players hitting 1-9 have changed almost every single game of the season, which is wild. The Astros on the other hand have their lineup solidified and are the best team in the AL year after year. 

On top of that Servais seems to pull pitchers too early or too late, he overuses arms from the bullpen, he makes calls using baseless analytics instead of the flow of the game, and he is too reliant on power hitting over small ball.

The coaching changes going into 2023 look fairly minimal but I'd like to see Negron promoted to be more involved with managing the team. Negron won a championship in AAA and has proven he knows what it takes to manage playoff caliber games. 

Most analysts still place Servais in the bottom half of MLB manager rankings which is saying something after the team had back to back 90 win seasons.

4) Roster Improvements

The Mariners need to replace a couple key positions and bolster their pitching for next season. They have key decisions to make in corner OF as well as 2B. They also have a SP spot and a couple RP spots to consider, along with needing a reliable closer. 

Overall the Mariners are average at just about every position in terms of Wins Above Replacement (WAR) so they should be open to considerations at most positions. 

I'm skeptical that the Mariners will make any big moves after hearing Dipoto (who's no longer the GM) still state they aren't willing to sign a better SS and/or move Crawford to 2B. Dipoto said the same thing last year and it scared any potential major middle infielder from signing with Seattle.

Players Who are Free Agents: Who to re-sign and who to let go

• Carlos Santana - starting DH, Santana had some very clutch doubles and HR's during the season but he's aging and expensive ($10.5M) for hitting for such a low avg (.202) - (should let go)
• Adam Frazier - starting 2B, Frazier was inconsistent all season, a rather expensive utility man ($8M) and was a shell of his Allstar self (.305 to .238 avg) - (should let go)
• Mitch Haniger - starting RF, can't stay healthy his entire career and is inconsistent (only 2 good seasons out of 6), he's expected to ask for a raise next season ($7M to $14M) - (should let go)
• Matt Boyd - SP/RP, hometown kid, Boyd contributed very little to the M's this season (only 10 appearances) but put up stellar stats. He's earned a re-sign. (should re-sign ~$5.5M)
• Curt Casali - backup C, acquired mid-season instead of a real bat. Ate up a playoff roster spot that could've been used for a pitcher. - (should let go)
• Chris Flexen - 6th SP/long relief, he just had the second best year of his career. Selflessly accepted long relief roll in bullpen when asked. M's could use his arm again next year in case of injuries or other players leaving. He can fill in for spot starts and long relief. - (should use club option $4M)
• Marcus Wilson - minor league OF, filled in temporarily for 3 games and seems to have been a 2nd round draft bust from 8 years ago. - (should let go or resign to minors only)
• Roenis Elias - SP/RP, reliable middle reliever who was brought back temporarily due to injuries. Given his age he's most likely done. -  (should let go)
• Matt Koch - RP, while under team control for another year and 3 years of arbitration left he's been unproductive for the Mariners. - (should let go)
• Ashur Tolliver - minor league RP, didn't make an appearance this year and hasn't pitched MLB in 5 years. Had no success against MLB hitters in his career. - (should let go)
• Alen Hanson - minor league 2B, hasn't had an MLB appearance in 3 years and his career numbers aren't good. - (should let go) 
• Pat Light - minor league RP, posted extremely bad numbers against MLB hitters in his limited experience. - (should let go)

What should the Mariners do to replace the few pieces that are leaving, as well as bolstering their lineup to be more successful and make a championship run? Here's a few areas they can look at: 

Weak or Missing Positions: 

• 2B/SS: Frazier should be gone, and with the bevy of middle infielders who are either available or interested in playing for a contender, the Mariners should be open to finding a quality middle infielder and then figuring out how they best mesh with JP Crawford.

• Big name options: Carlos Correa. Jean Segura. Trea Turner. Xander Bogaerts. Dansby Swanson. Tim Anderson. Jose Iglesias.

• RP: The Mariners had a top 5 bullpen for the second straight season and will be keeping a majority of their relievers if they want. However, the M's are lacking a consistent holder and closer. They do have arms to continue to fill those roles, but it would be nice to have someone who can come in and consistently be dominant 99% of the time to end a game.

• Some good FA's available: Edwin Diaz. David Robertson. Jose Leclerc. Kenley Jansen. Rafael Montero. Seth Lugo. Brad Hand. 

• Corner OF: The Mariners stand a chance to lose Mitch Haniger. Meanwhile Jared Kelenic hasn't been the highly touted player he was supposed to be and Kyle Lewis has no knees at this point. Winker is injured, not playing well, and butting heads with management. The Mariners have nobody left in the organization who can fill those roles so they need to sign, or trade for, a quality OF. They could also roll the dice with what they have and make a mid-season move with a basement team offloading talent.
• Some good FA's available: Aaron Judge. Andrew Benintendi. Michael Brantley. Corey Dickerson, Brandon Nimmo. 

Mariners 2022 Trade Deadline Opinions: Buy, Sell, or Hold?

It has been 2 months since I last wrote about the Mariners. While I am cautiously optimistic about this clubs' chances, it's hard to ignore a 11 game win streak, so let's break that down and then look at what's next to see if we truly believe the team is on the rise. 

In the last 11 games the Mariners have beaten the Nationals 3x, Blue Jays 4x, Padres 2x, and the A's 2x. During this time the M's have dealt with injuries and suspensions which does make it impressive, but here's why I'm not entirely sold on the "WE'RE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES" rhetoric I've been seeing online. Let's remember the Mariners had the exact same record last season at this time and ended up missing the playoffs.

The teams the M's beat are all in a huge slump. Two teams in particular who are good on paper would be the Jays and Padres. The Blue Jays are so bad recently that they fired their manager mid-season. The Padres have lost twice as many games as they've won in the last month. The Nationals and A's are bottom of the barrel teams who are tanking this season. Therefore, the wins don't seem as impressive as wins would be against teams like the Astros and Yankees, who are coming up next week and will be a true test for the team.

On top of all this you have to look at run differential. 6 of the 11 games were 1 run wins which were a crack of the bat away from losing. I could look back on all 11 games and think of some jams pitchers got lucky to get out of, which could've gone horribly wrong. I do give kudos to the pitchers and defense for not allowing that to happen. 

Now let's look at the trade deadline to see if the team truly wants to make the playoffs. The Mariners need to be buyers if they care at all about having a championship roster as they keep claiming to want. 

The Mariners have holes everywhere in their lineup. They have the 7th worst hitting average, 10th worst runs batted in, 9th most strikeouts, and 7th worst runs scored in the league. Most notably is their production in the outfield (which should be addressed when KLew and/or Hanniger come back) and 2B (which they have no current answer for).

What's saving Seattle is their pitching which is 5th best in ERA and 7th best in WHIP. What's even more impressive is the bullpen. From the 8th inning onward the M's are #1 in the league in WHIP and #2 in ERA and average against. The old saying goes, pitching and defense wins championships and the M's seem setup to support this so far. The only thing that worries me here is that the M's have worse pitching stats when ahead than when trailing or tied. Additionally, they are lacking quality back of the rotation pitching and 7th/8th inning arms that other teams fear. Kirby's innings will be limited the rest of the season, injuries are possible, and Flexen + Milone are not exactly putting fear into opposing lineups.

All this said I'm recommending the Mariners put together deals for a quality #3 starter, a setup man in the bullpen, and a 2B. I know the team can't mess with chemistry like they did previously. Let's look at our options here, as well as potential MLB caliber players they can trade away. 

Starting with who can be traded I think the Mariners could trade any of the following players (not all) along with some prospects that other teams may be interested in: Frazier, Moore, Trammell, Kelenic, Santana, Flexen, Upton, Lewis, White, Haggerty, Castillo, Giles, Milone, and/or Sadler.

For a quality #3 starter the Mariners will have to look at teams who are sub .500 and wanting to rebuild. Usually this means offloading a veteran or a guy with 1-2 years left on their current contract. 

2B: Harold Castro (Tigers), Michael Stefanic (Angels), Cesar Hernandez (Nats), Ketel Marte (Dbacks)

SP: Michael Pineda (Tigers), Brady Singer (Royals), Cole Irvin (A's), Noah Syndergaard (Angels), Luis Castillo (Reds)

RP: Jose Cisnero (Tigers), Andrew Chafin (Tigers), Taylor Clarke (Royals), Joel Payamps (Royals), Domingo Acevedo (A's), Mychal Givens (Cubs), Keynan Middleton (Dbacks)

All that being said, if the Mariners get at least 1 difference maker on their roster before the deadline then you know they are serious about making the playoffs. If they trade away a key player and anger the locker room again (*cough* Graveman) then I'll know they aren't serious about ever winning a championship. I just hope to attend a playoff baseball game in Seattle sometime in my life.

Mariners 2022 Update - Good, Bad, Ugly #dontbelieveyet

I haven't written about the Mariners in almost 6 months but lots has been on my mind since my previous post. For starters I felt like they still didn't try to find a good closer, another good starter, and an all-star 3B. I have no ill-will with the current bullpen, starting rotation, or Suarez, but you can clearly tell, after a month into the season, that they could've made some better moves in the off-season.

This is just more proof that the Mariners front office is ok with having a cheap roster and putting a mediocre product on the field while hoping they over achieve enough to fill seats. Luckily for them there's still tons of hope and positive hype around the team, or perhaps people are just tired of sitting at home after the pandemic. Also kudos to the M's on their exclusive tv contracts that makes them a ton of money that they refuse to spend on players.

I give huge credit to the Mariners sales, marketing, and social media teams for keeping a positive spin on a franchise that has been sub-par for 20 years. The A's could take a clue from how the M's organization runs things because Seattle is in far worse shape than Oakland in terms of producing a good result (i.e. A's still can make playoffs), yet the A's fans are revolting. 

Let's talk about the Mariners hot start, which they almost always have, and then their sudden turn to mediocrity to follow. 

#1: Other teams were ill-prepared and the Mariners benefitted with a roster full of newly signed free agents and potentially young stars who were jumping out the gate and overperforming. We've seen this before in 2019 when they started 13-2 and then lost 21 out of 26 games over the next 2 months.

#2: Servais missed several series due to Covid and the roster benefitted from someone who actually knew how to manage a game correctly (i.e. setting a solid lineup, making the right defensive alignments and substitutions, and managing pitchers correctly). As soon as Servais returned the Mariners returned to losing in embarrassing fashion.

#3: The roster and lineup need some serious work. It doesn't take a baseball genius to understand you can't have half your lineup batting below the Mendoza line, and especially batting them in the top half of the order. Kelenic .127, Toro .160, Winker .186, Suarez .202, (credit to Frazier and Jrod getting barely above the line this week). I also am glad they finally sent down the failed Raleigh experiment after his average dropped to .083.

It also makes no sense to continually bring in pitchers from the bullpen with 4.00+ ERA's and 1.5+ WHIPs who consistently put people on base and give up runs (*cough* Festa, Ramirez, Steckenrider, Castillo) Nobody can have a perfect bullpen but you either make roster moves to remain competitive or you only bring in terrible pitchers in unwinnable games. Perhaps maybe the starters and relievers will find their way eventually.

How to turn things around? 

Besides the obvious of everyone performing better, I think the Mariners have some tough decisions ahead. Maybe it's too early to overreact but it certainly feels like another year being added to the 20 year drought. Luckily for the Mariners MLB has expanded playoffs and the AL West is a little weak this year.

Tough decision 1: Remove Servais from game management. He's proven time and time again he cannot manage a game properly. He puts guys in weird spots in the lineup, he makes terrible in game decisions, and his pitcher management is non-existent. It's almost like he's rolling the dice out there.

Tough decision 2: Send down the rookies (maybe not Jrod if he stays hot and umpires give him a chance at walking more). Sending down Raleigh was the right call and when KLew or Haniger are back they definitely need to send Kelenic down. 

I want everyone to understand something about baseball rookie development. This isn't like basketball or football where a rookie can come in and do amazing right away. Big league hitters and big league pitchers have a wealth of skill and knowledge that they can use to take advantage of younger players. They also tend to have umpires on their side as seen in the case of 19 Jrod strikeouts while looking on borderline pitches. Rookies need at least a full season at every minor league level to progressively get better. I also want to explain what it's like to be the best at something then to be thrown into a pool of people as good as or better than you. It is a confidence shattering situation that you want to avoid as a GM/coach/player. 

I didn't understand the rush to bring up Brash, Jrod, Kelenic, and Raleigh prematurely, especially after they were denied almost an entire season in 2020 to develop themselves. All of them needed another year in AAA to prove themselves. All the M's did was build these guys up to the fans and media and then immediately shatter their confidence. Imagine being the best at something, being worshipped for it from the organization/fans/media, and then being outclassed immediately? That is a huge mental thing to overcome and you can see it in these guys. I credit Jrod for bouncing back as he seems to be mentally tougher than the rest of them.

Tough decision 3: Mariners need to make pitching moves. I'd like to see Brash swapped out for a better starter they can acquire via trade (not Kirby because he needs time in AAA first). Brash is too wild and his 2.05 WHIP gets him into trouble. He benefitted early in the season with lucky double plays but when you put 2 people on base per inning then you're bound to eventually get rocked. 

I'd also like to see more Swanson and Munoz out of the bullpen. Everyone is also happy Sewald is back from covid but they need to find a closer. Maybe it's another trade situation or maybe they need to try someone new in the 9th like Swanson who has a 0.00 ERA so far. 

Easy decision: Change the offensive lineup to put your best hitters at the top. I'd like to see J.P Crawford lead off and I have been baffled all year as Servais continually put him in the bottom half of the lineup in most games. France should clearly be batting cleanup as he's the best slugger on the team and can drive in runs. I am ok with Frazier and Haniger rounding out the top 3 if both are healthy. Winker and Suarez need to prove they're the players the Mariners expected before they're allowed back into the top 4 of the lineup again. 

Given history, the Mariners always start hot, then cool off, then go back and forth until the all-star break. After the break they again fall into a back and forth again and then end on a drought to miss the playoffs when they're playing meaningful games in September. I've seen it the last 20 years and don't expect it to change this season. I hope I'm wrong because I'd love to see playoff baseball in Seattle again someday.

Mariners 2021: Disappointment, Hope, Belief

Within my life time I can point to any of the post 2001 Mariners teams as a lost cause. This is because the Seattle Mariners own the worst playoff drought in the history of professional sports. 

As someone who has watched the Mariners since the early 90's, when Griffey Jr entered the scene, it's been a really rough time since the magical 95 season and the 2001 record wins season. Therefore, it's very easy to be pessimistic about the M's and to watch the team from a "who cares" perspective. 

However, there's always a part of me who has wanted them to achieve what the current Astros have achieved, which is going from the laughing stock of MLB, to a power house team for years to come. That being said, I typically go to 1-5 games per season every year, which will be much harder to accomplish when games are sellouts. This is the first time in 20 years where I've felt the potential is there if the front office really wants it, but some things must first happen to achieve this so let's break that down into 3 categories. 

 1) Pitching and Defense 

     a) Run Differential 

     b) Errors 

     c) Starting Pitching 

2) Coaching 

3) Free Agency Acquisitions 

1) Pitching and Defense 

First off is pitching and defense, which are the key ingredients to any championship caliber team. I know this year's Mariners mock the term "run differential" with their own social media coined phrase "fun differential" but if you cannot hold the opposition to fewer runs than yourself then you run the risk of losing most games. 

Run Differential: The Mariners got incredibly lucky this year as they won close games and got blown out in a lot of other games causing their "fun differential" to be incredibly negative, which is very rare for a team who won 90 games. Run differential is the key factor in looking at pitching and defense because simply put the fewer runs you give up the higher your differential can be. 

It's no surprise that almost all the playoff teams were in the top 10 in this stat over the season. In fact the top 4 teams in the league also led the league in run differential. The Mariners ranked 18th in the league at -51. That's 51 more runs given up than scored over the course of the season. The only somewhat good thing here is the Mariners were -11 at home and -40 away thus they are building a better team for their home park compared to past seasons. 

Errors are a big issue adding to the run differential, as the Mariners took a step backwards this season in errors led by 2 of their "gold glovers" in Kyle Seager (14 errors) and JP Crawford (12 errors). However, the team overall ranked 7th in the league at 0.49 errors/game compared to Atlanta and Houston around 0.45 respectively. 

Overall this led to Seattle being 14th in the league in 748 total runs with 60 being unearned. This made Seattle 17th in the league giving up 4.62 runs/game. 

Pitching is the largest factor here and the Mariners need to improve their starting rotation if they want a shot at competing in the playoffs. They ranked 19th in the league in average against at .247, 16th in ERA at 4.30, and 13th in WHIP at 1.28. Note that all these values are an improvement over past seasons and mostly have to do with poor starting pitching as their bullpen ranked 8th in the league at 3.88 ERA, 5th in WHIP at 1.22, and 3rd in saves at 51. 

2) Coaching

Second factor is better coaching. Developing the talent, improving the team, and making the right calls. This is an interesting topic as Scott Servais was a final candidate for AL manager of the year as he took a team who looked terrible on paper and led them to a 90 win season. 

However, Servais has a long history of making bad managerial decisions when it comes to starting lineups, defensive substitutions, sacrificing runners over, defensive alignments, and mismanagement of the starter pitchers and bullpen. These are all subjective things and if you look at Servais' history you'll see he has 3 winning seasons in 6 years, which is middle of the road. He certainly has captured the support of the players and most of the fans with his positive attitude and tv show quotes though.

Unfortunately, the team's bad run differential and extremely low hitting average are not 100% on the players as most of them are fairly inexperienced starters in the Majors. Servais needs to have good coaches around him developing players in pitching, defense, hitting, and helping him make the right calls at the right time. 

In terms of hitting, the team's batting average was ranked dead last at 30th at .226, having the 5th most strike outs in the league, and rank 28th in OBP at .303. I put this on the coaches as Servais and gang seem to have the emphasis on extra base hits over average. As a fan of small ball (getting on base and moving runners) it hurts to see such low averages and high strike outs. 

The home runs can be fun but good teams know how to get on base and move runners, which is 100% on the coaching staff to emphasize over swinging for the fences every at bat. 

The coaching changes going into 2022 look fairly minimal but hopefully the promotion of Negron to the majors will help. Servais could still use an experienced bench coach to help him with in-game decisions as his experience in this specific area is not good. Most writers place Servais in the bottom third of MLB manager rankings which is most likely why he didn't win AL manager of the year. 

3) Free Agency

The Mariners need to make a splash to replace a couple key positions and bolster their starting rotation Key Players Leaving. 

Players Who are Free Agents:

• Kyle Seager - starting 3B, heart of the team, aging, low average, high cap at $18.5M (should let go)
• Yusei Kikuchi - SP, flashes of a good season early on, injury prone, high cap at $16.5M (should let go)
• James Paxton - SP, missed entire season which is common, younger w/ cap at $8.5M (should let go)
• Joe Smith - RP, aging, horrible season, medium cap at $4M (should let go)
• Tyler Anderson - SP, young, great mid-season acquisition as a 4th starter, cap at $2.5M (should re-sign)
• Sean Doolittle - RP, aging, hasn't been good in 3 seasons, cap at $1.5M (should let go)
• Keynan Middleton - RP, young, had a horrible season, cap at $800k (should let go)
• Jose Marmolejos - utility, young, backup bench player, cap at $575k (should let go)
• Jimmy Yacabonis - RP, young, good season, cap at $570k (should re-sign)
• Hector Santiago - RP, aging, caught cheating twice, cap at $570k (should let go)
• Robert Dugger - SP/RP, young, terrible career stats, cap at $570k (should let go)
• Ryan Weber - RP, aging, hasn't been same since bicep surgery, cap at $570k (should let go)

If I'm Dipoto I'd be looking at bolstering the starting rotation and finding a big name to put in the infield. The outfield feels covered for years to come as the Mariners already have 4 quality starters and a couple more in the minors who will be coming up. 

Weak or Missing Positions: 

• C: Tom Murphy has horrible defense, Luis Torrens is mediocre, and Cal Raleigh can't hit yet. The Mariners could trade 1-2 of these guys and find an upgrade in FA. 
• Pedro Severino is an intriguing name here as he's young and coming off a good season on a terrible Orioles club. Luke Maile is also a serviceable replacement.

• 3B: Seager is most likely gone due to his age and cost but there's a few good names out there in FA. 
• Kris Bryant, Eduardo Escobar, Jonathan Villar, Hanser Alberto, and Matt Duffy. Bryant may be too costly, but Escobar and Duffy are young, affordable, and each are coming off solid seasons. Duffy is also capable of playing anywhere in the infield which helps. 

• SP: Kikuchi seems to be leaving for Japan and Paxton can't seem to pitch a full season. Anderson may sign elsewhere but hopefully gets retained. However, this will leave the M's down at least 2 SP's. This is great because Kikuchi and Seager could clear enough cap to afford a big arm in the rotation which the Mariners desperately need if they intend to make a playoff push. This position is their biggest need. 
• Noah Syndergaard, Clayton Kershaw, Marcus Stroman, Kevin Gausman, Carlos Rodon top the charts for the big name acquisition. Most of these guys will land $20M+/yr deals for 3-6 year contracts but they're all all-star caliber players who can help carry a team to the playoffs. 
• Other names for a second spot in the rotation are Alex Cobb, Danny Duffy, Drew Smyly, Michael Pineda, Zach Davies, Robbie Ray, Anthony DeSclafani, Kwang-hyun Kim, Alex Wood, Julio Teheran, John Gant

• RP: The Mariners had a top 5 bullpen last year but are about to lose quite a few arms. SP acquisitions could help them move some young starters who struggled into a bullpen role to help fill it but there's quite a few names out there. RP's seem to swing year to year so it's tough to gauge talent based on what the M's did last year. 
• There's about 40+ RP's available with WARs above 0.1 so Dipoto has plenty of options to fill out the pen. Some intriguing names out there include: Steve Cishek, Kenley Jansen, Ryan Tepera, Andrew Chafin, Kendall Graveman, Brad Hand, Alex Colome, Hunter Strickland

• Note the M's could make a move at 1B, 2B, or SS and move some players around. For instance, signing Marcus Semien and moving Toro to 3B or signing Anthony Rizzo and moving Ty France to 3B or DH.

Seattle Mariners and Robinson Cano

I'll be the first to admit I was skeptical of the major signing of an aging star from the Bronx in Seattle. After all the Mariners haven't made the playoffs in 12 years and have only had 2 winning seasons during that time span. Why is their rebuilding taking so long? As most Mariners fans here will tell you it's due to the fact that we are forever in a rebuilding mode with the current regime in charge. They like to take in young talent and develop them into decent players. Right before they hit their prime the Mariners will trade them off for more young talent or old "has beens."
This is not just emotion talking either. Let's take a look at some examples...

Alex Rodriguez started in Seattle and he looked promising. However, he also realized he was good and asked for more money. Instead of paying him they let him go. He had a prosperous, possibly questionable, career after that.

Carlos Guillen, while not as good as ARod was still an all star quality SS most years. He would have been a good fit in Seattle for years. Instead as they saw his stardom start to shine, they shipped him off.

Brian Fuentes, a solid all star quality closer. Somehow Seattle decided to give up his great pitching talents, along with a few other no name players, for a mediocre, possibly below average third baseman.

Shin-Soo Choo, was an above average outfielder. The Mariners seemed to jump through hoops to get him. Instead of giving him time to adjust to the MLB play style, they shipped him off to Cleveland where he had 3 seasons batting above .300 and two seasons of 20+ homers. The Mariners rarely have hitters that good in their lineup these days.

Rafael Soriano, who pretty much carried the Braves bullpen for a while. He showed a ton of promise early in his career in Seattle, but much like other young talents who get good, he was given away.

Omar Vizquel (is it me or do the M's find great Hispanic SS's?) He has been an above average and sometimes allstar caliber player ever since he left the Mariners. The kicker is that he's still healthy and playing. He wasn't even that expensive to keep around and he could have been a house hold name in Seattle.

Adam Jones and George Sherrill. The Mariners front office has been so bad they decided to give up 2 all stars for an aging injury riddled pitcher at the time. Why give up 2 all stars for one? That never made sense.

So why reminisce about bad trades when talking in a post about Cano? It just goes to show how short sighted and unintelligent the Mariners front office is when making good baseball decisions. Unless their goal is to continually farm players out to better teams for years (which it sure feels like).
Now let's get into "big" free agent acquisitions that the Mariners seem to do. They are notorious for signing that one "big name" player each off season to prove that they "want to win." However, they seem to go after washed up has beens or players who are aging. They also tend to sign huge long term deals to a player who then plays their most mediocre or worst baseball in their careers while in Seattle. Let's take a look at that list...

Kenji Johjima, while I admit he had a good season or 2, he was still rumored to suck at catcher and his hitting skills fell off after he signed a $24M contract with the Mariners.

Rich Aurilia signed a $3.4M contract with the Mariners. He played some of his worst baseball in Seattle and left immediately.

Pokey Reece, who is probably the most unheard of signing. This guy was paid over $1M to never play a single game as a Mariner. I thought that was wroth mentioning, even though it's not a big contract. I'll gladly take $1M for free to do nothing for a year...

Brad Wilkerson was paid $3M to bat around .230 on average. What a great investment he was.

Carlos Silva was a terrible pitcher but the Mariners needed a pitcher and he appeared to be all they could attract at the time. So they way overpaid by signing him for $48M and all he did was continue to disappoint by losing games and giving up homerun after homerun.

Carl Everett, the big supposed slugger who was going to help boost the lineup with power. He was paid $4M to bat around .227 and didn't even last an entire season in Seattle.

Scott Spiezio was supposed to be a defensive minded player who could give you versatility in the lineup and get on base at least a third of the time. Well that didn't happen in Seattle. He had less than 2 horrible seasons. Of course as soon as he left Seattle he started doing well again.

Miguel Batista was already an average pitcher before the Mariners got him. They still thought he'd be a solid pitcher in the rotation and paid a whopping $25M for his average talents. He rewarded the Mariners (in what should be a pitcher friendly ballpark) by giving up an ERA of over 6!

Richie Sexson, who I think is by far the worst free agent pickup of all time, was supposed to add power to the middle of what was a pretty crappy lineup. He had one good year in his career and Seattle immediately signed him for $50M to reward his one good year. He then proceeded to show Seattle his skills by playing poor defense at 1B and struck out at the plate more than he should have.

Adrian Beltre was a compliment signing to Sexson. With 2 big bats in the lineup they thought they would be a force to reckon with. Unlike Sexson Beltre at least brought defensive skills with him. However, in a non-hitter friendly park he didn't do much for his career average. After leaving the Mariners he quickly got back into his allstar self in just about every category.

Chone Figgins (pronounced sean but everyone says it like it's spelled lol). He signed with the M's for $36M. Nobody questioned this signing (much like they aren't questioning the Cano one). For years he was a solid player. He could bat well, play great defense, and was incredibly fast. Then he comes to Seattle where he has career lows in just about every stat line possible. It's still incredible how fast he dropped off in skills or possibly the leadership and coaching in Seattle is that bad.


So now that we've gone over lists for bad trades and bad free agent acquisitions, the proof of the Mariners organization's inability to form a good solid baseball team is quite evident over the last decade. If the Japanese owners were smart they would clean house and start fresh, not just with players, but with the front office as well. They'll have a better chance using the Billy Beane strategy of statistical analysis and picking up average defensive minded players and solid pitchers. The one bright spot in the Mariners current future is Felix Hernandez, but like all amazing pitchers, his arm will not last forever. Especially with the velocity he throws at and the amount of innings he's forced to pitch due to a sloppy bullpen and no run support.

In closing, based on history it's easy to predict that signing a player over 30 who is past his prime to a huge long term deal will not end well for the Mariners. Even at his career averages Cano is not worth the money Seattle paid for him when they could have easily signed several other players for the price of one. My bold prediction is that Cano will walk the same path Beltre and Figgins walked when they came to Seattle. He will see career lows in his stats and his mediocre defense will draw criticism.