Well, another baseball off season is well under way. And even though the Mariners had another disappointing season I always look forward to every off season because I see it as another opportunity to right the ship.
So with that being said, here is what I would like the Mariners do to help shore up their team. I am going to refrain from the obvious, “He won’t come here” or “The Mariners aren’t going to pay that” stuff. I get it and I realize those are factors that work against the Mariners but sometimes that can end up working out in your favor as well as we saw last year with Justin Upton and Josh Hamilton. I also realize that the Mariners are going to have to overpay in certain situations to get some players to come to Seattle and some of my dollar figures may reflect this.
Before I begin I would like to say, no way do I pay Jacoby Ellsbury anything near 100 million let alone 150 million. Same with Shin-Soo Choo. I would however go for around 5 years for 75 million on either one but that’s not going to get it done, so I would pass on both.
Here are what I think the main Mariner needs are this off season.
At least 2 new outfielders, preferably 3.
A #3 starting pitcher.
A platoon catcher to go with Mike Zunino.
A veteran for the bullpen.
Maybe a utility infielder
I realize you can’t fix everything in one offseason but here is what I would like the Mariners to do.
Sign Kendrys Morales to a 2 year 24 million contract with a third year option.
Sign Curtis Granderson to a 4 year 55 million contract.
Sign Chris Young to a 2 year 12 million contract.
Sign Bruce Chen to a 2 year 10 million contract.
Sign Phil Hughes to a 1 year 4 million contract.
Sign Oliver Perez to a 2 year 4 million contract.
Sign Jhonny Peralta to a 3 year 21 million contract.
Sign Kevin Gregg to a 1 year 4 million contract
Trade Paxton, Ramirez, Wilhelmson or (franklin or Ackley) for Mark Trumbo. This may have to be the starting point for a trade for Trumbo.
I realize that is a lot of free agent signings for one off season. But I would rather the Mariners spend money instead of giving up top prospects to help the team. They currently sit at about 33 million committed to contracts for next year and with the added TV revenue going up for each team this year and the added regional TV money kicking in after next year, now is the time to spend money. The Mariners have it. Let’s spend some.
Some of the signings may be contingent on other things happening. For example, including Franklin or Ackley in the Trumbo deal if the Angels trade Howie Kendrick. In this situation I would sign Peralta and play him at short stop and move Miller to second.
Another scenario could be if the Padres trade Chase Headley and if the price is right I would trade for him as well. Then I would move Seager to second and put Headley at third.
I think the Mariners didn’t adjust to the market very well last year. For example, they signed Jason Bay to a 1 year 1 million contract. Ok, not a bad flyer. Then they signed Raul Ibanez. Ok, not a bad right handed and left handed tandem. But when the Kendrys Morales trade fell to them, they should have let Bay go. Then Mike Morse fell to them as well when the Nationals resigned Adam La Roach. Which really meant that Ibanez probably should have been let go or they shouldn’t have traded for Morse in the first place. Because of this the Mariners ended up with a bunch of DH type hitters and destroyed any hope of having a flexible roster.
Trades and signings are fluid in baseball. Things change by the day and let’s hope the Mariners do a better job of adjusting their priorities when these times arise.
Here is a look at the Mariner lineup I would like to see for the 2014 season. Ambitious as it may seem.
Pos.
|
Player
|
Salary
|
Pos.
|
Player
|
Salary
| |
C
|
M. Zunino
|
$ 500,000.00
|
SP
|
F. Hernandez
|
$ 23,000,000.00
| |
1B
|
Smoak
|
$ 2,800,000.00
|
SP
|
H. Iwakuma
|
$ 6,500,000.00
| |
2B
|
B. Miller
|
$ 500,000.00
|
SP
|
B. Chen
|
$ 5,000,000.00
| |
SS
|
J. Peralta
|
$ 7,000,000.00
|
SP
|
P. Hughes
|
$ 4,000,000.00
| |
3B
|
Seager
|
$ 600,000.00
|
SP
|
T. Walker
|
$ 500,000.00
| |
LF
|
Granderson
|
$ 13,750,000.00
| ||||
CF
|
C. Young
|
$ 6,000,000.00
|
CL
|
K. Gregg
|
$ 4,000,000.00
| |
RF
|
M. Trumbo
|
$ 600,000.00
|
RH
|
D. Farquhar
|
$ 500,000.00
| |
DH
|
Morales
|
$ 12,000,000.00
|
RH
|
C. Capps
|
$ 500,000.00
| |
RH
|
S. Pryor
|
$ 500,000.00
| ||||
C
|
J. Sucre
|
$ 500,000.00
|
LH
|
C. Furbush
|
$ 600,000.00
| |
OF
|
A. Almonte
|
$ 500,000.00
|
LH
|
O. Perez
|
$ 2,000,000.00
| |
UTL
|
C. Triunfel
|
$ 500,000.00
| ||||
OF
|
M. Saunders
|
$ 2,000,000.00
| ||||
UTL
|
Ackley/Frankiln
|
$ 600,000.00
| ||||
Total
|
$ 94,950,000.00
| |||||
RH
|
LH
| |||||
2B
|
Miller
|
Miller
|
2B
| |||
LF
|
Granderson
|
Young
|
CF
| |||
3B
|
Seager
|
Peralta
|
SS
| |||
1B
|
Trumbo
|
Trumbo
|
RF
| |||
DH
|
Morales
|
Morales
|
DH
| |||
SS
|
Peralta
|
Seager
|
3B
| |||
RF
|
Saunders
|
Granderson
|
LF
| |||
C
|
Zunino
|
Smoak
|
1B
| |||
CF
|
Ackley/Almonte
|
Zunino
|
C
|
Some other potential targets of the Mariners could be the following:
Position Players: Pitchers:
Rajai Davis Jason Vargas
Cory Hart Ryan Volgosong
Mark Reynolds Danny Haren
Willie Bloomquist Barry Zito
Wilson Betemit Jason Hammel
Paul Maholm
Chris Capuano
Jake Westbrook
Scott Kazmir
