After dropping nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on Robinson Cano last winter, it looks like the Seattle Mariners are poised to throw some more cash around in free agency this offseason. According to Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Seattle has their eyes on both Victor Martinez and Hanley Ramirez:
Sources: #Mariners interested in Hanley. Some, however, doubt team will make another $100M+ signing. One source says VMart is M's priority.
— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) November 10, 2014
Seeing the M’s targeting offense is no surprise after they finished dead last in the American League with a .299 wOBA and 12th in the AL with a 93 wRC+. Even with Cano in the fold, their lineup still has a hard time scoring runs. As such, adding either of these players would certainly make sense. The Martinez addition probably makes a lot more sense as he can simply slot in at DH whereas the Mariners would either have to displace Brad Miller at shortstop and cope with Ramirez’s poor defense or move Hanley to the corner outfield, where he has never played before, which seems like a big problem in the spacious Safeco outfield.
While it is a bit disturbing that the Mariners continue their recent trend of ignoring defense (i.e. signing Corey Hart, trading for Logan Morrison and Mike Morse), it seems Seattle is gearing up try and challenge for the AL West crown. With as competitive as the division has been in recent years, the M’s look like they might have a window to make a big move. The Rangers are down-and-out, the Astros aren’t nearly ready and nobody really knows what to make of the A’s at this point. All that stands in their way is an Angels team coming off a 98-win campaign, but who is also likely to take at least a small step back. Having just won 87 games themselves, adding another big bat to their lineup could really help the Mariners close the gap on the Halos.
Eleven wins seems like a substantial margin, but the Mariners actually have a lot going for them already before they even sign a single player. They’re already strong rotation will get a boost by having James Paxton (who pitched just 13 games due to injury) and super prospect Taijuan Walker in the rotation for a full season. They’ll also get a full season out of Austin Jackson patrolling center field, though hopefully with better results at the plate. Those factors alone should give the Mariners a shot in the arm going into 2015.
What Seattle needs to really get over the hump is for ownership to commit to bankrolling the other improvements they need. Be that signing V-Mart or HanRam or consummating a long-rumored trade for Matt Kemp, the Mariners need to make sure ownership backs their play. There was too much weirdness after the Cano signing last winter with rumors that the team may be out of money or that ownership vetoed the signing of Nelson Cruz because of his history with PEDs. More shenanigans like that this winter would be a huge setback for the franchise and a big waste of a limited opportunity for Seattle to return to prominence in their own division.
If anything, Seattle should be moving with extreme urgency. The Rangers aren’t going to be down in the dumps for long and it seems to only be a matter of time before the Astros emerge from their rebuilding period. Billy Beane certainly isn’t one to just let his team wither on the vine either. Perhaps they should be thinking less about Martinez or Ramirez and think Martinez AND Ramirez.
