Last offseason, the Seattle Mariners were looking to upgrade what was an anemic offense in 2012. They moved the fences in at Safeco Field, added a bunch of 1B/DH-type sluggers, and proceeded to finish in 4th place with a terrible offense for the fourth straight year. At least the addition of the Houston Astros to the AL West meant 4th place was not last place. The Mariners are trying that formula again this year, hoping they can spend their way out of the cellar (and in GM Jack Zduriencik’s case, a little job security).
Depth Chart (as of 2/18/14)
C: Mike Zunino
1B: Justin Smoak
2B: Robinson Cano
SS: Brad Miller
3B: Kyle Seager
LF: Logan Morrison / Corey Hart
CF: Dustin Ackley
RF: Michael Saunders
DH: Corey Hart / Logan Morrison
SP; Felix Hernandez
SP: Hisashi Iwakuma
SP: Erasmo Ramirez
SP: Taijuan Walker
SP: James Paxton
CL; Fernando Rodney
New Faces
After being rejected by Josh Hamilton and Justin Upton last offseason, the Mariners were determined to not miss out on a big fish this winter. While just about everyone seemed to think it was a forgone conclusion Robinson Cano would re-sign with the Yankees, Seattle swooped in and signed him in a move that was hard to believe right up until the second Cano put pen to paper. The 10-year, $240 million deal is the fourth-largest in baseball history and instantly puts pressure on the M’s to win now. They didn’t stop there, signing Corey Hart to an incentive-laden deal and trading for Logan Morrison. Add those two to Justin Smoak and Jesus Montero, and you have a bunch of those 1B/DH types that Jack Z. is so fond of. While the starting rotation could have used some depth, the Mariners elected instead to shore up the back end of the bullpen, signing Fernando Rodney to close. Seattle may be hoping that rotation depth comes in the form of Scott Baker, who was signed to a minor-league deal with an invite to spring training.
Departures
Kendrys Morales is gone after being Kyle Lohse-d by Seattle — they gave him a qualifying offer, but he declined and is still sitting in the free agent pool waiting for a team to forfeit a first-round pick to sign him. The ageless wonder Raul Ibanez is also gone, signing with the division rival Angels on a one-year deal. Morales and Ibanez hit 52 of Seattle’s 188 home runs last season, which might explain Jack Z.’s obsession with obtaining positionless power this winter. Reliever Carter Capps was sent to Miami in the LoMo deal.
Impact Rookies
One of the things the Cano signing signaled was a transition from letting young guys play to depending on veterans. With that said there are still a couple rookies that could be depended on in 2014. Taijuan Walker and James Paxton spent much of the offseason being mentioned in David Price trade rumors, but they’re still in the Seattle organization and are both major-league ready. There will likely be some growing pains with both, but considering they’ll likely be making up 40% of the starting rotation, the Mariners will need them to live up to their reputation as Top 100 prospects if they’re going to make a serious push in the West.
Position Battles
It’s not so much of a battle as much as it’s “figuring out where all these first basemen are going to go.” Justin Smoak returns as the resident first baseman. Jesus Montero is pretty squarely in DH territory. Corey Hart and Logan Morrison have experience in the outfield, but also have a history of knee injuries that make them risky plays there. Hart hasn’t even played in a major league game since 2012 because he tore up *both* knees last year. Despite that, the plan seems to be to play Hart in the field more than Morrison. There’s only so many plate appearances to go around, but with everyone’s injury histories, maybe these decisions end up being made for Lloyd McClendon. Speaking of…
Injury Concerns
Hart’s problems have been well-addressed. Morrison hasn’t had anything close to a full season since 2011. This was before pitchers showed up to camp and started getting hurt. Hisashi Iwakuma strained a tendon in the middle finger of his pitching hand and won’t be able to throw at all for 4-6 weeks. Walker experienced shoulder soreness early on, which is the kind of thing that happens a lot in the first few weeks of spring, but can also be the kind of thing that points toward more problems in the future. Walker is a young pitcher and young pitchers often break, so it’s at least something worth monitoring.
Best Case
Everyone mentioned in the previous paragraph stays healthy, leading to a much-improved lineup that actually provides some run support for Felix Hernandez and the rest of the rotation. If everything breaks the right way and Cano plays like Cano, Seattle could work their way into playoff contention.
Worst Case
Well, a repeat of last season, pretty much, with the added bonus of Cano’s signing being compared to Hamilton and Pujols if he doesn’t play well in year one. If there’s good news, it’s that the Astros are probably still a year away from realistically pushing the Mariners for 4th place. By the way, their schedule starts at Los Angeles, at Oakland, vs Los Angeles, vs Oakland, at Texas. You know that old saying, “You can’t win the division in April, but…?”
Realistic Scenario
It’s easy to question what the Mariners did this offseason because there seems to be a total lack of long-term planning, but at the same time, the moves they did make should mean a reasonably improved club for 2014. A push for .500 doesn’t seem out of the question if they can avoid significant injuries. While the higher-ups in Seattle seem to be expecting more than that this season, the Mariners haven’t been above .500 since 2009, so it’d be hard to call that kind of season disappointing.
