If the Seattle Mariners’ bright new future looks a whole lot like the Angels’ old one, that’s because it is. Jerry Dipoto is now the man behind the curtain in the Emerald City, and this time it’s clear that he is set on compiling his idea of a winning team and will not be beholden to the whims of owners or managers. He brought in his guys to run the dugout—Scott Servais, manager; Tim Bogar, bench coach—and he wasted no time disassembling the roster that Jack Zduriencik taped together with a bunch of immoveable corner guys.
Between taking over on September 28 and Christmas Day, Dipoto signed five MLB free agents, claimed four players on waivers, and completed nine trades involving a total of 31 players. In all, he added 20 new players to the 40-man roster in fewer than 90 days. Dude was on a mission.
The discomfiting thing about their very busy offseason, at least for Mariners fans, is that it’s still unclear what, if anything, all those moves accomplished. Dipoto has seemingly never met a trade proposal he didn’t want to make work, which is both a blessing and a curse. Sometimes these things evolve into deals that objectively improve the team (see: Adam Lind), but other times they involve a whole lot contorting for at best a marginal improvement (see: Wade Miley, Nate Karns). The Mariners could be a good team in 2016, but they could also end up with fewer than 80 wins for the seventh time in the last decade. Putting a bunch of new names and numbers on the backs of jerseys doesn’t make that kind of season any more fun.
Key Departures
Brad Miller (SS), Logan Morrison (1B), Roenis Elias (SP), Danny Farquhar (RP), Carson Smith (RP), Tom Wilhelmsen (RP), Fernando Rodney (RP), Mark Trumbo (DH), James Jones (OF)
Key Additions
Wade Miley (SP), Joaquin Benoit (RP), Adam Lind (1B), Nori Aoki (LF), Leonys Martin (CF), Chris Iannetta (C), Steve Clevenger (C), Nate Karns (SP), Steve Cishek (CL), Dae-Ho Lee (1B/DH)
Projected Lineup
Despite all of Dipoto’s tinkering, the Mariners still have one of the most LHH-heavy lineups in baseball. That’s not necessarily a bad thing for Seattle, but it could prompt teams to try lining up their lefty starters any time the M’s come into town. The Angels, for instance, might want to stack Andrew Heaney, Hector Santiago, and Tyler Skaggs against them whenever they can so they can face Seattle’s “lesser” lineup.
The M’s were average or better on offense everywhere but at catcher and first base last season. Chris Iannetta/Steve Clevenger and Adam Lind/Dae-Ho Lee will work pseudo-platoons at those respective positions this year, so their odds of improving there seem to be good. Ketel Marte, Leonys Martin, and Nori Aoki should be at worst lateral moves at short, center, and left, respectively, and everyone else remains unchanged (and is healthy), which bodes well for a much-improved offense in 2016.
However, it is important to remember this is the Mariners we’re talking about here, so the odds of the first-base platoon working for Jerry Dipoto in his first year after a decade of failed attempts by Jack Zduriencik are slim. There also isn’t much depth around the diamond, so any nagging injuries (like the one Cano battled in the first half last season) in the heart of the order could be cataclysmic to their run production.
Projected Rotation
Thanks to the Dodgers acting totally out of character and spurning a pitcher based on balky medicals, the Mariners got to bring Hisashi Iwakuma back and preserve their strong 1/2 rotation punch for at least a fifth season. The M’s didn’t have much going for them beyond Felix and Iwakuma in 2015, so they went out in search of reinforcements this winter and brought back Wade Miley and Nate Karms. Both project to be the sort of high-floor starters that Dipoto adored throughout his time in Anaheim, which I’m not really sure helps Seattle all that much—the difference between Miley/Karns and Elias/Happ seems pretty negligible.
The great hope for the M’s rotation, then, is that Taijuan Walker can take the big step forward the club has been praying for since 2013. Finally fully healthy and still just 23, Walker could provide a huge boost to the club if he can somehow turn his brief flashes of greatness into more normal occurrences.
Projected Bullpen
Seattle’s bullpen is completely revamped for 2016. With the exception of Charlie Furbush, all the relievers who pitched so well in 2014, and then so incredibly poorly for much of last season, are gone. Even some of the young ones with serious promise, like Carson Smith, were shipped off this winter in favor of cheap-ish veteran arms. Tony Zych, Mike Montgomery, and Vidal Nuno are the only guys in the ‘pen under 30, and the latter two will probably be bumped down to the minors once Evan Scribner (30) and Ryan Cook (29) return from injury.
Why anyone thought Steve Cishek deserved a multi-year, eight-figure deal this winter is a mystery, but he got one is now slotted into the closer role for Opening Day. I guess the thought there was that he can’t be worse than Fernando Rodney? Who knows. What I do know is that both Cishek’s velocity and his peripherals plummeted to career-worst levels last season, so before too long Joaquin Benoit might finally get that full-time closer job he’s deserved for years.
I won’t pretend to know what any bullpen might accomplish (or not) over the course of a season, but the odds of this one stumbling into a few unheralded breakout performances seem exceptionally low, Zych notwithstanding.
Conclusion
The Mariners might be better this season but, like the Angels, they could easily churn out more of the same mediocrity they put forward last year. It’s almost as though they’re pieced together and run by the same people…
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Player Previews: Yunel Escobar; Kole Calhoun; Mike Trout; Albert Pujols; C.J. Cron; Daniel Nava; Carlos Pérez; Johnny Giavotella; Geovany Soto; Andrelton Simmons; Cliff Pennington; Jered Weaver; Andrew Heaney; Garrett Richards; Hector Santiago; Matt Shoemaker; Huston Street; Nick Tropeano; Joe Smith; Mike Morin; José Álvarez; Fernando Salas; Craig Gentry; Cory Rasmus; Roster Depth
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