I’ll admit, the title of this post is highly inaccurate. Baseball isn’t like football or basketball, where any one or two guys can make enough of a difference to matter. It’s a collaborative effort, split evenly between the nine players on the diamond through the nine innings of regulation, that yields success in the national pastime.
That being said, two players whose contracts officially expire at the conclusion of this year’s World Series could be exactly what the Seattle Mariners need to deliver on the promise they supposedly had coming into 2015. Yes, those two players are exactly who you think they are.
At first glance, it doesn’t seem like the Mariners need any more frontline pitchers. They have future Hall of Famer Felix Hernandez, young phenoms Taijuan Walker and James Paxton, as well as a bevy of fourth and fifth starters who are capable of pitching adequately. If the team REALLY wants to make some noise in a suddenly power-packed AL West division, then the objective should be clear: sign David Price, then give the league pitching-induced nightmares for five or six years.
Between 2013-15, Price pitched for three teams, all of whom made the postseason with him on the roster. In that time, he won 43 games (a .625 winning percentage), recorded 647 strikeouts in 655 1/3 innings, and pitched to a 3.01 ERA. His career ERA+ (a stat that normalizes league pitching and measures a starter’s value relative to the rest of the league) of 126 ranks him fourth among all active starters, just behind Clayton Kershaw, Adam Wainwright, and wouldn’t you know it, good old King Felix.
Price’s detractors will be quick to point out his postseason struggles, both this season and in playoffs past, and say he isn’t the kind of pitcher on whom you can rely in a tough spot. More rational fans will recognize this as pure tripe. Those October numbers suffer from short sample size syndrome, and Price’s regular season stats – you know, the numbers he puts up every year to get his teams to the postseason in the first place – are superior to all but a handful of guys. Besides, I think Mariners players, coaches, executives and fans would much rather watch Price blow up in the championship round than have their team miss it entirely once again. His “inability to win” in the postseason is a problem Seattle would surely love to have.
That isn’t enough to turn the team around, you say? The lineup needs an upgrade as well, you’re telling me? Good, because I’ve got more. The Mariners have made no bones about their desire to land Justin Upton, as they tried in vain to deal for him during his tenure with both the Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Braves. Now, as the younger Upton brother enters free agency for the first time, this could be the Mariners’ best (and last) chance to bring him to the PNW. His move back to the NL West, albeit to the San Diego Padres’ cavernous Petco Park, gave him some nice numbers in his walk year. He’s likely to command the biggest contract given to an outfielder not named Jason Heyward this offseason. If only there was a team with a clear desire to improve their hitting, and they had proved they weren’t afraid to spend money by making a splash in both of the last two offseasons…
Upton, who has averaged 27 homers over the last three years in pitcher-friendly parks, would bring some right-handed balance to a leftie-heavy lineup. Moreover, he would provide the Mariners with something no other AL West team has: three competent hitters in the top half of the lineup. A 3-4-5 tandem of Upton, Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz would be unmatched by any lineup in their division. The Angels have Mike Trout and Albert Pujols; the Rangers have Prince Fielder and Adrian Beltre; the Astros have Evan Gattis and Carlos Correa; the Athletics have…uhh…hmm…Billy Butler? Something called Mark Canha?
What are they all missing? A third home run threat. Upton, who would play the first season of his new deal at age 28, is still firmly in his prime. It’s possible we haven’t seen the full extent of his prowess. As Cruz himself proved this year, playing 81 games in Safeco Field isn’t automatically a death sentence for right-handed power hitters. Upton in Seattle could be highly beneficial to all parties involved.
Again, it’s foolish to say that Price and Upton alone are the solution to what ails this team. Everything seemed to be coming up Mariners prior to Opening Day, which just made the following six-month slog all the more brutal. Either way, the Seattle baseball club can only be massively improved by their presence. New GM Jerry Dipoto has a chance to make a statement in his first year at the helm, akin to how his first offseason in Anaheim brought Pujols and C.J. Wilson to town. Ignoring for a moment the current state of those deals, who would honestly say Dipoto can’t do it again?
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