It was four years ago today that Jerry Dipoto has hired as the Mariners’ general manager, and Dipoto has since become known for his trade-heavy style in his attempts to first build, and (in the last year) rebuild Seattle’s roster. If 2019 was marked by Dipoto’s desire to “re-imagine” his team, 2020 promises more stability, as Dipoto told MLB.com’s Greg Johns and other reporters that he expects a more “moderate” offseason in terms of trades and signings.
“This will be a little different offseason than you’ve seen from us, particularly last year’s,” Dipoto said. “But even years prior, 2016-18, we were so much about making peripheral moves to augment what we thought was a contending core. This is a different scenario. We’re growing a young core and we have to give them an opportunity to play.”
To that end, Dipoto felt it would be “very unlikely” that the team acquires any significant veterans this winter, as the Mariners intend to give plenty of playing time to their younger talents. J.P. Crawford, Shed Long, Kyle Lewis, and Dan Vogelbach are some of the new faces who began to emerge in 2019, and all project to be more or less everyday players next season. While Dipoto did say the M’s were “likely not to be very engaged in the trade market in more than a peripheral way,” that was in regards to the addition of new players, and he didn’t address the possibility of further trades of veterans (i.e. Domingo Santana or Dee Gordon) to create even more roster room.
In terms of what veterans could be added, both the pitching rotation and bullpen could get some lower-level veteran depth. More player additions in general could come via minor league signings and the Rule 5 Draft.
The Mariners’ roster already looks vastly different than it did just a year ago. Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, Jean Segura, James Paxton, Alex Colome, Mike Leake, and Juan Nicasio are just some of the bigger names who have departed the team in a variety of trades, resulting in a lot of additional minor league depth and a much lesser payroll (the M’s have just under $80MM on the books for 2020). Dipoto has hinted at 2021 as a soft deadline for the Mariners to begin turning back towards contention, though much will hinge on how their younger players develop next season.
Dealin’ Dipoto!!!!!
Seriously, how does this guy keep getting work?
Well I have to say he did a pretty great job of clearing the books (ESPECIALLY the Cano deal). Mariners are going to be able to rebuild more quickly than other teams.
Well said @of9376
I have a very hard time imagining him still around by the “soft deadline.”
Based on….?
Sorry your gf/wife complaining of the soft dealine
I’ve never understood why people have a negative opinion of him. The Angels weren’t well run while he was GM, but the most egregious errors were pretty clearly calls made by the owners. Since he took over the M’s, he’s done a pretty good job. He’s made a ton of trades, and not all of them worked out, but the pros far outweigh the cons, in my opinion at least.
I’m honestly wondering why you think he’s a bad GM. Any basis to this opinion, or just your impression?
Man, this is just wrong. There’s a long list of horrible moves he had with the Angels, so I’ll just list a couple – in the hole in LF, he consistently platooned old guys with nothing left in the tank, in 2B, he let Kendrick walk and signed Josh Rutledge and Johnny Giavatella to fill the gap. He couldn’t get any good playing in the pen until Arte told him to get Huston Street. And he took a 20-ish place farm system to last in the majors on bad trades to try to cover for his mistakes in FA.
Kirby, too funny!
You are misplacing blame.
The Angels ownership were widely reported to be behind the worst deals made during Dipoto’s tenure in Anaheim. Mike Scoiscia was also a major player in roster decisions, including the calls over playing time you listed.
The last few years, Dipoto had been running the show in Seattle. If you want to judge his decision making, that record is a far better indicator. And he’s done a very good job in Seattle.
He did not let Kendrick walk. He got Andrew Heaney in return. Not bad
He turned the Mariners farm from consensus dead last in the league to top 10 and created a level of quality young depth we haven’t seen here in 25 years. What he accomplished in one year in shedding payroll and adding impact young talent is remarkable. THAT is why he has the job.
He pilfered the Mets while shedding a ton of payroll. He’s rebuilt the farm system from a bottom 5 system to a legit top 10 system. He’s done a decent job I’d say.
Ignorant statement
Which one?
If Shed Long, Dylan Moore, and J. P. Crawford are part of this team’s core, they’re going to lose 90+ games every year for the next ten years.
DiPoto is a great example of someone who has been successful in getting the Mariners’ management to believe that activity equals achievement.
The core, according to his plan is: Gilbert, Rodriguez, Kelenic, Marte.
Exactly. Someone who actually knows what’s happening. Just wait. The Mariners have assembled some of the best young talent in the game.
Shed Long and JP Crawford are both good young players. They aren’t likely to be stars, but they both put up solid numbers in limited time, and project as solid regulars. Dylan Moore is a bench player. Nobody except you mentioned him as ‘part of the team’s core’. As a side note, none of those players cost the M’s much.
The teams real ‘core’ would include far more than Long, Moore, and Crawford. Mitch Haniger, Marco Gonzales, Tom Murphy, Omar Narvaez, Justus Sheffield, Jarred Kelenic, Julio Rodriguez, Logan Gilbert, Kyle Lewis, Justin Dunn, Evan White, Jake Fraley, George Kirby, Noelvi Marte, etc. That group, plus Long and Crawford, will be the core. Thats not a bad group of players.
If anything, I think Dipoto did a great job accumulating talent in just one year.
Thank you! Nice to see someone comment from a perspective of knowledge. Go M’s.
@jerrytek
I actually like what Dipoto has done to this point and I don’t understand all the hate for him.
BUT, let’s be realistic. Crawford is a replacement level player, not a “solid regular”. He’s never hit enough to justify his existence and he’s a negative defensively at SS. Long looks like he may have a live bat that is above average for a 2B, but he is awful defensively, like Andujar/Devers level bad
If Long and Crawford don’t work out, there are plenty of others to choose from. I don’t think anyone on the Mariners thought or implied they’d be top starters.
mpguy, you are obviously a troll, so we’ll just pretend you didn’t post anything….
If 2021 is the target, I wonder if he’ll take on some 1 year contracts with attached prospects from contending teams to reduce their payroll I.e Ellsbury
No, fans need to stop sending Ellsbury to Seattle. It’s not happening.
So the 24TheKid is really Dipoto. Good to know.
Who would want Ellsbury? Heck, I could do what Ellsbury does and I’d do it for minimum wage.
Sure. I’d take Ellsbury if the Yankees included Jasson Dominquez and Deivi Cruz.
Lol I’d rather keep Ellsbury at this point. Really excited to see what Dominguez can do
If the Yankees win it all the insurance man should get a ring for covering Ellsburys contract…..
I actually like that idea. Tell Detroit you will take Miggy if the thrown in Boyd and Mize and take Chris Davis from Baltimore if they give the catcher they just took #1 overall too. Will Myers if SD throws in their best prospect. Then just release any players that can’t perform at all. It would be an expensive yet bad season but it would drastically speed up a serious rebuild. It wouldn’t be unprecedented. The Braves successfully did it by taking guys like Bronson Arroyo, Adrian Gonzalez and Scott Kazmir. The guys I mentioned should bring better prospects because the contracts are bigger. Then just renegotiate the contracts to pay out sooner a and get it all done with in one year. Maybe he gets Addler from the Angels for picking up Pujols too.
While I agree that taking on dead money that has 1 year or so left along with prospects can be a good move for a rebuilding team, I don’t think that the entire Tigers farm system is worth taking on the 122 million due miggy over the next 4 years
I absolutely do. Have you seen the Tigers farm?
Alas Miggy has a no trade and there’s no chance he wants to go to Seattle.
I see what you are both saying. The no trade clause is a big problem but if I were an aging major league player I would still rather play for Seattle than Detroit. Seattle is not good right now but they will be sooner than Detroit. The Tigers are locked down with terrible contracts and they are already the worst team that baseball has seen in years.
What I meant about Seattle acquiring him is that they should do what the Dodgers did when they acquired Hector Olivera. Olivera has years left on his contract so LA just flat out released him and paid him in full upon acquisition. I’m not 100% sure but I know at the time it seemed like his release meant he wouldn’t effect the. Dodgers salary cap beyond that year. If the Mariners do that with Miggy, Davis or Myers the years afterwords wouldn’t matter. It becomes a 1 year deal. If they can’t do that then just restructure the contract to make it incredibly front loaded. Players shouldn’t have a problem with getting paid more sooner especially if they make at least the same amount overall. Like I said, it would be an absurdly expensive season for a losing team but it would payoff dramatically by the next year. If Miggy won’t accept the trade (and I don’t know why he would rather stay with the worst team in baseball when he doesn’t have to) then just go for Davis or Myers or whoever else you can get and try the same plan. Maybe Cueto/Smardzia/Posey/Cano? Of course there is Pujols as well. Restructure the contract so it hurts the team the most in the first year and only by the league minimum every following year. If that isn’t possible just release them. I know for a fact I have heard of players getting paid tons of cash right away on the day of their release. Oliver’s got it from the Dodgers and Russ Ortiz got it from the Diamondbacks. The one thing I am not sure about is if that $ effected their luxury tax line beyond that season. I don’t see why it would. The players were already paid in full and no longer on the roster. If it does effect it just restructure the contract so they get paid almost all of it during the year Seattle is least likely to contend anyway. Can you imagine next year with Seattle having almost no money owed on the books and both of the last 2 #1 overall draft picks added to their farm system? On top of that they would still get a very high draft pick for the next year or 2 in a row. It would be a very expensive way of immediately giving Seattle not only the beat farm system in baseball but possibly the best farm system in history. And all that expensive money would only hurt a season that was lost anyhow.
As bad as Miggy was this year, he’s still the best offensive player the Tigers have.
Seager and Smith should be gone too.
In only 105 games this year Kyle Seager has posted 2.8 fWAR, valued at $22.7 million, while earning a salary of $19.5 million.
Seager is owed $19.5 million in 2020 and the Mariners don’t have an obvious replacement at third base,.
Not with his poison pill contract. Virtually immovable, though the M’s don’t seem to have a problem eating cash.
Sorry. I don’t see much value in the Mariner roster. Even Crawford and Long don’t do much for me.
On the ML roster, they have Crawford, Long, Mitch Haniger, Marco Gonzales, Omar Narvaez and Tom Murphy (the best C tandem in baseball last year), plus a lot of prospect talent. We’ve currently got 5-6 guys who are consensus top-100 players, most of whom will reach the big leagues in the next year or two.
You might want to look a little closer at the roster before making these types of judgments.
Crawford is a cheaper version of an old Dee Gordon… not impressed. Long seems like a cheaper version of Crawford. Narvaez is a great hitter, but should not go near the catching gear. Murphy ehh? Haniger came out of no where and had a great year… this year he went back to no where. Gonzalez had a good year… he might be worth watching.
As far as prospects… lots of bad teams have good prospects… and they’re still bad teams.
This season Tom Murphy, who has four more years of team control, has posted 3.2 fWAR, valued at $25.6 million, in only 76 games as Seattle’s backup catcher.
Murphy ranks fifth among all catchers in fWAR this year:
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=c&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2019-01-01&enddate=2019-12-31
fWAR is a terrible stat
This is just lazy.
“Crawford is a cheaper version of an old Dee Gordon… not impressed.”
Crawford and Gordon have almost nothing in common. Gordon’s game is based on making contact (usually weak) and speed. He’s a pretty good defender at 2B, and not great at SS. He’s a throwback player: slap hitting and baserunning. Crawford’s game is based on plate discipline and above average defense at SS. He’s got solid power, which will likely develop more as he gets older. Although it seems like he’s been around for a long time, he’s still only 24. He’s a league average starter right now, and can be expected to improve.
“Long seems like a cheaper version of Crawford.”
Again, you are making lazy comparisons between players who have nothing in common in terms of their games. Nothing at all.
The only thing that Dee Gordon, JP Crawford, and Shed Long have in common is race, which is an extremely lazy and problematic basis for comparison.
I realize that the Mariners play up in the corner of the country, and are overlooked by fans east of the Rockies. That’s unfortunate. But if you don’t know much about a subject, not making declarative comments about that subject is a viable option.
I agree
That was the worst evaluation of JP and Shed I’ve ever seen they’re practically opposites of Dee Gordon. JP isn’t a speedster with no power and never walks. He’s a slower but still decently fast plus defender at Short who’s best tool is his ability to walk and have some pop. Hit hit tool is his worst tool.
Shed is a poor defender with a good amount of pop due to great bat speed but the lack of defensive home is his wart as he doesn’t hit enough to play regularly at somewhere like first or even left field and be a star.
As for Haniger he had one bad year in a three years as a Mariner. The other 2 he was at a 4 fWAR/162 pace or better and the out of nowhere is a garbage point too. He was a first round pick who in his final season in the minors had a 185 wRC+ in AAA.
Damn… you had to play the race card?
“The only thing that Dee Gordon, JP Crawford, and Shed Long have in common is race, which is an extremely lazy and problematic basis for comparison.”
Race? Really? Let’s see… all three are left handed hitters with little power and good to decent speed. They play middle infield.
Crawford has .371 slugging %. That’s not power. 21% strike out rate. That’s not plate discipline.
Gordon has .359 slug %. 15% strike out rate.
Long has .454 slug %. 26% strike out rate.
Come on Jerry’s Kid… stop smoking the spermwhale blubber and face the facts… Dee, JP and Shed are pretty bad.
Love to see Dee Gordon on the Cubs.
Say Gordon for Happ and Russell
Melchez, you’re crazy.
He’s an opinionated goof. And the worst kind of opinionated, the ignorant kind.
And yet, the Mariners were remarkably better than the Royals, Tigers, and Orioles.
Of the dumpster fire AL teams, the Mariners are the only ones that have hope because they were able to lose their Titanic contract. Plus the Mariners have some slightly below average guys to fill their lineup while the others teams are filling the card with AAA level dudes.
Would love Seager on the Braves if they don’t resign Donaldson
“I’m going to make trades. Lots and lots of trades!”
The Mariners’ young players have plenty of potential. But until they show that they can cut it against major league pitching, that’s all it is. Kyle Lewis has had some nice moments, but the rest of those who have received some major league time this year have looked seriously overmatched. Their best prospects are at AA, so we’ll see how well they do against more experienced AAA players next year.
False statement.
Shed Long has certainly not looked overmatched. Justus Sheffield put together a string of pretty good starts at the end of the season…the M’s rebuild is looking good