The Mariners added a right-handed bat to their outfield mix Thursday, formally announcing their previously reported one-year signing of veteran AJ Pollock. The Excel Sports Management client will be guaranteed $7MM on the deal and can earn an additional $3MM via incentives.
The Twins and Rangers were also known to have interest in Pollock, whose entry into the offseason market was at least somewhat unexpected. Pollock batted a disappointing .245/.292/.389 over 527 plate appearances with the White Sox in 2022, yet he still opted to decline his $13MM player option for the 2023 season. That option contained a hefty $5MM buyout, so between that money and the $7MM salary Pollock is receiving on his new deal with Seattle, the 35-year-old’s opt-out decision left $1MM in guaranteed money on the table. With enough playing time to reach his contract’s incentives, however, he could match or even surpass that sum.
Pollock catches on with an intriguing Mariners team that reached the ALDS last season and is hopeful of taking more steps forward into World Series contention. Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto is no stranger to Pollock, as Dipoto was working in the Diamondbacks’ front office when Arizona drafted Pollock with the 17th overall pick of the 2009 draft.
With center fielder Julio Rodriguez established as the bedrock of the Seattle outfield, the M’s have spent a lot of their offseason business on reinforcing and sorting out the corner outfield positions. Mitch Haniger departed in free agency and Kyle Lewis and Jesse Winker were traded, while the Mariners acquired Teoscar Hernandez from the Blue Jays to act as the new everyday right fielder (and probable part-time DH). Signing Pollock puts another right-handed bat into left field, with Jarred Kelenic and Taylor Trammell adding left-handed depth as platoon partners for Pollock or as bench options.
Some level of platoon shielding might be necessary given how Pollock’s numbers against right-handed pitching drastically fell off in 2022. Always a solid bat against righty pitching in the past, Pollock hit only .231/.284/.309 over 394 plate appearances against righties last year. This was the root of Pollock’s offensive struggles, as he continued to mash lefties to the tune of a .286/.316/.619 slash line and 11 homers over 133 trips to the plate.
In terms of overall Statcast metrics, Pollock’s 2022 performance didn’t differ all that greatly from previous seasons, though his hard-contract rate took a notable drop from 2021. His speed and baserunning also took a hit, perhaps due to hamstring injuries in each of the last two seasons. The biggest issue was a lack of power, as after posting a .227 Isolated Power number from 2017-21, Pollock dropped to only .143 in 2022.
Playing at spacious T-Mobile Park might not help Pollock regain all of that power stroke, though there are some reasons the Mariners can be hopeful about a rebound. If Pollock is “only” a lefty-masher again, the M’s theoretically have enough left-handed outfield candidates to pick up the slack. Moving back from less than a full-time role might be helpful for Pollock, as his 138 games played last season represented the second-highest total of his 11 MLB seasons — it could be that staying relatively healthy last year actually hampered Pollock or wore him down to some extent. A normal offseason and Spring Training routine heading into 2023 would be just what the 35-year-old needs to produce a bounce-back year.
Just yesterday on MLBTR, Steve Adams wrote about the Mariners’ search for a right-handed hitting outfielder, and the broader sense that the M’s were having a strangely quiet offseason for a team that seemed poised to make some splashy final touches to a contender. Adding Pollock for $7MM won’t quell speculation that ownership isn’t stretching the budget as much as expected, and yet the signing can also be viewed as a relatively inexpensive but smart investment. Pollock was posting big numbers as recently as 2021, he has been a solid performer for most of his career, and he brings some more veteran experience and championship pedigree (Pollock was a big part of the Dodgers’ 2020 title team) to the young Mariners.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement and the base terms (Twitter link). USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported the additional incentives.
Nice signing. Could pay off big. So much for all our experts who said he would be looking at a minor league deal.
Don’t really get tte appeal for Seattle here.
I was a big fan when he was in Arizona but he’s been hurt and not very good lately.
Average last year. Every other season well above average or good. Injuries happen especially when in your 30s.
Below average year last year. And injured. The White Sox don’t have a solution in RF after he left, and I’m still thrilled he declined his option. He was a waste.
Pollock had a 300 AVG at some point with the Dodgers or Sox I don’t remember.
He did with the White Sox after the 1st week. That doesn’t really cut it tho.
It was in 2021, I think.
Dodgers, then. He was atrocious for the White Sox. I’m sure this is hyperbole, but I can’t remember a less clutch hitter on the Sox since Alex Rios
He’ll most likely just be a 4th outfielder and play against lefties. Gives Seattle some proven RH hitting depth.
RayKingsThickThighs 4th OF is right and I like the signing. They don’t need 500 ABs out of Pollock and for him getting out of the pit in Chicago will be nice.
Bingo
Spells Kelenic against L/H pitching and they are low on OF depth.
Cool. Thanks, all.
He had a .286/.316/.619/.935 slash and 11 HR in only 126 ABs against LHP last year, even with the injuries. That’s the appeal. Plus he’s a failsafe if Kelenic (or Trammel) can’t cut it. I personally think Kelenic will eventually be fine, but he’s been awful so far.
@rct Kelenic would be fine if he can get out of his own head. Which I don’t think he capable of doing.
Bsleeper, I agree with that.
I hope he can show us something better, but it looks doubtful.
Chicago. Where good careers go to die.
More like Chicago is where washed up players go to collect a check. Either works really.
He’ll almost certainly platoon with Kelenic since he mashed LHP when healthy last season. Kelenic’s average against RHP wasn’t good but he had a 10.7% BB rate and 5.5% HR rate against them, so I’m guessing they hope if he can focus solely on RHP that he’ll get those numbers up and it’ll create a legit platoon. TBD, of course.
Sorry Halos, but like Mark said yesterday in the chat, this sort of rounds out the Mariners team to begin 2023.
The Mariners are done now, and they can beat any team anytime just as they are.
(As most of you will remember, I have been saying that for a long time.)
Yes, and I think that includes the Astros.
Play ball!
Oops. It was Anthony, not Mark who said signing Pollock “rounds out” the Mariners team.
I actually really like overall who they added this year so far myself. They already had a great core of players. They did lack last year of good power hitters, which Hernandez and Pollock should be able to help with. I know a lot of Mariners fans are not that happy with what the team has done , but that doesn’t include me.
I like the signing. He’s been good against left handed pitching, would make a decent platoon with JK.
Pollock blows. No grit, not a leader.
you don’t need a platoon guy to be a leader. I like the veteran addition.
Then you got your guy! He rides to work in an ambulance!
You’re right. I prefer my platoon 4th outfielders to have at least a 220 grit, maybe a 400 if I want some really smooth defense.
Good one, rct.
Lol! I wonder if OP prefers his pitchers to have grit, too? Wouldn’t they scuff the baseball?
Everyone knows the Emory board is preferred for pitchers
Fair contract,good signing from a RS fan who hates his OF.
Pollock has no grit, not a leader.
Tell us a third time.
Does anybody know if Pollock has grit or is a leader?
You need to think about team chemistry. In a good environment a player can thrive. I think it’s more like the White Sox have no grit.
(Hence why he is taking LESS money to play elsewhere.!)
It is a very odd thing that a player would be willing to take the gamble he did. It seems like no one on that White Sox team plays up to their projected talent level.
Duhawk, it is an odd thing but really shouldn’t be. What’s the difference, really, in lifestyle between 12, 13, 14, 15 million dollars per year if you feel another team can be more enjoyable, more likely to win, better chemistry, etc.?
Pollock has a low threshold for pain and is less disposed to suffering, relatively speaking.
Even Abreu politely said enough is enough.
“all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”
Saw him last year with Sox. Plays OF like his shoes are nailed to the ground.
Can’t hit either. 7 m waste of $
I love that any commenter can say with any confidence what a professional athletes threshold for pain is. They have probably worked their bodies since teenagers to a level most of us couldn’t do for a day or two.
Julio Rodriguez will be the leader of this team
Lefty masher. Even with his disappointing 2022, Pollock hit left handers hard. Weak side LF / DH platoon.
Damn this is who I was hoping the Jays would have to platoon with our LHH OFs
The Blue Jays have LH position players???
Varsho and Kiermaier
Even Biggio from time to time
It’s an excellent signing for a star player coming off a down year – so opting out did nothing for his salary; he just plays of different teams now. He opted out of a 12 million player option to collect a 7 million buyout, and he is now at that exact level.. His OPS+ the last 2 years was 134 and 132. That is amazing! Good luck Ms.
I just read this was a 13 million option as the article was updated. Opps!
Star player is a stretch.
Not really? He’s only losing $1M, his previous contract had a $5M buyout. So in the end it’s only a net loss of $1M…
I meant 5 mil. The 8 mil was left on the table from the 13 (not 12, as I initially remembered). But yeah, it’s not much of a change. Opps was regarding my wrong info.
“Only” a loss of $1MM?
Yeah that does seem a bit of an absurd statement.
Yes.
For a veteran professional athlete, $1MM is not much. To put it in perspective of around median worker salaries, he’s turning down a ~$65k/y job in Chicago for an equivalent one that pays ~$60k in Seattle.
Or a $175k/yr job vs $160k.
People make the decision in favor of the marginally smaller job for various reasons all the time. Tax rates (hint: no income tax in WA), incentives, bonuses (hint: it came out later that he’s also offered $3m in incentives), etc. can easily make up the gap on the financial side. Getting a ‘change of scenery’ (whether he blames the White Sox or himself for it) is also a huge factor.
It’s funny the author changed his comment on the “bad decision” after reporting the 3 MM in incentives.
Lol I certainly wouldn’t refer to Pollock as a star but this fills a gigantic hole for SEA.
Last year it was 91. 132 in 2020 and 134 in 2021.
I consider 2022 to be the current season, with 2021 the last and 2020 the one before; thus, the down year comment.
91 overall Last year but Pollock had a ridiculous 161 wRC+ v LHP. He was also Top 10 in HR’s v LHP and had a .935 OPS with a whopping .619 Slg %. These are the most important stats the Mariners FO payed attention to.
Either he completely misplayed his market or he absolutely hated playing for Chicago.
Maybe both?
Or they hated paying a guy with a .245/.292/.389 slash line?
It was a player option.
With a big $5 MM buyout.
He only lost 1MM in total by doing this.
Not the best outcome but he got to pick where he played. Still comes out with 12MM for the year in total.
Great sign. Veterans presence. Closest thing Pollock is sniffing to a contender. Made money from the buy out from Chicago.
Win win in my book but no one’s reading it
Yeah. And per an update since originally posted, he also get $3m in performance bonuses.
Not even close to “misplaying his market”.
A million dollars is nothing for someone who has made as much as him. I’d rather live in Seattle and think they are far better contenders.
Even an idiot could see that the Sox were heading in a downward trajection, and Pollock is no idiot. Thanks for taking a team on the rise and totally demoralizing it, LaRussa.
It’s only an initial $1M net loss given his buyout cost. With the potential $3M in performance bonuses, he can end up +$2M, making it possible the opt out ends up being a wise decision.
He had a 5 million dollar buyout so with the 7 from seattle he only gives up 1 mil.
Did u read that somewhere ?
Literally says it in the article.
Yes, welcome to bigwhiffas joke.
Is there a state tax in Illinois? If so that is a big chunk of the million.
Some times the work atmosphere is worth taking less money to be happy. This is probably equivalent to taking a buck less in your job to be in a healthy atmosphere. Hopefully turns out to be a good signing. Does this help with the guys complaining they haven’t done enough? This is not one of the big four it is probable it could be in a level 3 player. If they get better numbers with the platoon and gain 5 games from him is a great signing.
Hopefully this platoon is good for Kelenic and gets his confidence up. It has been years since we have had a good player in LF. JK could be that if he can hit. Need more full time players and less platoons. That makes room for a better utility player.
Pollock didn’t have a bad second half. Still hit LHP very well, and plays an average LF and CF. Decent 4th outfield option.
Yeah I think it’s a great signing ! Give him the gig and let the youngsters try to dethrone him
I’m more on the side of “put them all in positions where they can succeed and lean toward whoever is the day’s/ week’s/ month’s hot hand”. In adding, they currently have 5 options to rotate in and out.
Just sticking with the more expensive vet is what “gave” us 21 years with no playoffs.
His statcast page is interesting but that’s only one part of the equation, of course. I can get behind this. Low-risk, potentially high reward.
Smart. Cheap. Solid move
Big upside pickup, I am down with it!
Only one word to day. Finally.
Only thing worse would have been if the M’s offered a deal to A.J. Burnett.
Maybe there’s a $1M buyout on an option and so he isn’t leaving anything in the table?
Also I remember from Cano’s deal that Seattle has a more favorable tax situation than NY so $24M AAV in Washington was more than $25M AAV after taxes in New York- maybe it’s the same with Illinois? He’s still gonna make as much or more cash after taxes?
Once he opted out that’s on him. Teams can care less if he gets his million.
Maybe “couldn’t care less” is what you were looking for there, Chief!
Nope. It was intentional. I want people like you to have a meaningful life. Your welcome.
I DEFINITELY believe you, GM!
Good point. There isn’t any state income tax in Washington so he’ll probably break even and since the sales tax is lower in Seattle vs Chicago he’ll probably save a little there as well.
I’d suspect the tax difference for someone at that income bracket will be even greater. This isn’t going from a “high” State income tax to “mid” or “low”. WA has no income tax at all.
Even being really, really conservative, I can’t imagine the tax savings on Cano’s $24m deal ($12m of which made in WA State) being less than $3m compared to whatever he’d get with a NY team. And he’d be playing a lot more games in other 0% tax States (vs the Astros and Rangers, notably). So $24M from the Mariners might be closer to ~$28m NY-equivalent
Also interesting to see Dipoto/Hollander sign a free agent after all the “trade, develop” talk. I wonder if they went after him, or his agent got hold of the M’s.
Having your agent call teams first isn’t good for negotiations.
Well, the lion’s share of PAs is likely going to Kelenic and the current DH PAs are likely going to either Evan White (or Ty France, as White’s the better first baseman), or Cooper Hummel.
They’ll likely add another bat and they still have a pitching logjam they might use to address that need.
I suppose Taylor Trammell is in the conversation as well if they stick with internal options.
But if Seattle heads into 2023 banking on breakouts from 2 or more players that have yet to establish themselves against MLB pitching….
I’ll be very surprised if Evan White even makes the roster after camp man.
I would be surprised as well.
I’m surprised he still has a 40 man slot at this point.
I would think he’s on the bubble if someone else is signed. He’s pretty expensive and unlikely to be claimed. Can’t imagine anyone wants him at 3/18 at this point. Add him back if he has a strong camp.
His salary doubles this year (roughly) to 3m and jumps to 7m next year.
I don’t know if he would pass through waivers, and I don’t know if Seattle would want to give up on him. But this is probably a make or break year for him.
More injuries or setbacks and he probably will be placed on waivers, if not traded before then.
If Evan White is healthy we need him to play the role of insurance at 1B should Ty France have an injury. New signing Colin Moran is 3B injury insurance.
How would you feel as a contributing player on the mighty Dodger, getting traded to the Sox? I’d be miffed too.
Now Going to the up and coming Mariners with JULIO and the gang-bamm!
The Sox team he got traded to won 93 games without him in 2021. An equally ‘up and coming’ squad at that time between LuBob, Cease etc with a HOF manager heading into year 2 of his reign. Chicago is usually a more HR friendly park than Seattle too and being a year older shouldn’t help Pollock any. Im sure he’ll enjoy the cooler summer weather though.
No, the Sox team he got traded to wasn’t the 93 win team they had been in 2021. That season was the carryover from the work Renteria did the four years before. Firing Renteria and hiring LaRussa is a perfect example for why clueless owners should let their GMs make the personnel decisions.
Not bad. I don’t hate it.
Great fit. I am pleased
Nice pickup for the M’s.
Marky Mark, there’s a reason why he didn’t ,”fit in” He wasn’t very good at playing baseball.
While I think Seattle will finish with a slightly better record than the White Sox, I think the White Sox have a slightly better chance of winning their division. Mariners also are better positioned to actually win a series in post-season, IMHO.
I think the Ms have a better chance of winning their division than the Sox have of winning theirs.
The mariners have about as close to zero chance of winning the division as you can have. They are far behind Houston.
Don’t agree, jjd002. Houston may have swept them in the playoffs but they were far from being overwhelmed. Two of those three wins were on essentially final ABs. Houston should be looking in the rear view mirror.
As much as I’d like to agree with you, take a look at the regular season record. Yes, the M’s gave the Astros everything they could handle in the playoffs, and they were close. But, that was only a 5 game series. The M’s have a long way to go, to take the division from Houston.
They finished 16 games back of Houston. Beat Houston ONCE after June. A 3 game series (in which Seattle got swept) after a stupid bye is hardly cause for concern in Houston.
One word answer to Mariners have ANY chance to win their division: NO!
This one has the smell of a Dumpster dive.
Seems like all the latest additions by M’s by trade or FA are players with just 1 year left on their contract.
I think its a decent signing for the M’s
AJ Pollock 1yr $7mil> Brandon Nimmo 7yr $162 mil
Only if you’re looking to toss $7MM out on a 35-year-old corner OFer for the short side of a platoon.
Just a note for the author, T-Mobile Park hasn’t been “spacious” since they moved the fences in a decade ago. And it doesn’t suppress homers. The reason it’s such an extreme pitcher’s park now is ironically that the outfield is so small that it’s hard to get base hits.
It’s a slight pitcher’s park when it comes to HR and an extreme pitcher’s park overall. The square footage of the fair portion of the field is 8th largest in baseball. baseballsavant.mlb.com/leaderboard/statcast-park-f…
You do realize that your link shows T-Mobile has the following stats:
1st.most difficult park to get a hit
2nd most difficult to get a single
1st most difficult to get a double
1st most difficult to get a triple
So square footage is not the entire story.
Going from the South Side with no shot at the playoffs, to Seattle with a really good shot at the playoffs. Is that worth $1 million? Apparently it is to Pollock.
No shot at the playoffs?
The Mariners are a solid team with lots of good young pitching. I like their chances at the playoffs and a deep run in ’23.. That being said, I am not that high on Kolten Wong and would have traded for the San Diego SS/2b, Kim Ha Seong(said to be available) instead and stuck him at second base in Seattle.
The 5.1 war Kim would have been much more expensive in trade capital than Wong.
Kim may not have been made available until after they signed X.
Kim would have been an excellent addition to the M’s. However his availability is pure speculation, stemming from a “What would it take to get a starting pitcher?” article about the Padres by Dennis Lim in the Athletic about 10 days ago. Perhaps AJP had some influence in getting the article out to gauge the interest in Kim (and Trent Grisham), but officially the Pads denied any trade intentions.
It seems that Kim generated quite a bit of interest, Grisham less so. Kim’s defense has been spectacular and his bat has steadily improved with playing time. He is a fan favorite and popular in the clubhouse. I reckon it would take a lot of value offered for San Diego to seriously consider trading him.
Dennis Lin, not Dennis Lim. My bad.
You may be right except, I believe their plan is to platoon Wong as well with Dylan Moore. D-Mo is an exceptional defender and hits left handed pitching fairly well (with power).
I have a feeling the Angels or the M’s will sign Profar.
Profar doesn’t really fit for Seattle. They tend to covet players who either hit the ball hard or offer defense.
Profar offers neither. He might have made sense as a fourth outfielder, but he’s likely asking for a multi-year deal with a higher AAV than Pollock got.
Pollock in LF, Kelenic in RF and Teoscar DH solidifies the Mariners lineup
Ok, good, you got your Right Handed bat to spell J. Kelenic against lefties. Nice. One bat needed to come via free agency. Now go make the bigger bat trade. R Arozarena, A. Santander, or B. Reynolds in that order for me. Any one of them will do!!! Get it done!
I agree, but by my count we have a full 26-man roster. Who’s getting shipped out? Flexen/Marco, y’all have been put on notice.
Full 26-man and 40-man. Each addition means someone else needs to get cut.
Championshop caliber teams don’t rely on bounceback seasons.
I wouldn’t say they’re banking on a bounce back season. He still had a .900+ OPS against lefties, in which that is the reason he is being brought to Seattle, to be a platoon bat and be able to cover all three OF positions. It would only benefit the Mariners even more if he was to have another year of norm against righties.
I mean they’re relying on one of
(a) Pollock bounceback
(b) Kelenic improvement
(c) Trammell improvement
(d) Haggerty doesn’t regress
(e) Moore doesn’t regress
Doesn’t seem that crazy that one of those things could happen. All four of those young guys have surprisingly decent projections.
@high hard one
Teams become championship caliber by hoping on bounce back seasons.
Julio, Teoscar, Suarez (after his bounceback season), France, Raleigh, Wong, J.P. Are all likely to provide average or better production.
Castillo, Ray, Kirby, Gilbert looks like the core of a championship-caliber rotation.
Moore/Haggerty/Murphy/Trammell is a solid bench
Munoz/Sewald et al is a legit bullpen
I’m not happy that the M’s haven’t thus far done a bit more to raise the floor at LF and DH, but they aren’t relying on Pollock to bounce back. They just need him to be a contributing complimentary piece. If he gets half his PAs or more against lefthanders, that’s very likely.
Suarez is going to have a monster season. He hit 280 w 50 homers then hurt his shoulder and the whole league shifted on him every time from then on out. If He’s 100% w no shift – hit could hit 260+ w 40+ homers and he will surely drive in a 100 batting 3/4 in that line up !
Sure they do, as long as its not part of your core. Cmon man
Guess this means no Reynolds in Seattle.
No Reynolds anywhere but Pittsburgh. They have stated they are not trading him. Look elsewhere.
Pittsburg and Seattle are perfect trade partners. Hancock, young, Miller would be an absolute haul and Reynolds is much needed in sea. They are really good but haven’t done enough.
This move had NOTHING to do with the M’s still attempting to trade for another Bat. They still need One More bat. Go get Santander or Arozarena! Reynolds will cost too much.
This guy went to the same high school as me. Interesting signing.
Could be a solid signing
Prereq for any Twins move is to have “disappointment” on resume.
This is fine. Seattle wanted an outfielder who could platoon LF with Kelenic and now they have that.
But they could still really use a LHH to DH and occasionally spell Julio or Teoscar.
The weird part about this is that LF, RF, 2B, and possibly DH, are all positions Seattle may be shopping for again next offseason.
The dream is that at least one of Kelenic, Trammell, Marlowe, and Hummel emerges as a full-time OF. But yeah, I’d look for the M’s to try and extend Teoscar just to leave them selves with less work to do over the 23-24 off-season. (They have no good longer term plans for 2b.)
That is a good point and besides Kelenic, I don’t believe anyone can really “emerge” and possibly be a difference maker in those positions. that is on the current roster…
Over his 11 seasons this guy has been unavailable to play more than available.
He’s a 4th OF who can still play defense and hit some but declining in both areas. Still a good signing for $7M in todays market. CWS didn’t need him and they and wanted to give Colas RF while trimming some payroll of the 35+ players in Abreu and Pollack to sign Beinitendi.
I was with you, until you said Beinitendi. Pollack gone, that is fine, but Abreu should have finished his career as a Chi Sox.
this is a good low risk signing, can be just a straight platoon with JK, and if he has a rebound year and shows he can hit right handed pitching he can play all OF positions and DH as to keep his bat in the lineup more frequently
Braves could and should have done this deal to fix left field. Maybe not fix, but significantly improve as AJ is still an upgrade defensively and at the plate. Heck, he would be even if he’s injured most the season. He could literally play injured with torn hamstrings and perform better defensively than Ozuna lol
Always happy to see smart fans from different teams
Bob Nightingale just reported that there are $3M in performance bonuses available. No idea what they are for, but it’s possible with those that he ends up making more money then he would have if he didn’t opt out.
If he can stay healthy, this is a great pick up for the M’s.
Maybe there’s still a 40-man spot open? Having a hard time finding the current info.
Seattle deserves its fate for illegally acquiring fishing permits that should rightfully belong to the Alaskans.
Seattle is in Washington.
Pollock had a subpar year last year but has generally been an excellent player. No longer a true centerfielder but still a plus defender in the corners. Always a good hitter. His OBP last year was the most concerning downward trend but a good possibility it was an outlier. He has to play well to play. I think he will. We’ll see.
Why are thoroughly innocuous comments deleted by the moderator?
This isn’t a great move by the M’s, but it at least kind of plugs a bit of a hole. Ideally, Pollock will only be around to hit against LHP. If last year was a statistical outlier they might be able to use him against some RHP as well… but I don’t think they should be relying him to do too much.
He is better than all the other options we have for left field
A 3rd outfielder for the M’s.
Pollock . . . Mariners . . . keeping with the marine theme.
This is a very good signing by the M’s imo, given the players that were still available. Firstly, he still rakes against left handed pitching, but has only really had last year as a downer against RHP. It is only a one year contract, reasonable price wise and incentive based. This allows the M’s one more year to evaluate the potential of Kelenic and Trammel. I’ve read a lot about his (non)availability, but honestly he’s been more available then Hanniger, who I love. Great signing imo as a 4th OF, who has experience in all 3 spots and a needed veteran on a still very young team.
With the $3M in performance bonuses he might beat his option by $2M so this was a plus decision for Pollock.
It’s a perfect fit all around. Solid annual for him esp at 35 and 2023 will give him an opportunity to get another bag after this one year deal.
For the M’s, he’s probably penciled in as the platoon option for the winner of the JK/TT competition in LF. He was one of the best power bats against lefties in baseball last year. And also, has a chance to provide more return if pressed into regular action: last year he tanked against righties and it’s totally feasible that he could rebound and be a key contributor for 2023.
I remembered Pollock back a ways, a good hitter. I haven’t followed him much over the years seems as though he’s slipped a notch or two. This signing is vintage Dipoto always looking into the bargain bin. this one year signing is a good deal for both sides chance being involved that Pollock stays healthy and can rebound performance wise while all along giving Dipoto’s group of unproven a chance to come of age.. That would seem a good chance of happening though the applause meter is moving only slightly. ahead..
signed him to do what? he’s toast.
Come on man, get with the program.
I’ve always worried about this guy staying healthy. It’s always things like hamstrings which makes me think it’s a conditioning issue. If he’s lazy and doesn’t like to work out, not going to go over well in the clubhouse. We saw what happened to our last leftfielder , Winker, in that regard.
His “poor” batting average last year, is far better than any other option we have
martevious, with this signing I began to look with real glee upon the upcoming season.
This guy is just what the Mariners needed. He hits the lefties really well, and I think he will fit perfectly, in a number of different ways..
Most of my original comments were mysteriously lost a few days ago, but now this article seems to have suddenly become fresh again. Baseball you silly.
Go Mariners!
Wait so the Mariners traded away someone who hit right handed and was highly regarded his rookie year due to injury to the Dbacks. Only to sign a former Dbacks All-Star who was traded due to being injury prone? Baseball you silly.
The Sox should have never picked this guy up to begin with, but hahn does a lot of strange things. He also never locks down solid players either, but the game is changing now. That said, this dude is a walking ER, Rehab player for life, but because of Hahn’s bad decision making, the price is right. Why not go for it? Good luck Seattle.