Mariners fans entered the season with something of a sour outlook on the 2025 season. That's understandable, given an offseason in which the front office was clearly handcuffed by payroll limitations and a paper-thin trade market for big league hitters. Armed with a only a reported $15-16MM to patch over multiple needs in the infield, there wasn't a lot out there for president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander to realistically pursue.
Seattle wound up rolling the dice on a handful of cost-effective infield options. Jorge Polanco returned on a one-year deal with a conditional player option. Donovan Solano snagged a $3.5MM guarantee. Rowdy Tellez signed a minor league deal and made the team after a big spring showing (.298/.320/.574 in 50 plate appearances).
Frustration was understandable. The Mariners had made a big splash at the prior deadline, reeling in Randy Arozarena from the Rays, but fans hoping for a similarly bold strike in the offseason after another narrow playoff miss were left wanting.
That frustration likely faded for many as the Mariners raced out to a blistering start. On May 7, they sat with a 22-14 record, leading the American League West by a three-game margin and sporting a +31 run differential. One might imagine that the Mariners were again being carried by their brilliant rotation, but that wasn't the case -- at least not entirely. George Kirby has still yet to throw a pitch in 2025 as he recovers from some shoulder inflammation. Logan Gilbert hit the injured list on April 25 and remains there. Bryan Woo has been brilliant. Luis Castillo has been good. Gilbert was his typically excellent self prior to his flexor injury. But the Mariners' starting pitching, as a whole, has been a middle-of-the-pack unit.
Instead, Seattle's hot start was largely attributable to a surprisingly potent offense. Through that previously mentioned May 7 date, M's hitters were slashing .247/.340/.415, resulting in a 122 wRC+ that ranked third in the majors. They were fourth in home runs, seventh in runs scored, 12th in batting average, second in on-base percentage and ninth in slugging percentage.
In the week-plus since that time, the Mariners have lost five of six games and posted a collective .206/.259/.326 batting line (70 wRC+). Typically, there's little sense panicking over a week of poor results, but there was already reason to be a bit skeptical of Seattle's sudden offensive prowess. Good as Cal Raleigh is, he's not going to continue at a 50-homer pace. Polanco isn't going to keep his OPS north of 1.000. J.P. Crawford isn't sustaining a .410 OBP, nor will Leo Rivas keep hitting .341. Those timely early-season hot streaks buoyed the Seattle offense but can't all be sustained.
The Mariners seemingly recognize that some new blood is needed; they claimed Leody Taveras off waivers from the division-rival Rangers and took on about $3.7MM in salary to do so. That was an understandable move with both Victor Robles and Luke Raley on the injured list for the foreseeable future, but it shouldn't be the only one the Mariners consider.
Let's run through a few easy ways to bolster a lineup that is facing even more pressure than usual now that Bryce Miller has joined rotation-mates Kirby and Gilbert on the injured list...
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Looking forward to the Vedder Cup at Petco between Friars and Sailors this weekend!
Id argue that they have the best closer in baseball right now, and could/should try to trade him for some offense.
The rest of the bullpen is nothing special.
Watch Big Dumper drop 50 bombs.
With Dipoto there it’s always going to be something.
He overcommits to one area of the team that’s doing well. He doesn’t understand that the good ML teams exploit opponents weaknesses.
Filling holes doesn’t work. Building a diverse team that the manger can win games with in multiple ways is what the quality FO departments do.
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Typical MLBTR article that looks at stats of a ML team, brings up areas the stats are weak in, and states they have to shore those areas up. Paint by numbers. Might work in rotisserie league, not MLB.
When are you going to start your own website instead of bitching about FREEEEEEE mlbtr material?
This is an odd criticism. No team is going to hit on all of their picks and signings, so there will always be holes in an organization to fill. This team does seem reluctant to trade/release players they have emotional attachment to, and don’t have much money to sign free agents. That does limit their ability to fill holes.
Also, I’m not sure what you expect in an article. Strong opinions about a team with a few stats to support it like the mid-20th century sports columnist used to do? Wildly unrealistic trade scenarios like fan blogs? A study into the psychological makeup of a roster without any actual access to the players or coaches?
Same old story, really. They should be in win-now mode with the pitching staff they have (while they still have it). They simply refuse to bring in a few big bats that have been needed for several years now. They don’t want to pay up for the top tier offensive additions that they so obviously need in order to be a true WS contender. They still have a very good farm system, so perhaps they’ll get aggressive at the trade deadline. Assuming they are still in the race by then.
Great comments about calling up Young and Locklear right now so we can have ~50 games to see what they can do in the majors before the trade deadline. If they aren’t doing good, we can somewhat safely option them back to AAA and find a replacement on the market.
O’Hearn would be a nice addition if Rowdy starts to struggle because I’m still not sold on him. JP’s resurgence has been very huge tho, where calling up Young right now isn’t dire.