Mariners Rumors

The Mariners are still sorting through their options for a platoon partner with Lind, with Jesus Montero and perhaps Stefen Romero getting consideration. Another contender for the job is Dae-ho Lee, who signed a minor-league deal with the M’s after hitting .282/.368/.524 in Japan last year. At age 33, Lee doesn’t figure to be an impact player in the long term, but he might have a bit of upside the typical minor-league signee doesn’t.

Other Mariners offseason moves, meanwhile, were geared toward improving the team’s outfield defense, which frequently featured players like Trumbo, Miller and Cruz in 2015 and ranked among the league’s worst. The Mariners re-signed Franklin Gutierrez, who’s now limited to a corner and isn’t the defensive wizard he once was but who still plays quality defense in left and hit a surprising (although surely unsustainable) .292/.354/.620 in limited duty last year. They also signed Nori Aoki, who got a one-year deal with a 2017 option that can vest under various circumstances related to the concussion issues that dogged him last year. Aoki received just $5.5MM guaranteed, and it appears he continues to be undervalued by the market despite being a consistently solid player who produces value with his on-base ability and defense.

The M’s also shipped a package headlined by Tom Wilhelmsen to Texas for Leonys Martin (and Anthony Bass, who’s already gone). Martin had a dismal offensive season in 2015, hitting .219/.264/.313, but at 28, he should rebound somewhat, and he provides value with his strong center field defense and his baserunning. All told, the additions of Aoki and Martin should make the Mariners’ outfield defense considerably stronger, with those two forming a new-look outfield along with Seth Smith. (Late in the offseason, the Mariners also added Cuban center fielder Guillermo Heredia on a cheap big-league contract, potentially giving them yet another good defensive outfielder, albeit one who doesn’t seem likely to hit much.)

Wilhelmsen saved 67 games for the Mariners between 2012 and 2015, but has had control problems and isn’t a dominant reliever. The Mariners will, in effect, replace him at closer with Steve Cishek, who signed for two years and $10MM in December. Cishek was suffering through a miserable 2015 with the Marlins when he headed to St. Louis in July. His results improved with the Cardinals, but his peripherals remained underwhelming, and his velocity in 2015 was about 1.5 MPH lower than it previously had been. The Mariners will hope to get something nearer to the terrific performances Cishek gave the Marlins from 2011 through 2014.

If they don’t get the results they’re hoping for from Cishek, they also added a backup plan in Joaquin Benoit. Benoit is 38, and like Cishek, his peripherals took a tumble in 2015. He remained effective overall, although going forward, his age and sagging peripherals make him likely to post ERAs somewhere in the threes, significantly higher than his 1.98 ERA over the last three seasons. To control Benoit for a year, the Mariners gave up Enyel De Los Santos (a lottery-ticket low-minors arm, but one more highly regarded than Herrera, Missaki or Peralta) and Nelson Ward (a 23-year-old infielder who had a decent year in 2015 at Classes A and A+).

In another bullpen-boosting move, the Mariners added righty Evan Scribner in a minor deal with Oakland. Scribner is coming off a 2015 season in which he struck out a remarkable 64 batters against only four walks, but somehow gave up 14 home runs. He allowed those taters in a ballpark even less friendly to home runs than Safeco Field is, but it isn’t as if Seattle is a bad place for a gopherball-prone pitcher, and Scribner’s good Triple-A numbers and control suggest there might be a quality reliever in there somewhere. It will, however, be awhile before the Mariners find out what they’ve got, since Scribner appears likely to start the season on the DL with a lat injury.

In the midst of adding or retaining a variety of outfielders, the Mariners shipped Ramon Flores — who they’d only recently gotten from the Yankees in the Dustin Ackley trade — to the Brewers for infielder Luis Sardinas. Flores possesses a bit of offensive upside, but he’s out of options, and given all the outfield help the Mariners ended up finding, he didn’t figure to have a significant role with them. Sardinas, meanwhile, has obvious offensive issues but is very young, optionable, and already in possession of a bit of big-league experience.

The Mariners also added a new catcher in Chris Iannetta, who’d previously played under Dipoto with the Angels. Iannetta received a $4.25MM guarantee for 2016, with the Mariners receiving a club/vesting 2017 option. Iannetta hit a poor .188/.293/.335 last season, but there’s hope that he can bounce back somewhat after producing above-average offense for his position in the previous several seasons. Also, his framing improved significantly in 2015, via StatCorner, so he could add value there as well. In any case, the additions of Iannetta and Clevenger mean that Mike Zunino — the third overall pick in the 2012 draft — will have to start the year in the minors after a terrible 2015 season as the Mariners’ regular catcher.

Questions Remaining

The 2015 Mariners bullpen ranked among the league’s worst, pitching to a 4.15 ERA despite the comfy enrivons of Safeco Field, and they’ve lost arguably their three most effective relievers from last season in Carson Smith, Mark Lowe (who was actually traded in late July) and Wilhelmsen. Adding Cishek and Benoit helps, but Cishek is coming off an uneven season and Benoit is quite old. It wouldn’t be a surprise if 25-year-old righty Tony Zych quickly emerged as a top young reliever after he struck out 24 batters while walking three in a brief trial with the Mariners last year, but overall, the bullpen doesn’t look strong. The quality of a bullpen isn’t always what it appears to be in March, though, and that it’s not usually that difficult to upgrade one’s bullpen at the trade deadline.

There are also questions about how much offense the Mariners will get from Iannetta, who’s old enough that his previously fine offensive performances might not return, or from Marte, who’s still just 22 and doesn’t have an overwhelming minor-league track record. And while the Mariners’ new outfield looks like a much better fit than last year’s for the team’s pitching staff, it’s fair to wonder how much offense they’ll provide — Aoki, Martin and Seth Smith combined for a mere 22 home runs last year.

Deal Of Note

In early December, the Mariners sent Carson Smith and lefty Roenis Elias to Boston in return for lefty Wade Miley and righty Jonathan Aro. Each side got a starter and a reliever, but the most interesting players in the deal are Smith, a reliever, and Miley, a starter. (Elias has five years of service remaining before free agency and has been modestly effective in parts of two seasons in the bigs but lacks upside; Aro pitched well in the high minors last year but likely will serve as bullpen depth for the Mariners.)

Smith has five years of control remaining before free agency and was dominant last season, striking out 92 batters in 70 innings. He’ll be a key element of a dynamic Red Sox bullpen. Miley, meanwhile, is a mid-rotation starter whose best attributes are his durability (he’s pitched a total of nearly 800 innings in the last four seasons), his ability to get ground balls, and his reasonable contract (which keeps him under control through 2018).

Dipoto probably knows Miley better than most, having drafted him eight years ago while in the Diamondbacks’ front office. But giving up Smith to get Miley was a questionable move, particularly during an offseason in which dominating relievers like Ken Giles netted considerable returns. The additions of Miley and Karns and the re-signing of Iwakuma this offseason leave the Mariners well-positioned to weather any rotation issues this year — with those three joining Hernandez, Walker, James Paxton and Mike Montgomery, the team has more than enough depth to go around (although Montgomery, who is out of options, appears to be in the process of moving to the bullpen). But at what cost? Reliever performance is volatile, and starters generally are more valuable than relievers, but Smith was legitimately among the game’s best bullpen arms last season. Particularly in a free agent market in which non-closing relievers cashed in more than ever (with Darren O’Day, Ryan Madson, Tony Sipp and others receiving hefty new contracts), the Mariners might have been better off keeping Smith, or at least seeking a greater return. One wonders if the Smith trade would have happened had the Mariners known they’d eventually get Iwakuma back on a bargain deal.

Overview

The 2015 Mariners were a talented team that didn’t win because they leaned too hard on weak defenders and weak bullpen arms, and because they awarded a fair amount of playing time to position players who struggled (like former top prospects Zunino and Ackley).  The 2016 bullpen could continue to be a problem, but Dipoto’s busy offseason addressed the other issues, making the Mariners a better defensive team and providing them with better depth. If their offense holds up, they appear to have a reasonable shot at contending in 2016.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.