Seattle Mariners Stay Steady During A Dramatic Offseason
The San Diego Padres are signing James Shields for four years and $75 million dollars. They’ve done this after having already acquired Matt Kemp, Justin Upton, Wil Myers, Will Middlebrooks, Brandon Maurer, Mike Trout, Stephen Strasburg, Barry Bonds… okay, so not those last three, but the point is it’s been a crazy and unexpected offseason for the Friars.
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The Chicago Cubs signed Jon Lester and Jason Hammel and traded for Miguel Montero and Dexter Fowler. The Toronto Blue Jays added Josh Donaldson, Michael Saunders, and Russell Martin. The Chicago White Sox acquired Jeff Samardzija, Melky Cabrera, Adam LaRoche, and David Robertson. Anywhere you look, there’s another team just going absolutely nuts.
But not the Seattle Mariners. Even as their division rivals in Oakland and Houston had wildly active offseasons, the Mariners mostly stayed the course. They had a hole at DH, so they filled it. They wanted to trade their right fielder, so they used him to get a starter and then traded for two new right fielders. As the offseason draws to a close, these Mariners look a lot like those Mariners. You know, the ones who weren’t eliminated from the playoff chase until game 162.
Nelson Cruz and Seth Smith are big additions that will help plug holes in an oft-leaky offense. J.A. Happ could be in line for a big season in his new home park. Justin Ruggiano looks like he’s going to fit nicely as a true bat-first bench piece. Make no mistake, the Mariners have improved this offseason. Just without the bells and whistles that some other teams have pulled out.
The question is inevitable – which strategy is best? Go crazy and acquire everyone vs. stick mostly with what you’ve got? There’s no answer, of course, since a lot of this evaluation is subjective and every team’s individual circumstances must be considered. But the 2015 Mariners appear to be in a better position than a majority of baseball. And that speaks more to their long-term strategy than to their 2015 offseason.
The Mariners emerge as a serious contender despite a quiet offseason in large part due to their core. That’s why the quiet offseason was possible – when you’ve got Felix Hernandez you don’t need Shields. Kyle Seager is here, so no need to trade the farm for Donaldson. Robinson Cano signed with the Mariners before the 2014 season. I’ll still never quite believe that one. That really happened. Yeah, there wasn’t going to be a 2015 version of that signing. There didn’t need to be.
From an observer’s perspective, it’s been a tremendously fun offseason. Almost unheard-of turnover has created a 2015 landscape where you’d be hard-pressed to recognize most of the guys on any given team. The Mariners didn’t really participate because the challenge isn’t to change your team the most, it’s to have the best team. The Mariners are really good, so they didn’t need to change as much.
Thanks are due to the Padres, who gave us one hell of a show to watch while building their new team. The new club is much-improved, and should lead to some finally-interesting “rivalry” games between the two clubs in the west coast corners. But despite adding every available outfielder in baseball and then some, the Pads are still a clear step behind the M’s. Because the M’s are good. Which still blows my mind.