The 2015 Tacoma Rainiers: Now Featuring Big Leaguers
Rickie Weeks aside, the Seattle Mariners’ recent focus has not been on the Seattle Mariners. Or, not the Seattle Mariners of April, anyways. After getting their major acquisitions out of the way early, the Mariners got busy building up their reinforcements.
Baseball season is long. Over the course of a long season, guys miss time. They get hurt, or they suck, or both. When this happens – which it does, always – the team is best served to have their replacements available in the high minors. Finding a replacement player in Tacoma is easier, cheaper, and hopefully more effective than finding them on the trade or free agent markets.
Tacoma Rainiers teams as of late haven’t exactly been brimming with MLB-ready talent. This year, things look a little different. The rotation, bullpen, infield, and outfield all look primed to feature players who have been in the majors before as well as players who are ready for their first taste of MLB action. The M’s have legitimate depth. Even some upside, at that.
Perhaps the most obvious example of this is the shortstop position. One of Chris Taylor or Brad Miller will be Seattle’s opening day shortstop. The Weeks signing all but guarantees that the other of those two won’t have a spot on the MLB bench, and so he’ll have to start the season with the R’s. Remember that both of these guys look to be above-average major league shortstops going forward. Also remember that in Ketel Marte, the Rainiers already have a shortstop who’s a legitimate prospect and may be MLB ready by mid-season.
Because of Miller/Taylor, Marte might find himself playing all over the diamond. He’d join Shawn O’Malley in that role, to say nothing of Leury Bonilla. Bonilla’s not really an MLB-caliber guy, but O’Malley sure might be. Basically, the middle infield is loaded. It’s hard to imagine the Mariners not finding a productive shortstop from this deep group.
The rest of the infield looks good, too. Ji-Man Choi and Jesus Montero are going to play plenty of first (and DH), and neither of them is too far away from the majors. Right now the team’s depth chart is basically just Logan Morrison, followed by a bunch of guys who don’t really play first at all. Seriously, who are the backups? Weeks? Dustin Ackley? Seth Smith? Willie Bloomquist? Nelson Cruz? Those guys are all needed elsewhere, and so Choi and Montero represent backup plans in case Morrison doesn’t play well.
Oh, and let’s not forget Patrick Kivlehan and D.J. Peterson. Either of these two fast-rising corner infielders could force their way onto the MLB roster this year. Peterson’s one of the game’s top prospects and Kivlehan is easily near the top of the Mariners’ system. This team just has so, so many quality infielders at AAA. Not to mention Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano in the bigs. It’s a ludicrously deep and talented collection.
The outfield looks to be made up of mostly veteran types, with Endy Chavez and Franklin Gutierrez leading the pack. But there’s more going on that just those two: Stefen Romero and James Jones will open in Tacoma, and they’re both potentially useful bench pieces for the Mariners at some point or another. Kivlehan and Choi both got outfield reps last year, and Julio Morban could quickly make a case for a spot on the active roster if he can show he’s recovered from a horrible broken leg that cost him much of 2014.
Seattle’s rotation appears to be Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, J.A. Happ, James Paxton, and one of Taijuan Walker, Erasmo Ramirez, or Roenis Elias. Ramirez can’t go to Tacoma because he’s out of options, which all but guarantees either Walker or Elias opens the year as Tacoma’s opening day starter. Average to above-average big leaguers, those two. And at least one of them is going to AAA to start the year.
Having a high-quality sixth starter is good news, of course, but there are other Rainiers arms who could be approaching MLB-ready. Danny Hultzen, for one. Victor Sanchez, for another. Hell, even Jordan Pries. There are still some veteran free agent starters out there who Seattle could add for depth purposes, as they seem to do every year.
After a historically good 2014, the Mariners bullpen is poised to do some regressing this year. They’re also all but guaranteed to start the season with seven relievers instead of eight, due to their outfield platoon(s) and bench construction. Which means that while Fernando Rodney, Danny Farquhar, Charlie Furbush, Tom Wilhelmsen, and Dominic Leone are pretty much assured bullpen roles, Yoervis Medina, Carson Smith, Mike Kickham, David Rollins, and Lucas Luetge are all going to be fighting for jobs. Oh, and Erasmo. Can’t forget about Erasmo.
This just rules. So much depth, wherever you look. Did I mention IF/OF Jordy Lara, who hit .337 last year? Don’t think I did. He looks ready for AAA, and if there’s one thing we know about the M’s it’s that they don’t mind quickly promoting prospects who hit in AAA. John Hicks could be ready for the majors, though he’s got competition in John Baker and Jesus Sucre. So. Much. Depth.
Baseball season is long, and depth is important. The Mariners have a quality big league team with a quality AAA team just down the road. Pick just about any position and there’s a veteran or a prospect (or both, or a few of each) in the high minors ready to step up if the MLB starter falters. A baseball team can do no better to set itself up for success than to be strong and deep. The Seattle Mariners, as of right now, look strong and deep. Try to contain your excitement.
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