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Mariners: Recent Minor Moves Could be the Difference

By Ben Renner

Sep 30, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto conducts an interview in the dugout before a game against the Houston Astros at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 30, 2015; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto conducts an interview in the dugout before a game against the Houston Astros at Safeco Field. Mandatory Credit: Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Mariners made two minor moves last week that could cause major improvement for the club. They signed Korean slugger Dae-Ho Lee and veteran reliever Joel Peralta to minor league deals.

Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is nearly finished remaking the roster ahead of Spring Training, which officially begins on Friday. He didn’t make a huge splash in free agency, bringing useful players like Nori Aoki and Chris Iannetta. He didn’t make any blockbuster trades, although he shipped Brad Miller, James Jones, Tom Wilhelmsen, Logan Morrison, Danny Farquhar and others and brought in Adam Lind, Joaquin Benoit, and Leonys Martin. The sum of these smallish transactions figures to be large improvement over the “let’s just hit home runs” approach of Jack Zduriencik.

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Dipoto rounded out his roster makeover with a few minor league deals last week. I’d like to highlight two that could pay huge dividends for the Mariners in 2016. They signed Korean veteran first baseman Dae-Ho Lee to a one-year deal chock full of incentives that will kick in if he ends up contributing to the major league club. Lee is an excellent cheap power option for the M’s. Last year, in the Japanese league, he mashed 31 home runs, slugged .524 and sported an on-base percentage of .368. Lee also won the Japan World Series MVP award, the first Korean-born player to do so, for the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks. He’s the kind of player Jackie Z would have spent a fortune on—a slow, power bat. Only Lee can get on base and if he doesn’t work out, he won’t cost the team much. Lee is 33 years old and has yet to play a full 162-game season, but if he can produce some home runs off the bench or possibly as a platoon mate of Lind, he’ll be worth every penny of the incentives the M’s owe him.

New Mariners reliever Joel Peralta
Aug 8, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Joel Peralta (62) pitches against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the eighth inning at PNC Park. The Pirates won 6-5. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

Joel Peralta is even older than Lee (39) and has spent 11 seasons in the major leagues with several teams. Most recently, he pitched 29 innings in 2015 for the LA Dodgers, striking out 24 and limiting left-handed hitters to a .229 batting average against him. He’ll come into Spring Training fighting to be a useful bullpen arm for the Mariners. With Peralta and Benoit, the M’s could have at least two veterans to provide some stability and leadership.

Dipoto came to a Mariners franchise stuck in the middle. They weren’t awful enough to blow everything up and start over, but they weren’t good enough to expect to contend after last year’s debacle of a season. He had little farm system capital to work with to fill holes throughout the roster. This offseason he has rebuilt the M’s into at least a respectable team by bringing in just the players the M’s needed: a useful first base platoon, a lead-off hitter, outfielders that can run and catch fly balls, depth in the starting rotation, and depth in the bullpen. He then filled in the cracks with buy-low players who could massively outplay expectations.

Next: Jerry Dipoto's Seattle Mariners

Dae-Ho Lee and Joel Peralta are two new members of the buy-low, high-potential club for Dipoto and the Mariners.

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