M's winter / draft talk

Get Cespedes or Encarnacion. they have a window but it's not huge. Fill the hole in LF or 1B with a bona fide middle of the order guy and fill in SS with a guy like cozart

This will be a bit long and I'm going to break up in 2 parts focusing on offense/pitching) ...

The Mariners (and DiPoto) honestly have a lot of work to do because they had a lot go right this year but that's still only an 85 win team or thereabouts. As a GM, your goal has to be to win the division each year (and you have a core of talent here to do that) and while 90 wins is the target to ensure that you get in the playoffs for a 1 game Wild Card, 95 wins is the target if your goal is to win the division and avoid the Wild Card ...

The first thing that is abundantly clear in looking at the Mariners organization is that the minor league system is not well stocked at the highest levels so the expectation for much help throughout the year is probably not realistic. So that means you are either going to have to strengthen your roster through trades or free agency. Given the need to rebuild the minor league system, the organization has to be very careful in how they go about free agents to ensure that they aren't giving up future 1st round picks as compensation.

Starting offensively ...

Catcher: I think that the Mariners are fine rolling with Zunino and Sucre. Zunino is an upper half defensive catcher and he showed a much improved approach at the plate when getting back to the majors. I agree with you that he could take a step forward with a little more improvement (i.e. shorter/quicker swing) that will allow for a higher average without sacrificing his power (I would consider him similar to a long drive golfer versus a regular professional). I don't want to put too much on him offensively given that there's a smallish sample size from last year ... but his improved plate approach should enable him to have an OBP over .300 and a slugging at .450 or higher would be good as an OPS over .750 for a catcher is very good in the AL. I'd like to see the K rate get under 30% ... that should be his goal. Sucre is clearly a very good defensive catcher that has the trust of the pitching staff. There's no reason to pay someone more than the league minimum to backup when they are going to catch at most 45-50 games. The only problem with going this route is that there is really ZERO organizational depth at catcher so you could be in trouble should something happen to Zunino requiring an immediate in-season trade to get someone to help share the load.

Second/Third Base: No issues here with Cano or Seager. Business as usual.

Shortstop: I think it's a little early to give up on Marte ... he played last year at the age of 22 and had some understandable growing pains. He needs to play everyday and honestly at this point I don't see any compelling reason to send him back to AAA. Really the 3 things you want to see him improve in 2017 will be fundamental driven ... being cleaner as a fielder, increasing his BB rate, and lowering his K rate. Given that he isn't hitting for power, his K rate needs to be down in the 10-12% range versus the 18% rate it is at currently. There's nothing wrong with Marte batting 9th and being in a position where you can play some hit and run with him, etc. as a 2nd lead off hitter, he's not Now, what I do think would be valuable would be to get a strong utility player that can play SS should Marte fail to improve and to be able to spell Seager/Cano enough during the year with DH days for them to keep them fresh. The idea of going after Zack Cozart is MarinerFS to me. He's only had 2 seasons where he's been over 100 OPS+ (his rookie season of 38 ABs and in 2015 in 214 ABs). He's a .250/.310/.425 type of slash line at best ... that's hardly worth giving up any substantial prospect for. What I'd look for is going after someone like Daniel Descalso or Stephen Drew to provide some security while not breaking the bank.

Outfield: This is where the Mariners are really in a tough spot. Cruz needs to not be playing the OF full time going forward. One of the reasons that I didn't hit 1B earlier (and will here shortly) is because it would be very nice if the Mariners could find a way to turn Cruz into a passable 1B in Spring Training so that the Mariners don't have to go down the path of having a wasted roster spot for someone that gives them a non-option anywhere else on the field. Martin is obviously fine in CF and plus defensively ... probably not going to get much more out of him offensively. Smith is probably coming back and will be in a platoon position and it sounds like they want to bring Guti back as the other end of that platoon. The big mistake the Mariners can and likely will make is bringing back Aoki ... he's terrible. If you're going to go down that path, I'd rather see them go out in free agency and sign Jon Jay ... a comparable option as a lead off hitter (arguably a slightly better hitter) that is a defensive upgrade. The Mariners could just as easily go cheaper in this spot by turning the last OF spot (as well as leadoff hitter) over to a platoon of Gamel and Heredia. I'm not thrilled with that option but you need at least one of them on your MLB roster to over the Smith/Guti platoon anyway. The Mariners would also be well served to not do anything crazy with the potential that Tyler O'Neill may be ready for the bigs by some point next summer. The reality is though that this team is lacking a leadoff hitter and THAT is a bit of an issue.

First Base: This is why the Cruz situation and hopefully finding a way to get him to be able to play some 1B would be helpful. I think it's fairly clear that the acquisition of Vogelbach was set with 2017 in mind. Lind is gone and while Vogelbach is unproven, he's got a resume to think that he could have a chance to produce ... at least at the point where if you have him hitting in the bottom portion of the order early with little pressure that he could perform. Without Cruz being able to play 1B, you're probably looking at resigning Dae Ho Lee which is a waste to me because he can't hit high end pitching ... he's a AAAA player. DJ Peterson is at least another full season away from even thinking of being the righty platoon portion of the equation. But if you can get Cruz to be able to play some here then you can take the Dae Ho roster spot and cover that with either another OF (given that you're going to be platoon heavy here) or perhaps more importantly with another bullpen arm.

TierbsHsotBoobs said:

Tequilla said:

This will be a bit long and I'm going to break up in 2 parts focusing on offense/pitching) ...

The Mariners (and DiPoto) honestly have a lot of work to do because they had a lot go right this year but that's still only an 85 win team or thereabouts. As a GM, your goal has to be to win the division each year (and you have a core of talent here to do that) and while 90 wins is the target to ensure that you get in the playoffs for a 1 game Wild Card, 95 wins is the target if your goal is to win the division and avoid the Wild Card ...

The first thing that is abundantly clear in looking at the Mariners organization is that the minor league system is not well stocked at the highest levels so the expectation for much help throughout the year is probably not realistic. So that means you are either going to have to strengthen your roster through trades or free agency. Given the need to rebuild the minor league system, the organization has to be very careful in how they go about free agents to ensure that they aren't giving up future 1st round picks as compensation.

Starting offensively ...

Catcher: I think that the Mariners are fine rolling with Zunino and Sucre. Zunino is an upper half defensive catcher and he showed a much improved approach at the plate when getting back to the majors. I agree with you that he could take a step forward with a little more improvement (i.e. shorter/quicker swing) that will allow for a higher average without sacrificing his power (I would consider him similar to a long drive golfer versus a regular professional). I don't want to put too much on him offensively given that there's a smallish sample size from last year ... but his improved plate approach should enable him to have an OBP over .300 and a slugging at .450 or higher would be good as an OPS over .750 for a catcher is very good in the AL. I'd like to see the K rate get under 30% ... that should be his goal. Sucre is clearly a very good defensive catcher that has the trust of the pitching staff. There's no reason to pay someone more than the league minimum to backup when they are going to catch at most 45-50 games. The only problem with going this route is that there is really ZERO organizational depth at catcher so you could be in trouble should something happen to Zunino requiring an immediate in-season trade to get someone to help share the load.

Second/Third Base: No issues here with Cano or Seager. Business as usual.

Shortstop: I think it's a little early to give up on Marte ... he played last year at the age of 22 and had some understandable growing pains. He needs to play everyday and honestly at this point I don't see any compelling reason to send him back to AAA. Really the 3 things you want to see him improve in 2017 will be fundamental driven ... being cleaner as a fielder, increasing his BB rate, and lowering his K rate. Given that he isn't hitting for power, his K rate needs to be down in the 10-12% range versus the 18% rate it is at currently. There's nothing wrong with Marte batting 9th and being in a position where you can play some hit and run with him, etc. as a 2nd lead off hitter, he's not Now, what I do think would be valuable would be to get a strong utility player that can play SS should Marte fail to improve and to be able to spell Seager/Cano enough during the year with DH days for them to keep them fresh. The idea of going after Zack Cozart is MarinerFS to me. He's only had 2 seasons where he's been over 100 OPS+ (his rookie season of 38 ABs and in 2015 in 214 ABs). He's a .250/.310/.425 type of slash line at best ... that's hardly worth giving up any substantial prospect for. What I'd look for is going after someone like Daniel Descalso or Stephen Drew to provide some security while not breaking the bank.

Outfield: This is where the Mariners are really in a tough spot. Cruz needs to not be playing the OF full time going forward. One of the reasons that I didn't hit 1B earlier (and will here shortly) is because it would be very nice if the Mariners could find a way to turn Cruz into a passable 1B in Spring Training so that the Mariners don't have to go down the path of having a wasted roster spot for someone that gives them a non-option anywhere else on the field. Martin is obviously fine in CF and plus defensively ... probably not going to get much more out of him offensively. Smith is probably coming back and will be in a platoon position and it sounds like they want to bring Guti back as the other end of that platoon. The big mistake the Mariners can and likely will make is bringing back Aoki ... he's terrible. If you're going to go down that path, I'd rather see them go out in free agency and sign Jon Jay ... a comparable option as a lead off hitter (arguably a slightly better hitter) that is a defensive upgrade. The Mariners could just as easily go cheaper in this spot by turning the last OF spot (as well as leadoff hitter) over to a platoon of Gamel and Heredia. I'm not thrilled with that option but you need at least one of them on your MLB roster to over the Smith/Guti platoon anyway. The Mariners would also be well served to not do anything crazy with the potential that Tyler O'Neill may be ready for the bigs by some point next summer. The reality is though that this team is lacking a leadoff hitter and THAT is a bit of an issue.

First Base: This is why the Cruz situation and hopefully finding a way to get him to be able to play some 1B would be helpful. I think it's fairly clear that the acquisition of Vogelbach was set with 2017 in mind. Lind is gone and while Vogelbach is unproven, he's got a resume to think that he could have a chance to produce ... at least at the point where if you have him hitting in the bottom portion of the order early with little pressure that he could perform. Without Cruz being able to play 1B, you're probably looking at resigning Dae Ho Lee which is a waste to me because he can't hit high end pitching ... he's a AAAA player. DJ Peterson is at least another full season away from even thinking of being the righty platoon portion of the equation. But if you can get Cruz to be able to play some here then you can take the Dae Ho roster spot and cover that with either another OF (given that you're going to be platoon heavy here) or perhaps more importantly with another bullpen arm.

This is the worst shit post ever.

Why do you care? Just don't read it