Re-build....again?

[PolarVortex]

What to do? Add missing pieces or re-build? Cano and Cruz will be a year older next year. At some point they are going to start slowing down. I'd hate to see 2004 all over again when seeming every Mariner suddenly got old over the winter.

Felix will only be 31 but his arm is more like a 39-year-old's. I'm jealous of Verlander. He looked worn out 15 months ago but got it back somehow. I don't think Felix will be that fortunate.

 

[cezero]

JeDi started rebuilding the instant he took over.

Having a sniff of the playoffs is a nice little bonus given the disaster z left in his wake.

 

[AceKeptic]

JeDi started rebuilding the instant he took over.

Having a sniff of the playoffs is a nice little bonus given the disaster z left in his wake.

Add that new ownership they'd been talking about...Has that even been finalized yet? Is Lincoln finally out the door? Or is that waiting until the season is done (calendar-wise, not Mariner-wise)?

 

[seahawksfan234]

I have no idea to be honest. Cano, Cruz and Seager provide one of the best 3-4-5s in baseball, and we should take advantage of that.

My opinion is we should focus on trading for young, cheap, controllable players at positions of need. It honestly amazes me how well Cruz continues to hit, I honestly thought he wouldn't even hit 30 HRs with the Mariners when we signed him. Happy to admit I was wrong on that one, terrific signing.

 

[cezero]

It'll take another cycle of drafts and trades before we're in a position to really start wheeling and dealing for what the team needs. People questioned a lot of Dipoto's decisions last winter, but it was just the first step of rebuilding, and it was mostly positive, IMO.

If you want to see a team that has literally zero to trade for anything of use, look no further than our illustrious division rivals, the Angels.

 

[PolarVortex]

It'll take another cycle of drafts and trades before we're in a position to really start wheeling and dealing for what the team needs. People questioned a lot of Dipoto's decisions last winter, but it was just the first step of rebuilding, and it was mostly positive, IMO.

If you want to see a team that has literally zero to trade for anything of use, look no further than our illustrious division rivals, the Angels.

I've been impressed with Dipoto's ability to manage the bullpen over the full 162 games. Some of this early choices didn't work out so good but he never stopped tinkering with the bullpen nor the rotation. IMO, that has been the most difficult job for the Mariners this season. The position players haven't needed much of anything as the offense has been better than expected. Sure, it would have been nice to upgrade at first base and/or the outfield, but, outside of Carlos Beltran/Jay Bruce/Josh Reddick, I didn't see a lot of opportunities to do that. And two of those three guys have had zero impact on their new team, so Dipoto probably did good in not trading.

I have in him going forward, not only for re-building over the long haul for multiple seasons, but also re-building within a single season for single-season goals.

 

[Destroydacre]

I'm hopeful that Dipoto can put together a winner next year, but we'll see. If he can build on this year then it is possible, but the M's just blew too many games this year. Who knows how much longer Cano and Cruz will hit at elite levels though. If I remember right, the FA crop this year is extremely poor, so major improvements would need to be made via trade and I'm just not sure the M's have enough pieces to improve significantly that way. My fear is that by the time the M's get the pitching figured out, the offense will be in decline and won't be good enough. Sorry to let the cynical side of my M's fandom show, but they just don't ever seem to be able to get it done when it counts.

 

[seattlefan75]

Man if our pitching would have just been a little bit better this season we could have easily won 90+ games little things like Edwin Diaz starting off the season as our closer or Felix Hernandez not getting injured and pitched the entire season would have made the difference.

Atleast we are not a laughing stock anymore there are other teams in worse situations

 

[Sharkonabicycle]

Man if our pitching would have just been a little bit better this season we could have easily won 90+ games little things like Edwin Diaz starting off the season as our closer or Felix Hernandez not getting injured and pitched the entire season would have made the difference.

Atleast we are not a laughing stock anymore there are other teams in worse situations

Eh not sure about that. Not to be a dick but we're still the #1 team in baseball with the longest playoff drought. 2001 was just too big a blow or something, I guess...

I kind of want to ship everyone for major prospects, but the Ms ownership is too stupid for that. Felix CLEARLY lost stuff this year (yes he was playing injured some) but he could still snag a prospect or two. He'd be a decent #2/#3 on another team with a younger ace. Cruz/Cano are great players, but they're getting up there in age. Sell em' high while you can. Keep Seagar, he's young and top 3 at his position. He's old enough now you can build around that.

Sadly outside of the 3-4-5 rotation, the Ms have pretty major holes or younger prospects at the other positions. The pitching is way too injury prone and I don't see that getting better going forward. I wanted to trade Felix 2 years ago and was blasted pretty hard on this board for it... but we would've gotten a HAUL for him then.

IMO good teams know when to buy low, sell high. As much as it pains me to say, I don't see Ms improving in the near future or going deep in the playoffs. We have one of the worst farm systems in the MLB as well, so it's not like we can supplement stuff there... and the free agent market this upcoming year is pedestrian, and IMO it's not how you should 'build' teams.


That said though... I dunno about baseball as much as you guys. But those are just my thoughts. And I was spot on about Felix (at least I still think so).

 

[wazzu31]

The Mariners have been horrible as selling high. I'm sure there are more but this is just off the top of my head guys that could've netted a return.

Lopez, Balentien (when he was a top prospect blocked), Aarsdma, Wilhemsen, League, Washburn, Vargas, Morales, Franklin and Miller (both were high prospects when Cano was signed) etc. So many guys they should've sold high on especially prospects that were blocked by free agent signings and selling high isn't even including the horrible trades made that put this team in purgatory of needing to explode their payroll on free agents to even be competitive.

 

[Tapey]

The Mariners have been horrible as selling high. I'm sure there are more but this is just off the top of my head guys that could've netted a return.

Lopez, Balentien (when he was a top prospect blocked), Aarsdma, Wilhemsen, League, Washburn, Vargas, Morales, Franklin and Miller (both were high prospects when Cano was signed) etc. So many guys they should've sold high on especially prospects that were blocked by free agent signings and selling high isn't even including the horrible trades made that put this team in purgatory of needing to explode their payroll on free agents to even be competitive.

And probably best/worst of all the doug fister trade

 

[wazzu31]

And probably best/worst of all the doug fister trade

Ooo, you SOB for bringing that up.

 

[Destroydacre]

And probably best/worst of all the doug fister trade

I know it wasn't the current regime or even the previous one, but the Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez trade still bothers me. I remember after that trade there was an anonymous GM who said Bavasi never even bothered to tell any of the other GMs that Soriano was on the trade block.

 

[wazzu31]

I know it wasn't the current regime or even the previous one, but the Rafael Soriano for Horacio Ramirez trade still bothers me. I remember after that trade there was an anonymous GM who said Bavasi never even bothered to tell any of the other GMs that Soriano was on the trade block.

I wouldn't honestly say it was a bad trade. Was it great no, it was trading a reliever so a starter without adding a ton of payroll. The Fister deal made no sense, wasn't for salary, wasn't for a top prospect. Could semi equate the Smith for Miley deal but Smith could've been the closer going into the season saving the club from wasting money on Benoit or having Cisheck on the club at all.