Mariners offseason rumor/discussion thread

[seafan]

I would rather use my package for Stanton over Price simple because you can get a stud pitcher of Prices's calibur via free agency but there are no Stanton's out there. Also, team control plays a big part which also favors Stanton. I would include Zunino for Stanton if that is what it took. He is a Miami guy and maybe that sells the Marlins on him.

I think you could probably make a package centered around miller/zunino if you wanted to keep both paxton/walker.

 

[NWinAZ]

Maybe. Hard to say, but I actually like Miller just as much as any pitching prospect we have. I think of Miller as a Brett Gardner of SS's. We should know a lot more in the next 30-45 days.

 

[seahawksfan234]

It must be nice to want. Pass.

What is the deal with these pitchers wanting these ridiculous deals? Ervin Santana wants what? $117m or something asinine like that? Now Ubaldo wants $20m a year?

Does he not remember that from 2011-2012 he had an ERA of 5.03 in 63 starts?

Ubaldo and Santana are both good pitchers but not even close to worth the money they want. They both come with risk, when you give a pitcher $20m a year it is because they come with not much risk.

I think Garza has to be the best option on the market currently. He has never had a season with an ERA over 4 since his rookie year in 2006 and might not have the ridiculous contract demands of Ubaldo or Santana.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I'd value Santana, Jiminez and Garza in the $15m per year 4 to 5 year range. Even that is pretty generous, honestly.

 

[NWinAZ]

Agreed. The problem with Garza of course is that screw near his pitching elbow. Scary on a multiple year deal.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Not sure what kind of math MLBTR is doing:

The Mariners want to add a top-notch starting pitcher, and the Robinson Cano signing demonstrates a kind of "urgency" or "desperation," so their pursuit of Masahiro Tanaka could get wild, Jeff Sullivan of USS Mariner writes. The market for Tanaka could reach the point where paying his price no longer makes sense, though, and if it does, it might be better for the Mariners to sign someone like Ubaldo Jimenez for half of what Tanaka will cost.

Paul Hoynes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that Ubaldo Jimenez has asked for a four-year contract worth $17-20 million per season.

Whatever Tanaka gets will have more years but the annual cost will be around what Ubaldo Jimenez is asking for. I believe that Tanaka is the safer option with Jimenez having that terrible 62 game stretch from 2011 to 2012.

 

[NWinAZ]

I read that as well and it didn't make much sense to me. It wouldn't be half his, but maybe half the length. If the guy is legit, why would we want half the length? For the same price, go with the better SP and yes it is all a guess who will be better.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Earlier today, we learned the Cubs are prepared to offer Masahiro Tanaka a nine-figure contract and a National League GM expects one team will "come in and blow everyone away." Here's the latest on the top ranked player on MLBTR's 2014 Top 50 Free Agents list still on the market:

I believe something similar was said about Robinson Cano before he signed with the Mariners. I wonder if the Mariners will seriously make a run at him, have not heard much about the Mariners and Tanaka since early January.

 

[NWinAZ]

Reports out of Japan today said Dodgers. Yankees, and Angels were the 3 favorites of Tanaka. M's need to move on to Plan B asap before the chips start to fall because they will fall quickly.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Reports out of Japan today said Dodgers. Yankees, and Angels were the 3 favorites of Tanaka. M's need to move on to Plan B asap before the chips start to fall because they will fall quickly.

I wonder if they will resort to the Cano gameplan and try to offer him such a large contract that he couldn't turn it down.

That is assuming they were cleared to spend more money.

 

[unlvmariners]

Reports out of Japan today said Dodgers. Yankees, and Angels were the 3 favorites of Tanaka. M's need to move on to Plan B asap before the chips start to fall because they will fall quickly.

I agree. Although I would like to have Tanaka though. I think adding Tanaka gives the Mariners a little bit more flexibility in regards to trading some of the pitching prospects. I have a hard time believing Seattle will spend the money for Tanaka.

I do think Seattle should jump on getting one of the Garza, Jimenez, Santana group. I don't think signing one of those three guys gives the Mariners the same flexibility as far as trading prospect pitchers as Tanaka would.

 

[NWinAZ]

[ame="[MEDIA=twitter]424732775392886784[/MEDIA]"]Cotillo hears[/ame] (via Twitter) that the Mariners and the Indians are the frontrunners among the five to seven clubs interested in Scott Baker.

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Oh boy.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Cotillo hears (via Twitter) that the Mariners and the Indians are the frontrunners among the five to seven clubs interested in Scott Baker.

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Oh boy.

Could be a real good value signing, but not what I was hoping for. Pretty much the story of a Mariners fan.

I read on the D'Backs board that Arizona offered Tanaka 6 years $120m. Considering the fact that the Mariners have not been mentioned much in regards to Tanaka and the fact that he is likely going to get a contract in that range all but rules us out I would assume.

The Mariners lack of interest in Tanaka and strong interest in Scott Baker would indicate to me that the Mariners are done spending this offseason. I would be surprised to see them make a move for Garza, Jimenez or Santana at this point.

Unless something drastic happens with David Price, and minor moves aside, it would appear the Mariners roster is pretty set going into 2014.

 

[NWinAZ]

Rosenthal tweeted yesyerday that Jack would need ownership to approve such a deal for Tanaka and Jack has yet to ask them about it. So that probably means what you said and it is blue-light special time at the Safeco K-Mart branch.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Rosenthal tweeted yesyerday that Jack would need ownership to approve such a deal for Tanaka and Jack has yet to ask them about it. So that probably means what you said and it is blue-light special time at the Safeco K-Mart branch.

That is really strange to me. Why wouldn't he ask? The most plausible explanation I can muster is that he figured they would say no. Even if he was near positive they would say no, why not at least give it a shot?

Or maybe he figured he didn't want to spend $20m per year on an unproven player. Who knows?

 

[NWinAZ]

Per ESPN:

Seattle is one of the many teams that missed on Masahiro Tanaka, and now the Mariners find themselves with a difficult decision to make regarding how they fill out the rest of their starting staff.

Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma return to provide one of the best top-of-the-rotation combinations in the game, but beyond that there are question marks. Even if Seattle finishes Spring Training with rookies James Paxton and Taijuan Walker being penciled in as the No. 3 and 4 pitchers, the M's will still need another starter.

The decision at this point comes down to whether the M's are willing to spend what it takes to beat out teams like Arizona, Toronto and Cleveland for one of the top free agent arms remaining -- Matt Garza, Ubaldo Jimenez and Ervin Santana -- or whether to go with a cheaper option.

Considering that this is a make-or-break season for Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik, one has to believe that he'd prefer to have the team spend what it takes to land one of the best arms available. But with reports that the M's may be just about out of money to spend this winter, it's also a very real possibility that the team will have to settle on one of the second-tier options that's still on the market. Names like Bronson Arroyo, Jason Hammel and Bruce Chen could all become targets in the weeks ahead.

 

[Podunkparte]

The difference between the lesser remaining SP available and the "top tier" guys left shouldn't be enough to draw a line in the sand in a sport with no salary cap, but that's the same thing fans have been saying about this garbage FO for over a decade.

Lets see if they once again choose saving $5 million or so over getting the best guy left to win games, which is the fucking point of this game!

 

[seahawksfan234]

Garza signs for 4 years $52m. I would have no doubt given him that deal, Mariners missed out IMO.

 

[unlvmariners]

Garza signs for 4 years $52m. I would have no doubt given him that deal, Mariners missed out IMO.

I would have given him that deal also.

 

[NWinAZ]

Mariners Focusing On Complementary Players

By Charlie Wilmoth [January 26, 2014 at 5:40pm CST]
After an offseason highlighted by the signing of Robinson Cano, the Mariners may be done adding high-priced talent, MLB.com's Greg Johns reports. GM Jack Zduriencik is looking for another starting pitcher, but probably won't want to pay the prices necessary to sign Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana.
"I don't think we're going to jump in and invest where some of these dollars are going," Zduriencik says. "It just doesn't make sense when you take a 30-, 31-, 32-year old pitcher that wants five or six years and there is some history there of injury or inconsistencies."
Zduriencik said those risks were the reason the Mariners didn't strongly pursue Masahiro Tanaka (who is younger, but would have required a long commitment). He also suggests that it would have been difficult to outbid the Yankees. "We've made two major investments here in the last two years with Felix [Hernandez] and now Robinson," Zduriencik says. "To do that again would have been real challenging. And in the end, the numbers could have gone up. If we made that offer, who knows what the heck the Yankees would have done after that?"
Johns notes that the Mariners are "in the running" for starter Scott Baker, who missed all of 2012 and most of 2013 due to injury. Zduriencik also says the Mariners have had many talks with Nelson Cruz's representation, but the length and dollar value of the contract and the threat of losing a draft pick are all part of the Mariners' considerations.