Offseason

[blstoker]

Ok, so the M's chances at the post season are slim to none, and the rest of the season is basically a try out for those who want to be on the team for next season. Even with that, there are several key players who are looking at free agency this off season. If the Mariners don't resign any of their free agents, the line up could look something like this:

Brad Miller, SS
Ryan Franklin, 2B
Kyle Seagar, 3B
Justin Smoak, 1B
Carlos Peguero, DH
Michael Saunders, RF
Stefan Romero, LF
Dustin Ackley, CF
Mike Zunino, C

Pitching Rotation, something like this:

Felix Hernandez
Hisashi Iwakuma
Taijuan Walker
Danny Hultzen
Erasmo Ramirez

I don't know about anyone else, but I have my doubts that a lineup like that will have enough umph to be competitive.

So, what would everyone want the team to do? Who do we re-sign? What free agents do they target? What young players do they promote to be successful?

 

[blstoker]

My two cents, which is really worth about 1 cent:

Keep:
Kendrys Morales: I know I questioned the trade that brought him here, but if we just let him walk (especially after a successful season) then that trade would be even worse. Actually, I have been pleasantly surprised by his production.

Mike Morse: There really isn't gonna be much more that we can get to replace him, and he does have some pop in his bat. I wish he hadn't gotten hurt this year, so we could be talking about the 30 HRs he hit this year, but that should keep him from being too expensive to re-sign.

Oliver Perez: Though he has had some bad outings recently, he has been very good for us the last two years. He'll be a solid veteran presence for what will be a very young staff.

Let walk:

Raul Ibanez: I really love what Raul has been able to do this year, but everyone has expressed disappointment at seeing how Griffey's last season went, and I hope Ibanez retires after this year. He's struggled since the All-Star break (.200 BA and 1 HR) and I want to remember the man who hit 25 HRs at 41, and not what may be a very bad year next year.

Brandan Ryan: He cleared waivers, no one is interested in picking him up as a trade waiver, and Miller has made him obsolete. I love his defense, but he just don't have enough bat to be a part of a streaky offense. A team like Boston may be able to hide his weak bat, but Seattle can't.

Joe Saunders: He's been up and down, but the fact that he's the best starter after the top 2 and his ERA is hovering around 5, just shows how bad the Mariners need better pitching.

Aaron Harang: I wish he was already gone.

Endy Chavez: I'm on the fence about this one, but in the end I think we let him go.

Franklin Gutierrez: I really think the team can't exercise their option, and unless he accepts a minor league contract with spring invite....

Free Agent Targets:

Jacoby Ellsbury: I have seen a bunch of rumors saying that Ellsbury may want to play in Seattle (close to home) and let's be honest, the Mariners could use the OF help.

Tim Lincecum: I would like to explore what he's asking for, cause he would be better than Ramirez, but with his struggles I wouldn't want to pay him much (not even Joe Saunders money, though I don't want to pay Joe Saunders Joe Saunders money.).

So, if the Mariners could come into the season looking like this, I would be happy.

Batting Order
Ellsbury
Miller
Seagar
Morse
Morales
Smoak
Franklin
Saunders
Zunino

Rotation
Hernandez
Iwakuma
Lincecum
Walker
Hultzen

I honestly think that it's a little too good to be true, and most likely we'll have a difficult time signing just our own guys back.

 

[Baseballnut77]

like the lineup with a couple of exceptions
1: no way we get ellsbury but would love to have him
2: would rather see romero up than morse getting hurt all year but i do see your point with him
3: dont want timmy as he is a tommy john waiting to happen

 

[johnfree63]

I just want to know more about Ryan Franklin. Is he Nick Franklin's cousin or something?

 

[octagondd]

I just want to know more about Ryan Franklin. Is he Nick Franklin's cousin or something?

The love child of Nick and Brenda - Nick's stick and Brenda's glove

 

[blstoker]

I just want to know more about Ryan Franklin. Is he Nick Franklin's cousin or something?

Ok, so I have nostalgia for the old pitcher and would rather have him playing second

 

[dude82]

I think at this point we can safely refer to Peguero as a AAAA player. I think that if he had a major league future, at least in this organization, he'd have been getting the same kinds of chances to prove himself (to the displeasure of some of the fans) at this level that guys like Michael Saunders and Justin Smoak have gotten over the years.

What I mean by that is... Saunders and Smoak have continued to make the team out of Spring Training and continued seeing regular playing time over the years (that patience appears to have finally paid off with Smoak) despite the fact that everyone and their mother questioned whether they should have been afforded those opportunities due to their lack of production at this level relative to expectations. They've had the option of playing Peguero at all three outfield spots, where they've been notoriously thin for a while now and where he'd presumably add some defensive value in addition to his power and speed at the plate and on the bases. They also had the option of using him exclusively as the DH prior to this season if they wanted to and they decided they'd rather platoon at that spot with veterans than give him an opportunity to hold the spot outright. You'd think he'd be a good fit for the DH spot with his natural power and speed, but for some reason, he's been unable to stick at this level at any position.

 

[Logicallylethal]

With the way Morse has looked...I'm hoping we can get a bargain deal for him. I might be a minority in this...but I still believe that a healthy Morse can give us a .270 avg with 30-35 hrs.

Morales is definitely a top priority for us to resign. I don't think we necessarily need to add another bat. I like what we have in our lineup right now if we can resign Morse and Morales and keep them healthy.

I say we use that money towards bolstering our bullpen and getting a more consistent Joe Saunders in the rotation.

Here's my projected lineup and stats for the upcoming year

SS Brad Miller - .264 avg 7 hrs 59 rbi 84 runs 14 sb
2B Nick Franklin - .271 avg 21 hrs 88 rbi 83 runs
3B Kyle Seager - 289 avg 24 hrs 102 rbi 77 runs
DH Kendrys Morales .284 avg 23 hrs 89 rbi 70 runs
1B Justin Smoak - .268 avg 26 hrs 84 rbi 68 runs
RF Mike Morse - .273 avg 29 hrs 77 rbi 62 runs
LF Michael Saunders - .238 avg 17 hrs 63 rbi 60 runs 17 sb
C Mike Zunino - .257 avg 13 hrs 55 rbi 51 runs
CF Dustin Ackley - .269 avg 4 hrs 51 rbi 78 runs 26 sb

 

[Thisnamewasntaken]

Hell no to Jacoby. No thanks. You bring back Morales if you can, if not Owell draft pick. You bring back Morse for CHEAP. You bring back Guti for CHEAP. Danny & Walker will not be pitching here in the begining of next season haha. Well MAYBE Walker. You let Ryan go. You let everyone else you listed walk except MAYBE Oliver. The rest remains to be seen. Who knows what Z does.

 

[dude82]

Hell no to Jacoby. No thanks. You bring back Morales if you can, if not Owell draft pick. You bring back Morse for CHEAP. You bring back Guti for CHEAP. Danny & Walker will not be pitching here in the begining of next season haha. Well MAYBE Walker. You let Ryan go. You let everyone else you listed walk except MAYBE Oliver. The rest remains to be seen. Who knows what Z does.

Is there a reason you don't want Ellsbury? Is it a health thing or do you think he's gonna want too much money?

 

[dude82]

With the way Morse has looked...I'm hoping we can get a bargain deal for him. I might be a minority in this...but I still believe that a healthy Morse can give us a .270 avg with 30-35 hrs.

Morales is definitely a top priority for us to resign. I don't think we necessarily need to add another bat. I like what we have in our lineup right now if we can resign Morse and Morales and keep them healthy.

I say we use that money towards bolstering our bullpen and getting a more consistent Joe Saunders in the rotation.

Here's my projected lineup and stats for the upcoming year

SS Brad Miller - .264 avg 7 hrs 59 rbi 84 runs 14 sb
2B Nick Franklin - .271 avg 21 hrs 88 rbi 83 runs
3B Kyle Seager - 289 avg 24 hrs 102 rbi 77 runs
DH Kendrys Morales .284 avg 23 hrs 89 rbi 70 runs
1B Justin Smoak - .268 avg 26 hrs 84 rbi 68 runs
RF Mike Morse - .273 avg 29 hrs 77 rbi 62 runs
LF Michael Saunders - .238 avg 17 hrs 63 rbi 60 runs 17 sb
C Mike Zunino - .257 avg 13 hrs 55 rbi 51 runs
CF Dustin Ackley - .269 avg 4 hrs 51 rbi 78 runs 26 sb

Bullpens are a pretty fickle thing. You can have a dominant pen one year and then a terrible pen the next year without much turnover, personnel wise, in-between. I think the pen issues can be attributed to a series of domino effects that have occurred since the end of Spring Training.

None of the Big 3 were ready to make the jump to the bigs and take the last two spots in the rotation behind Felix, Kuma and Saunders, which would have been okay, except the guys the M's were going to rely on to take those spots initially either weren't ready (Maurer) or got hurt (Ramirez). That forced the Mariners to grab veterans that other teams discarded (Harang) or who were still rehabbing after multiple surgeries (Bonderman). That uncertainty and lack of consistency in the back end of the rotation meant a heavier workload for those guys in the pen almost immediately. Then, when Pryor went down and Loe turned out to be a bust, the bullpen had to be shuffled, with some guys getting called up from Tacoma and other guys moved to different roles behind Wilhelmsen.

Wilhelmsen actually started out the year in dominating fashion, if you recall, and there was no reason to suspect that he would have one nightmare series that would eventually lead to his demotion to AAA. Like most teams would do, the Mariners gave Wilhelmsen a few save opportunities off after that to work some stuff out between games in bullpen sessions and used him in lower pressure situations to try to build his confidence back up.

In the meantime, it meant more role juggling and a closer-by-committee situation. That took everybody out of their set roles and placed even more pressure on the guys coming in in the middle innings to bridge the gap between the starters, who weren't consistently going deep into the games, and the late-inning guys who now never knew when they were going to be used or for how long. That's not a particularly easy thing to figure out under normal circumstances, let alone the circumstances Wedge and his staff found themselves in pretty early on this year.

Now that isn't to say that it hasn't been disappointing to see these guys struggle, particularly the veteran guys, but I don't think it's as cut-and-dry as needing new personnel. Get these guys in more consistent roles and situations and they might be a lot better than they've been. Who knows.

 

[Thisnamewasntaken]

Is there a reason you don't want Ellsbury? Is it a health thing or do you think he's gonna want too much money?

Both. That and he's going to be 30. I'm just not interested. 45 SB is cool but he's going to slow down.

 

[unlvmariners]

As far as the OF goes I think we need to add at least 1 solid guy. Going after Ellsbury is good idea, but the Mariners can't break the bank on him.

As far as Lincecum goes I don't have a problem with bringing him in especially because I think he might have a reasonable price tag. I do think we still need to add some pitching regardless. We can't rely on Hultzen to make the team at the start of next season in fact I still think we should use Hultzen as potential trade bait.

Morales should be a priority for us to resign.

 

[unlvmariners]

Both. That and he's going to be 30. I'm just not interested. 45 SB is cool but he's going to slow down.

I completely understand your reasoning with the injuries but bringing in an outfielder should be something addressed in the offseason in my opinion. Unfortunately a lot of free agents are going to be 30 years old or older. If the price for Ellsbury is reasonable then I think we should try and bring him in.