Series Thread: tOfficial Mariners 2019 Season Thread

[seahawksfan234]

This is why I hope Bruce continue to rake, he will be a valuable asset by the deadline.

Same with Encarnacion, I believe he will heat up and hopefully bring something decent in return as well.

Winning is great but we have to look at the bigger picture.

I just hope Dipoto doesn't let hubris get in the way and suddenly decide this isn't a rebuild. I don't want to end up in a position where we have leverage to trade certain guys away and miss on the opportunity when it becomes obvious this team isn't a playoff contender.

 

[Cloud]

Thursday's game against Chicago (their Home Opener) postponed to Friday due to the weather forecast.

This is why I hate going to the midwest in April and May... there are always postpones or delays.
Some of these cities should build roofs over their stadiums.

 

[wazzu31]

I just hope Dipoto doesn't let hubris get in the way and suddenly decide this isn't a rebuild. I don't want to end up in a position where we have leverage to trade certain guys away and miss on the opportunity when it becomes obvious this team isn't a playoff contender.

He can still get creative even with his ego. I’m not advocating for Kimbrel but he is an option for the pen, they could resign Beckham and offer Crawford in a deal as well Healy is looking more and more like a decent trade asset since he really doesn’t figure into their long term plan with White and finally Kyle Lewis is now a viable trade option. Jerry can get creative and keep to his long term plan while still bolstering the bullpen.

The one issue is he cannot trade for an ace while also keeping the long term plan, so bolstering the bullpen is the only way the Mariners can make moves that don’t jeopardize the plan and still be semi contenders.

 

[kcden]

This is why I hate going to the midwest in April and May... there are always postpones or delays.
Some of these cities should build roofs over their stadiums.

Apparently this is why they scheduled in some early season 2-day off weeks, and Fridays without games, to allow make-ups to be logistically simpler.

 

[PolarVortex]

I just hope Dipoto doesn't let hubris get in the way and suddenly decide this isn't a rebuild. I don't want to end up in a position where we have leverage to trade certain guys away and miss on the opportunity when it becomes obvious this team isn't a playoff contender.

I'm not too concerned. This 7-1 record is a mirage. The Red Sox have a World Series hangover and the Angels are just a bad team. Santana, Beckman, and Healy aren't going to carry the offense for 162 games. They have never been players like that and there is no reason to expect that they suddenly turned into players like that. As the season transcends, it will be Haniger, again, who emerges as the best offensive player.

 

[SeattleCoug]

Thinking about how the bullpen plays out is pretty fascinating to me. More likely then not it will lose a bunch of games for them but its intriguing to me none the less.

I dont think losing Strickland is necessarily a terrible thing for a team that isnt supposed to contend. This going to force Servais to actually truly manage the bullpen. I've been pretty critical on how he has done that for a few years because I think he has relied to too much on roles (7th inning guy, 8th inning guy and closer) rather then managing to the flow of the game. Now hopefully this forces him to really manage that part of the game considering there a bunch of no names out there.

Also I think its an opportunity for guys to get a chance not only to pitch in the bullpen but in high leverage spots. I think if we come out of the year with 2 guys out of the (Rumbelow, Rosscup, Brennan, Bradford, Festa, Sadzeck) group that we can feel ok about going forward, Ill consider that a success.

 

[SeattleCoug]

I just hope Dipoto doesn't let hubris get in the way and suddenly decide this isn't a rebuild. I don't want to end up in a position where we have leverage to trade certain guys away and miss on the opportunity when it becomes obvious this team isn't a playoff contender.

I wanna believe he truly knows what this team is. The fact that he sold off pieces from a team that won 89 games gives me hope.

 

[ulmax]

grab this one..when you need to..flying domingo

 

[ulmax]

check this one duders...lol..for the fun of it..lol

 

[seahawksfan234]

He can still get creative even with his ego. I’m not advocating for Kimbrel but he is an option for the pen, they could resign Beckham and offer Crawford in a deal as well Healy is looking more and more like a decent trade asset since he really doesn’t figure into their long term plan with White and finally Kyle Lewis is now a viable trade option. Jerry can get creative and keep to his long term plan while still bolstering the bullpen.

The one issue is he cannot trade for an ace while also keeping the long term plan, so bolstering the bullpen is the only way the Mariners can make moves that don’t jeopardize the plan and still be semi contenders.

Here's an idea to chew on that I would probably be in favor of:

I would actually be in favor of signing both Craig Kimbrel and/or Dallas Keuchel to one/two year deals (if they'd accept it) and use them as trade bait. The money wouldn't be constraining in the future and they could both be assets that could be moved for prospects.

Obviously there are a fuck ton of things that could go wrong with such an idea, but if they both perform to their career norms, they could both be pieces that could be moved to a contender in exchange for prospects.

I'm quite baffled both were not signed months ago.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I'm not too concerned. This 7-1 record is a mirage. The Red Sox have a World Series hangover and the Angels are just a bad team. Santana, Beckman, and Healy aren't going to carry the offense for 162 games. They have never been players like that and there is no reason to expect that they suddenly turned into players like that. As the season transcends, it will be Haniger, again, who emerges as the best offensive player.

I'm with you that it is certainly a mirage.

My concern is if the team plays well enough to be around .500 by the trade deadline, Dipoto might be more reluctant to dump various trade pieces.

 

[wazzu31]

Here's an idea to chew on that I would probably be in favor of:

I would actually be in favor of signing both Craig Kimbrel and/or Dallas Keuchel to one/two year deals (if they'd accept it) and use them as trade bait. The money wouldn't be constraining in the future and they could both be assets that could be moved for prospects.

Obviously there are a fuck ton of things that could go wrong with such an idea, but if they both perform to their career norms, they could both be pieces that could be moved to a contender in exchange for prospects.

I'm quite baffled both were not signed months ago.

I think both are going to have to accept one year deals, especially Kimbrel so he can try to show he actually deserves $20 a year. But yes, signing both to 1 year deals and at worst trading them pretty much puts the M’s on the hook for $15 million or so for the year for the two or can even pick up most of their contracts to get real prospects back. It’s far fetched to think Stanton and Co. would do that considering this is a rebuild but it sure as heck makes more sense to go that route than trying to flip prospects you just got for pitching help.

 

[PolarVortex]

I'm with you that it is certainly a mirage.

My concern is if the team plays well enough to be around .500 by the trade deadline, Dipoto might be more reluctant to dump various trade pieces.

They gotta dump Encarnation, Bruce, Seager and Gordon, if the opportunity presents itself for any of those players, regardless of the won-loss record. To do anything less would be completely fiscally irresponsible.

 

[EVille3]

Here's an idea to chew on that I would probably be in favor of:

I would actually be in favor of signing both Craig Kimbrel and/or Dallas Keuchel to one/two year deals (if they'd accept it) and use them as trade bait. The money wouldn't be constraining in the future and they could both be assets that could be moved for prospects.

Obviously there are a fuck ton of things that could go wrong with such an idea, but if they both perform to their career norms, they could both be pieces that could be moved to a contender in exchange for prospects.

I'm quite baffled both were not signed months ago.

Problem with this scenario is both have qualifying offers which would cost a draft pick to sign. This is the primary reason they are unsigned at this point.

 

[SeattleCoug]

Problem with this scenario is both have qualifying offers which would cost a draft pick to sign. This is the primary reason they are unsigned at this point.

Yep exactly. Plus signing either at this point, you gotta account for the time its going to take them to get up to speed without a spring training. Probably 3-4 weeks of getting ready

 

[Duders]

check this one duders...lol..for the fun of it..lol

Yep-bring on the memories.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I think both are going to have to accept one year deals, especially Kimbrel so he can try to show he actually deserves $20 a year. But yes, signing both to 1 year deals and at worst trading them pretty much puts the M’s on the hook for $15 million or so for the year for the two or can even pick up most of their contracts to get real prospects back. It’s far fetched to think Stanton and Co. would do that considering this is a rebuild but it sure as heck makes more sense to go that route than trying to flip prospects you just got for pitching help.

Yeah it's definitely unlikely, but I do think it would be a really good idea that would essentially be paying for prospects. If I were Dipoto I'd just argue that unless something goes disastrously wrong, you'd only be paying both of them for around half of the year.

But then again this is just me playing with someone else's money, which is always fun.

 

[seahawksfan234]

They gotta dump Encarnation, Bruce, Seager and Gordon, if the opportunity presents itself for any of those players, regardless of the won-loss record. To do anything less would be completely fiscally irresponsible.

I completely agree. In addition to being fiscally irresponsible, I see it as irresponsible to the long-term future of the franchise.

All that being said, Encarnacion is really the only one with decent value at this point - if you even want to call it that. Bruce needs to recapture some 2017 magic, Gordon needs to stay healthy and productive and Seager would have to have a monster year for someone to justify trading for a guy with his contract and declining production.

Mike Leake and possibly Ryon Healy are two other guys I'd add to that list.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Problem with this scenario is both have qualifying offers which would cost a draft pick to sign. This is the primary reason they are unsigned at this point.

That's a good point and something I didn't consider. I'm not all that familiar with the system, but if the Mariners were to trade them both, wouldn't it cost us nothing? Also if we finish with a bottom-10 record, doesn't that protect our pick?

I'm too lazy to look it up.

EDIT: I misunderstood and you meant it would cost us our 2019 draft pick. My bad.

 

[seahawksfan234]

Yep exactly. Plus signing either at this point, you gotta account for the time its going to take them to get up to speed without a spring training. Probably 3-4 weeks of getting ready

I'd assume they've been training on their own, but that's another good consideration I didn't think of.