Seattle Mariners Have Reasons For Hanging Onto Their Starting Pitchers

Jerry Dipoto used to be criticized for making too many trades. Now, the Seattle Mariners’ president of baseball operations takes heat for not pulling off any deals.

Mariners starting pitchers led the major leagues in ERA, WHIP, walks per nine innings and hits per nine innings last season. Yet Seattle missed the postseason for the 22nd time in 23 seasons as it finished with an 85-77 record.

That outstanding rotation got little help from the offense. The Mariners were 22nd in scoring and 29th in batting average among the 30 MLB teams.

The logical solution would have been to trade some of the starting pitching for hitting in the offseason, especially with ownership providing the front office with a tight budget that precluded the pursuit of pricy free agents.

However, the Mariners decided not to do that and return basically the same lineup as last season. The only significant newcomer is journeyman infielder Donovan Solano.
The Mariners, though, aren’t apologizing for not trading a starter,

Seattle Mariners Have Strong Rotation

“We have five unbelievably talented starters and then we have depth behind them,” general manager Justin Hollander said. “That depth can get challenged and it’s not like we’ve solved the pitching health problem in the game. The baseball gods will teach you a really hard lesson if you think you have too much pitching.

“We have a lot of high-end talent in that area of our team. Other teams will ask if we’ll talk about trading any of our starting pitchers. The answer on almost anything is ‘sure, we’ll talk about things.’ But the starting pitching is the core of our team, and you become emotionally connected to those guys, so it’s hard to strip it away. And if you trade one of the pitchers then you’re filling one hole but you’re creating another big hole. It’s not as easy trading a starting pitcher as it might seem.”

The Mariners’ rotation is not only talented but cost effective as four of the five pitchers are 27 or younger and has less than four years of major-league service time – Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo.

The only high-priced pitcher is 32-year-old Luis Castillo, who has three years and $72.45 million remaining on his five-year, $108-million contract.

Seattle Mariners’ Offense Lacking

It is a struggle for the Mariners to score runs while playing their home games at cavernous T-Mobile Park. However, they are hoping for some of their hitters to have bounce back seasons to help a lineup in which catcher Cal Raleigh, left fielder Randy Arozarena, center fielder Julio Rodriguez and right fielder Victor Robles were the only players with an OPS+ over 100.

The Mariners didn’t even have Arozarena and Robles for most of the season. They signed Robles as a free agent in June after he was released by the Washington Nationals and acquired Arozarena from the Tampa Bay Rays at the trade deadline in late July.

Raleigh may be one of the most unappreciated players in the game as he seems to generate little national buzz, Last season, Raleigh hit 34 home runs, drove in 100 runs and won the Platinum Glove as the best overall defensive player in the American League.

Rodriguez had a down year, by his lofty standards, as he hit .273/.325/.409 with 20 homers and 24 stolen bases in 143 games after being selected to the All-Star Game in his first two seasons. The Mariners ensured that Rodriguez would be the face of the franchise by signing him to a seven-year, $119.3-milllion contract that is guaranteed through 2029 and includes five team options from 2030-34.

“He’s still just 24 years old,” Hollander said of Rodriguez said. “I think people might lose sight of that sometimes because of how talented he is. We all know what Julio is capable of. He’s already proven it in the major leagues.”

Seattle Mariners Manager Could Make Difference

The Mariners also think manager Dan Wilson can make a difference in his first full season on the job. Wilson replaced Scott Servais with 34 games remaining last season and the Mariners record at 64-64. Seattle then went 21-13 but finished one game out of a playoff spot.

Wilson had been serving as a broadcaster and minor-league instructor for the Mariners. He is one of the most popular figures in franchise history as he was a catcher for the Mariners for 12 seasons from 1994-2005.

“I don’t know if I ever thought about managing a big-league team but it was something that if the situation ever arose, it would be an opportunity we would want to take advantage of,” Wilson said. “It was a great experience last September. I was really happy with how the team responded and everyone in the organization responded.

“There was a huge learning curve, especially getting started,” the Seattle Mariners manager continued. “There’s just so much that you take on that you don’t realize when you’re not in that position. So, I feel like every step of the way I’m learning something new, but it feels good to get started from the beginning this year. I think everyone is more comfortable and we’re excited to get started on the season.”