The Arizona Diamondbacks have put together one of the more intriguing rosters as we approach spring camp, and they’ve done so while maintaining flexibility. The Starling Marte acquisition, for instance, secures center field as GM Mike Hazen had hoped – secondarily allowing star Ketel Marte to stay at second base – but that doesn’t mean Ketel’s days in center are done. The Martes could very well play side-by-side in the outfield against tough lefties while David Peralta or Kole Calhoun gets a breather, writes MLB.com’s Steve Gilbert. Most of Arizona’s bench hits from the left side, though Ildemaro Vargas, Domingo Leyba, and Andy Young can all hit righty, making them candidates to spell Marte at second when he vacates. Let’s jump the the Junior Circuit to check in on the Mariners…
- Opportunity abounds in the Mariners outfield now that Mitch Haniger is set to miss opening day. With plenty of internal candidates to choose from, there’s no need for a reactionary signing in Seattle, though Executive VP and GM Jerry Dipoto never rules anything out. For now, Kyle Lewis has the inside track on left field, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. Lewis put together a mighty 75 plate appearances at the end of 2019 to stake his claim to the grass in 2020. The Haniger injury may mean more consistent at-bats for Mallex Smith in the early going, but the real growth opportunity exists for youngsters like Braden Bishop and Jake Fraley. It’s unclear how much time they’ll have to put their stamp on 2020, but the Mariners are likely to temper their expectations for Haniger’s return and enjoy the opportunity to preview Bishop and/or Fraley in the outfield. The Mariners also recently brought Eric Filia into their spring mix, who could earn a spot, while infielders Shed Long, Dee Gordon, Tim Lopes and Aaron Nola can capably shag fly balls as well.
- Yusei Kikuchi put together a less-than-stellar inaugural season in Seattle, but he’s not a lost cause, writes Johns. The 28-year-old southpaw went 6-11 with a 5.46 ERA/5.71 FIP across 32 starts (161 2/3 innings) in 2020. Despite Kikuchi’s struggles and a lack of established rotation arms, the Mariners have less interest in extending their use of the Opener in 2020. A focus on relievers who can throw multiple innings will allow the Mariners to protect Kikuchi somewhat. Mostly, the Mariners envision progress through regression. Writes Johns, “…there is a feeling that he tinkered far too much with his arm angles and throwing motion — both over the course of the year and even during games — and needs to get back to just being himself and letting it rip as he did when he first arrived.”
I think you mean Austin Nola…
Yeah, that grabbed my attention right away. Did I miss the story of DiPoto plucking Nola from the Phils and converting him to an OF? Must have been overshadowed by the Pirates announcement that they’ve signed Andrew Susac 😛
Nice Catch! I enjoyed watching Austin this year too, he doesn’t get enough love.
Like the Vogelwalk tag could it be Vogelhack get the hell out of here? I know we don’t have a lot of options right now soon though I hope his services are not needed. Hate watching that beer league softball swing.
You’re an idiot.
I don’t pay close attention to The Mariners. Why have they been bad for so long? I remember back in the late 90s they were a top contender.
dipdip!
They had a fairly mediocre roster and no farm whatsoever when he showed up. Hard to blame it on him.
Let’s blame Dipoto for the last 19 years of mariners baseball.
Dipoto has done a great job acquiring talent. Now we will see if he can develop it unlike jack z.
Getting someone to take Cabo’s contract makes him one of the best GMs in the game
Cabo? Lol
Don’t be an idiot. You know exactly what he meant you child.
Yeah, Vizionaire, the M’s have been bad because of a GM who has been here less than 5 years, yet collected the best prospect haul in team history. It’ll be great watching Eppler get you guys to 81 wins this season!
Most of it is due to poor decision making from the front office trying to buy a team with overpriced free agents and bad contract extensions. When these don’t work out, they trade them away for prospects that also don’t work out. Add in poor drafting and you get a team that is almost good sometimes but usually pretty disappointing.
There are circumstances that are out of the teams control, though. Washington has a high income tax and King County has a high cost of living. The Mariners are on the road more then any other team, due to longer travel times from and to Seattle. Plus, there’s not much of a Hispanic and Latin American community in the Seattle area like there are in allot of other MLB city’s. I feel that these play into what the team has to do to attract and keep good players.
Washington state income tax is zero seeing as they don’t have one!
You’re correct. There is no income tax but a high sales tax.
I won’t go into the Latino pop because you are wrong. You are correct on drafts trades and FA signings but there is another big reason.
When the owner of Nintendo bought the team he saved the Ms from leaving. They weren’t doing bad but Tampa really wanted a team. The problem after he bought the team was they ran it like a business. Profit was the only concern. Winning was 2nd but still way down the list. Profit was key unless they needed a tax write off. Amazing how owners and rich people can have profits and losses any year they need them.
The year Seattle won 116 games Lou knew they needed another pitcher. He was told no. They had figured out how much profit they needed and a new SP would cut into that. Even with a sold out stadium almost every night.
That is one of the reasons Lou left. They would not let him get the guys he needed at the trading deadline. After that the team helped the struggling NES so they needed higher profits.
There were awful trades horrible drafting and wow why FA signings. All of that has led us to this point. There is new ownership. Dipoto has done a great job despite what the bitter Angel fans say. They have as many players in the top 100 prospects that I can remember. The team will be fun to watch as many of those prospects will be up at some point this season. Watching prospects learn is always fun.
Things are looking up for Seattle but you have to temper that with the knowledge that prospects are just that. We have seen or share fizzle out and die. The team will be worth the watch the for a long while hopefully.
I agree in 2001 “Stand Pat” did just that. In 2017, (despite the cheating in Houston) they were favs to win the WS, and yet they still went out and landed Verlander to seal the deal. When you have a team like the 2001 Mariners you GO FOIT without hesitation, but our GM at the time didn’t think that way.
Also, something that was tying Seattle’s hands in spending more $ was the fact of the Safeco lease. Mariners finally paid off their portion approx 4 years ago as Dipoto was hired. So now the Mariners have more financial flexibility since the last year Jack Z was here (thus the Can/Felix massive contracts.
The GM that set this organization back for a decade was Bill Bavasi literally giving the Farm away to attempt to save his job. The final trade that put the nail in Seattle’s coffin was the Bedard trade. Jack Z inherited a mess of a Farm, but they hired Jack Z in because of his ability to scout and draft players. BUT while in Seattle everyone of Jack Z draft picks were a literal FLOP! Taking the overall #2 pick with 2B Dustin Ackley, and then watching Mike Trout go to the Angels as the #25 pick…UGH. All Jack Z picks were flops.
When Dipoto started we didn’t have 1 prospect worth mentioning in the OF in our minors. Now look we have Kelenic/JulioRodriguez/Hanniger/Lewis/Fraley/MallexSmith unbelievable! We have Crawford/ShedLong/White/Raliegh/NoelviMarte/Gilbert/Kirby/Dunn/Sheffield/Carlson/BrandonWilliamson
Some analyst have Seattle Farm ranked #3 as of last Summer, and that wasn’t even including the players from the 2019 International Draft either (ie: Noelvi Marte plus others) that isn’t part of these rankings yet.
After 2020 (next offseason), Seattles payroll drops like a rock in committed contracts. 2020 is the year to see what Seattle has and which prospects will pan out or not. 2020 will be the year to find what whole we will need to fill, and with all these youngsters being club controlled very cheap, Seattle will have the funds to spurge heavily on TOR Ace SPs to take the load off of SP prospects like Sheffield/Dunn/Gilbert/Kirby in 2021 & 2022.
And Seattle also now has OF trading chips, because there is no way we need the many top OFers that we have. The only thing I see Seattle needing next offseason (baring any wholes with prospects that don’t pan out) is dishing out money for a true ace SP, and loading up on the best quality bullpen arms we can get, and then just letting the prospects keep growing.
Somehow Woody Woodward, Bill Bavasi, and Jack Z decimated the team and farm club simultaneously.
Woody brought in veterans to win and they panned out. The other GMs failed at almost everything they did.
The Angel fans complain about Dipoto but we had 3 in a row that wasted drafts FAs everything. Along with Woody who got rid of everyone but his plan played out mostly. Not sure Dipoto can match that record.
i hope Filia has been working through his demons. that giy could be a real good starting option if he can get a handle on things
Wonder if they try to extend Marte another 2 or 3 years. Starting point at the current QO.
They have alek Thomas coming up and Robinson in a couple of years so I think unless he stays productive and chip there’s no need to extend him
Marte was the perfect trade for the Dback’s needs in CF. His 2 year contract was all they needed. Daulton Varsho will probably be promoted this year and take some CF at bats. Jake McCarthy will probably be ready next year (2021). And then the big guns start arriving in 2022, Alek Thomas, Kristian Robinson, who could move to a corner OF, but is currently a CF. And in 2023, CF Corbin Carroll should be ready. Thomas, Robinson and Carroll are #1, #2 and #3 ranked prospects. Plus Ketel could take some more innings in CF in 2022. So, I think the Dbacks get Starling for what they hope will be two fairly productive years. If that works out, they might offer Starling a QO in hopes of picking up a competitive balance round pick.
I think the same will happen with Kole Calhoun, 2 years and then the youngsters are ready. So that was the perfect signing as well.
I like the idea of letting the kids play but wish they would sign some depth in the event of the eventual growing pains. Lots of free agent out there that could help. Taijuan Walker. Wilmer Flores. Collin McHugh. Aaron Sanchez. Logan Forsythe. Jarrod Dyson…
Kikuchi’s numbers are for the 2020 season? Should say 2019. Good read.
Anyone know why all my comments are always listed twice?
They’re not, they just appear to be to you. Nobody else can see the duplicate. Had the same problem.
If you post from the app, it’s easy to hit submit multiple times.
I don’t have anything substantive but love when you guys cover the Mariners so please keep doing it.
Also I hope Kelenic forces a 2020 debut.
Kelenic is going to be a superstar. It’s unbelievable that the Mets included him in a deal where they took on a 36 year old bum with 80million left on his contract.
In poker, you can be the 8th best player in a 9 person game and still make a nice profit by attacking the weakest player. There should be a corollary in MLB where you should prioritize ripping off the weak GMs. A few years ago, every GM should have been trying to fleece the Dave Stewart/Tony LaRussa dumpster fire. Now they should be doing the same with the Mets
If Bishop gets at bats over Fraley Servais should be fired on the spot.
And hire you, oh wise one?
The Dbacks have an impressive off season. Really like the moves! Hazen seems like a savvy GM. I wish every off season was like this one! With good health this should be a very competitive season all around.
Have to admit I admire the Diamondbacks GM…he does a good job
Dbacks have some decisions for bench spots. Leyba is out of options. Rojas, Vargas and Young have all been working out in the OF to increase their position flexibility. Jake Lamb is the most likely one to be traded if an injury in ST creates a need by another team at 3b or even 1b. There are only 4 bench spots for those 5 players.
Three bench spots, assuming five total and two of those going to Vogt and Locastro.
Leyba is not out of options, The Dbacks were granted a fourth option for him because of his injury plagued 2017 season.
Lamb probably has a short leash this spring. If he doesn’t hit, he will likely be released early in the spring with an $800k payout versus $5.5m making the opening day roster.
I see the bench playing out as: Vogt, Cron, Vargas, Young, & Locastro.