Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto spoke to reporters (including Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times) prior to the club’s game against the Athletics today about the upcoming offseason and the club’s plans after coming up just short in the postseason race for the second season in a row. Of note is the fact that Dipoto told reporters that they club has no intention of dealing from its rotation this winter in order to upgrade other areas of the roster, with Divish quoting Dipoto as having referred to the notion as “Plan Z” for the club as they head into the offseason.
For all of Seattle’s faults this year, the rotation can’t be considered among them. Seattle starters led the league with a collective 3.39 ERA this year, ranked third with a 3.63 FIP, racked up the most strikeouts with 879, and with 931 2/3 innings of work provided more volume than any other MLB rotation this year. The team’s top quintet of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Luis Castillo, and Bryan Woo will finish the year having made 149 of the club’s 162 starts, with just one start made by a pitcher other than the aforementioned group and sixth starter Emerson Hancock.
It’s a remarkable level of both dominance and durability from the club’s top starters that entirely justified their decision to part ways with Marco Gonzales and Robbie Ray over the offseason, sacrificing rotation depth in order to increase flexibility to address other areas of the roster. Even so, it’s easy to understand why the club wouldn’t be interested in returning to such a strategy this winter. It would be reckless for Seattle to assume its top starters will again be able to take the mound for more than 90% of the club’s starts. If anything, the club is lacking in depth options for the rotation beside Hancock, with Jhonathan Diaz standing as the only other starter on the club’s 40-man roster.
Fortunately, it seems the club also expects less turnover on the positional side this winter, when compared to last year’s overhaul of the lineup. The 2023-24 offseason saw the Mariners part ways with Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez, Jarred Kelenic, and Mike Ford with Ty France following them out the door during the 2024 season. After spending much of last winter looking to replace Kelenic and Hernandez’s production in the outfield, Jude relays that Dipoto believes the club’s outfield mix to be fairly set headed into 2025 with Julio Rodriguez, Randy Arozarena, and Victor Robles as the club’s starting options.
It’s hard to argue with that assessment. Despite a second straight season where he started off sluggishly, Rodriguez is still the club’s $200MM+ player who provides a four-win floor when healthy with his stellar center field defense and offense that ranges from solid to spectacular. Meanwhile, Arozarena was the club’s top acquisition over the summer with a 120 wRC+ since joining the Mariners. Robles being assured of a starting job with Seattle next year would’ve been a shock a few months ago, but he’s looked like a different player than the one who struggled to live up to the hype as a former top prospect with the Nationals since joining the Mariners: In 75 games with his new club, he’s slashed .327/.395/.464 with 29 stolen bases in 30 attempts as the regular leadoff hitter in Seattle.
With that being said, Dipoto did leave the door open to acquisitions in other areas of the roster. As Jude notes, Dipoto suggested that the Mariners’ strong finish to the season (they’ve gone 19-13 since firing manager Scott Servais in late August) leads him to believe the club isn’t far from returning to the postseason, but they’ll explore upgrades to their infield mix this winter nonetheless. That should be fairly doable for a club that struggled to put up even league average numbers at second base, third base, and shortstop this year while relying on a position change for Luke Raley and a deadline rental in Justin Turner to shore up first base.
Between the steady production of Cal Raleigh and the looming presence of top prospect Harry Ford at Double-A, it’s hard to imagine the club looking to upgrade behind the plate this winter. It’s also easy to imagine the club staying internal at first base with a platoon of Raley and prospect Tyler Locklear, though that would likely be a step backwards from the production Turner provided down the stretch against lefties. Dylan Moore remains a solid utility option for the club off the bench, and it would be something of a surprise to see the club move on from shortstop J.P. Crawford with two guaranteed years left on his contract.
That leaves second and third base as the easiest places for the club to upgrade, with Jorge Polanco’s $12MM club option unlikely to be picked up and Rojas fairly easy to move into a part-time role. Given the club’s general avoidance of significant contracts for position players in free agency under Dipoto, it’s hard to imagine them going big for a top infield option like Alex Bregman, or Willy Adames. Even so, there could be upgrades to be found in lower tiers of free agency or on the trade market. Brandon Lowe of the Rays and Nico Hoerner of the Cubs are among the infield options who could see their names come up in trade talks this winter, while Gleyber Torres or Ha-Seong Kim could be available to the Mariners in free agency, though they’d likely have to go outside of their typical comfort zone to land either player.
Fenway 1
And another mid year will come because of it
mlb fan
“Another mid year”…I was thinking the same thing. The Mariners sometimes act as though they’re scared of attaining success.
And Jerry Dipoto has become the king of lateral trades. I’m only mad and disappointed because I’ve been watching the M’s since they came into the league.
Samuel
mlb fan;
You’re a great poster, as well as a solid Mariner fan.
I don’t know what it’ll be in 2025, but when Jerry
Dipoto teams are at their best they always fall a
buck short.
A few injuries here, a few unexpected bad seasons there….always something.
A shame the Astros wound up in the AL West.
BigV
Agree
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Fenway you couldn’t have said it any better
What this article basically said is that mostly everything is going to be internal and there is not going to be meaningful change
SweetBabyRayKingsThickThighs
They’ll deal a BP arm to the Rays for Siri and regret it immediately
mikedickinson
I bet that if the Red Sox called and offered Jarren Duran, he’d change his tune.
mlb fan
“Offered Jarren Duran”…Hopefully Dipoto’s engaging in some games manship and only trying to drive up the price of his young pitchers. Only I’m not truly convinced that Jerry Dipoto is that clever.
muskie73
Jarren Duran’s 2024 season is reminiscent of Jacoby Ellsbury’s 2011 season and Darin Erstad’s 2000.’
The Red Sox might be wise to trade high on Duran.
Going into Saturday’s games, Duran had posted an OPS+ of 130 in 158 games.
For the Mariners, Julio Rodriguez had posted an OPS+ of 116 in 141 games, Randy Arozarena an OPS+ of 116 in 53 games, Victor Robles an OPS+ of 154 in 75 games and Luke Raley an OPS+ of 125 in 135 games.
Seattle’s greatest needs are not in the outfield
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I have heard a lot of rumors of Duran getting traded and him being sent to Seattle but I can’t see that happening
Yes, Roman Anthony is coming for an outfield spot in Boston but Duran has locked it up, it would be wilyer that loses time or gets traded if they need to
This one belongs to the Reds
You can’t blame them. Most teams would kill to have that group of pitchers with pitching at a premium and all the pitching injuries.
C Us Sink
All the arms in the world don’t make any difference if you don’t get to the post season.
mlb fan
“Get to the postseason”..Without a consistent offense all you get is a lot of .500ish teams. The M’s are proof positive of this concept.
LordD99
Yes, except they’re so deep there and teams desperate for pitching that they could address their hitting by trading one.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
If we trade one of our starters it’s not like our switch pitcher is going to be called up immediately or Ryan Sloan or something, it would be either Hancock (who is a league average starter at best) or a random triple A starter
AAA starters suck in the big leagues
case
Agreed, the depth is great insulation for the inevitable injuries and off years.
C Us Sink
Until ownership sells the team to someone else who plans to spend on offense to improve the team, it will continue to be a losing franchise. Has been for decades.
mlb fan
“Spend on offense”…”Spending” won’t solve the Mariners woes. I don’t really trust Dipoto to make the right choices. The last time they “spent” big, it resulted in the burdensome Robinson Cano contract that locked them into even more years of mediocrity.
Their rather obvious course of action, in my opinion, should be to leverage their biggest asset, pitching and try to turn that into at least one(preferably 2)above average everyday offensive minded players via trade.
yeasties
This has been mentioned by a lot of people but under Dipoto, the Mariners appear to have little ability to evaluate Major League hitters properly. Trading a good pitcher for bad hitters seems like the most likely outcome in this scenario.
Samuel
yeasties;
The thing about trading pitchers for hitters or visa versa is this….
MLB is more of a coaches league every year. Those coaches – with an “s” – work with the players literally every single day. They make adjustments to the players approach and execution, constantly look at video, breakdowns as to what the player is doing.
If a team can’t coach pitchers and’/or hitters successfully, trading for established players won’t help. No matter how successful, players need constant adjustments during the season (some of that is due to minor injuries). The Mariners don’t do that very well with their hitters. Trading for name ones will only last so long.
Watch.
yeasties
@Samuel, I think you make some fair points there. One big problem is that many players pay for their own coaches these days. The team’s coaches should be working together with the player’s coaches. Do they? I have no idea, but that sort of thing is seems opaque to fans and complicates the situation..
Samuel
mlb fan;
He churns his roster too much.
Was a bit stunned the day the Luis Castillo trade was announced. Told myself: “There he (Dipoto) goes again!”.
The team had what then needed to support pitching (in order): 1) A pitchers park for half their games; 2) A quality catcher (one of the best in MLB) that can run a game, handle pitchers, block balls in the dirt, and keep baserunners honest; 3) A terrific defensive SS (and like C, anything he
hits is gravy); and 4) A solid young ballhawk in CF.
What they needed was to develop some young position players that could hit, and maybe had the speed to turn a game.
So he trades some of his valued position playing prospects for yet another starter, and knowing the pitcher could leave in free agency. Gives him a large (not outrageous) multi-year contract. Thereby assuring that instead of developing cheap young position players, he’s now backed myself into a corner with the budget (so the fans can kvetch about ownerships budget – indignant fans of all losing teams that mismanage their budgets find a home here at MLBTR…..in the articles and the chatroom boards).
I don’t know why, but there’s something amiss in Dipoto where he doesn’t understand how important it is to build balanced rosters that give a manager multiple ways to win a game on any given day. The sustainable contenders do that. And oftentimes they get to the playoffs and beyond.
sillywabbit
It cost the M’s a prospect who got popped for PED’s. The Reds clearly lost that trade.
C Us Sink
Spending unfortunately in how I meant it was over-spending. I’d actually say that Cano provided an impact bat they needed at the time, but after half his contract, we knew he’d decline. And being popped for juicing obviously didn’t help. I agree with yeasties here, that I wouldn’t trust Jerry to trade from our pitching as he cannot evaluate Major League hitting.
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
Robby wasn’t that bad of a contract, it was an overpay to make him go to Seattle but we had almost playoff teams with him and Nelson and seager
Almost playoff teams are not that bad in mariners lore
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
I agree c us, this team won’t win a pennant until there’s a new owner
Talk about a dysfunctional franchise man
BigV
Good luck with that Jerry
Brodee
I don’t hate the idea of a Raley/Locklear platoon at 1B. Also, would love to see Bliss get a full season at 2B. Dude could be a legit 20/50 guy.
Spend the money on Bregman for 3B and we’re set. At least they’ll save $12M by not picking up Polanco’s option.
Astros_fan_in_Aus
I think Bregman will want to go to a winning environment.
I Believe We Can Win
Bregman already won 2 World Series
It’s time to get paid.
Misty Moobs
Bregman will be severely overpayed and is going to fall of a cliff!!!
Holden Bases
Bregman is a high quality player. However, if he were a Mariner, he’d be an annual 15 home run bat. He hits some of the shortest distance home runs in MLB.
LordD99
Wake me up when DiPoto ever wins anything.
Carl Winslow
Wake me up when that poverty franchise ever becomes relevant again. Seattle is known for 3 things:
Grunge Rock
Astronomical property costs/rent
An awful MLB team with fans that cling to the old memory of Ken Griffey winning individual awards and never winning when it matters
– Carl Winslow
zoinksscoob
A lot will depend on what happens with Root Sports this winter. Both the Kraken and Trail Blazers have left the network, leaving the Mariners as the only pro sports team with games there (plus they’re the majority owner). I don’t know if an RSN can survive with only one team and the rest of the time filled with low-end MMA, poker shows, and infomercials. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the network fold in the next few months; then the M’s would either go with a local broadcast package or take the Rockies and Padres route and stream all their games directly through MLB. Once they have a better feel for their revenue stream from TV, they’ll be able to determine what (if anything) they can spend on offense.
They might have to pursue a similar course to last season when they essentially tied younger players to bad contracts in trades (i.e., Kelenic). They could go that route with Haniger and/or Garver to clear those contracts (combined $27.5 MM). That would give them some additional financial room to work with.
That being said, the notion that they don’t have to do much is far-fetched. They have to upgrade at four positions minimum: 1B, 2B, 3B, and DH. Bliss is an interesting internal option at 2B, as he and Robles could form a 1-2 with blazing speed at the top of the lineup to give J-Rod and Raleigh more RBI chances (not to mention more fastball opportunities.) But they will need to go outside the organization to fill the other holes.
This one belongs to the Reds
The RSN fiasco will continue to affect what more than half of baseball does, or feel they can do, before it is resolved.
Robby the robot has let it go on too long but his large market masters probably are directing him not to because they want to keep their extreme advantage.
yeasties
Someone pls correct if I am wrong, but one hilarious thing about the Root Sports fiasco is that one of the reasons the Mariners bought it was concern over the return of the Sonics and arrival of the NHL.
It was all tied into their underhanded shenanigans of knee capping any new teams like that “The Mariners are first and foremost civic minded and must point out that the city can’t possibly build a new arena for the NBA or NHL, because Seattle parking and roads are completely full when a NFL and MLB game is on that day” nonsense.
A fitting outcome for the Mariners ownership.
yeasties
Another funny aspect to this, that bulldog Geoff Baker was the Seattle Times’ Mariners beat writer at the time and doing the reporting on this stuff. Now he works for the Kraken.
El Niño
Didn’t the marlins say that too, and look how that worked out.
Carl Winslow
Marlins are a joke. They should relocate to another city so they can have a shot at drawing more than 7k fans every home game.
– CW
Jean Matrac
The problem isn’t Dipoto not wanting to trade pitching, it’s ownership’s unwillingness to pony up to sign FA hitters. There are precedents for teams winning a WS title on strong pitching with only adequate hitting.
The M’s pitching staff is tied for the 4th youngest in MLB. It’s reasonable to believe they will only be getting better going forward. Seeing how the Dodgers and Giants, both seem to have a surplus of pitching going into the season, only for them to see that surplus vanish, that if I were Dipoto, I’d do the same.
zoinksscoob
It’s more than just being unwilling to sign free agent hitters. Free agent hitters don’t want to come here because a) T-Mobile is one of the more pitcher friendly parks in all of MLB and b) the ownership group has a BAD reputation at this point. That’s why Dipoto has become “Trader Jerry”, especially with regard to hitters. Until ownership makes changes to the batter’s eye and makes the park more neutral (NOT hitter friendly), it will be very difficult to lure hitters here.
ClevelandSteelEngines
Seattle’s hitting was worse than expected. This can easily change next year. Plus, Rodriguez will have pressure to figure out his woes and have a great season. Robles is a decent leadoff, and the team can bring back some injured/inconsistent guys with a clean slate to a devilishly good pitching team. There is at least 5+ wins easy without major additions.
Mike56
Not a Mariners fan but with their history of not paying big time free agents what’s the plan to improve offense. Gotta give up something to get something. Pitching is something they have great wealth of. Evidently M’s are pretty good at developing pitchers also . If I’m M’s fan I would be a little disturbed by his attitude
good vibes only
I am a Mariners fan. Can confirm: I am disturbed by his attitude.
birdland410
I would give them Jackson Holliday Ryan Mountcastle Coby mayo and Cade Povich for woo and miller
birdland410
Orioles need to get in there and trade Holliday for either woo or miller
sad tormented neglected mariners fan
If my name was John Stanton, I’d either sell the team for as much as possible, or throw money at Willy adames, trade for a 3rd basemen (shoot I’d take Eugenio back if he’s somehow available), trade locklear away and sign Christian walker or keep locklear, look at Blake snell, etc etc
The team can be fixed it can be better it all depends on the big man