Mariners infielder Jorge Polanco underwent surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee, reports Jeff Passan of ESPN. The infielder expects to be ready by spring training. The Mariners can retain Polanco for 2025 via a $12MM club option with a $750K buyout. They will have until five days after the World Series to decide whether to pick it up or not.
Polanco, 31, just finished a rough campaign. Acquired from the Twins going into the season, he got into 118 games but hit just .213/.296/.355 for a wRC+ of 92. That was a notable drop from his time in Minnesota, as he had hit .269/.334/.446 over his 823 games as a Twin for a 111 wRC+.
Passan suggests that Polanco’s performance was impacted by the knee problems, particularly when hitting left-handed. The switch-hitter slashed .198/.301/.345 against righties this year for a wRC+ of 91. That actually wasn’t too far off from his right-handed production, mostly due to a big difference in his walk rate. He slashed .250/.285/.379 against lefties for a 94 wRC+. His batting average as a righty was far better but he only walked 4.6% of the time. Since he walked in 11.8% of his plate appearances as a lefty, he made up most of the difference in terms of overall production.
The knee issue didn’t come out of nowhere. He dealt with soreness in 2022, eventually missing the month of September while on the injured list due to left knee inflammation. But he still finished the season with a solid .235/.346/.405 slash line and 118 wRC+ in 104 games.
The soreness was still there in March of 2023, so Polanco started the season on th IL. He was activated by the third week of April. He did go back on the IL a couple of more times that year, but both of those later stints were due to left hamstring strains. He got into 80 games last year and produced a .255/.335/.454 line and 117 wRC+.
After those two seasons impacted by knee issues, he was flipped to the Mariners ahead of the 2024 season, with reliever Justin Topa, starter Anthony DeSclafani and prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen going the other way. Both clubs saw their end of that deal impacted by injuries. Topa only made three appearances this year due to his own left knee issues while DeSclafani underwent flexor tendon surgery and missed the whole season.
The Mariners are likely to buy out Polanco on the heels of such a poor season, unless they buy into the narrative that his 2024 struggles were completely caused by the knee. If Polanco were able to return to his pre-2024 form, he’d be worth the investment, but the Mariners might prefer to keep that powder dry until later in the winter. The payroll in Seattle is expected to climb but perhaps not by much.
Even if Seattle is interested in bringing Polanco back for 2025, they could probably turn down the option and re-sign him for less than that option price. They figure to have Josh Rojas at either second or third base but should be looking for infield help, either in free agency or trade.
If Polanco ends up on the open market, he’ll join a group of free agent second basemen that includes Gleyber Torres, Jose Iglesias, Ha-Seong Kim, Amed Rosario, Whit Merrifield and others.
He’s gone, I don’t see the Mariners keeping him around at that price.
If Tim Anderson got 5MM, then 12MM for Polanco isn’t such a steep price.
Polanco posted a .796 and 9.6 rWAR from 2021-2023, so while I do expect them to decline his option, I don’t think it’s completely out of the question that they would exercise it and hope for a rebound.
I really don’t see them doing that.
I don’t either, but he was still worth 1.4 rWAR in 2024 despite his struggles, so bad relative to expectations, but hardly Javier Baez or Chris Davis bad.
fWAR liked him a lot less at .3 fWAR in 2024, and only 7.1 WAR from 2021-2023. It comes down to his defense, which rWAR saw as much better. Even with that he projects to be solid enough for a 12m option, the bigger issue is the way the Mariner’s do things doesn’t seem likely at all to exercise the option.
Yeah. Polanco does not have a good glove and if he’s not hitting there’s no value.
I bet he gets 1/7 with some incentives.
I don’t think 1/12 would be horrible it’s just I don’t think the Mariners do that. He was a good hitter before this year so probably would be fine at 1/12 if the Mariners wanted to make their 2B search easy but could see him get a little less on the open market, something incentive laden would make sense. I’m not just can’t see the Mariners as fitting 12 million for a starting 2B who projects to be below average into their likely budget.
In your opinion.
We’ll see.
I’m not so sure Rojas is even a lock for Seattle’s infield. He’s going to make 4-5m next year and he’s a replacement-level fielder with little power. He would be great in a utility role, but for a team with as many offensive issues as Seattle had, I would hope they look for upgrades at both second and third (and DH, backup catcher, fourth outfielder, bullpen…)
While I look forward to your off-season plan… I will say again that I do not expect the M’s FO to fill more than 3 holes… and those holes will probably be 2B or 3B, DH/1B and relief pitcher.
I fully expect one Mitch to be back… probably Haniger
I fully expect 2B or 3B to be filled by platoon of current roster players – namely 2 of Bliss, Dylan, Rojas or even (holding nose) Polanco.
The OF is filled – Julio, Victor, Randy, Raley and Dylan.
Back up C will probably be a waiver / min salary pick up.
I really hope I am WRONG!!!
The regular outfielders are likely set with Randy-Julio-Victor. regular Catcher is set, SS is set, the rotation is set, and closer is set. Everything else is about opportunity, priority, and affordability, not necessarily in that order.
That said, I don’t think first base is a priority. They could arguably use a Raley-Moore platoon there. Rojas slashed .240/.318/.370 vs. RHPs with a 104 wRC+. If they’re going to platoon asecond or third, I would certainly hope that they use a stronger option to face RHPs.
I anticipate at least a couple of under-the-radar (cheap) additions. That wouldn’t really bother if they’re role players or if there are alternatives (depth).
I don’t expect Haniger back. They can’t afford to carry him.
Garver was actually good facing LHPs as the backup catcher. The main reason for replacing him has more to do with salary, as he’s no longer viewed as a regular.
As before, we are close in our beliefs…
I just don’t trust M’s FO to make best decisions.
Getting rid of Haniger should be OBVIOUS. However, I still expect Garver being the Mitch salary that gets dumped because he still has some value and is EASIER to move. Not the right move, the EASY move.
Would love to see someone other than Rojas and Bliss at a platoon position, but keeping them are the EASY decision… again not the right decision but the EASY one.
Hollander / Dipoto will have their NORMAL spaghetti for finding relievers – EASY not RIGHT
Raley will be part of some platoon rotations at DH/1B/OF… EASY not RIGHT
IT IS sad to see the M’s FO continue to do basically the same thing over and over again each off-season and expect better results.
Back up catcher could easily be Harry Ford, though he also has lots of trade value.
Ford could be… but that would be a mistake.
Like Stevil said below… Young and Ford have yet to prove themselves at the AA level… so definitely not ready for MLB yet
Ford struggled for much of the season. I don’t think he has a lot of trade value and I don’t think he’s close to his MLB debut
I feel like they need to address at least two spots out of 1B, 3B, and DH.
I wouldn’t necessarily look outside at 2B and I’m not picking up the Polanco option. I feel like Cole Young could reasonably be our secondbase by June/July and we can use internal options until then.
I like Raley but I want him to be used in the 1B/OF role and not as the everyday firstbase guy unless we address 3B and DH
I’d imagine Garver is the backup catcher due to the contract as he’d be tough to move. They really need to move on from Haniger but that contract will be tough to move as well
Peripherally, I’d like to see a leverage bullpen arm added and also a LH hitting outfielder that can rotate in as well as potentially DH versus RHP
Cole Young, like Ford, didn’t dominate AA. I don’t think he’s an option for 2B.
It would be great if they had a star first baseman and could rely on Raley as a fourth outfielder/depth piece. But should that be the plan? He hit .248/.352/.560 with a 162 wRC+ as their first baseman (in a platoon).
I would prioritize regulars at 3B, 2B and DH. Then fourth outfielder and 1B weak-side platoon, then backup catcher. But of course that wouldn’t be easy.
They also lack depth. Outfielders, infielders, relievers….
It’s kind of depressing how the list of needs has gotten longer.
I don’t think Young is an option before midseason. Then it depends on his development but it’s not out of the question. He needs to add strength and work to get more lift on the ball but those things will likely come as he develops. I do like that he started to drive the ball better the last two months with a .838 OPS in August and .950 OPS in September
I think Cole Young would have to really be lighting the minors on fire or the Mariners to be in really bad shape depth-wise to run Cole Young out beyond a late season cup of coffee.
Keep JRod, Raley, and Raleigh, and turn in all the other regulars for new blood. Given their farm and pitching depth, they’re one of the few teams that can pull that off in one off-season.
You don’t wnat Robles? Crawford? Arozarena?
Robles – 155 OPS+ and 3.2 WAR
Arozarena – 118 OPS+ with Mariners
Crawford – 2.7 WAR in a down year at plate
I hope they resign him for $6-$8M for next season on a “prove it” contract. He’s no worse than the other free agents out there, and if I were him I’d want to come back to a team I know and who knows me instead of starting fresh on a new team and pushing it (and possibly getting injured again while attempting to prove it before he’s 100% ready). Comfort on a team and in a clubhouse is highly underrated, and some players just take a while to warm up to a new team/clubhouse.
I’d also love to see Ha-Seong Kim as a Mariner on a similar deal. If healthy, he’s a fantastic offensive player, and he could easily slot in at either 2nd, SS (if JP once again gets inured or underperforms), or possibly 3rd.
Everyone knows the M’s need a new 2nd and 3rd basemen, but as a lifelong M’s fan I know we won’t pay much for either of them. These two have high upside and won’t cost a ton. Everyone knows the M’s wont spend what’s necessary to win any more than the minimum they think it will take to get to the playoffs. Why would you want to shoot for the moon and miss and hit the stars when you ca shoot for the World Series and once again miss it by a game.
Hopefully these two players will help to get us to the 54% that we need to tie the Astro’s for 1st place and make the playoffs because we somehow once again win the regular season series (and yes, if you didn’t already know, the cheaters had the infamous 54% winning percentage, won the AL West, and made the playoffs this season just as Dipoto predicted).
I have low expectations, but out of the free agents available, these 2
Sorry, got cut off!
Out of the free agents available, these two seem like the best candidates to fit the budget with the most offensive upside.
Lord knows none of these thoughts will matter because Dipoto will make some crazy trades no one would have thought possible and change everything.
My goodness, the Mariners are stupid…I remember Hollander talking about his knee problems before the season started, and I was like “then why do we wanna gamble on this guy?” Obviously that gamble didn’t pay off, and for a 3rd straight year, the Mariners get f’ed in the A for a 3rd straight year as far as 2Bman go. Can the Mariners just go to their farm system and bring up Cole Young to play the position…PLEASE!!! And 3B, Colt Emerson?