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Luis Urias

Mariners Decline Option On Jorge Polanco; Luis Urias Elects Free Agency

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The Mariners on Friday declined their $12MM club option on second baseman Jorge Polanco, per a team announcement. He’ll be paid a $750K buyout and become a free agent. The M’s also announced that infielder Luis Urias went unclaimed on outright waivers and elected free agency. Their 40-man roster is currently at 36 players.

Seattle acquired the switch-hitting Polanco from the Twins last offseason in a trade sending reliever Justin Topa, veteran righty Anthony DeSclafani, prospects Gabriel Gonzalez and Darren Bowen, and cash back to Minnesota. The hope at the time was that the steady Polanco  would solidify what had been a revolving door at second base for two seasons in Seattle. Instead, Polanco became the latest notable veteran to arrive in Seattle and see his offensive production unexpectedly decline in swift fashion.

Polanco hit .270/.338/.455 in nearly 2700 plate appearances with the Twins from 2018-23, only once posting below-average offense in a season (2020). He’d incurred some injury troubles in the two years immediately preceding the swap but was entering his age-30 season. There was little reason to expect a steep decline at the plate, but that’s exactly what played out. Polanco, a 2019 All-Star, got out to an awful .197/.285/.298 slash through the first three months of the season. He picked up the pace considerably in July, but by that point there was little salvaging his season. He wound up with career-lows in batting average (.213) and on-base percentage (.298). His .355 slugging percentage was exactly one point higher than his career-worst .354 from that shortened 2020 season.

The career-worst showing at the plate for Polanco was at least in part due to knee troubles. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported a couple weeks back that Polanco was slated to undergo surgery to repair the patellar tendon in his left knee. That’s the same knee that landed Polanco on the injured list for the final month of the 2022 season and for the first three weeks of the 2023 campaign. Depending on the extent to which the injury has been nagging him, it’s certainly possible that a healthier Polanco could return to form in short order next season. It’s not yet clear exactly how long he’ll need to recover, but if Polanco is expected back on time for Opening Day 2025, he ought to command a one-year deal with incentives this offseason.

As for Urias, this is the second time the Mariners passed him through waivers. He accepted an outright assignment last time around, as electing free agency following his midseason outright would’ve required forfeiting the remainder of his salary. He’s no longer on a guaranteed deal, however, and was arbitration-eligible — with a projected $5MM salary (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz). The M’s were never likely to pay that price a second time, leaving Urias as one of the more clear-cut non-tender candidates in the league. Today’s outright is tantamount to non-tendering him a couple weeks ahead of the deadline to do so.

Urias, 27, was one of the top prospects in baseball during his minor league days with the Padres. He had a pair of solid seasons following a trade to the Brewers, hitting a combined .244/.340/.426 in 2021-22. However, Urias’ production tanked with a .194/.337/.299 slash in 2023, and he wasn’t able to get back on track in 2024, hitting only .191/.303/.394. He’s capable of playing multiple infield spots but is better suited at second and third base than at shortstop. A team seeking a right-handed utility infielder could look to Urias on a minor league deal or perhaps a low-cost one-year pact with some incentives baked in.

Mariners Select Luis Urias

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The Mariners announced this evening that they’ve selected the contract of infielder Luis Urias from Triple-A Tacoma. The club designated infielder Terrin Vavra for assignment and optioned left-hander Gabe Speier to Triple-A in corresponding moves.

Urias, 27, joined the Mariners back in November when he was acquired from the Red Sox in trade. Urias entered the 2024 season seemingly poised to share time at third base with Josh Rojas while also filling in occasionally at the keystone for veteran second baseman Jorge Polanco in the club’s infield mix following the club’s decision to move on from third baseman Eugenio Suarez over the winter. Unfortunately for Urias, however, Rojas caught fire to open the season with an eye-popping .351/.417/.526 slash line in his first 30 games of the 2024 campaign.

That allowed Rojas to secure more and more playing time that was initially expected to go to Urias, and it didn’t help matters that Urias himself was struggling badly at the plate. Urias hit just .152/.264/.317 in 91 trips to the plate over the first two months of the season before the Mariners decided to option him to the minors on May 24. Urias found himself outrighted off the club’s 40-man roster shortly thereafter, and since then has been working toward a return at the Triple-A level.

He’s seen some real improvement since going down to the minors with a .261/.379/.415 slash line in 349 trips to the plate with Tacoma this year. That’s good for only a 104 wRC+ due to the inflated offensive environment of the Pacific Coast League, but even numbers 4% better than average are a significant step up when compared to the 75 wRC+ Urias was posting in the majors prior to his demotion. Now, Urias appears poised to join Rojas, Polanco, Leo Rivas, and Dylan Moore, in the mix for playing time at second and third base down the stretch. The return of Urias to the big league roster could free up Moore for occasional appearances in the outfield/DH mix as well, improving the overall flexibility of Seattle’s lineup.

Making room for Urias on the 40-man roster is Vavra, who the club claimed off waivers from the Orioles just last week. Vavra, 27, has missed most of the 2024 season due to a torn labrum in his right shoulder and was outrighted off the Orioles’ 40-man roster back in November. He hit fairly well upon his return to action at Triple-A, however, and earned a call up back to the majors in the aftermath of the trade deadline but was immediately optioned back to the minor leagues and wound up designated for assignment a few weeks later. Now he’s once again set to hit the waiver wire, where any of the league’s 29 other clubs can claim him. Vavra hasn’t played in the majors yet this year and struggled amid the aforementioned shoulder issues last year but could intrigue clubs based on his solid 40-game cup of coffee with the Orioles in 2022 where he slashed .258/.340/.337 (99 wRC+) in 103 trips to the plate.

Mariners Outright Luis Urías

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The Mariners announced today that they have signed outfielder Víctor Robles to a major league deal, a move that was reported yesterday. To open a spot on their 40-man roster, they announced that infielder Luis Urías was outrighted to Triple-A Tacoma, suggesting he has already passed through waivers unclaimed. He has the right to elect free agency but would have to forfeit his salary in order to do so.

Urías, who just celebrated his 27th birthday yesterday, was once a solid regular in the big leagues but has fallen on hard times lately. He hit 39 homers for the Brewers over the 2021 and 2022 seasons, while also drawing walks at a 10.8% clip. He slashed a combined .244/.340/.426 over that two-year stretch, production which translates to a 111 wRC+.

But last year, he missed a couple of months due to a strained left hamstring. He produced a dismal line of .145/.299/.236 in 20 games for the Brewers when healthy, which got him optioned to the minors and traded to the Red Sox at the deadline. He had a bit of a resurgence in Boston, hitting .225/.361/.337, then was flipped to Seattle in the offseason.

After becoming a Mariner, his struggles continued. He hit just .152/.264/.316 for Seattle and was optioned to the minors just over a week ago, though has now been bumped off the 40-man roster entirely.

Players with more than three years of service time can reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. However, a player needs five years of service in order to do so without forfeiting the remainder of his salary. Urías came into this year with four years and 98 days of service, leaving him 74 days shy of the five-year mark. Since he was optioned in late May, he added just under 60 days to that tally but is still not quite at the five-year mark.

Getting to five years of service also allows a player to refuse an optional assignment, so it’s perhaps not coincidental that Urías was sent down when he was, though his performance clearly justified the decision from the club. He and the M’s had agreed to a $5MM salary for 2024, with about $3.4MM left to be paid out. Urías likely doesn’t want to walk away from that kind of money and will almost certainly accept his fate with Tacoma and look to get back in form. For the Mariners, they are able to keep an experienced player around as depth without using a roster spot.

Mariners Option Luis Urias

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The Mariners announced this evening that they’ve optioned infielder Luis Urías to Triple-A Tacoma. Seattle recalled rookie outfielder Jonatan Clase to take the open roster spot.

It’s a little surprising to see Urías optioned out entirely. The righty-hitting infielder has played regularly at third base this month. Urías hasn’t hit, though, slumping to a .152/.264/.316 line in 91 plate appearances on the season. Seattle welcomed J.P. Crawford back from the injured list earlier in the week, while Jorge Polanco has played two of the past three games after missing some time with a sore hamstring.

Crawford and Polanco should draw into middle infield on most days. Manager Scott Servais told reporters that Josh Rojas and Dylan Moore will platoon at third base (X link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). Rojas, a left-handed hitter, opened the season at the hot corner but moved to second base while Polanco was out. He’s out to a .286/.354/.421 line through 41 games, a solid rebound after his underwhelming 2023 season.

Moore has arguably been even more impressive. The righty-hitting utilityman handled shortstop while Crawford was injured and has hit .248/.359/.504 over 145 plate appearances. Moore has connected on six homers, including three in his last eight games, and is drawing walks at a lofty 12.4% clip.

As one would expect for a right-handed batter, Moore is better against lefty pitching. He has absolutely destroyed southpaws this season (.289/.391/.632 in 46 plate appearances), though he’s more than holding his own against righties as well. Moore has a .343 on-base percentage and is slugging .446 in 99 plate appearances without the platoon advantage, albeit with a modest .229 average.

Moore can also play second base and the corner outfield, so he should play fairly regularly even against right-handed pitching. He’ll likely be at third against opposing southpaws in place of Rojas, who is a career .253/.330/.346 hitter left-on-left. Urías, meanwhile, will get everyday reps in the Pacific Coast League as he tries to get on track. It’s the second straight year in which he has been optioned. The Brewers sent him down for 26 games midway through last season.

Urías entered 2024 with four years and 98 days of MLB service. He needs around three more weeks of major league time to cross the five-year threshold this season. In either case, that might wind up being immaterial. Urías is playing this season on a $5MM salary and would be in line for a modest raise next year if he’s tendered an arbitration contract.

He’d need a significant turnaround over the next few months or he’ll be an easy non-tender call for the Seattle front office. He’d already seemed like a non-tender candidate last offseason when he was with the Red Sox, but the M’s sent reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston to give Urías a shot at a bounceback. It hasn’t transpired thus far.

Mariners Notes: Urias, Woo, Miller

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Mariners infielder Luis Urias exited last night’s game after taking a 94 mph fastball of his left wrist, but the Mariners announced that he’s been diagnosed with a contusion. X-rays on the wrist were negative, per MLB.com, and he’ll be considered day-to-day for the time being.

The 26-year-old Urias has gotten out to a .160/.300/.400 start this season, striking out 11 times in 30 plate appearances (36.7%) — an uncharacteristically high rate for a player who entered the season with a career 21.6% strikeout rate.

The Mariners entered the season envisioning a platoon of the righty-swinging Urias and lefty-hitting Josh Rojas — a more contact-oriented pairing than the more boom-or-bust nature of since-traded third baseman Eugenio Suarez. Rojas has been one of the team’s bright spots, hitting .311/.392/.422 (148 wRC+) in 51 trips to the plate thus far. Only four of those plate appearances have come against lefties, but if Urias is sidelined for a bit, Rojas could get some more reps against southpaws. Seattle doesn’t have many lefty opponents on the immediate horizon, though they’re slated to face Andrew Heaney on Thursday.

Elsewhere on the injury front, the M’s are getting closer to welcoming righty Bryan Woo back to the staff. The right-hander made his first minor league rehab appearance with Triple-A Tacoma last night, and as broadcaster Mike Curto points out, pitched three perfect innings while fanning five of his nine opponents.

Woo’s fastball ranged from 91-95 mph, per Curto, which is down from last year when he averaged 95.2 mph on his heater. That said, it’s also the first rehab start for a right-hander who’s yet to pitch this season while waiting for some elbow inflammation to calm down, so that’s not necessarily a massive red flag just yet. It’d be natural if he built closer to that velocity as he continued to ramp up over what could be multiple rehab starts between now and his activation.

In place of Woo in the rotation, Seattle has been relying on former top-10 pick Emerson Hancock, who’s posted a 6.10 ERA through four starts, although the vast majority of the damage came in one tough outing against the Brewers. Hancock has yielded a combined seven earned runs through 17 1/3 innings in his other three appearances but was lit up for an eight spot in just 3 1/3 innings that day. He’s sporting a well below-average 16.7% strikeout rate but also an exceptional 3.3% walk rate. Hancock is the least established arm in Seattle’s rotation, trailing Luis Castillo, George Kirby, Logan Gilbert and Bryce Miller — so he’s likely to be the odd man out if everyone’s healthy when Woo returns.

Miller, in particular, has impressed the Mariners this year. He’s pitched to an electric 1.85 ERA with a 26.1% strikeout rate and 7.6% walk rate in 24 2/3 innings. Miller recently chatted with Adam Jude of the Seattle Times about his incorporation of a new splitter into his repertoire — a pitch that’s been flat-out dominant for the 25-year-old righty so far. Miller has thrown his new pitch at a 19.4% clip this season, finishing off 24 plate appearances with the pitch. Those 24 plate appearances have resulted in 21 outs — eight of them strikeouts — and yielded only three singles. Both Gilbert and Kirby began throwing splitters last season, and Miller has leaned on his teammates for advice and guidance when looking to master his new pitch.

“It kind of has a mind of its own sometimes, but I’ve been able to command it really well,” Miller tells Jude of his new weapon. “So, I’m really happy with it and I think it’s opened up a lot of things for me [against] lefties and righties.”

Mariners Notes: Brash, Santos, Urias, Phillips

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The Mariners have shut relievers Matt Brash and Gregory Santos down from throwing for the time being, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times. Neither the team nor Brash would get into specifics regarding his injury, though Divish notes that the M’s don’t believe it to be a serious issue. Brash simply told Divish that he’s “banged up” and “didn’t feel great” after his most recent bullpen session. GM Justin Hollander added that the organizational hope is for Brash to resume a throwing progression next week. Santos, meanwhile, is dealing with some discomfort near his teres major muscle that popped up during his most recent ’pen session. There’s no specific timetable for his return to throwing.

While the team hasn’t yet conveyed significant concerns on either player, both should be watched with a keen eye. Brash quietly emerged as one of the most dominant setup men in the league last season. His 3.06 ERA in 70 2/3 innings is impressive on its own, but that masks a sensational four-month run to close out the season.

Brash posted strong secondary marks but pedestrian run-prevention numbers in the season’s first two months. But from Memorial Day weekend onward, the righty delivered a 2.36 ERA with a 32.4% strikeout rate and 9.7% walk rate. Brash averaged a blazing 98.2 mph on his heater in 2023, saved four games and picked up another 24 holds. He’s expected to be the primary setup man for closer Andres Munoz and is slated for regular high-leverage work; even an absence of moderate length would be a sizable blow for the M’s.

That’s also true of Santos, whom the Mariners just acquired from the White Sox earlier this month (in a trade sending outfielder Zach DeLoach, righty Prelander Berroa and a Competitive Balance draft pick back to Chicago). The Sox’ acquisition of Santos from the Giants flew under the radar last offseason, but he’d pitched his way into the likely closer’s role on the South Side before being flipped to Seattle. Santos pitched 66 1/3 innings in 2023, posting a sharp 3.39 ERA with a 22.8% strikeout rate, 5.9% walk rate and 52.5% grounder rate while averaging 98.8 mph on his fastball. ERA alternatives like FIP (2.65) and SIERA (3.32) generally support his unexpected breakout as an impact reliever.

The team will presumably have updates on both relievers in the days ahead, but they’re critical cogs in manager Scott Servais’ setup corps. The Mariners have a strong bullpen and are generally adept at turning low-profile pickups into successful bullpen arms, but overcoming the loss of both pitchers would be a tall order.

Unfortunately for the Mariners, Brash and Santos aren’t the only ones banged up. Third baseman Luis Urias isn’t throwing for the time being after experiencing some shoulder inflammation while playing winter ball in his native Mexico this offseason (link via MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). The team believes it’ll be a short-term issue, but there’s still no clear timetable as to when he’ll begin throwing.

Urias, 26, struggled to a dismal .199/.307/.299 slash in 177 plate appearances with the Brewers and Red Sox last year but slashed .244/.340/.426 in 1042 plate appearances with Milwaukee from 2021-22. He’s also a career .276/.353/.442 hitter against lefties. A healthy Urias would be a fine option in the short half of a platoon at either third base or second base, although the acquisition of Polanco at second base paints third base as the obvious place for the Urias/Rojas platoon.

If Urias misses any time or is at all delayed to start the season, Seattle could just stay in-house and give fellow righty-swinger Dylan Moore some platoon work at the hot corner. Moore hasn’t been as good against lefties as Urias, however, and putting him in that role would thin out the team’s bench depth, perhaps paving the way for Sam Haggerty or Samad Taylor to crack the roster. The M’s could also just go with Rojas on an everyday basis at third; he has near-identical splits throughout his career.

Kramer also notes that right-hander Cole Phillips, the 2022 second-rounder acquired from the Braves in the Jarred Kelenic deal, recently underwent his second Tommy John surgery. Phillips also underwent the procedure during his senior year of high school in 2022, just months before the draft. He’d been trending up as a potential first-round pick before blowing out his elbow in ’22 and has yet to throw a pitch in the pros while rehabbing that injury. Unfortunately, his debut will now be delayed even further. Phillips won’t turn 21 until May, so there’s plenty of time for him to get back on track and develop into a contributor for the Mariners, but a pair of Tommy John procedures prior to a pitcher’s 21st birthday is as ominous as it gets for a pitching prospect.

Hollander: Mariners Additions Likely To Be “More On The Margins”

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Mariners general manager Justin Hollander met with reporters this afternoon to discuss the possibility of some late-offseason acquisitions. While Hollander — who is second in the Seattle front office hierarchy behind baseball operations president Jerry Dipoto — left the door ajar for anything, he indicated the likelier course of action was to supplement towards the back of the roster.

“You never know. I think this group of players that we have — our 40-man roster as is — we may add on the margins. We may add in a more significant way, but I would expect it’s probably more on the margins than a real significant way based on where we’re at,” Hollander said (link via Daniel Kramer of MLB.com).

The comments come a couple days after Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported that the M’s have had internal discussions about Matt Chapman, one of the top four unsigned free agents. Hollander didn’t comment on Chapman — the CBA limits what team personnel are allowed to say regarding specific players — but Kramer writes that the M’s conversations about the third baseman occurred earlier in the month.

There was never any indication that Seattle is deeply involved in Chapman’s market. Kramer reports that the M’s interest has been contingent on the four-time Gold Glover lowering his asking price significantly. According to Kramer, a nine-figure deal for Chapman would be a “non-starter” for Seattle. The MLB.com report indicates the Mariners would be amenable to a shorter-term/incentive-laden contract, although that unsurprisingly hasn’t been of interest to Chapman’s camp at the Boras Corporation.

Third base looks like a relative weak point for Seattle. The Mariners dealt Eugenio Suárez to the Diamondbacks at the beginning of the offseason. They brought in Luis Urías in a small trade with the Red Sox and indirectly addressed the hot corner with last month’s Jorge Polanco deal. Installing Polanco at second base pushes lefty-hitting Josh Rojas over to third, likely in a platoon with the right-handed Urías.

Urías enters camp at a little less than full strength. The Mariners reveled today that he is battling some soreness in his throwing shoulder coming out of winter ball (via Divish). It’s not a serious issue but will keep him from throwing across the diamond in infield drills early in Spring Training.

Hollander downplayed any concern about the third base platoon. Asked if the M’s felt they’re vulnerable at the position, he replied: “I don’t really feel that way, no. … We feel really good about what the combination of Josh and Luis can do for us this year.”

That’s the expected tone for a GM to strike publicly. That said, Chapman is the only unsigned third baseman who’d be a clear upgrade on the Rojas/Urías pairing. If Seattle is simply keeping tabs on his market in case the opportunity presents itself to jump in at a lower price, they’re presumably otherwise content with their in-house options.

Seattle has also been loosely tied to the top two remaining free agents, Blake Snell and Cody Bellinger. The link to Snell has primarily been about geography rather than team need. The defending NL Cy Young winner is a Seattle native and there has been some speculation he could prefer to stay on the West Coast after three seasons in San Diego.

Despite that chatter, Kramer writes that the Mariners haven’t shown much interest in Snell at any point during the winter. The M’s traded rehabbing starter Robbie Ray and depth arm Marco Gonzales but have held onto their top five starters: George Kirby, Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo. Former top 10 pick Emerson Hancock remains on hand as a high-upside depth piece.

Bellinger was arguably a better roster fit, but Kramer reports that Seattle hasn’t considered the former MVP in either of the past two offseasons. The M’s reacquired Mitch Haniger and brought in Luke Raley from Tampa Bay as part of a reshaped corner outfield. Seattle shipped out one-time top prospect Jarred Kelenic, leaving Haniger and Raley as the presumptive starters alongside Julio Rodríguez on the outfield grass.

Seattle has generally preferred the trade route over free agency under Dipoto, particularly with regards to position players. This offseason’s two-year, $24MM deal for Mitch Garver was the first multi-year free agent contract for a hitter that Seattle has given out in Dipoto’s tenure. Roster Resource projects the organization’s 2024 player spending in the $135MM range. That’s a middle-of-the-pack figure that’s right in line with last year’s approximate $137MM Opening Day sum.

Infield Options For The Mariners

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To say the current offseason hasn’t panned out the way fans hoped would be putting things mildly. Fresh off a heartbreaking 2022 postseason exit and a narrow 2023 postseason miss, Seattle fans hoped to see significant investment in the team that would help put the on-field product over the top. Instead, ownership has opted to place some rather clear payroll restrictions on the front office in light of ongoing uncertainty regarding the team’s television rights.

The M’s are hardly alone in that regard, but that’s of little consolation to a fan base that has seen Eugenio Suarez, Teoscar Hernandez and Jarred Kelenic all depart. Incoming bats like Mitch Garver, Luke Raley, Luis Urias and the reacquired Mitch Haniger all have upside, but with the exception of Garver they lack the recent track records of Suarez and Hernandez. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said early in the offseason that much of the turnover would be in service of improving the team’s contact skills, but each of Garver, Haniger and especially Raley have strikeout concerns of their own. That’s not true to the same extent as Suarez, Hernandez and Kelenic, but the M’s haven’t exactly stockpiled plus bat-to-ball skills and overhauled their offensive identity, either.

The offseason isn’t over, but a good bit of the Mariners’ heavy lifting has been completed. Dipoto said recently that he still envisions potential additions both in the infield and the bullpen. However, that doesn’t mean there’s a blank check or that there aren’t caveats to consider. He indicated earlier in the offseason that the payroll would likely increase but perhaps not by a significant level. The Mariners are currently about $10-11MM shy of last year’s mark. There’s some spending room, but they’ll also likely want to leave some room for in-season acquisitions. On the trade front, Dipoto acknowledged that he’s received interest in young starters like Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo but also all but stated he has little appetite to deal from his coveted stock of youthful arms.

What options could the Mariners take to fit those bullpen and infield goals, then? Focusing on the former seems like a fool’s errand; there are any number of relievers who could be acquired, and the Mariners under the current front office regime have often focused on lesser-known names whom they believe they can take to a new level. That’s been the case with a number of success stories, including Paul Sewald, Justin Topa, Andres Munoz, Drew Steckenrider, Tayler Saucedo, Gabe Speier and others.

It’s possible there’s a similar preference for an unexpected acquisition in the infield, but the supply of names is both more finite and easier to pinpoint. Let’s run through some options who could be acquired without seismically increasing payroll.

Free Agents

  • Whit Merrifield: Merrifield might be the most straightforward answer. He’s a high-contact second baseman with modest pop who’s spent the bulk of his career in a pitcher-friendly setting (Kauffman Stadium) not entirely dissimilar from the Mariners’ own pitcher-friendly venue, T-Mobile Park. Merrifield fits the previously stated goal of reducing the team’s strikeout rate better than any of their offseason acquisitions to date. He could play second base regularly, pushing Josh Rojas and Urias into a platoon at third base. And, in the event of injuries in the outfield, Merrifield is an experienced contingency option who could slide into the outfield, with Rojas moving back over to second base. Merrifield hit .272/.318/.382 last year with Toronto, though he struggled in the season’s final six weeks. His end-of-season numbers are more or less in line with his slash dating back to the 2021 season. Merrifield will soon turn 35, so he’s likely limited to a two-year deal.
  • Gio Urshela: Urshela boasts plenty of contact with less speed than Merrifield but a bit more pop and solid defense at third base. His 2023 season came to an end after just 228 plate appearances due to a pelvic fracture. He hit .299/.329/.374 before landing on the injured list, and since 2021 he’s a .281/.323/.425 hitter. Assuming he’s healthy, Urshela would give the Mariners plenty of contact, good defense at third and 10 to 15 home runs. Given his injury-shortened 2023 season, he’s probably capped at two years and could settle for a one-year pact.
  • Tim Anderson: Anderson has already said he’s willing to move to second base, which is where the Mariners would play him in deference to J.P. Crawford. He hasn’t rated as a strong defensive shortstop for the past few years anyhow, and last year his bat experienced a precipitous decline; in 524 trips to the plate, he batted just .245/.286/.296. Awful as that output was, Anderson isn’t far removed from being one of the best-hitting infielders in the game. From 2019-22, he led the Majors with a .318 average. His .318/.347/.473 line during that time helped him make two All-Star teams and win a Silver Slugger Award. Given last year’s disastrous season, a one-year deal worth less than the $14MM option the White Sox declined seems likely.
  • Justin Turner: He’s 39 years old, but you wouldn’t know it looking at Turner’s .276/.345/.455 batting line in 2023 or his overall .277/.352/.455 slash dating back to 2021. Turner might not be a good defensive option at the hot corner anymore, but he doesn’t necessarily need to be a full-time infielder with both Urias and Rojas on the roster. The Mariners could play Turner at the hot corner occasionally, giving either Rojas or Urias the nod at second on those days, depending on the matchup. Turner has never whiffed in more than 18% of his plate appearances in a season, and while he ought to command a nice price on a one-year deal, even a $16MM guarantee would only put the Mariners about $5MM north of where they finished the 2023 season.

Trade Candidates

  • Jorge Polanco, Twins: Polanco has been locked into the Twins’ infield since 2017, and over his past 2695 plate appearances he’s batted .270/.338/.455 with 95 homers. The veteran switch-hitter is earning $10.5MM this season and has a $12MM option for 2025. On paper, there’s a strong matchup between a Twins club looking to add some MLB-ready pitching and a Mariners club looking for a clear infield upgrade but unwilling to part with any of its young arms in order to acquire a pure 2024 rental. Young pitchers like Bryce Miller likely have more trade value than Polanco on his own, but the Twins typically have little issue balancing the scales with minor leaguers or back-end 40-man pieces (as they did in last year’s Pablo Lopez/Luis Arraez swap and the year prior in the Chris Paddack/Taylor Rogers trade).
  • Kyle Farmer, Twins: Farmer is a one-year rental who has less of a track record of production than Polanco. He’s a lefty masher that can handle any infield position and even has ample experience behind the plate (albeit primarily as a minor leaguer). At $6.05MM for the coming season, he’s well within the Mariners’ budget. Farmer hit .256/.317/.408 last year — numbers right in line with his .258/.316/.402 slash in nearly 1500 plate appearances since 2021. He wouldn’t be a slam-dunk upgrade to the infield mix but could deepen it and provide some insurance in the event that Urias and/or Rojas continue to struggle in 2024.
  • Isaac Paredes, Rays: The Mariners showed interest in Paredes in early December. Rays president of baseball operations Erik Neander downplayed the possibility of moving his breakout third baseman but acknowledged he’d listened to interest, as he does on most players. Paredes ripped 31 homers while hitting .250/.352/.488 for Tampa Bay this past season. He’ll play next season at just 25. It’d be hard for the Rays to part with him, but he’s already into arbitration as a Super Two player and the team does have more third base depth than rotation depth after major injuries to Shane McClanahan, Drew Rasmussen and Jeffrey Springs. If the Rays were to move Paredes, they have top prospects Curtis Mead and Junior Caminero right behind him. With four years of club control and the type of production he showed in 2023, Paredes is the type of player who could command four, five or even six years of a plug-and-play big league rotation piece.
  • Christopher Morel, Cubs: Trade talk on Morel has cooled down. President of baseball ops Jed Hoyer and GM Carter Hawkins downplayed the chances of a deal coming together at last week’s Cubs Convention. Still, Hoyer himself acknowledged early in the winter that Morel lacked a path to playing time at second base, his best position, thanks to the presence of Nico Hoerner and Dansby Swanson in the middle infield. A Morel trade isn’t likely, and his prodigious strikeout totals run counter to the idea of bolstering the Mariners’ contact profile anyhow. But he’d add punch in the middle of the lineup — 42 homers in 854 MLB plate appearances — and the Cubs could perhaps use some more solidity at the back of the rotation. They have a growing number of young arms themselves but lack a clear fifth starter and could see Kyle Hendricks become a free agent next winter.
  • Ha-Seong Kim, Padres: Trade talk surrounding Kim has died down a bit since the Padres trimmed their payroll in other ways, but Kim is entering the final season of his contract before free agency. (His contract has a 2025 mutual option, but he’ll turn that down in favor of free agency.) After a tough first season in the Majors, Kim has come around with a .256/.338/.391 batting line over the past two seasons and emerged as an elite defender with above-average speed and contact skills. He swiped 38 bags and won his first Gold Glove at second base in 2023. He’s also adept at both shortstop and third base. He’s owed just $8MM for the 2024 season. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin wrote last week that the Padres have continued discussing the possibility internally.
  • Jake Cronenworth, Padres: Taking on the entirety of the seven-year, $80MM deal still owed to Cronenworth isn’t something the Mariners or even a team without current payroll constraints would be willing to do. But Cronenworth hit .256/.338/.431 from 2020-22, including a 21-homer, .266/.340/.460 showing in 2021. If the Padres are willing to cover some of Cronenworth’s deal — which only pays him $7MM this coming season — or take on some money of their own (e.g. Mitch Haniger), Cronenworth could be acquired relatively cheaply.

Teams with Various Young, Controllable Infielders

  • Cardinals: It’s an oversimplification at this point to note that the Cardinals are deep in young infielders and the Mariners are deep in young starters. The two teams have discussed their respective “surpluses,” and no trade has come together. Much as some fans may see merit in swapping Nolan Gorman for Logan Gilbert, or Brendan Donovan for Bryan Woo or whatever other iterations of an infielder-for-starter swap you care to dream up, Dipoto and St. Louis counterpart John Mozeliak have yet to agree. Between Gorman (five years of control), Donovan (four years), Tommy Edman (signed through 2025), Jordan Walker (six years) and top prospect Masyn Winn (six-plus years), there are more players than at-bats to go around. The Cards will see Paul Goldschmidt become a free agent at season’s end, however, possibly opening up first base for one of their young infielders. Walker has already moved to the outfield. Donovan and Edman can play anywhere. All of these players can still be optioned, too. There’s no grave urgency for the Cards to deal from their wealth of talent, but conceptually, the fit makes sense.
  • Reds: Different NL Central team, similar story. Cincinnati was already deep in infielders before adding Jeimer Candelario on top of Spencer Steer, Noelvi Marte, Elly De La Cruz, Matt McLain, Jonathan India and Christian Encarnacion-Strand. The Candelario signing prompted many — myself included — to expect an infield-for-pitching trade that has yet to materialize. But if the Reds indeed plan to play Steer in left field full-time, there’s a lack of urgency to get a deal done here as well. None of Marte, De La Cruz, McLain or Encarnacion-Strand has a full season in the Majors. McLain is the closest, and while he was excellent as a rookie, he might also be needed at shortstop if De La Cruz requires more Triple-A time. Marte was terrific but only saw 123 plate appearances. India won NL Rookie of the Year honors in 2021, but his bat has declined considerably since then. He’s no longer the clear infield fixture he once looked to be, and a below-average defender at second base with a roughly average .246/.333/.394 slash line (98 wRC+) over the past two seasons isn’t going to fetch a meaningful rotation upgrade on his own.
  • Orioles: Baltimore fans are still wondering when the organization’s move to upgrade the rotation is coming. Much of the focus has been on White Sox righty Dylan Cease, but the Mariners have a bevy of controllable arms to match the Orioles’ impressive stock of infielders. Gunnar Henderson is the long-term third baseman. Shortstop is earmarked for current No. 1 overall prospect Jackson Holliday. First base currently belongs to a pair of Ryans: O’Hearn and Mountcastle. That’d be a strong group of infielders as it is, but it’s only scratching the surface. The O’s have top prospects Jordan Westburg and Joey Ortiz already on the 40-man roster. Both debuted in 2023. Fellow top prospect Connor Norby isn’t far off, nor is slugging third baseman Coby Mayo, who could also muscle his way into the first base or corner outfield mix. Veterans Jorge Mateo and Ramon Urias give the Orioles some insurance if the kids don’t hit right away, but they also provide critical depth that makes it easier for the O’s to move someone like Westburg, Norby, Ortiz or Mayo to get a controllable pitcher.

The Chapman Effect

Unless Matt Chapman determines the long-term deal he wants isn’t attainable this winter and opts for some type of pillow arrangement, he’s not going to sign in Seattle — not without a serious pivot from ownership in terms of willingness to spend. Even on a one-year deal, he’d probably cost more than the Mariners prefer to spend. But Chapman still could impact Seattle’s infield pursuit. For instance, if he signs with the Giants — his top rumored fit — that could make San Francisco more willing to trade J.D. Davis. If Chapman goes back to Toronto, it becomes more feasible that the Jays would consider dealing young Davis Schneider. Wherever Chapman lands, he could prompt a domino effect that adds a new entrant or two to the trade market.

Mariners Still Exploring Infield, Bullpen Markets

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It’s been an active two weeks for the Mariners, who’ve recently signed Mitch Garver to a two-year deal and shipped out Robbie Ray and Jose Caballero in trades that brought Mitch Haniger, Anthony DeSclafani and Luke Raley back to Seattle. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said this weekend that while his team feels more complete now than at any point this offseason, he’s still open to subsequent additions (link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).

More specifically, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports that the Mariners are still hoping to acquire an infielder to make the club less reliant on the uncertain tandem of Luis Urias and Josh Rojas, who are currently projected to start at third base and second base, respectively. Seattle would also like to add a reliever, per Rosenthal, which Dipoto alluded to in his comments to Divish and others.

An infield upgrade is a sensible target for the M’s, given the volatility presented by both Urias and Rojas (and to a lesser extent, first baseman Ty France, who’s coming off a down season). From 2021-22, both Urias (.244/.340/.426, 111 wRC+) and Rojas (.266/.345/.401, 106 wRC+) were above-average performers at the plate, due in no small part to walk rates approaching 11%.

Rojas saw his walk rate drop to 7.7% in 2023, however, as he batted just .240/.303/.338 in 350 plate appearances. Urias maintained his walk rate but watched his hard-hit rate and exit velocity plummet en route to a middling .194/.337/.299 slash in 155 trips to the plate. Both players saw their strikeout rates tick up to near identical marks of 23.2% and 23.1% — slightly higher than league average but also well south of the 30%-plus rates of some names they shipped out in trades.

Both Rojas and Urias come with platoon issues of note, as well. The lefty-swinging Rojas has extremely similar rate stats against lefties and righties, with identical 93 wRC+ marks against each, but his production against lefties is contingent on a .361 average on balls in play that’s not likely to hold up. Rojas has punched out at an ugly 28.3% clip against southpaws compared to a 21% mark against righties and hit for more power when holding the platoon advantage as well (.098 ISO versus lefties, .122 versus righties). It’s the opposite for the right-handed Urias, who’s smacked southpaws at a .276/.353/.442 pace in his career but carries a .219/.326/.365 slash against right-handers.

Rojas and Urias are both capable of playing either second or third base, so there’s a potential platoon setup between the two. Alternatively, if the M’s succeed in adding a second or third baseman and prefer to go with one true starter at the other slot, both Rojas and Urias could profile as a potential utility option off the bench.

Because of the defensive flexibility the current group possesses, the Mariners could look for options at either second base or third base. Dipoto typically operates more on the trade market than on the free-agent market, though both provide myriad avenues to fill the team’s needs. Whit Merrifield stands as the top free agent at second base. The Mariners aren’t going to meet Matt Chapman’s asking price at third base, but Gio Urshela and Justin Turner would represent much more affordable alternatives. Any of that trio would meet the Mariners’ previously stated goal of improving the club’s contact rate (which hasn’t exactly been strictly adhered to, when looking at the acquisition of Raley in particular).

On the trade market, Minnesota’s Jorge Polanco is a natural target who could step in at second base (speculatively speaking, to be clear). The Twins are deep in controllable young infielders and looking to slightly scale back payroll due to the RSN collapse that’s impacting budgets around the league (including the Mariners). The switch-hitting Polanco is earning $10.5MM this season and has a $12MM option for the ’25 campaign. The Reds, Orioles, Cardinals and Guardians are also deep in infield talent and could be intrigued by Seattle’s stock of young arms. That said, Dipoto cast significant doubt on his willingness to move a controllable starting pitcher with his weekend comments.

“We did a lot of groundwork on what it might look like if we did trade one of those young starters, and we never liked the way it looked,” Dipoto said (via Divish). He called retaining his stock of young arms (e.g. Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller, Bryan Woo, Emerson Hancock) “Plan A” this offseason.

Within that same media session, Dipoto maintained an openness to further additions to the roster, speculatively rattling off the possibility of making “a fun addition in the bullpen” or more generally “an upgrade somewhere on the field that we don’t really have.” The Mariners have an imposing late-inning trio of Andres Munoz, Matt Brash and Justin Topa, but they’re relatively light on lefty options — with 28-year-old Gabe Speier and 30-year-old Tayler Saucedo as the only options on the 40-man roster. Both were solid in 2023, but neither had found any real MLB success prior to last season.

Dipoto has said previously that the Mariners’ 2024 payroll could increase over its 2023 levels, although a substantial increase hasn’t looked likely all winter. Ownership has rather clearly placed some fiscal constraints on Dipoto, GM Justin Hollander and the rest of the front office, as they’re among the many teams in the game facing financial uncertainty due to their own RSN situation.

Roster Resource currently projects a payroll of around $132MM for the Mariners, which sits about $8MM shy of last year’s end-of-season mark. Divish writes within his column that the Mariners want to leave some wiggle room for in-season additions, but there’s of course still some room beneath last year’s budget and the possibility that additional trades could further alter the current payroll outlook.

Mariners Notes: Urias, Candelario, Murphy

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The Mariners traded their starting third baseman this afternoon, sending Eugenio Suárez to the Diamondbacks for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala. That leaves a few paths that Seattle could explore at the hot corner.

Internally, it seems recent trade acquisition Luis Urías has the upper hand on the job. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic (X link) and Daniel Kramer of MLB.com each report that Seattle is likely to give Urías the third base job.

That’s a risky play for a team that expects to contend in 2024. The right-handed hitting Urías is coming off a disappointing season. He had hit only .145/.299/.236 in 20 MLB games for the Brewers early in the ’23 season, spending a good portion of the year on optional assignment to Triple-A. Milwaukee moved on at the trade deadline, sending him to the Red Sox. Urías’ production was improved but still pedestrian in Boston, where he hit .225/.361/.337 over 32 contests.

It was essentially a replacement level showing overall. Urías looked like a roughly average regular over the preceding two seasons in Milwaukee. He had hit .244/.340/.426 in a little over 1000 plate appearances between 2021-22. He combined for 39 home runs with a strong 10.8% walk rate and standard 20.6% strikeout percentage.

The M’s clearly believe that he’ll bounce back from his 2023 season. Seattle dealt reliever Isaiah Campbell to Boston for Urías, who had seemed a non-tender candidate before that trade. MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz forecasts him for a salary in the $4.7MM range for his penultimate arbitration season. While hardly an overwhelming sum, it’s not an entirely insignificant amount for a player who had fallen down the infield depth charts in Milwaukee and, to a lesser extent, Boston.

With four months remaining in the offseason, there’s obviously plenty of time for the Seattle front office to bring in another option. MLB.com’s Jon Morosi floated the possibility of a run at free agent Jeimer Candelario, although it’s not clear if that’s something the Mariners are actually considering. The switch-hitting Candelario is coming off a far better offensive showing than Urías is. Between the Nationals and Cubs, he ran a .251/.336/.471 batting line with 22 homers in 576 plate appearances.

There’d be a viable roster fit for Candelario even if the Mariners wanted Urías to play every day. The latter has plenty of second base experience in his big league tenure. Seattle has a few options at the keystone — Josh Rojas and José Caballero primary among them — but none who stands a clear regular.

A run at Candelario would be out of character for a front office that has shied away from adding offensive talent in free agency. The M’s have rather incredibly not signed a single free agent position player to a multi-year contract in seven offseasons under president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto. MLBTR predicts Candelario for a four-year, $70MM guarantee.

While the trade adds some uncertainty to the infield, Zavala now seems the choice to back up Cal Raleigh behind the plate. Kramer writes that the M’s are no longer planning to pursue a reunion with veteran backstop Tom Murphy. He’d played in Seattle since 2019, struggling with injuries but generally making a strong power impact in limited playing time. Murphy hit .250/.324/.460 over his Mariners tenure. He has a shot at a two-year deal in his first trip to free agency.

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