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Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto met with reporters this afternoon after the team finalized the to retain . Seattles longtime front office leader addre sed the teams atypically quiet offseason while providing a couple injury updates. Dipoto said the front office entered the winter believing they could be in for a slow offseason. One of our points going into this offseason, and I know I made it sitting in the dugout in the final series, was that we didnt anticipate a great deal of movement around the team , he told the beat ( ). As we are now about a week away from heading to Spring Training, Id say that probably played out to be spot on, much to, I think, the dismay of a few. But we have a good team. Seattle has made two major league free agent signings. They brought Polanco back on a $7.75MM guarantee and added as a part-time righty bat for $3.5MM. Reporting from both The Seattle Times and MLB.com throughout the offseason has suggested that ownership was only allowing the front office to allocate between $15MM-20MM to the MLB payroll. While the lack of free agent activity has certainly been a source of frustration for much of the fanbase, its not especially surprising. The more interesting development has been the Ms willingne s to sit out the trade market. Theyve made four trades this offseason, all of which have been depth acquisitions for players who were in DFA limbo: , , and . Those are akin to waiver claims. The Mariners e sentially havent made a single notable move on the trade market, a stark contrast to Dipotos reputation as one of the games most prolific traders. The Trader Jerry nickname has been well earned in prior offseasons. Most trade speculation concerned the po sibility of the Mariners moving a starting pitcher to add a hitter. As Dipoto noted today, he did indeed downplay that notion before last season even ended. He famously called dealing from the rotation the Ms for the offseason in the referenced media scrum. That didnt stop other teams from inquiring on Seattles young rotation nucleus of , , and , but theres nothing to suggest the Mariners gave strong consideration to moving any of them. The one starter who was available was . The veteran righty is under contract for another three seasons and $68.25MM (plus a 2028 vesting option). Trading Castillo could have created spending room while netting the Ms immediate lineup help. It wasnt going to be a straight salary dump, though, and Seattle hasnt found an offer it finds compelling. The Seattle Times Adam Steve Van Buren Jersey Jude reported last week that Castillo was unlikely to move at this point. Dipoto implied as much in todays comments. He and other reporters that the front office received some proposals that warranted real consideration, but those obviously did not result in a deal. Not shockingly, we had inquiries on all five of our starting pitchers and dozens of prospects along the way , he added. But obviously we opted not to go that route. While he left open the po sibility of making another move, he noted that the front office would be happy with the roster if this is our team going into Spring Training or Opening Day (via Divish and Jude). The Mariners will go into Spring Training with arguably MLBs best 1-5 in the rotation. Their depth behind that is lacking, though perhaps quick-moving prospect can soon be a factor. Seattle benefited from excellent rotation health last year. Woo was the only member of their front five who made fewer than 30 starts. Thatll be difficult to replicate, but when the rotation is at full strength, theyre giving the ball to an above-average starter every night. As has long been the case, the question is whether theyll score enough runs. Dipoto expre sed confidence in the lineup, pointing to their succe s later in the season after the managerial and hitting coach changes. Seattle hitters had a .216/.301/.365 batting line through August 21. After dismi sing Scott Servais and Jarret DeHart in favor of Dan Wilson and Edgar Martinez, respectively, they hit .255/.347/.417 in their final 34 games. Attributing that entirely to the coaching changes is overly simplistic. They improved the lineup at the deadline with the and pickups and league-wide offense tends to peak later in the summer with warmer weather. Still, the change in voice probably played some part in the much improved finish. The Mariners play in the sports toughest home park for hitters. Only the White Sox had a lower team OPS in home games. Seattle ranked 13th in OPS on the road. examined some reasons behind T-Mobile Parks extreme pitcher-friendly environment last week in a column thats well worth a full read. Dipoto also addre sed a few injury situations. He expre sed confidence in Polancos health after the veteran infielder played through a left knee injury that eventually required a meniscus repair. The Mariners believe the move from his longtime second base position to third base will take le s of a toll on him physically. Meanwhile, reliever suffered a lat strain during his offseason workouts and will not be ready for the start of camp. Its not clear if hell need to begin the regular season on the injured list. The righty turned in a 3.72 ERA while striking out nearly 31% of opposing hitters acro s 21 appearances as a rookie. Brandon Jones Jersey |
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发表于 2025-11-30 12:18:47