3/11/25

Baseball is back! The best time of the year is here and there is optimism for most of the league (sorry White Sox fans) and the Seattle Mariners are one of those teams hoping that they can climb their way back into the playoffs in 2025. After ending the long, 20-year playoff drought in 2022, Seattle has fallen short of expectations, narrowly missing the playoffs in 2023 and 2024, despite holding a 10-game lead in the AL West in June of last year.

This will be the first full season under Dan Wilson who took over after Scott Servais was fired back in August of 2024. After taking over as the manager, Wilson led the Mariners to a 21-13 record including the team having their best offensive month in September. Keeping Edgar Martinez on the staff helps a ton on the offensive side of things. Pete Woodworth returns as the pitching coach while Perry Hill remains the infield coach. While Manny Acta returns as the bench coach, he will no longer be the third base coach as Kristopher Negron moves to third while Eric Young Jr. will debut as the first base coach.

It wasn’t a very busy offseason for the Mariners as they will have a majority of the same roster as last season. They did however extend Cal Raleigh to a six-year, $105 million contract a couple of days before Opening Day. That is a huge sigh of relief as the 2024 Platinum Glove winner is now tied to the Pacific Northwest with a full no-trade clause after dumping Scott Boras as his agent last year.

Another sigh of relief for Mariner fans was the non-trade of Luis Castillo who Mariners were fielding offers for during the offseason. Boston came close, but the bats that would go to Seattle weren’t enough for the M’s to part ways with La Piedra who has become a fan favorite after being acquired from Cincinnati at the 2022 trade deadline.

There was some big news away from the current roster as well this offseason. The Seattle Mariners will have their third player represent the franchise in Cooperstown as Ichiro Suzuki was inducted and missed being a unanimous selection by one vote. Now we won’t go into that nonsense, but the Hall of Famer will be honored in Seattle as his #51 will be retired in August as the fourth number retired in franchise history. The #51 will join #42 (Jackie Robinson), #24 (Ken Griffey Jr.), and #11 (Edgar Martinez) and will hang in T-Mobile Park forever.

Outside of that, things were relatively quiet for Seattle as they will have their first full season with both Randy Arozarena and Victor Robles patrolling the outfield. Jorge Polanco also had a brief free agency stint before resigning with Seattle but moving over to third base. Now let’s dive into the few moves that the Mariners did make.

Subtractions

Mitch Haniger- A late addition to the subtraction list but quite a sizeable one, Mitch Haniger was released over the weekend, ending his second tenure with the Seattle Mariners. Now there are two big factors when looking at this move. First, yes it sucks to see a guy that gave Mariners fans so much joy leave yet again and on a rather low note. The franchise leader in walk-offs gave some great moments in his final season with the club, but it was still the right move.

Haniger hit just .208 last season and slugged just .334. Add in that his range in the outfield is not what it used to be and the returning outfield pieces in Victor Robles and Randy Arozarena and there just wasn’t a place for Haniger on the 2025 team. Seattle did have to eat $15.5 million to make the move but it was better than spending that money while also burning a roster spot. Mitch Haniger will forever be loved by Mariner fans as he made a promise to get the franchise back to the postseason after they fell just short in 2021. He lived up to that in 2022 while also being the star of the team along with Kyle Seager in some rough seasons. A bittersweet move that had to be made after a shoulder injury shortened his spring.

Justin Turner- A trade deadline acquisition from the Toronto Blue Jays last July, many Mariner fans seemed to want Justin Turner back to play first base and DH a little for the 2025 team. The front office was not interested and let Turner walk and felt his wrath as Turner ripped into the Mariner front office, questioning their lack of offseason moves with the amount of talented pitching that they team possesses.

After joining the team, Turner saw an uptick in nearly every statistic while playing a very solid first base for the M’s despite not playing much first base while with the Blue Jays. Maybe the most impactful loss is Turner’s leadership and experience playing for winning teams. With first base an obvious need for the Mariners after Ty France was sent to Cincinnati last season and Turner clearly wanting to stay in Seattle, it was surprising to see the Mariners let the veteran walk. While not as impactful to the fanbase as the Eugenio Suarez trade from last offseason, this is a decision that will have a rather large impact on such a young team and did no favors to win over a very angry fanbase.

Josh Rojas- If you told Mariner fans last April that Josh Rojas would no longer be on the team by the start of the 2025 Spring Training, they would not have believed you…probably. Rojas was one of the best stories of the early 2024 season as it looked like the young third baseman was well on his way to a career breakout. After hovering around a .300 average in April, Rojas came back down to Earth and despite playing solid defense all season long, the lack of offense saw the Mariners cut ties.

This decision seemed to come down to the Mariners belief in their young infield prospects like Ryan Bliss, Colt Emerson, and Cole Young. The team decided to keep Dylan Moore over Rojas due to Moore’s versatility on defense as well as Moore having the slight edge last season in on-base percentage. Once a piece of a controversial trade that sent Paul Sewald to Arizona, Rojas now finds himself on a team with no expectations in the Chicago White Sox. All in all, the loss of Rojas shouldn’t have too much of an effect on the 2025 squad.

Ty France- Now I know that technically Ty France left during the 2024 season. However, I decided to include him due to the fact that not having him for the entirety of 2025 will make the hole at first base so much bigger. After playing games for the Mariners in the previous five seasons, France will now be spending Opening Day in Minnesota. The former All-Star had a nice stint with the Mariners but a rough 2024 season led to an emotional goodbye from the Seattle faithful.

Yes there is a hole at first base and that is a common theme in these subtractions. However, Ty France likely would not have been able to dig himself out of the hole he was in while still in a Mariners uniform. Some guys need a change of scenery. It sounds like a cliche but there is no way around it. You can already see what he did last year with Cincinnati. It is very reminiscent of what we saw when Justin Smoak went on to be an All-Star with Toronto after a flop of a career in Seattle. In this case, the piece just didn’t fit the puzzle.

Luis Urias- In just one season with the Mariners, Luis Urias really struggled to get any positive momentum at third base and the nice season by Josh Rojas forced Urias to spend a bulk of 2024 in Tacoma. The third baseman only played in 41 games last season and in those games he slashed .191/.303/.394. Those numbers are not close to being good enough for a team looking to contend for a postseason berth.

To be fair, the Mariners did not really give up much last offseason when they acquired Urias in a trade from Boston in exchange for Isaiah Campbell. Campbell only pitched 6 2/3 innings for the Red Sox last season so the M’s actually got more out of Urias than Boston did out of Campbell. With Jorge Polanco resigning with the Mariners along with Donovan Solano joining the squad, the Mariners had to trim out some pieces like Urias that just wasn’t going to see much if any playing time at all this season.

Sam Haggerty- One under-the-radar loss for the Mariners is the utility man Sam Haggerty. The speedy spark plug for the Mariners over the last few seasons made every team worry about stolen bases and some nice defense and occasional power. After getting injured at the end of the 2022 season, Haggerty was not the same player at the plate that he was when he broke onto the scene. Over the last two seasons, Haggerty hit just .226 and for a team that needs guys with a higher batting average, the M’s had to make a move as Haggerty was running out of options to go back to the minor leagues.

Now speed is a great weapon for a team like Seattle. When you struggle to string hits together, it is nice to have a guy that can turn a walk into a double just like that. However, Haggerty is also coming off of a torn Achilles last May. Once again, with guys like Victor Robles and Ryan Bliss earning opportunities at the big league level, some players just find themselves on the outside looking in. Haggerty was one of those players.

Additions

Donovan Solano- The first “major” addition that the Mariners made this offseason was signing veteran infielder Donovan Solano to a one-year deal worth $3.5 million. This will be Solano’s fifth team in the last five seasons. He isn’t a guy that has seen a ton of playing time ever in his career as he has only played in 100+ games four times out of his 11 big league seasons. However, since the 2019 season, Solano has a batting average of .301. That will play with the Mariners.

Even though Solano will share time mostly on the corners of the infield, the opportunity is there for Solano to become an every day player if he can hit .280+ which is what he has done in each of the last six seasons. He isn’t a power guy as his career high in home runs is just eight which came last season with the San Diego Padres. Again, this is not going to be a game changing move, but a guy that just focuses on putting the bat on the ball and usually sees good results when doing so, Solano will help cut down on the Mariner strikeout issues that plagued the team in 2024.

Matt Brash- Perhaps the biggest addition for the Seattle Mariners was not really an addition at all. It is more of a return, but with Matt Brash coming back sometime in the first half of the season, the Seattle bullpen will be very formidable. Brash is known for being one of the filthiest relievers in the sport despite beginning his big-league career as a starter. Brash missed the entire 2024 season after having Tommy John surgery.

In 2023, Brash threw 70 2/3 innings and struck out 107 batters. That is a very good rate. After bursting onto the scene with his nasty strikeout of one of the best hitters in baseball in Jose Ramirez, Brash rolled as the set-up guy for both Paul Sewald and Andrés Muñoz in 2023. That bridge from the Mariners outstanding rotation to Muñoz was an issue in 2024 but with Brash back and Gregory Santos working back from injury coupled by nice years for Collin Snider and Trent Thornton should strengthen the bullpen back to being as fearsome as they were in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

Rowdy Tellez- Now if there is one guy to pay attention to that was not on the club at all last season, look no further than Rowdy Tellez. Think of Tellez as Daniel Vogelbach 2.0. He can at least play defense and is more experienced and can provide plenty of pop as his 35 home runs in 2022 with Milwaukee will show you. Strikeouts are of course an issue with a power hitter like Tellez, but with the M’s paying him so little ($1 millon) it was worth the non-roster invite to Spring Training in Peoria.

Tellez forced the hands of the Mariner front office with a very strong spring in which he hit .298 with three home runs and five runs batted in. An .894 OPS forced Tellez onto the Opening Day roster. Tellez will likely see time as the DH in the early portion of the season as the Mariners hope the big man can add more production than what they got from Mitch Garver last season. All in all, it was a low risk move by the Mariners that looks like it could pay off in a big way in 2025.

Miles Mastrobuoni- After spending the last two seasons with the Chicago Cubs, Miles Mastrobuoni was dealt to the Mariners for cash back in January. The young utility man, Mastrobuoni didn’t see regular playing time as he appeared in a total of 110 games with the Cubs and only got 225 plate appearances in his time in the Windy City. Mastrobuoni played every position outside of center field, first base, and catcher in his two seasons with Chicago, even pitching in a blowout back in 2023.

Like we wrote about earlier, the Mariners lost utility man Sam Haggerty so replacing him with Mastrobuoni makes sense. While he has less power than Haggerty at the plate, he also strikes out less than Haggerty. Like Solano, he won’t be a gamechanger of a move for the Mariners, but he is a cheap replacement that can play everywhere for Seattle. Don’t expect to see too much of Mastrobuoni however with Dylan Moore still around as the M’s Mr. Do It All.

Misc. Bullpen- There were a couple of other moves (Austin Shenton and Blake Hunt) that we won’t talk about. However, there were a trio of pitchers that the Mariners added in the offseason that might make you raise your eyebrow a little bit.

First up, Shintaro Fujinami is hoping to reinvent himself after a really rough first couple of seasons in MLB. Command has been the biggest issue for the Japanese pitcher as he has walked 45 batters in 79 career innings. Fujinami has been picking the brains of the Mariners staff like Logan Gilbert and he has incredible stuff. If he can dial in his command, the Mariners will have struck gold for very cheap yet again.

(Both Drew Pomeranz and Neftali Feliz were released by the Mariners so the blurbs about them have been removed)

Projected Lineup

1. Victor Robles, RF
2. Julio Rodríguez, CF
3. Cal Raleigh, C
4. Randy Arozarena, LF
5. Luke Raley/Donovan Solano, 1B
6. Jorge Polanco, 3B
7. Rowdy Tellez, DH
8. Ryan Bliss, 2B
9. J.P. Crawford, SS

Now of course things could be a little bit different on Opening Day and things will definitely change during the season, but this is what the Mariners lineup will likely look like to start the season opening four-game set with the Athletics. The top four are absolutely locked in and most of the PNW will be stunned if it isn’t in the order above.

Luke Raley and Donovan Solano will likely platoon at first base with Raley getting the start against right-handers and Solano getting the nod against lefties. Rowdy Tellez could see some occasional time over there, but expect the big man to be the normal DH to begin the season. Jorge Polanco and J.P. Crawford were no-doubters on the left side of the infield as Polanco will make the change from being the M’s second baseman last season to patrolling the hot corner in 2025. Ryan Bliss at second will be one to keep your eyes on in 2025 as the young talent acquired from the Diamondbacks in the Paul Sewald trade showed some great glimpses at what he can do last season.

The biggest thing for this lineup is to cut down on the strike outs. Guys like Randy Arozarena, Cal Raleigh, and Rowdy Tellez will strikeout quite a bit as they have that more all or nothing approach. However, Julio Rodríguez, Jorge Polanco, and J.P. Crawford have to cut back on their empty at-bats this season. It felt like everyone last season had their hot stretches but it was normally one guy being hot while the rest struggled. Hopefully this season things will click and everyone will be more in sync to help this lineup reach its full potential.

Pitching Rotation

1. Logan Gilbert
2. Luis Castillo
3. Bryce Miller
4. Bryan Woo
5. Emerson Hancock

Now obviously this rotation will look extremely different when George Kirby returns from his shoulder injury which his rehab has already begun after playing catch in the last week of Spring Training. This is where having a guy like Emerson Hancock is so beneficial. Hancock is used to making some spot starts and has shown that he can maintain the high level that the Mariner rotation is known for. Of course it is not ideal to have him have to replace George Kirby, but at least the Mariners have some depth so he doesn’t have to rush his way back. Adding in his new sweeper gives Hancock a go-to strikeout pitch as well.

The top four of the rotation is the best in baseball. Logan Gilbert will make his first Opening Day start on Thursday after Luis Castillo took the ball to begin the season in each of the last two years. Gilbert is a trendy pick to win the AL Cy Young after making his first All-Star appearance last season. He has also added a new pitch in a curveball along with a “death ball” that is a variation of his fastball that he’s keeping under wraps for now.

After seeing his teammates add a cutter to their arsenal, George Kirby has followed suit by adding that to his repertoire in 2025. Bryce Miller did not add another pitch but he also added a cutter last season. Luis Castillo did not change his pitches but if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.

The rotation is the best in baseball. Plain and simple. The fact that Bryan Woo and Emerson Hancock will be the #5 starters and Woo could be a dark horse Cy Young contender. It is a rotation that would be a nightmare for anyone to go up against in the playoffs. The problem is getting there and the rotation will be the catalyst if the M’s want to return to the postseason in 2025.

Bullpen

We kind of already touched on the bullpen with Matt Brash returning but this year should be better for the Mariners. Andrés Muñoz will be as filthy as usual with his new kick change-up is being raved about as the “nastiest pitch ever,” which is a terrifying thought when you see how great he usually is. Matt Brash and Gregory Santos are both filthy themselves as long as they can stay healthy. Trent Thornton and Collin Snider can also eat innings while Tayler Saucedo will be the lone lefty on the entire pitching staff so he will have some pressure on him although the Mariners have never been to concerned about the righty vs. lefty matchups.

AL West Preview

Texas Rangers– After winning the 2023 World Series, the Texas Rangers followed up a dream season with a disappointing encore. Injuries really plagued the Rangers in 2024 as Jacob deGrom pitched just 10 2/3 innings while Max Scherzer also dealt with an injury plagued campaign. Andrew Heaney and Jon Gray both had a reality check of a year as the rotation took a step back without Jordan Montgomery there to carry the load. Offensively, there wasn’t much to be excited about outside of Corey Seager. Marcus Semien had a tough year while Jonah Heim and Adolis Garcia couldn’t replicate their All-Star success from the prior year.

There is just too much talent on the Rangers roster to not pick them as the favorite to win the AL West. Corey Seager is an MVP candidate every year and Marcus Semien should bounce back in a big way. Young breakout stars Wyatt Langford, Evan Carter, and Josh Jung have shown what they can do with the bat and there is more depth behind the plate with the addition of Kyle Higashioka. Plus a veteran like Joc Pederson coming in will do wonders for the club. The rotation is still a little shaky with deGrom’s injury plagued career along with young starters like Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker being asked to do a lot. The bullpen is also not exactly strong but with this high caliber offense, they just have to be good enough. Look for Texas to make some smaller moves at the deadline that pay off big en route to their first division title since 2016.

Houston Astros– Maybe the most drastically changed team in the AL West is the team that has dominated it for almost a decade in the Houston Astros. While the face of the franchise is still around in Jose Altuve, other members of the dynasty are gone with Kyle Tucker being traded to the Chicago Cubs and Alex Bregman signing with the Boston Red Sox. Of course Yordan Alvarez is still hanging around while Framber Valdez leads the rotation that hopes to get a full season of Lance McCullers. While the Astros once again took home the AL West crown last season, it was not the same dominant Astros that we have seen.

New additions make this team still a very scary out and a contender to win it all in 2025. Isaac Paredes was a huge get to replace the loss of Alex Bregman while Christian Walker will fill the hole at first base after a massive flop of a sting from Jose Abreu. Young stars Jeremy Pena and Yainer Diaz keep Houston in the mix. The depth isn’t there anymore for Houston with so many changes for the Astros roster. The rotation is a big concern if there is any sort of injury. But once again to be the man you have to beat the man. Houston has absolutely dominated the division and have the pieces (when healthy) to take the crown again. I just trust Texas a little bit more but the two teams from the Lone Star State will likely be battling it out for the division crown in 2025.

Athletics– Don’t let anyone in the media or the past fool you. These aren’t the same loser A’s that we have seen for the last few years. The Athletics are now without a city in their team name but roll into 2025 after a very successful ending to the 2024 campaign. Young stars really broke out for the A’s as Lawrence Butler stormed onto the scene and Shea Langeliers enjoyed a fantastic season behind the plate for the Athletics. The best player on this team for a few years now has been and still is Brent Rooker. The A’s extended their star with a five-year deal to extinguish the long running rumors of a trade involving the former All-Star. The A’s went 39-37 from July 1st thru the end of the season in 2024.

Now are the Athletics quite ready to contend? No. The pitching staff leaves a lot to be desired even after signing Luis Severino in the offseason. The bullpen is of course very strong with Jose Leclerc now there to be the bridge to the flamethrower Mason Miller. However, the rest of the staff is in bad shape. The offense also has a bunch of streaky hitters outside of Rooker and Butler, but the team will still be feisty enough to be a thorn in the side of multiple contenders in the American League. One injury to a starter or one of those two relievers could destroy everything. There is no depth on this team and the A’s will also be without a homefield advantage as they will play in Sacramento this season. Even with sell outs, it is a minor league park that no team will fear going to. While the A’s will take another step this season, they are still a long ways away from contention.

Los Angeles Angels– This team is confusing. 2024 was a bad year for the Angels. Mike Trout missed most of the season…again. Nobody had more than Zach Neto’s 77 RBI while only two teams in all of baseball scored fewer runs than the Angels and one of those was the White Sox. Pitching wise, Tyler Anderson had a strong year but there was not much after that. Things got even worse when they traded All-Star closer Carlos Estevez to Philadelphia. The team also had the fourth most errors in the game in 2024. All this happened while they watched Shohei Ohtani win a World Series in his first year with his new team. So yeah, things were really tough for the Angels last year.

To their credit, the Angels made some moves to make their team better this season. Yusei Kikuchi and Kyle Hendricks were added to help out the rotation while Kenley Jansen gives them a closer which they missed in the back half of last season. Jorge Soler will give the lineup some thump whether Mike Trout is in or out of the lineup. Tim Anderson will try to rejuvenate his career in Anaheim but outside of that, there weren’t many additions to the lineup. With Ron Washington at the helm of the club, the Angels will be sure to get the most out of their players. The biggest benefit to the Angels will be a healthy Mike Trout. That just seems to be an issue. Expect a lot of moves at the deadline that see the Angels sell a lot and fall all the way down to the bottom of the AL West by the end of the season.

AL West Standings Predictions

1. Texas Rangers (90-72)
2. Houston Astros (88-74)
3. Seattle Mariners (83-79)
4. Athletics (73-89)
5. Los Angeles Angels (71-91)

elisportsnetwork.com