Post by Strategist on Jan 10, 2020 16:55:39 GMT
2018 Review:
Record: 68-94 4th in AL West. 14th in runs scored. 14th in runs allowed.
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: With LF Kris Bryant and 3B Manny Machado the Mariners had 2 MVP type players to build a lineup around. RF Brandon Nimmo also was a very good player with LF/DH Yoenis Cespedes, and C Willians Astudillo also providing solid production. Other than that there were some holes in 2B, 1B, CF, and SS. Signed 2B Ian Kinsler, and traded for SS Jordy Mercer with actually gave them a very good IF defense.
Rotation: Started with 2 solid above average pitchers in Jose Berrios and Luis Castillo. Also had solid average pitchers in Sean Manaea, Jake Arrieta, and Dylan Bundy to fill out the rotation. While the rotation would have been solid as is the Mariners decided to augment it with 2 aces trading top prospects for Gerrit Cole and Carlos Carrasco. This game them insane depth to their rotation and a chance to compete with anyone.
Bullpen: This had a lot of holes and no truly elite options. They did go out and trade for Brad Hand and Ken Giles to give them a nice 1-2 punch at the back end.
Early/Mid Season:
The Mariners started out the season terrible. Not able to score runs and the starting pitching struggled too. They finished the first 3 months 36-52. Looking at their roster I am not sure how or why they played so poorly. Its like the group as a whole just underperformed from Machado and Bryant on offense to Cole and Carrasco in there rotation. This team definitely had more talent then it showed. He did try to spark the offense by trading for Brian Dozier but that didn't have much effect. The Mariners eventually decided to shake things up and move on from a lost season. Trading Cespedes, Giles, Carrasco, and Bryant. Did receive Clayton Kershaw in return for Bryant.
In Conclusion:
Finished the season decent with winning record over the last 3 months. This brought their overall record up to 75-87 which was 4th in the AL West. The Rotation pitched much better down the stretch.
Lineup: 12th (AL) in runs scored. Machado eventually got it going to the tune of . 273/.330/.476 for a 123 OPS+. Nimmo, Astudillo, and Dozier all played very good. After the trades of Bryant and Cespedes LF was baron. CF, SS, and DH were pretty much sink holes in the lineup.
Rotation: 6th (AL) in starters ERA. Obviously not terrible but I would have expect this to be better. Kershaw, Cole, and Castillo were all above average but none of them great. Berrios was about average and Maneae pitched horrible.
Bullpen: 14th (AL) in bullpen ERA. Hand was solid but after him the rest of the bullpen really struggled. Will need to be upgraded a bit this offseason.
Future:
Cap Space: Should have 30-40 Mil to work with maybe more.
Needs: With Cole a FA I would say that the Mariners #1 priority is resigning him. Not sure how much that is going to take but it might be 30+ Mil so I am not sure that they will have much cap space for FAs. As long as they resign Cole they will have an elite rotation. I would really work towards acquiring cheap bullpen depth to compliment its rotation. The lineup has a solid core but does need some auxiliary pieces. With a good offseason I think that the Mariners could at least compete for a wild card spot.
Trades Overview:
SP Kyle Wright, CF Luis Robert, LF Dustin Peterson, SP Daniel Gosset, and RP Brad Keller to COL for SP Carlos Carrasco - Carrasco was an ace with an ace projection who had 2 years of control left so the price was steep. Wright and Robert both top 100 prospects who were close to the majors. Carrasco didn't pitch well in his short time with the Mariners and was later flipped for prospects to TB.
SS Fernando Tatis Jr and SP Dylan Bundy to SD for Gerrit Cole - Cole pitched solid in the sim but IRL turned into maybe the best pitcher in baseball. Because of how good Tatis is I think it is imperative that SEA find a way to resign Cole otherwise this trade will not have a happy ending.
C Grant Koch, and SP Braden Webb to SF for RP Brad Hand - Needed elite bp arms and acquired Hand who still had 3 years of team control for a small price of a couple of mid tier prospects.
SP Trevor Richards and SP Elvis Luciano to NYY for RP Ken Giles - Giles and Hand formed a formidable duo at the back end of the bullpen. Richards is a servicable starting pitcher and Luciano is a low end prospect.
2B Isia Kiner-Falefa to TB for SS Jordy Mercer - Needed a SS and Mercer was at least average on defense, however he hit very poorly. A .196 ave in 189 ABs. Falefa was a mid tier prospect but struggled in the majors this season.
SP Jhoan Duran to ATL for Brian Dozier - Dozier was brought in to help the offense and he did just that hitting 26 HRs and a 117 OPS+ in 121 GP. Duran a pretty good prospect ranking in the top 10 of MIN org and probably a fringe top 100 prospect.
RP Ken Giles, and LF Yoenis Cespedes to TOR for RP Emilio Pagan, 1B Rowdy Tellez, and 3B Ryder Jones - I think part of this trade was about moving off of Cespedes contract as he is due 29.5 Mil next season. Tellez has struggled so far in the majors and Jones really is a non prospect at this point. Pagan on the other hand was amazing in real life and should team with Hand to form a dominating duo in the bullpen.
SP Carlos Carrasco to TB for RF Mike Yastrzemski, SP Alex Lange and RF D.J. Peters - Deciding to mix things up this trade was completed on the same day that the Mariners traded for Kershaw. SEA was in a tough spot with Carrasco as he still had 1 more year left on his contract unfortunately he got hurt and then when he came back he didn't pitch well so he had lost some value. Yas played very well last season and should get at least a solid projection which should allow him to be penciled into the starting LF spot. Lange is a mid tier prospect but there is some worry that he will end up being a reliever. Peters
is a top 10 Dodgers prospect that has hit above average every were he has played in the minors but strikes out too much. Still has a decent ceiling.
3B Kris Bryant, SP Daniel Lynch, and SP Ryan Weathers to TOR for SP Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw and Cole combined to form a lethal combo at the top of the rotation. I feel like because of Kershaw's contract that this might have been a little bit of an over pay. I feel like Bryant for Kershaw straight up was a pretty fair trade. Lynch and Weathers aren't top 100 prospects but they are both in their perspective organizations top 10. Starting pitcher prospects are especially volatile so it isn't that egregious to include them.
FA Overview:
2B Ian Kinsler 2 yr 17.5 Mil - .256/.327/.394 4 HRs and a 97 OPS+ in 180 ABs. I didn't mind the signing as he is a very good defensive 2B and solid hitter but what confuses me is he was signed for 8+ Mil/yr and then he hardly played him. That cash could have been used to augment the bullpen or the lineup at another position. D+
RF Brandon Dixon 1 yr .85 Mil - Just a bench piece. Didn't play well only hitting .227 in 88 ABs. C-
Overall D+. Didn't spend a lot in FA but felt like the Kinsler signing was a bit of a waste. That money could have been spend better elsewhere.
Record: 68-94 4th in AL West. 14th in runs scored. 14th in runs allowed.
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: With LF Kris Bryant and 3B Manny Machado the Mariners had 2 MVP type players to build a lineup around. RF Brandon Nimmo also was a very good player with LF/DH Yoenis Cespedes, and C Willians Astudillo also providing solid production. Other than that there were some holes in 2B, 1B, CF, and SS. Signed 2B Ian Kinsler, and traded for SS Jordy Mercer with actually gave them a very good IF defense.
Rotation: Started with 2 solid above average pitchers in Jose Berrios and Luis Castillo. Also had solid average pitchers in Sean Manaea, Jake Arrieta, and Dylan Bundy to fill out the rotation. While the rotation would have been solid as is the Mariners decided to augment it with 2 aces trading top prospects for Gerrit Cole and Carlos Carrasco. This game them insane depth to their rotation and a chance to compete with anyone.
Bullpen: This had a lot of holes and no truly elite options. They did go out and trade for Brad Hand and Ken Giles to give them a nice 1-2 punch at the back end.
Early/Mid Season:
The Mariners started out the season terrible. Not able to score runs and the starting pitching struggled too. They finished the first 3 months 36-52. Looking at their roster I am not sure how or why they played so poorly. Its like the group as a whole just underperformed from Machado and Bryant on offense to Cole and Carrasco in there rotation. This team definitely had more talent then it showed. He did try to spark the offense by trading for Brian Dozier but that didn't have much effect. The Mariners eventually decided to shake things up and move on from a lost season. Trading Cespedes, Giles, Carrasco, and Bryant. Did receive Clayton Kershaw in return for Bryant.
In Conclusion:
Finished the season decent with winning record over the last 3 months. This brought their overall record up to 75-87 which was 4th in the AL West. The Rotation pitched much better down the stretch.
Lineup: 12th (AL) in runs scored. Machado eventually got it going to the tune of . 273/.330/.476 for a 123 OPS+. Nimmo, Astudillo, and Dozier all played very good. After the trades of Bryant and Cespedes LF was baron. CF, SS, and DH were pretty much sink holes in the lineup.
Rotation: 6th (AL) in starters ERA. Obviously not terrible but I would have expect this to be better. Kershaw, Cole, and Castillo were all above average but none of them great. Berrios was about average and Maneae pitched horrible.
Bullpen: 14th (AL) in bullpen ERA. Hand was solid but after him the rest of the bullpen really struggled. Will need to be upgraded a bit this offseason.
Future:
Cap Space: Should have 30-40 Mil to work with maybe more.
Needs: With Cole a FA I would say that the Mariners #1 priority is resigning him. Not sure how much that is going to take but it might be 30+ Mil so I am not sure that they will have much cap space for FAs. As long as they resign Cole they will have an elite rotation. I would really work towards acquiring cheap bullpen depth to compliment its rotation. The lineup has a solid core but does need some auxiliary pieces. With a good offseason I think that the Mariners could at least compete for a wild card spot.
Trades Overview:
SP Kyle Wright, CF Luis Robert, LF Dustin Peterson, SP Daniel Gosset, and RP Brad Keller to COL for SP Carlos Carrasco - Carrasco was an ace with an ace projection who had 2 years of control left so the price was steep. Wright and Robert both top 100 prospects who were close to the majors. Carrasco didn't pitch well in his short time with the Mariners and was later flipped for prospects to TB.
SS Fernando Tatis Jr and SP Dylan Bundy to SD for Gerrit Cole - Cole pitched solid in the sim but IRL turned into maybe the best pitcher in baseball. Because of how good Tatis is I think it is imperative that SEA find a way to resign Cole otherwise this trade will not have a happy ending.
C Grant Koch, and SP Braden Webb to SF for RP Brad Hand - Needed elite bp arms and acquired Hand who still had 3 years of team control for a small price of a couple of mid tier prospects.
SP Trevor Richards and SP Elvis Luciano to NYY for RP Ken Giles - Giles and Hand formed a formidable duo at the back end of the bullpen. Richards is a servicable starting pitcher and Luciano is a low end prospect.
2B Isia Kiner-Falefa to TB for SS Jordy Mercer - Needed a SS and Mercer was at least average on defense, however he hit very poorly. A .196 ave in 189 ABs. Falefa was a mid tier prospect but struggled in the majors this season.
SP Jhoan Duran to ATL for Brian Dozier - Dozier was brought in to help the offense and he did just that hitting 26 HRs and a 117 OPS+ in 121 GP. Duran a pretty good prospect ranking in the top 10 of MIN org and probably a fringe top 100 prospect.
RP Ken Giles, and LF Yoenis Cespedes to TOR for RP Emilio Pagan, 1B Rowdy Tellez, and 3B Ryder Jones - I think part of this trade was about moving off of Cespedes contract as he is due 29.5 Mil next season. Tellez has struggled so far in the majors and Jones really is a non prospect at this point. Pagan on the other hand was amazing in real life and should team with Hand to form a dominating duo in the bullpen.
SP Carlos Carrasco to TB for RF Mike Yastrzemski, SP Alex Lange and RF D.J. Peters - Deciding to mix things up this trade was completed on the same day that the Mariners traded for Kershaw. SEA was in a tough spot with Carrasco as he still had 1 more year left on his contract unfortunately he got hurt and then when he came back he didn't pitch well so he had lost some value. Yas played very well last season and should get at least a solid projection which should allow him to be penciled into the starting LF spot. Lange is a mid tier prospect but there is some worry that he will end up being a reliever. Peters
is a top 10 Dodgers prospect that has hit above average every were he has played in the minors but strikes out too much. Still has a decent ceiling.
3B Kris Bryant, SP Daniel Lynch, and SP Ryan Weathers to TOR for SP Clayton Kershaw - Kershaw and Cole combined to form a lethal combo at the top of the rotation. I feel like because of Kershaw's contract that this might have been a little bit of an over pay. I feel like Bryant for Kershaw straight up was a pretty fair trade. Lynch and Weathers aren't top 100 prospects but they are both in their perspective organizations top 10. Starting pitcher prospects are especially volatile so it isn't that egregious to include them.
FA Overview:
2B Ian Kinsler 2 yr 17.5 Mil - .256/.327/.394 4 HRs and a 97 OPS+ in 180 ABs. I didn't mind the signing as he is a very good defensive 2B and solid hitter but what confuses me is he was signed for 8+ Mil/yr and then he hardly played him. That cash could have been used to augment the bullpen or the lineup at another position. D+
RF Brandon Dixon 1 yr .85 Mil - Just a bench piece. Didn't play well only hitting .227 in 88 ABs. C-
Overall D+. Didn't spend a lot in FA but felt like the Kinsler signing was a bit of a waste. That money could have been spend better elsewhere.