Seattle Mariners GM For A Week: The Right Handed Power Bat

As we continue our five-part series detailing my offseason plan for the Seattle Mariners, we turn our attention to the single ingredient that has eluded the Mariners for long enough: The Right-Handed Power Bat.

There are several players that have been tossed out there as possible solutions. Many of them (such as Yasiel Puig, Giancarlo Stanton) are more than likely not available or not within reach without the Mariners being willing to unload the farm.

Some players (such as Billy Butler, Michael Morse) either are a risk because of injury or because of recent struggles and should be avoided like the Mariners should have avoided Corey Hart this past year.

While others (such as Adam Lind, Melky Cabrera, Denard Span, Kendrys Morales, Victor Martinez) are left-handed or switch hitters and aren’t what the Mariners should be looking for.

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If I were the GM for a week, the second thing I would do would be to sign Yasmany Tomas to a 7-year $105M contract.

Look, I like Hanley Ramirez (even though he’s not technically a ‘power’ bat) and if the Dodgers don’t give him a qualifying offer, I would look real hard at making him the full-time DH. But they may offer him a QO and with it being at $15.2M this season, he’ll probably accept it (he won’t get that per year in an offer from any club).

I wrote last week about Tomas and laid out the pros and the cons of signing him. Yes, there is the likelihood that he starts the season at Triple-A to be called up around June 1. So, that seems like an awful lot of money to throw at a guy who doesn’t start day one for your club.

But what an addition he would make when he arrived. He could have a similar impact that Puig had with the Dodgers when he came up in 2013. Remember the 42-8 run? I’m not suggesting that he be the only move the M’s make this offseason. Not even close. But Tomas should be a top priority to get the RF spot locked up for the next seven years.

Tomorrow, we take a look at A Call To Arms: 2015 edition.