Mariners Rumors: Melky Cabrera, Starting Pitching

Earlier tonight, Mariners beat writer Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune chatted with fans on Twitter, answering some pressing questions about the latest Mariners rumors and entertaining some ridiculous notions.

Of note was a question on free agent outfielder Melky Cabrera.

This is interesting because if there is actual interest in Cabrera, it may serve as confirmation that the team is no longer going with the policy of steering clear of players with PED suspensions. Of course, if they really had such a policy, wouldn’t they have tried to trade or waive Jesus Montero by now?

With Victor Martinez off the market, Cabrera and Nelson Cruz are two of the top hitters available on the market. If the team is serious about improving the offense this winter, they may have to throw big money at one of these two guys. Also of note was this response to a fan:

This matches everything we’ve heard so far this offseason. That the team is focused on adding offense and not too worried about the rotation. As of right now, the Mariners would head into Spring Training with Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton, Taijuan Walker and Roenis Elias.

There are some questions with such a young base behind the 1-2 punch of Felix and Kuma, but the club seems ready to accept that if they can land an impact bat or two.

We’ll continue to play the waiting game and see what transpires.