Predicting the Mariners Opening Day Infield

FIRST BASE

Here is where the fun starts. The team needs to find a first baseman. Fan favorite Daniel Vogelbach is not the answer and is at best the full-time designated hitter. While it might not sit well with other contributors on this site, I’d trade Vogey this off-season as I’d like to see the roster constructed without a bat-only player that has shown weaknesses against left-handed pitching (small sample size) taking up a valuable roster spot.

Ryon Healy is likely to be non-tendered and prospect Evan White isn’t ready yet and might be better suited for a role that would allow him to also play the corner outfield spots. The Mariners are going to have to be aggressive in the off-season and they can’t wait until the winter of 2020 to start making bold moves.

One such move could be calling the Colorado Rockies and seeing what it would take to pry Ryan McMahon away from them (maybe in a package deal with Jon Gray, but that’s a post for another day). McMahon is only 24 and has played third, second, and first base this year for the Rockies. While he might not be the prototypical slugging first basemen type (he does have 17 home runs as of now), he does offer position versatility that would benefit the Mariners (he could slide to second or third depending on how others perform, trades, development of prospects like White, etc) and at only 24 he fits the timeline to be a contributor not just next year, but into the future for Seattle.

The cost, especially if paired with Gray, won’t be cheap, but depending on what Colorado decides to do in the off-season the Mariners could fill some of their needs in the outfield, or even including someone like Gordon as well to cover the hole in the infield that was created by trading McMahon.