Kyle Seager the Lone Ranger On The Mariners

With the likely departure of Felix Hernandez, Kyle Seager is the last remaining player from the days of Jack Zduriencik.

Kyle Seager was signed to a seven-year, $100 million contract before the 2015 season. It was the longest extension handed to an offensive player by the Mariners. The first two years, his offense was good but has been declining since 2017. At the same time, his yearly salary has continued to rise.

In his first year, he earned $4 million, then $7.5 million, then $10.5 million. In 2018 it jumped up to $18 million. The next two years will be at $19 million. In 2021 it will be $18 million and his last year of the contract will be 2022 at $15 million with a buyout. If he is traded before 2022 then that season becomes a player option. The following season he becomes a free agent at the age of 35. Every season except 2022 he has a $500,000 signing bonus as well.

I have always liked Kyle Seager but as a player,  his offense decline is puzzling to me. The reason it is puzzling he is now 31 years old as a position player he should be in his prime for as offense statistics go.

Until this year when he was hurt at the end of spring training, he has been healthy for the most part. Of course, most players do have nagging injuries throughout the season. Before spring training he worked on his physical shape to be in better condition when the seasons starts.

It seems the major problem for Seager is where teams have gone so much into shifting he has had problems compensating for the shift against him. It doesn’t help he tries to make changes to his swing every year instead of staying the same. In the last couple of years, he has tried to hit the ball the other way but then goes back to his old habits of pulling the ball.

In August he had a fantastic month batting .323, hitting 9 of his 22 home runs but in September he is only hitting .200. Kyle Seager’s history he has gone off to terrible starts in April and doesn’t pick it up until June. I hope this next season he is able to get off to a good start.

Seager will be the longest-tenured player in 2020 on the  Mariners it would be nice if he could hit offensively well as playing good defense. I do hope he will be around when the Mariners are competing for the playoffs. Go M’s.