Seattle Mariners: FanSided Offseason Simulation Day 3 Recap

The Mariners swing a big trade in this alternate reality.

FanSided’s MLB offseason simulation is coming to a close tonight. But before that, we’ve had a bit of house cleaning to do. The first day of the simulation was a rather busy one, seeing Colby and I trade away three of the Mariners’ 2019 starters while adding an abundance of controllable talent. That was the bulk of the items on our laundry list done in one fell swoop, leaving the second day a rather empty one with preliminary trade discussions and not much else.

One of those discussions blossomed into an actual deal—the lone deal we made yesterday. It was one we had tried to make for some time, though not exactly with this specific partner in mind. This deal truly spoke to how wild the market turned out in our simulation, which led to this opportunity to begin with.

There was some interest in Omar Narváez from a few teams, but none of them offered anywhere near what we were looking for. Our faux general managers were, of course, discouraged by Narváez’s poor defensive metrics, but we’ve put a premium on the fact that he’s one of the best offensive catchers in the game. We had a few offers on the table, but none that we felt made the Mariners better than they were with Narváez in their lineup.

This deal with the Angels was only possible due to how the market went. In the real world, you’d probably wonder why the Angels would trade Andrew Heaney, further taking away from their greatest need. But the Angels’ faux GM in this simulation has stockpiled on starting pitching, completely rebooting their rotation with the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Zack Wheeler, and Tanner Roark.

In Heaney, we get a quality starting pitcher with two years left of control who should provide solid innings near the back-end of our rotation. That is, if he stays healthy, of course. If he does, then Heaney could be a strong trade chip come July or next winter, which could add on to the haul headlined by one of the Angels’ top prospects, Brandon Marsh.

Jo Adell obviously garners most—if not all—of the attention when it comes to the Angels’ farm, but Marsh is a toolsy outfielder who just knows how to play ball. He can hit for average, cause havoc on the base paths, and flash some good leather in all three outfield spots. And, best of all, he’s on the cusp of MLB playing time.

Of course, outfield is the Mariners’ strongest suit in their farm system and they’re all going to be ready for MLB action around the same time, so getting them all proper playing time will take a bit of lineup gymnastics. But you can’t rely on every single prospect to reach their ceiling, and guys like Kyle Lewis may wind up falling back to Earth after a promising cup of coffee in the bigs.

Still, the outfield depth in the system may lead to us finding a prospect swap involving Marsh. We’ve already talked about a couple names that we may come calling on here on the last day of the simulation, so stay tuned. If we’re unable to trade him, however, Marsh is still a fantastic get considering what else had been offered to us on the Narváez front, so we’re very excited.

We’ve also put in a couple of bids on free agents to put a bow on our sim. We think we’ve done some really good things with this roster, especially in paving the way for more of the Mariners’ young players to see the field.

Here is the updated 40-man roster, which now sits at 38:

Starting Pitchers (9): Marco Gonzales, Chris Archer, Justus Sheffield, Andrew Heaney, Yusei Kikuchi, José Ureña, Aaron Sanchez, Justin Dunn, Ricardo Sánchez

Relief Pitchers (14): Art Warren, Brandon Brennan, Dan Altavilla, Reggie McClain, José De León, Anthony Banda, Zac Grotz, Phillips Valdez, Matt Festa, Austin Adams, Gerson Bautista, Matt Magill, Erik Swanson, Sam Tuivailala

Catchers (2): Tom Murphy, Austin Nola

Infielders (8): Daniel Vogelbach, Shed Long, Tim Lopes, Donnie Walton, Kyle Seager, J.P. Crawford, Kevin Kramer, Dylan Moore

Outfielders (5): Mitch Haniger, Lewis Brinson, Jake Fraley, Braden Bishop, Kyle Lewis