Seattle Mariners: FanSided Offseason Simulation Day 4 Recap

FanSided’s MLB offseason simulation is finished and our 40-man roster is finalized.

It was a real fun week for the site experts of each and every MLB site in the FanSided network. For a few days, we got to put on our general manager hats and act as the decision-makers for our favorite teams. Colby and I ran with it as the faux GMs of the Seattle Mariners, tapping into our inner Jerry Dipoto and going wild on the trade market.

We set out to do a number of things and practically checked everything off our to-do list. Several 2019 starters were traded, but several Major Leaguers were brought back. Very little damage was done to the farm system; in fact, it actually grew stronger with the additions of Kevin Kramer and Brandon Marsh. It was, in our eyes, a very successful simulation in which we stayed patient and reacted to the market.

After swinging the Omar Narváez deal to the Angels that acquired both Marsh and Andrew Heaney, we felt we were pretty much done with very few loose ends to tie off. In the final day of the simulation, we attempted to make some smaller prospect swaps but no one really bit. Instead, we polished off our 40-man roster through free agency.

SIGNED YOSHITOMO TSUTSUGO TO THREE-YEAR, $24 MILLION DEAL

We still had quite a bit of money to play with in our budget of $30 million, so we turned our attention to one of the final big names in our simulation’s free agency market: Japanese slugger Yoshitomo Tsutsugo. The 28-year-old is set to come over to Major League Baseball after slashing .272/.388/.511 with 29 home runs and 79 RBIs in 131 games for the Yokohama Bay Stars last season.

Our plan is to have both Kyle Lewis and Jake Fraley start the 2020 season in Triple-A, so Tsutsugo will immediately join Lewis Brinson and Mitch Haniger in the Mariners’ outfield as the starting left fielder. But we know that Tsutsugo is more likely destined for a role at first base or designated hitter, so this will only be temporary. However, we like Tsutsugo’s fit as a first base/designated hitter type in the near future, especially if Daniel Vogelbach were to be dealt later on, and it’s even better that he’s not completely limited to those spots.

Given that there will be a posting fee tied to Tsutsugo in the real world, we don’t expect him to earn this kind of contract on the open market. But we offered big dollars to make up the difference and wound up being the only bidders in on him, so we’ll take it.

SIGNED ROBBIE ERLIN TO ONE-YEAR, $1.25 MILLION DEAL

There weren’t a whole lot of options out on the market, but after trading Taylor Guilbeau to the Angels, we wanted to bring in another left-handed reliever into the bullpen competition. Enter Robbie Erlin, 29-year-old southpaw who’s probably ‘just a guy,’ but hey, he’s our guy.

Don’t let the 5.37 ERA last year fool you, though; Erlin wasn’t flat-out terrible. He averaged just under a strikeout per inning and wound up with a modest 3.61 FIP in 55.1 innings of work. He was also worth 1.6 fWAR in an underrated Padres bullpen in 2018.

He’s never been much of a LOOGY, often fairing worse or about the same against lefties as he does against righties. He’s not an overpowering force by any means, but has a solid enough arsenal that gets him by, led by a strong curve that held hitters to a .182 average last season.

WHO’S IN, WHO’S OUT, AND THE REST

Overall, in our sim, Colby made a total of eight transactions over the course of four days, shipping out nine players (including five members of the 2019 roster) and bringing in 12. We came in with $30 million to spend and walked away with ~$9.55 million left over, ultimately leaving our total payroll around ~$115 million.

Departed players (in order): OF Domingo Santana, LHP Raymond Kerr, 2B Dee Gordon, OF Mallex Smith, RHP Juan Then, RHP Devin Sweet, RHP Natanael Garabitos, C Omar Narváez, LHP Taylor Guilbeau

Players acquired (in order): LHP Anthony Banda, RHP José De León, RHP Aaron Sanchez, RHP José Ureña, OF Lewis Brinson, RHP Chris Archer, UTL Kevin Kramer, LHP Andrew Heaney, OF Brandon Marsh, OF Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, LHP Robbie Erlin, LHP Drew Smyly

With that, the full 40-man roster shakes out as…

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

Relief pitchers (15): Art Warren, Brandon Brennan, Dan Altavilla, Reggie McClain, José De León, Robbie Erlin, 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 (6): Mitch Haniger, Lewis Brinson, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Jake Fraley, Braden Bishop, Kyle Lewis