Seattle Mariners’ silence this offseason is deafening

The most active team in offseason discussions over the last few years has had an unusually quiet winter.

Yet another day with nothing to go on. The Mariners have been radio silent on practically all fronts over the last couple of weeks. No tangible news or rumors to take hold of; no minor moves or anything noteworthy. Perhaps this is the calm before the storm, or rather a commentary from Seattle’s front office on the current state of their roster.

In that commentary is a vote of confidence in a youth movement. They haven’t necessarily done a whole lot to clear the way for their crop of exciting prospects, but they also haven’t done anything to impede them on their way to MLB action either. Jerry Dipoto has expressed interest in addressing the pitching staff, both from a rotation and bullpen standpoint, but has yet to follow through; positionally, the Mariners appear to be fairly set.

There was some thought heading into this offseason that Dipoto would be opportunistic and acquire a major leaguer or two to carry into his intended window of contention, but that has yet to happen, nor does it look like it will happen. The biggest move the Mariners could make that feels somewhat in the realm of possibility is simply trading Dee Gordon to clear the way for Shed Long to become the team’s everyday second baseman, though even that is starting to feel fairly unlikely at this point.

The lack of any sort of rumor or speculative note is concerning, though the Mariners have been able to keep things under wraps for the most part since Dipoto took helm, to be fair. Names like Taijuan Walker and Yoshihisa Hirano have most recently been linked to Seattle, but nothing has come of it and there’s been no word of any progress.

As Spring Training inches closer, it’s starting to feel more and more likely that Evan White, Kyle Lewis, Justin Dunn, and others will break camp as members of the Mariners’ 26-man roster. Of course, deals can come together rather quickly and Seattle’s front office is definitely not just sitting on their hands as of writing this, so you don’t want to write anything down in ink. But one has to wonder if the Mariners have come to a point where they feel comfortable enough as is.