What other sites predict for the Mariners offseason acquisitions

While we here at Sodo Mojo might have our own predictions for who the Mariners will sign in free agency, who are other sites like S.I. and CBS saying the Mariners will sign this offseason?

While everyone who writes here at Sodo Mojo loves the Mariners and loves keeping up with everything happening in the MLB, we don’t exactly have the time to compile our list of the top free agents heading into free agency with predictions of where they will all sign. Luckily there are people out there with much more knowledge of all other teams who have assigned landing spots for the top free agents in the offseason following the crazy 2020 season.

Looking over the rankings of various different sites with predictions of where free agents will sign I noticed a common theme that the Mariners were not the predicted location like some other teams, but that is to be expected. Sites like MLB Trade Rumors, Sports Illustrated, and CBS however did include some Mariners signings with their rankings of the top free agents.

Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors has the Mariners making two top 50 free agent signings. He has the Mariners getting JA Happ, a former Mariner who most recently pitched for the Yankees, and reliever Greg Holland.

JA Happ is one of the more probable routes that I could see the Mariners taking with their free agency signings. Tim Dierkes has the Mariners signing his 41st ranked free agent for 1 year $6 Million in, which would mean that Happ would be a cheap quality arm to add to the rotation that needs 1-2 more quality arms to partner with Marco Gonzales, Yusei Kikuchi, and the cornucopia of prospects.

Happ had a good 14th season in the MLB with the Yankees, finishing with a 3.47 ERA in 49.1 innings pitched. However, he is now 37 years old and posted a 4.57 FIP which is discouraging compared to his much superior ERA.

Greg Holland comes in at 43 on Tim Dierkes rankings and he has him signing with the Mariners for one year $5 Million. The 34-year-old right-handed reliever has a career 2.90 ERA, 212 saves, and has made 3 All-Star Games in his career. He is famous for his contributions to the dominant Royals bullpen of the mid-2010’s.

Holland returned to the Royals in 2020 after stints with 4 different teams and posted a 1.91 ERA in 28.1 innings pitched. Holland could be a great signing for the Mariners with a very small amount of risk due to his low price tag due to age and bullpen arms not getting big contracts usually. He could be the Mariners closer in 2021 and try to lead the faulty bullpen down the right path next season.

Will Laws and Nick Selbe of Sports Illustrated have the Mariners as the best fit for former Met Marcus Stroman.

Stroman comes in at 7 on their rankings of the top 50 free agents and they list Stroman as the only player in the top 50 that’s best fit is Seattle. Stroman is an excellent pitcher and has a career 3.76 ERA over 6 seasons.

He sat out the 2020 season after he suffered an injury during Summer Camp and didn’t want to risk playing on the injury as he approached free agency. Stroman’s 2019 was excellent however as he had a 3.22 ERA, 137 ERA+, 3.72 FIP, and 4.6 WAR.

This would be a signing that would see the Mariners owners have to dig deep into their pockets, but it could be a signing that catapults Seattle from the rebuild to the playoff conversation.

RJ Anderson of CBS Sports has the Mariners as one of outfielder Adam Eaton’s possible fits.

While I found it hard to figure out exactly why Adam Eaton was the only outfielder that RJ Anderson listed as a fit for the Mariners on his rankings, I do find Seattle to be a reasonable landing spot for Eaton.

Eaton spent the last 4 seasons with the Washington Nationals where he performed well but could not stay on the field due to injury. He only played in 310 games with the Nationals after playing in 150+ his prior two seasons with the White Sox.

He finished his Nationals career with a batting line of .279/.365/.419 adding up to a .784 OPS. He struggled in 2020 however with just a .669 OPS in 41 games. His 2020 struggles led the Nationals to decline their team option for a fifth year added on to his contract and now Eaton hits the open market looking for a good fit, which could potentially be the Mariners as they could use another outfielder and Eaton will not have a high price tag.