5 budget free agents the Mariners need to sign this offseason

As we head into a crazy free agency, every team including the Mariners is strapped for money because of COVID-19. So, here are 5 free agents who I believe would only cost $30 million combined next season that the Mariners need to sign to compete in 2021.

General Manager Jerry Dipoto has now entered his sixth free agency in charge of the Seattle Mariners. He heads into this free agency in an interesting limbo where the Mariners are clearly rebuilding, but they showed enough promise in the shortened 2020 season to make many believe that they could compete in 2021, and make most believe that they will certainly compete in 2022.

Dipoto has also said that the Mariners will be signing players to help their bullpen which signals that the rebuilding acquisitions may be over, and the Mariners are now buyers as they await their prospects to grow into MLB players.

I would assume that being cheap will be a top priority for most, if not all MLB teams this offseason as the league deals with the financial ramifications of the COVID-19 pandemic. The MLB teams combined are looking at billions of dollars of debt piling up as well as billions in operating costs from the shortened 2020 season that did not see a fan in the stands until the final two rounds of the playoffs.

John Stanton, CEO of the Mariners Majority ownership group, said that the situation in 2020 is “financially devastating.” Therefore, I would have to believe that the Mariners are going to be one of the teams looking to not spend big.

A good thing about this offseason however is that there are a few All-Star quality players that can be signed for cheap who would fill the Mariners’ needs perfectly.

Carlos Santana

Santana hits free agency for just the second time in his career at age 34. The All-Star first baseman has spent his whole career in Cleveland except for one year with the Philadelphia Phillies. He spent ten days in the offseason with the Mariners in 2018 after he was acquired in the deal that sent Jean Segura to Philadelphia and JP Crawford to Seattle, but Santana was then dealt to the Indians.

Santana’s hitting statistics throughout his career are great, with a batting line of .248/.366/.446 over his 11-year career. He has had an OPS+ over 100 (league average) every single season of his career, except the shortened 2020 season. Santana had a miserable 2020 where he hit below the Mendoza line (.199) and had just a .699 OPS.

Despite his age and bad 2020, Santana offers a ton of positives. He will be cheap because of the two aforementioned negatives plus his poor defense (-6.0 defensive WAR for his career) and should go in the one year $8 million range.

His defense will not be a problem for the Mariners as Santana could be an everyday DH, as well as the backup first basemen and safety net in case Evan White has another poor offensive season.

Santana is also a switch hitter who has hit lefties better than righties his whole career and had a .979 OPS vs lefties in 222 plate appearances in 2019. This would help the Mariners who were one of the worst hitting teams vs lefties in 2020.

Sean Doolittle

Sean Doolittle would have been a much bigger signing if it were just a year or two ago, but at the same time, he would not have been on a list of budget signings at those times. The reason that he will be a cheap option for a closer is because of his discouraging recent stats.

Doolittle was an All-Star in 2018 when he had a 1.60 ERA in 45 innings pitched, and he had a 3.09 ERA in his 6 years prior with the Oakland Athletics. However, his fastball velocity has dropped year after year and his ERA and FIP have gone up.

His average fastball velocity was 94.7 in 2017, 93.8 in 2018, 93.5 in 2019, and then it dropped off in a big way falling all the way down to 90.7 in 2020. Following his stellar All-Star season, Doolittle had a 4.05 ERA in 2019 and then had a 5.87 ERA and an 8.28 FIP in 7.2 innings in 2020.

The Mariners could bring Doolittle in and hope that the multiple injuries that he had in 2020 contributed to his struggles. Seattle should wait on Doolittle, and if no one signs him, sign him to an incentive-laden $2 million deal. The worst-case scenario is Doolittle is the Mariners situational lefty, or he is DFA’d due to health or poor performance and it does not cost the Mariners much.

JA Happ

JA Happ became a free agent this offseason after the Yankees declined his $17 million team option for 2021. The option would have been a guaranteed contract if Happ had hit 10 starts in 2020, prorated down from 27. However, the Yankees only started Happ for 9 games, and as you could imagine Happ was not Happy (No pun intended) with the Yankees not using him to save money.

So, as Happ hits the open market and will not be resigning with the Yankees because of their fallout, what is his value? Happ has had an up and down 14-year career that saw his best seasons come late due to a change in his mechanics while with the Pirates.

Since he left the Pirates five years ago he has had an ERA+ over 115 every season except one and made his first All-Star game at age 35. In his 3 seasons with the Yankees, Happ had a 4.12 ERA and a 4.87 FIP.

Happ’s value could fall somewhere in the 1 year $6 million region due to his age and somewhat declining performance, in which case the Mariners should definitely try to bring him back to Seattle. Happ started 20 games in 2015 for the Mariners under an entirely different regime, and the Mariners should consider bringing him back on a small deal for him to compete for a spot in the rotation.

Taijuan Walker

Walker had an outstanding 2020 after he only started 4 games in 2018 and 2019 due to Tommy John surgery. He is certainly a candidate for the AL comeback player of the year award after he posted a 2.70 ERA in 11 starts in 2020.

Walker was drafted by the Mariners and played his first four seasons in Seattle, but he was then traded to the Diamondbacks in the deal that also sent Ketel Marte to Arizona for Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger.

After Walker was non-tendered by the Diamondbacks in 2019, the Mariners took a chance and brought him back in before trading him to the Toronto Blue Jays. Now as Walker re-enters free agency he is in a tough spot.

Even though Walker had an impressive ERA and was a great story in 2020, he had a 4.56 FIP along with unimpressive Baseball Savant advanced stats that could lead teams to not want to pay the 27-year-old in this economy. Add that all together, along with a clubhouse in Seattle that seemed to love Walker and would welcome him back with open arms, the Mariners could re-sign Taijuan and hope that his successful 2020 continues into a full 2021 season and beyond.

If the Mariners could get his value down to $7-8 million for two years, or a little more with a club option, they would have to bring Taijuan Walker back to Seattle.