3 Mariners players who may not be back after 2021

Kyle Seager

Sadly, this is probably the most likely on the list. The potential Mariners Hall of Famer and best third baseman in franchise history is heading into the final guaranteed year on his contract.

The Mariners can exercise or decline Kyle Seager‘s $15 million player option and the general feeling from reading different articles and blogs this offseason is that Seattle will not do it. If that happens Seager will hit the open market for the first time in his career.

I have been having daydreams of a plan where the Mariners decline Seagers’ option, but they bring him back for less to try and have him finish his career in Seattle. Then in the daydream the front office also pulls through on their promise and spends next offseason, uniting Corey Seager with his brother on the left side of Seattle’s infield.

Of course for now it is a daydream and is probably also a pipe dream, as it would require the Mariners giving out a $250-300 million contract and getting Kyle Seager to come back after they decline his team option. For that reason, along with many teams needing a veteran third baseman who could be had for decently cheap next offseason, I see it likely that Seattle commits to the youth movement and Kyle is gone.

Mitch Haniger

Mitch Haniger in my mind is the least likely of the three on this list to be gone in 2022. Haniger is heading into a weird season where he is recovering from multiple injuries and surgeries that kept him out for half of 2019 and all of 2020.

However, right before all of the injuries in 2018, he had a batting line of .285/.366/.493 with an .859 OPS that led him to his first and only All-Star Game and the 11th place in the MVP vote. So why would Mitch be gone before the 2022 season starts?

Most likely it is because he might not be a part of the plan in the Mariners front offices’ minds as he is only under team control for one more year after 2021, and in that case they could trade Haniger especially if the Mariners are not competing at the deadline and he is having a repeat of his 2018 season.

Haniger could also have a really bad 2021 season. I certainly hope he doesn’t and don’t think he will, based on what Jerry Dipoto said recently about his fitness, but being out of baseball for two years could lead to poor performance and then the Mariners could non-tender Haniger at the end of 2021 as they would not want to pay his third year of arbitration salary.

Luis Torrens

Luis Torrens just came over last season from the San Diego Padres in the Austin Nola deal as the lowest value player in the trade, as he was behind the likes of Taylor Trammell, Ty France, and Andres Muñoz. However, he has a real chance to be the backup catcher for the Mariners for 5-6 years.

If he can avoid injury he is also pretty much guaranteed to be in a platoon role with Tom Murphy to start the 2021 season, as Jerry Dipto recently said. The reason that he is “pretty much guaranteed” to be on the roster and given a chance is that he has no minor league options left. That means that if the Mariners want to send Torrens down to the minors for poor performance or to bring up top-catching prospect Cal Raleigh, he will have to clear waivers.

So, Torrens is heading into a real make-or-break season. He performed well last year for a 24-year-old catcher who is expected to be a backup with a .696 OPS which was a 96 OPS+ (Just slightly below average). But, if he stumbles this year Cal Raleigh is waiting in the wings to take over his spot and Torrens will be somewhere else after being claimed off waivers.