Top Five Targets for the Mariners once the lockout ends

Eddie Rosario

I wrote about Eddie Rosario a couple of weeks ago. It seems like every year there are a couple of players where the projected salaries seem off for the value you can get for a player. Sometimes it’s too high, and other times it is too low. To me, Rosario’s projected contract seems like a steal. Here’s why.

He’s projected to get a short deal, somewhere around 2/15. Essentially, that’s a win a year. Maybe even just under. A win in free agency is somewhere around $8-10 million depending on where you look. So, all you would need from someone on a 2/15 deal is to provide around 2.0 WAR over that time.

Going backward, he has put up WAR numbers of 1.1, 1.2, 1.5, and 4.3 (!) over the last four seasons. 2019, the 1.5 season, would’ve been even better if not for an awful showing on defense (-1.4 dWAR). It’s reasonable to expect somewhere between 1.0-2.5 WAR for Rosario… per season. Even if you get his floor, the contract is still a slight win.

I think Rosario is going to give you more than that though. He’s put together a solid track record of 20 HR, a slash line of .275/.320/.480, a little bit of speed, 20-25 2B, and a nice mix of runs and RBI.

Part of this may just be that I want guys on the team who can hit the ball. If we can get some of them for a decent price, then the Mariners should go for it.