Baking the Cake: An Adjusted Mariners Offseason Plan

Tweets about cake, icing, President of Baseball Operations, Jerry Dipoto, and the team’s lack of spending in the free agent market (John Stanton) flooded my timeline this week. The best thing is most of us connected all of those at one point due to Joe Doyle’s viral analogy. Mariners Twitter is undoubtedly an interesting place this offseason.

According to a recent report from Seattle Times reporter Ryan Divish, there is a thought that Dipoto is working with financial constraints this offseason. If that is the case, there are still some incremental moves the front office can make to raise the floor of the roster. Let’s take a minute to build the cake ourselves. Here are some moves that the Mariners could make throughout the remainder of the offseason to build a strong team without getting too crazy.

Icing: Mariners get their utility Slugger

Brandon Drury enjoyed a career year in 2022, amassing 2.6 WAR with Cincinnati and San Diego. Drury has always been an average ball player, but he turned a corner over the past few years by dedicating his approach to hitting the ball with authority. As a result, the past four years have the longtime utility man swinging with a 43.7% hard-hit rate.

Even after the trade of Kolten Wong, Manager Scott Servais could use Brandon Drury on this roster. Positional versatility is an attribute this group covets and the 30-year-old utility man is the poster child. He can handle most infield positions (minus shortstop) and left field, which would give the Servais the ability to rest Ty France, Eugenio Suarez, and offer platoon options for Wong and presumably Jarred Kelenic.

Additionally, Dipoto stated the need for a right-handed bat who can cover the corners and provide some thump to the bottom of the lineup. Drury is that guy. Imaging being able to slide a Silver Slugger into the seven hole of the lineup. That is the epitome of depth.

Sign him to a 2 yr – $24M contract which looks like a bargain compared to the other free agent contracts thus far.

Sprinkles: Mariners get some contact

The lineup currently has a lot of swing-and-miss with Julio Rodriguez, Teoscar Hernandez, Eugenio Suarez, and Cal Raleigh. There is a need for more contact, even if it is off the bench. I’d make a prospect-for-prospect trade with the Rays, who currently have a bunch of expendable middle infielders (Brujan, Mead, Walls).

I’d leverage a longstanding relationship (12 previous trades) and call our old friends in Tampa Bay and ask if they’d be willing to part with Vidal Brujan. He’s mashed in the minors last year accumulating a slash line of .292/.369/.440. He also excels at making contact (9.6 BB% – 16.7 k%). With all of that success, he’s lost his prospect shine because of struggles at MLB level over the past two seasons.

The best part of his game and this roster is the versatility to play all around the diamond and provide plus speed off the bench. The Mariners could start Brujan in Tacoma to get the CTZ approach down pat and possibly bring him up later in the year. Or he may beat out fan favorite Sam Haggerty out of Spring Training and provide switch-hitting versatility with a little more upside off the bench to compliment veteran Dylan Moore.

Sure it’s not the ‘cake’ we all envisioned when this hot stove season began. That concoction included one of the four superstar shortstops, an on-base machine who plays the outfield, and possibly some bullpen help. But this one might suffice, especially if the icing pans out.