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.

The Cake: Mariners ship a starter

We’ve heard rumblings since October that teams have called about Chris Flexen and Marco Gonzales. One possible leaked trade included the latter going to Philadelphia and Joey Gallo coming to the Pacific Northwest via New York. That transaction stalled, but it does show how valuable these players are to other teams. Especially in a free agent market where number four starters like Zac Eflin and Taijuan Walker are getting multi-year deals ranging from $40M to $72M.

If the bottom line is so essential, Dipoto and General Manager, Justin Hollander could broker a trade with a pitching-needy team like Arizona, Baltimore, Boston, or San Diego. In this proposed deal, they’d jettison Flexen to the free-spending Padres to fill a hole (LHRP) and add a prospect to augment the farm.

According to Spotrac, Gonzales has two years and $18.5M left on his contract, while Flexen has one year and $8M remaining. Flexen would be the most valuable in this market, making this the best move. The team would only add $2M in payroll to offset Pomeranz’s higher salary. Gonzales stays for now, but could be used in a trade later if Matt Brash and his new cutter earned a spot in the backend of the rotation.

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.