3 affordable non-Adrian Morejon options for Mariners on left-handed relief market

The free agent market hasn't picked up steam yet, but it did get moving once Emilio Pagán signed a one-year, $11 million deal with the Detroit Tigers. That has ramifications for the relief market, and Jon Morosi of MLB Network reports that the Mariners specifically have their eye on left-handers.

It doesn't necessarily come as a surprise. Jerry Dipoto has made no secret of wanting to upgrade the bullpen this winter, and he seemingly doesn't want to skimp on the job.

“We’d like to have one, maybe two leverage relievers, and if they’re righty or lefty, doesn’t matter to us,” he said at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas this week, per Adam Jude and Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times. “Just make sure they’re good. That could come via trade. It could come via the free agent market. It could come in both directions.”

Though Gabe Speier and Jose A. Ferrer can each claim to be a solid lefty in Seattle's pen, neither was a sure thing this year. They also shared a common struggle with missing bats. In 110.2 combined innings, they fanned just 99 batters.

Adrian Morejon is still technically a possibility for the Mariners, yet it's hard to imagine them going as far as $80 million to sign him. Since he's hardly the only good lefty reliever out there, it's time for a fresh wish list of options who should be within the Mariners' price range.

The Mariners should covet these 3 lefty relievers, at hopefully affordable prices

Alex Vesia

Alex Vesia is only "affordable" in context of what Morejon is worth on the open market. MLB Trade Rumors projects him to earn $26 million in a two-year deal, and it's easy to imagine that being too rich for the Mariners' preferences.

Nonetheless, Morosi said on Wyman and Bob this week that Vesia is of "at least some interest" to the Mariners. This doesn't need much justification based on Vesia's track record with the Los Angeles Dodgers, which consists of a 156 ERA+ and 1.085 WHIP in 367 appearances.

The 30-year-old only averages 92.1 mph on his fastball, yet it has unrivaled induced vertical break. His slider and changeup each had whiff rates in the 40s this year, so it's not great surprise that his overall whiff and strikeout rates were were in the 96th and 95th percentiles, respectively.

The catch: Vesia is historically better against lefties than righties, holding the former to a .530 OPS but allowing a .642 OPS to the latter.

Steven Okert

Whereas MLB Trade Rumors projects Steven Okert to cash in with a two-year, $14 million contract, he only gets one-year projections at other outlets. Either way, he's going to come cheaper than Morejon despite being arguably the second-best lefty reliever on the market.

The 35-year-old has a 2.58 ERA to show for his last two seasons with the Houston Astros, with a 0.883 WHIP and a K/BB ratio that's a hair under 5.0. He only averages 91.0 mph on the fastball, but it's his slider that he trusts as his primary offering. It features good glove-side run and has limited batters to an average in the .100s in each of the last two seasons, with a +25 Run Value in total.

That slider plays against both righties and lefties, which allows Okert to be more than just a platoon lefty out of the pen. That can't be said of Speier or Ferrer, who both got knocked around by righties this year.

Gregory Soto

Gregory Soto is a lefty we've pitched before for the Mariners' pen, and there is a potential for a true bargain here. He didn't even get a contract projection from MLB Trade Rumors, so the outlook here may be for a one-year deal in the seven-figure range.

The 31-year-old is one of the more overlooked two-time All-Stars in baseball today, which is mostly owed to how he A) isn't a closer anymore and B) wasn't very consistent between 2023 and 2025. He had a nice rebound for the Pittsburgh Pirates this year, though, tallying a 3.63 ERA over 67.0 innings.

Even if Soto doesn't walk as many guys as he used to, living with him still means living with a BB% in the range of 10 percent. What you do get is largely unhittable stuff. He averages 96.6 mph with his heater and posts above-average numbers with his whiff rate and various contact quality metrics. Also, righties (.620) had a lower OPS than lefties (.638) against him this year.

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