3 potential cheaper replacements for J.P. Crawford that will frustrate Mariners fans

The Seattle Mariners are in the market for a left-side infielder, yet they have closed the door on a reunion with J.P. Crawford. Even if it seems a little self-defeating, it could also be indicative of how the Mariners want to address that need.

Jerry Dipoto did an interview with Teren Kowatsch of Roundtable Sports last week that reads like a Rosetta Stone for his offseason approach. He specifically tipped his hand about how much he likes this year's free agent market for relief pitchers, saying: "This year's bullpen market is pretty appealing. There's a lot of guys out there we feel like could help us. We've already identified who they might be."

Though the Mariners are poking around Seiya Suzuki's corner of the market among the bats, a move like that should be read as aspirational rather than realistic. And besides, Dipoto made it clear at the GM Meetings on Tuesday that the "max priority" is to get better defensively, not offensively.

It's this stance that could explain why the door on Crawford is now closed. He's still a good hitter, and nobody has ever said a bad thing about his clubhouse presence… but due to decreased range and throwing strength, his days as a plus defender are over.

One's eyes are drawn to three-time utility Gold Glover Mauricio Dubón as a potential replacement for Crawford, but the Mariners likely can't go in that direction and save money for the relief targets that Dipoto covets. MLB Trade Rumors has Dubón and Crawford projected for two-year deals, but at $18 million for Dubón compared to $16 million for Crawford.

At the risk of sounding pessimistic, the situation feels like a prelude to a letdown. For the sake of getting ahead of it, let's look at three replacements for Crawford who would be cheaper and reasonable in some way, but who wouldn't scratch the fanbase's itch for good players.

3 bargain bin replacements for J.P. Crawford who would come with upside and downside

Edmundo Sosa

If you promise not to laugh at how quickly the article aged, it was just yesterday that we wrote about Edmundo Sosa as a good fit for the Mariners. He's a right-handed hitter with over 1,000 innings of experience at shortstop and third base, with solidly above-average metrics at both spots.

You don't need a powerful imagination to see how Sosa would fit. Rather than as a regular at either spot, he could platoon with Colt Emerson and/or Brendan Donovan at shortstop and third base, otherwise stepping in as needed in the event of injuries.

Yet even if Sosa has an .806 OPS against lefties for his career, that he would be more of a platoon player than a regular is where doubts creep in. Dipoto keeps trying to crack some sort of code with platoon bats, but he mostly has failure to show for it.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa

Fun fact: If you say "utility infielder" three times in front of your bathroom mirror, Isiah Kiner-Falefa appears and brandishes his mitt.

He has 857.1 innings at second base, plus 1,864 innings at third base and a whopping 3,947 innings at shortstop to show for his nine years in the big leagues. And while Outs Above Average hasn't been sold on his work at shortstop, his Defensive Runs Saved for those three positions add up to a total pile of +81. That's impressive.

Like Sosa, IKF is a right-handed hitter. Unlike Sosa, he does not have a platoon split… but that's not a good thing, as his OPS vs. lefties and his OPS vs. righties are both in the .600 range. That's how you get a career 81 OPS+, which is at the lower end of what's tolerable from a semi-everyday player.

Ha-Seong Kim

If there's an upside play among the dregs of the infield market, Ha-Seong Kim is the guy. Dude was a 5-WAR player for the San Diego Padres in 2022 and 2023, when he mixed terrific infield defense with above-average offense.

Injuries have taken a toll on Kim since then, limiting him to just 99 games over the last two seasons. The 51 games he got into with the Atlanta Braves were an extreme study in contrasts, as he was strong at shortstop (+4 DRS) but terrible at the plate (2 OPS+). If the Mariners signed him, the hope would be that better health would result in more offense without compromising the defense.

Even then, the catch would be that Kim hasn't played third base since 2023. If the idea was for him to play both there and at short, the Mariners would be crossing their fingers that the rust would come off. If the idea was to just play him at short, well, then you've bumped Emerson off his natural position just to experiment.

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