Mariners' biggest missed opportunity in free agency is only becoming clearer

Free-agent regrets usually require some imagination. This one isn’t too much of a stretch. Before Kazuma Okamoto started launching baseballs for Toronto, the Mariners had a seat in his market. It wasn’t the normal offseason wishcasting or a rumor assembled from loose parts. They were involved in early January, so it’s not like Okamoto was never a realistic option.

Then Toronto, already spending like its checkbook had no bottom, signed him for four years and $60 million. After his first 104 games, he has 23 home runs, which would lead the Mariners. Seattle’s third basemen, collectively, have eight. That’s pretty much it, we can all go home.

Okay, there’s more to it, but we don’t need to smother the obvious beneath a pile of qualifiers. Okamoto was available. The Mariners were interested. The price was reasonable.

Kazuma Okamoto was the right-handed bat Seattle needed

The fit was clean. Seattle didn’t sign him, and third base has spent the season changing disguises: Colt Emerson, a rookie learning on the fly; J.P. Crawford, a shortstop who opted to move off his natural position; Brendan Donovan, an injured utility player who has only been available for 25 games; Weston Wilson, scooped up after being DFA’d by Philadelphia, and Buddy Kennedy, whom the Mariners have now DFA'd. Solid plan, fellas. So the hot corner in Seattle looks like a position still searching for an owner.

It’s not like the Mariners were outbid by a Dodgers organization tossing around another quarter-billion dollars. Okamoto received $15 million per season. Toronto also owed a posting fee, but even with that added cost, this wasn’t some financial moonshot. It was actually a pretty normal contract for an established middle-of-the-order bat entering his age-30 season.

The Mariners had already committed five years and $92.5 million to Josh Naylor. That definitely swallowed most of the available money. That’s fair. But Jorge Polanco had also left for the Mets, and the Brendan Donovan trade was still a month away. Their interest in Okamoto surfaced during a stretch when the infield was still unfinished.

If the money was gone, the Mariners were window-shopping. If it wasn’t, they simply missed, especially considering the prospect capital they later surrendered to patch the same hole.

Either answer gets us to the same place. Okamoto hasn’t arrived in the majors and immediately turned into Shohei Ohtani. He’s slashing .224/.304/.441 and has third base competently while adjusting to an entirely new league. His 23rd homer broke Ohtani’s record for the most by a Japanese-born MLB rookie. 

That plays. It would especially play in Seattle, where the offense is collectively hitting .230 and the front office is checking under every doormat in baseball for a right-handed bat.

We’ll refrain from trashing Donovan. He’s a good player. When healthy, he has been exactly the kind of pesky, intelligent hitter the Mariners needed. He reached base, controlled at-bats and gave the lineup a different length and texture. The problem was never Donovan’s ability. It was pretty much everything wrapped around him.

Seattle acquired a left-handed utility player and handed him a job description that read like three Craigslist ads stapled together: everyday leadoff hitter, primary third baseman, backup first baseman, and, while we’re at it, emergency help everywhere else. Before Opening Day, it was fair to wonder whether the Mariners were stretching Donovan’s versatility until it snapped.

Then he injured his groin and played only 25 games. That isn’t his fault. It does underline the fragility of the setup.

Okamoto was the cleaner fit from the beginning. He bats right-handed. He supplies actual home-run power. Most importantly, he’s an actual third baseman. There would be no need for positional gymnastics. 

In predictable Mariners fashion, Seattle chose flexibility and turned third base into a revolving door. Toronto chose one player and wrote his name in ink. Whatever the standings say, we aren’t comparing entire rosters. At third base, the Blue Jays got it right.

We don’t know whether Okamoto would have chosen Seattle. But the Mariners had a seat at the table, and there’s no public indication they ever pushed enough chips in to make Toronto sweat.

Okamoto is thriving while the Mariners are still piecing together one of the weakest third-base situations in the league. The biggest miss of the Mariners’ offseason isn’t hiding. He’s standing at third base in Toronto.

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