2 Mariners who won't be back despite surviving the Winter Meetings, 1 who is guaranteed to return

Trade for a rental bat: Justin Topa

Yeah, I know that I just said the Mariners could use Dylan Moore to address the bullpen, which is thin. But if the Mariners have been really good at one thing over the last few years, it has been developing quality bullpen arms, and they haven't been shy about trading from their bullpen and relying on that talent. I think we could see Justin Topa follow the same fate of recent successes Paul Sewald and Erik Swanson. Justin Topa was a solid reliever in 2023, and the Mariners could capitalize on that.

I think a similar trade to the Erik Swanson trade is one we could see happen, if the Mariners can afford it financially, yeah, I know, it's a big if. Swanson was worth 1.7 fWAR the year before the Mariners traded him and Topa was worth 1.1 fWAR. Swanson and a young left-handed pitcher, Adam Macko, netted the Mariners Teoscar Hernandez, who was coming off a 2.5-win season and was a 1-year rental bat. Maybe Topa and a top 10 prospect could get you Anthony Santander or Max Kepler. More realistically, you could trade Topa with a prospect to the Giants for someone like JD Davis or Mike Yastrzemski.