3 Former Mariners players we'll be glad are gone, and 2 we'll wish stayed

With the season having a couple of weeks under its young belt, I thought it would be a good time to look at the roster and think about some of the changes that were made over the last year or so. I tried to stick to just moves made either in trades last season or since the end of 2022. Otherwise, this list would get much more in-depth and intricate.

I wanted to focus on the players who could still be involved with the Mariners, whether it's in the Minors or the Majors, as that's the immediate impact that most fans are looking for. Sure, I wish Randy Johnson could've played his entire career as a Mariner, but that doesn't help the team in 2023.

So, I decided to look for 3 players that I am glad to see no longer with the Mariners, and then 2 that I am wish were still here. Some of them needed to leave, and I think it was a resounding hurrah from fans when we found out that they were no longer with the team. Others could still be helpful, and possibly impactful, to the Mariners this season. Not a ton of big names left, but there are still important players that are no longer here.

Let's get started with the players that we are glad to see gone.

Seattle Mariners players we're glad to see gone: Jesse Winker

Winker is number one on my list. I don't care that he got off to a good start this year. He was awful for the Mariners in 2022, and not just at the plate. He couldn't hit, couldn't play defense, didn't try at practice, didn't work to get better, all the while thinking he was better than everyone else. Yeah, that sounds like a guy I want no where near the team that I root for.

When it came out that he, alongside Toro, were being traded for Wong, I was joyous. It was great to see the Mariners get something of value for Winker, and someone with Gold Gloves and a pretty strong track record of success at that.

Winker is off to a decent start, hitting about .300, albeit without a home run to start 2023. He has yet to show that he can stay healthy or play defense. Even though the Mariners have been struggling to find runs this season, I still want 0% to do with Winker. It's the season of Kelenic, Teo will end up getting hot, and the Mariners will be fine without the guy that was a bigtime problem in the clubhouse.

Seattle Mariners players we're glad to see gone: Donovan Walton

This one is a bit different. I'm not listing him here because I was glad to see him leave. In fact, I was actually a bit upset. He was a guy that I really liked, and I have a soft spot for anyone that I've ever interviewed. I was hopeful that he could stick around the Mariners in an eventual Moore or Haggerty role, filling multiple spots off of the bench. Instead, the Mariners shipped him off to the Giants for Prelander Berroa.

That right there is the reason.

The Mariners got Berroa, who has looked like a different pitcher since coming over to the Mariners. He has vaulted up the prospect rankings, and sits well within the Mariners top ten, and even top 5, with his nasty stuff. He can touch 100, but may end up being a reliever in order to take advantage of that velocity and limit the control issues that he can have. Without trading Donovan Walton (I'm sure they could've made the deal for a different player, though) the Mariners wouldn't have Prelander.

Former Seattle Mariners player we'll wish stayed: Erik Swanson

Oh man. The bullpen was so good last year. It was managed properly... well, almost all the time, and especially if you don't count the postseason. The Mariners decided to trade away some of their surplus, sending Swanson to Toronto alongside Macko for Teoscar Hernandez. Just like the one following this, I still like the move and think it was the right one, it's just been rough this year so far.

The moves that the Mariners made haven't really been working out, with Teo struggling a bit alongside Wong. Swanson was a legit stud last season for the Mariners, and it's hard not to think that they would have at least one more win if Swanson was around to shutdown a team late that otherwise turned into a blown save.

He's already been used in 6 games for the Blue Jays, giving up two runs across 5.1 innings while walking just one batter. That sure would be nice to have right now.

Former Seattle Mariners player we'll wish stayed: Adam Frazier

I really wanted to put Noelvi Marte in right here. It just didn't seem fair though, since he was never in the majors. The Mariners have been struggling up the middle lately, so that was on my mind and had me going down the rabbit hole re-visiting the trade that they made for Luis Castiilo. I've never once thought that they shouldn't have made that deal, I just wish our up the middle farm system was a bit stronger.

It's also what led me to thinking about Adam Frazier. I still think that Kolten Wong is the better option at second base, but it has not been looking that way to start the season. Wong is hitting all his normal analytical numbers (hard hit, exit velo, GB/LD/FB, but he isn't finding the sweet spot. Meanwhile, Adam Frazier already has a homer this season, which is 1/3rd of how many he had last season.

Really, it would just be nice to have someone right now that could fill in for the slow start of JP Crawford and Kolten Wong. With Dylan Moore out still, it's fallen to Haggerty to try and do it. There really wasn't a way to keep Frazier, and I think the move to Wong was still the right one, but it's looking rough right now.