3 Mariners who shouldn't be guaranteed an opening day roster spot in 2024

The Mariners had their obvious struggles. There are plenty of opportunities and avenues to upgrade their team this winter. With those options, these 3 players should not be guaranteed a spot on the opening day roster.

Seattle Mariners v Chicago White Sox
Seattle Mariners v Chicago White Sox | Michael Reaves/GettyImages
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Mariners Candidate #3: Dominic Canzone

When the Mariners acquired Dominic Canzone at the trade deadline for Paul Sewald, there was a lot of excitement about him. Canzone was a 25-year-old outfielder who had raked everywhere he had played. In 2022 between AA and AAA for Arizona, he slashed .299/.367/.541 with 22 home runs. He followed that up with .354/.431/.634 slash at AAA in 2023 for Arizona. He has shown good walk and strikeout rates, so we know that there is a good hitter there.

If you want to play for a division title and potential World Series, though, you can't sit around and wait for half the year and hope that Canzone breaks out. You need to get a proven, elite level bat. The Mariners need to add a true middle of the order bat and possibly 2 bats. Canzone shouldn't be guaranteed an opening day spot as a rotational outfielder and sometimes at DH. He shouldn't be guaranteed 200 or 300 plate appearances; if he comes up for a few weeks to fill in during an injury that is fine. If he forces your hand by hitting consistently at the Major League level, then great, you have a good problem there.

Do you see the theme here? There is too much uncertainty with the way that this roster is currently constructed. You cannot guarantee a significant amount of at-bats to guys like Dominic Canzone, Mike Ford, Cade Marlowe, Sam Haggerty, etc. You need to get proven major leaguers that you know what you will get. If any of those guys force your hand by playing really well, again, that is a great problem to have.

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