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As a whole, here is how the Mariners did in fWAR in 2023
With the season over, we take a look to see how the Mariners team did as a whole, and where their fWAR stacks up compared to the rest of the league
Went through and checked out the players, and it gives you a decent idea of what things look like from an individual standpoint. It also helps to see any weird blips that hurt a number. The Mariners saw this at second base in 2023. It's a bit of a spoiler, but they ranked 17th of 30. You take the -1.1 fWAR from Kolton Wong out of there, and it goes up to 13th. That's just making it a 0.0 too. You get 0.5 from that stretch, and you're a top-ten position.
What's the point of this, you may ask? Well, At the end, I'll put together a little total of the Mariners, and you will see their fWAR as a whole. Then, we will compare that to where the rest of the league finished as well, and see if there are any funny tidbits or answers we can draw from where they finished.
We will get into the weeds a bit more as we go along, and I'll throw up some comparison type numbers as well so we can try and figure out if the Mariners improved at each spot from last year's numbers. Here is how the 2023 Mariners ranked for fWAR by position. Reminder, 30 teams, so everything is based on that.
Catcher: 5.3 fWAR - 4th place
No surprise here. Raleigh dominated, and Tom Murphy was a darn good backup. If not for his injury, the Mariners likely finish in the top two here. Raleigh ended up playing a lot down the stretch, and the Mariners are going to need to have a solid backup in place to give him some rest, or at least slide him into the DH spot a couple of times a week if they want that bat in the lineup still.
First Base: 0.5 fWAR - 23rd place
Just a massive fall off from Ty France this season. 3.1 fWAR in 2021, 2.3 in 2022, and a 0.5 this season. If we can get back to the Ty France of yesteryear, then there is no issue at first. However, if he can't hit and the defense doesn't rebound, they will need to look for a replacement. Maybe... just maybe... stop getting hit so much.
Second Base: 3.0 fWAR - 17th
What started as the worst spot on the team turned into a sneaky strength halfway through the year. Think about this. Cabby and Rojas essentially combined for that 3.0 fWAR mark over just half a season. I'm not saying you would get a 6.0 combined fWAR from them over the whole year, but if you did, it becomes the top rated position for the Mariners, over Shortstop, Catcher, or Center Field.
Third Base: 3.2 fWAR - 10th
Just a sneaky good year by Geno. Not as good as last year, but it was far and away his best defensive season, and marked the 5th season in his career with a fWAR above 3.0. He played in every single game this season, so the team mark at 3rd is solely his.
Shortstop: 4.9 fWAR - 7th
JP with the breakout year, brought down a bit as a whole when he went out for a while with the concussion. Crawford already struggles on defense at the spot, at least in 2023, and the Mariners don't have any UTIL guys with a better one to back him up at SS. Still, to miss 17 games and still be 7th in all of baseball is an incredible mark for the Mariners.
Left Field: 2.2 fWAR - 16th
This one might surprise people. The Mariners saw Kelenic play about half this seasons games in LF, but then they still had 6 other players register double-digit appearances out there. Canzone (26), Marlowe (24), Pollock (23), Moore (22), Haggerty (16), Trammell (11). To get league-average play with that many rotating bodies is still impressive. Especially when you realize it wasn't the lowest mark in the Mariners outfield.
Center Field: 5.9 fWAR - 2nd
It's so much fun having Julio in Center. He's getting better as a defender as he learns the position, pairing his top-of-the-line foot speed with a strong arm. We all saw what he can do when he gets hot, and there's a little part of me that wonders what would happen if he could put it together for a whole year... or at least for half a season while still hitting .265 the other half of the year.
Right Field: 1.7 fWAR - 22nd
This was pretty much all Teo, with Kelenic filling in for a while and playing some really good defense out there. When Teo is on, it's fun and a massive help to the offense. When he isn't it's hard to watch. Whether or not the team gets him back on the Qualifying Offer, or even offers it to him in the first place will be something to watch this offseason.
Designated Hitter: -0.1 fWAR - 22nd
Mike Ford "saved" this position for the Mariners, or else it would've been one of the worst ones in all of baseball. He didn't hit for a very good average, but a lot of walks and homers helped give a bit of spark to the second worst first half position for the Mariners. Fitting into the role of a True-Outcome player quite nicely, Ford at least made pitchers be wary when he was at the plate, and earned a shot at taking the role next year as well.
Starting Pitching: 14.4 fWAR - 5th
Two sides to this ranking. You would think that it would be high when you are running Castillo, Kirby, and Gilbert out there for ~95 starts. However, that still leaves ~65 to dole out between Marco, Flexen, Miller, Woo, and whoever else needed to fill in. Leaving Ray out, since he made a part of one start. The fact that they still ranked this high shows you how good Miller and Woo were able to do, and should be a big warning sign to the rest of baseball in 2024... Especially if Trader Jerry strikes (Blake Snell is a Sodo Mojo Wishlist favorite).
Relief Pitching: 5.7 fWAR - 6th
The bullpen was still nasty this season, even with the trade of Paul Sewald. Sure, they had some rough patches and blips, but who doesn't? Diego Castillo got sent down, Murfee was out after 16 appearances, no Sadler, and Festa only threw 9 innings. Yet, the Mariners still put out one of the best bullpens in all of baseball.
Pitching combined: 20.1 fWAR 3rd
It makes sense, right? Having good pitching in all aspects leads to one of the best all-around staffs in the game in 2023. It's no shock that the Mariners had such a good season despite some down years or truly awful stretches from their hitters when you are backed by those guys on the mound.
Mariners Team fWAR as a whole... what did we learn?
When you add everything up, you get to 46.7 fWAR. Well I did, but Fangraphs has it at 46.3. Maybe I missed something along the way, but let's go with that number. The Mariners ranked 5th in baseball in fWAR as a team. Atlanta, Tampa, Dodgers, Rangers, Mariners. This makes a bit of sense as well when you see that the Mariners were 4 games under their pythagorean win total, and should've had 92 wins this season.
How does that compare? Well, in 2022, the Mariners had a 36.3 fWAR total, and in 2022 it was even lower at 26.2. That's much better this season, at least from a WAR totality standpoint. However, they had a rough start, a rough finish, and bad luck in close games. All of those combined lead to a worse season than you should've had, and show a bit more about how the Mariners compared to the last couple of years. Yes, the win total was lower, but the team was better as a whole.
If they can fix that gap at RF and DH, then things are going to look amazing in 2024.