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Could a big name Free Agent fall in Love with Seattle and sign with the Mariners for Valentine's Day?
The free agent market has been slow this winter and there are still multiple big name free agents out there who need a team for the 2024 season. Four big free agents need a partner to fall in love with them and offer them a home for the 2024 season: third baseman Matt Chapman, outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger, and lefties Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery. Could one of these four be the missing link to completing the Seattle Mariners offseason?
With Spring Training starting for the Seattle Mariners on Valentine's Day, it is fun to dream about the idea of one of the four big name free agents falling in love with Seattle and wanting to sign with them. All of these four players are experienced big leaguers who have had success and could push the Mariners into division favorite territory if they were to sign with Seattle.
Matt Chapman
Matt Chapman has long been a nemesis of the Mariners dating back to his days with the Oakland Athletics. He is one of the best defensive third baseman in the league and has been for years. Adding his premier defense to the hot corner would surely be worthwhile, but the questions come with his bat. He had some great years before the pandemic where he was worth 12 WAR in 2018 and 2019, but the last three years his offense has been lacking.
In 2023 Chapman only slashed .240/.330/.424 with 17 home runs, but he did have a 110 wRC+. He did this in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Toronto and still hit the ball hard last year, but the expected batting average was lower than his results. Chapman also strikes out a lot and does not dominate the zone. He has the potential to be a 120 wRC+ type of hitter, but I would be worried that he has a Teoscar Hernandez type of season in Seattle.
I do not see Chapman as a fit in Seattle because the Mariners have already committed resources to third base in the form of Luis Urias and Josh Rojas. Does the former Blue Jay have a better resume than those two? Yes, of course, but it does not make sense to have a platoon at third base then add someone who needs to play every day. It just does not seem like the best use of resources at the current moment and I doubt these two would match on a dating app right now.