Mariners Monday Mailbag: Trades, offseason moves, and a premonition about Ty France

When the playoffs are missed again, what moves WILL be made this offseason? From Ryan Zborlaski

Love this fan's confidence, but it's hard not to see what the majority of the fanbase feels right now. As I said, missing the playoffs will likely lead to major changes. With no extensions yet for Servais and Dipoto, I would bet that both would be gone, likely taking over a new club.

So this definitely makes it murky on predicting moves in the offseason, but that doesn't mean we can't look ahead at the free agency group.

First base looks loaded with guys like Paul Goldschmidt, Pete Alonso, Christian Walker, and Rhys Hoskins. Any of these guys look like a massive upgrade over what Ty France provided the past two years. 

The Mariners will not enter the Juan Soto sweepstakes, but they can look to the outfield group to upgrade the lineup. Tyler O'Neill, Michael Conforto, Jurickson Profar, and Anthony Santander could all be sizable upgrades to this team that absolutely has to build around Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh.

Besides Juan Soto, the most talented free agent will be Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaski, but he's all but guaranteed to be a Dodger.

If the Mariners, whether it's Dipoto or someone else, can attract free agents, look to Luis Castillo to be a potential trade chip to bring in multiple young hitters who are ready to get a shot at the big league level. If Seattle simply can't be a free-agent player, they need to take advantage of their pitching depth to bring in controllable hitters.