Mariners News: Brian Anderson, Edgar Martinez, and more in a Q&A session

We decided to do something new this year, and it'll be fun to see how it grows and evolves. Each week, we will be putting posts into the social media world (Facebook and Twitter/X) to see if you have any questions, and then we will do our best to answer them. In our first edition of the reader Q&A, we have just a few questions but it's about quality, not quantity! Strap in for a wide variety of fun inquiries about America's favorite team, the Seattle Mariners.

Will Edgar ever come coach for the Mariners?

In my humble opinion, Edgar Martinez is the most underrated hitter in baseball. Seattle was quite the small market team back in his heyday and he was on the West Coast, so many fans out East barely even knew who he was. Furthermore, he was a pure DH for most of his career, didn't hit an exorbitant amount of home runs every season, and was overall a pretty soft-spoken guy.

Despite slashing .312/.418/.515 over an excellent 18-year career, he had to wait until his last year of eligibility to be elected into the Hall of Fame. He likely wouldn't have made it in at all if not for his infamous 1995 ALDS double against the Yankees and further campaigning efforts of fellow teammates Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson.

Because of his illustrious career at the plate and commitment to playing in Seattle for the entirety of his career, he was actually brought on in 2015 to serve as a hitting coach. He was credited with making modest improvements to the team's hitting and even after Lloyd McClendon was fired as manager by the newly hired GM Jerry Dipoto, he was kept on board. He decided to step back from actively coaching the team in 2018 to have more personal time with his family and took on a broader role as a "hitting advisor" thereafter.

So technically he already has coached for the M's, although it's clear that it's not a career path he was interested in pursuing for very long. I actually had the privilege of meeting him very briefly at last year's All-Star Play Ball Park event and he seemed pretty content with how things have gone thus far and remaining on the sidelines for now. He's more than earned his place in Mariners history and doesn't have to prove anything else.

How do we make space for Brian Anderson?

Brian Anderson is an interesting contender for the third base job in Seattle, a role whose full-time occupant is yet to be determined. Neither Josh Rojas nor Luis Urias have made immensely compelling cases thus far in Spring Training. Urias has batted quite well (.916 OPS over 33 plate appearances) but has seemingly struggled throwing to first base, especially since experiencing shoulder inflammation earlier in the offseason.

Anderson, on the other hand, has his own set of issues. He was released by the Brewers after a lackluster year at the plate and signed a minor league contract with the Mariners in late February. In his best years with the Marlins (2018 and 2019), Anderson was a strong hitter with a decent glove. In the past two years, he's regressed to a near-replacement level. Although his barrel rate is slightly above average, his average exit velocity and high strikeout rates are both in the bottom quartile of qualified players. The only thing he truly excels at is arm strength. He averaged 88.7 mph on his throws from third base and a whopping 96.0 mph from the outfield.

Arm strength is a great tool to have, but to hold down a starting job in the big leagues, you'll need a little more than that. It'll be interesting to see how he performs in the minors this year and if he'll be able to fix enough issues to claw his way onto the 26-man roster. In the event that he does somehow make it to the top, I imagine that Seattle will end up optioning Luis Urias or Josh Rojas, or trading one of them for a prospect or two. Both players still have one option left so depending on the faith of the front office,.