With the
addition of Jason Bay and Raul Ibanez, the Mariners offseason is looking more
active, but not really productive. The Jason Vargas trade is nice, Kendrys
Morales is a fun player, as long as he stays away from walk-off home run
celebrations. But I really don’t like the addition of Bay or Ibanez. They are
redundant and waste spots on the roster. I am struggling to see how they make
sense without more trades coming and I’ll show you why by breaking down what
the roster could look like in 2013.
In 5 seconds, bad things will happen
The infield
is pretty set with Jaso, Montero, Morales, Smoak, Ryan, Ackley and Seager.
However, we do still need a third catcher who can backup Montero or Jaso when
both are in the lineup. And then a backup infielder that can play the other
three spots is necessary to give Ackley, Ryan or Seager a day off, either
someone like Nick Franklin, Carlos Triunfel or a cheap free agent. So that is
nine guys needed to fill in the infield spots on the roster. The Mariners now
have to decide to carry 11 or 12 pitchers. If Bay makes the roster, the M’s
will be forced to carry 11 pitcher because we cannot have Bay/Ibanez playing
everyday, they are too old and not good enough defensively. If Bay doesn’t that
makes things a little more interesting.
These guys are fighting for the 4 or 5 roster spots
Eric Thames (L)
Michael Saunders (L)
Raul Ibanez (L)
Jason Bay (R)
Franklin Gutierrez (R)
Casper Wells (R)
Mike Carp (L)
Saunders,
Wells and Guti can all fill in at CF. And I expect Guti and Saunders to be
playing most of the time after successful seasons last year. Ibanez seems to be
fitting in the role as bench player who could be platooned with Bay or Wells in
left field. It seems like Wells is battling Bay for the platoon spot with Raul.
However, if Bay does make it, Wells seems like the most likely to get the 5th
outfield spot because he can play center and backup Saunders and Guti when/ if they
get injured.
Please do awful in Spring Training
If Bay does
do awful in Spring Training and does not make the roster and Wells does platoon
with Raul, its Thames against Carp for the 5th outfield spot. Or
another reliever. Wilhelmsen, Capps, Pryor, Luetge, Furbush, Perez all seem to
be locks so it is a question of Kinney, Ruffin, Kelley or LaFromboise. This is
just as complicated as it looks on paper.
The
outfield of Saunders, Guti, Bay/Ibanez does not seem very good. Offensively,
Ibanez is not very good anymore. His stats were inflated by playing in Yankee
Stadium and being strictly platooned to favor himself. Even if we do that,
playing in Safeco will hurt him, as will being a year older and having to play
defense. Bay is a wild card who has some reward for a very small investment.
But their addition, at best, makes one slightly above average outfielder and
wastes two roster spots. Fantastic. Casper Wells and Eric Thames are a much
better option than Ibanez and Bay. But they will be stuck fighting it out with
Bay for a roster spot.
So for now,
with the addition of Ibanez, Morales and Bay, the Mariners may not have gotten
better but they have made their roster decisions much more difficult and they
are in no way done with their moves this offseason. And it looks like Mike Carp
and maybe even Eric Thames could be the ones moving away from the Pacific
Northwest.
And now it has been announced that DJ Mitchell has been designated for
assignment to make room for Raul, meaning the M’s have 10 days to trade, cut or
resign him off of the 40 man roster. So, for the record this is what happened
on the 40 man roster.
Added- Raul Ibanez from
2009-2012
.280/ .349/.517 at home,
in New York and Philadelphia (Lefty friendly ball parks)
.239/.301/.417 on the road
Dropped (Potentially)-
DJ Mitchell in 2012 in AAA
9-6, 4.29 ERA, 7.03
K/9, 3.21 BB/9, 0.8 HR/9
FANTASTIC!
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