Moves to make the Mariners a playoff team

This year the Mariners finished five games behind Houston for the division title and two games out of the second wild-card spot. Since the Mariners did not pick up Kyle Seager’s option for next year, its 25-man payroll stands at around $65 million and is the fifth lowest in Major League Baseball. It is also well below the luxury tax threshold of $210 million. Seattle has a core of young players, and now is an excellent time to pick up some free agents to take this team to the next level.

The starting rotation needs to be addressed first. With all the injuries to the Mariners’ starting rotation, only four pitchers (Flexen, Kikuchi, Gonzales, and Gilbert) managed over twenty-four games started and one hundred innings pitched.

Free-agent Robbie Ray was the best pitcher in the American League last year. Ray may be a bit of a risk as it was the first time that he performed at such a high level. However, among the free-agent starting pitchers, he looks like the best to make an impact. He led the league in games started with thirty-two, innings pitched 193.1, strikeouts 248, and an earned run average of 2.84. Anything close to that performance next year would make him the ace of the Mariners staff.

With several talented shortstops available in free agency, this is another area Seattle could improve. J.P. Crawford is a solid defensive shortstop but hasn’t done much for the team offensively. Crawford’s triple-slash line last year was .273/.338/.376. He’s twenty-six, so it is unlikely there is any more untapped power coming from him.

Signing Carlos Correa would maintain the good defense and be a significant upgrade to the offense. It would also take away the best player from last year’s division winners, the Houston Astros. Correa’s triple-slash line last year was .279/.366/.485. Crawford could be kept as a utility infielder or traded.

While we are shopping from the Astros free agents, why not bring back Kendall Graveman. Graveman had a breakout year with Seattle before being traded to Houston at the trade deadline. He finished the regular season with a 1.77 earned run average and pitched eleven innings for the Astros in the playoffs giving up two runs earning two holds and a win.

Finally, a familiar name could shore up the offense and replace the home runs lost by letting Kyle Seager go. Now at Tampa Bay Rays, Nelson Cruz averaged forty home runs a season while with the Mariners from 2015-2018. His triple slash from last season is .265/.334/.497. He will be forty-one by next season, and while I wouldn’t expect him to hit forty home runs, thirty-plus is a reasonable projection. As a free agent, he could sign with any team, so the Mariners may need to offer him a two-year contract, but it would be well worth it