{"id":449642,"date":"2026-02-02T18:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/449642\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T18:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T18:56:08","slug":"dipoto-mariners-working-on-another-addition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/449642\/","title":{"rendered":"Dipoto: Mariners Working On Another Addition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mariners fans holding out hope for a reunion with Eugenio Su\u00e1rez<\/a> finally got resolution on that front yesterday when the slugger agreed to a return to a different one of his former home: Cincinnati. Su\u00e1rez\u2019s one-year, $15MM deal with the Reds takes another infield option off the board for a Seattle club that has reportedly spent the bulk of the offseason exploring options at both third base and second base. An addition could yet be on the horizon, however. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto hinted strongly on Seattle Sports\u2019 Mariners Hot Stove Show<\/a> this weekend that another move could yet be in the offing, telling host Shannon Drayer:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s one more move that\u2019s in us, that we want to make, and we\u2019ve been grinding hard for the last handful of days to see if we can bring it through, and hopefully we do. \u2026 Our lineup took a huge step forward last year. Obviously we\u2019ll be short a couple of bats that were there with us in Toronto to finish the season, but we get a full year of Josh Naylor<\/a>. We get the upswing of our players as they get more exposure, especially Cole Young<\/a>, who I think is going to break out for us this year. And I do hope there\u2019s one more player coming along for the ride that might not be in a Mariners uniform just yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

General manager Justin Hollander similarly suggested that it\u2019s \u201ccertainly\u201d possible his club makes a move to add a hitter this week, per Adam Jude of the Seattle Times<\/a>. Jude writes that Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan<\/a> still feels to be the likeliest target for the M\u2019s, but Hollander stressed that the Mariners are being \u201copen-minded\u201d about ways to improve their lineup.<\/p>\n

The fit between Donovan and the Mariners has been explored at length both here and elsewhere, for more than a year. Seattle\u2019s interest into the versatile infielder\/outfielder dates back to last offseason. The lefty-swinging Donovan is 29 years old, controllable for two seasons (earning $5.8MM in 2026), can play multiple positions capably (second base, third base, left field) and is a .282\/.361\/.411 hitter in four big league seasons. Donovan is one of MLB\u2019s toughest strikeouts and is a quality defender who can bounce around depending on which of the Mariners\u2019 young hitters breaks through.<\/p>\n

That said, it also bears emphasizing that the Mariners have various spots at which they could pursue an upgrade if they\u2019re indeed \u201copen-minded\u201d to other possibilities, as Hollander indicated. Young is the favorite for at-bats at second base but hit only .211\/.302\/.305 in 257 plate appearances as a rookie. He\u2019s a former first-round pick and top prospect who\u2019s still only 22, so there\u2019s plenty of reason to be bullish. At the hot corner, Ben Williamson<\/a> played good defense but hit only .253\/.294\/.310 in 295 plate appearances. Colt Emerson<\/a>, one of the top 10 to 20 prospects in the entire sport, looms in the upper minors but only turned 20 last summer. He topped out with six games in Triple-A late last year and could be a third base option later this season.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the DH spot will primarily be occupied by a combination of Dominic Canzone<\/a>, Luke Raley<\/a> and (on days when he\u2019s not catching) MVP runner-up Cal Raleigh<\/a>. Canzone was excellent with the M\u2019s in 82 games last year (.300\/.358\/.481) but needed a .354 average on balls in play to get there and has no prior big league track record. Raley struggled through injuries and a downturn in performance but was a quality platoon slugger for Tampa Bay and Seattle in 2023-24.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also some uncertainty in right field. Victor Robles<\/a> was terrific down the stretch for the Mariners in 2024 but missed most of last year due to a shoulder injury and hit just .245\/.281\/.330 in 114 plate appearances when healthy. Canzone and Raley can also factor in out there, as can free agent pickup Rob Refsnyder<\/a>, but there\u2019s room for an addition there as well, be it via trade or a largely-picked over free agent class.<\/p>\n

The flexibility to bring in someone at multiple infield positions or as part of the DH\/right field mix creates a wide range of possibilities. Notable names who\u2019ve yet to sign for the upcoming season include Miguel Andujar<\/a>, Rhys Hoskins<\/a>, Nathaniel Lowe<\/a> and Marcell Ozuna<\/a> (to name a few). Donovan is the most prominent name on the trade market, but the Nationals (CJ Abrams<\/a>), Red Sox (Jarren Duran<\/a>, Wilyer Abreu<\/a>) and Mets (Mark Vientos<\/a>, Brett Baty<\/a>) are among the clubs who have had some prominent players\u2019 names surface on the rumor circuit throughout the winter.<\/p>\n

Currently, RosterResource projects<\/a> a roughly $157MM for the Mariners\u2019 Opening Day payroll. That\u2019s north of last year\u2019s mark by about $10MM but shy of where Seattle ended the season, following deadline pickups of Su\u00e1rez, Naylor and Caleb Ferguson<\/a>. Seattle\u2019s franchise-record Opening Day mark was about $158MM back in 2018. Given this past season\u2019s deep playoff run and the clear win-now mode in which they find themselves, ownership will presumably be comfortable with a new record mark for Opening Day, though there\u2019s no firm indication yet as to how far past the current $158MM record they\u2019re willing to push.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mariners fans holding out hope for a reunion with Eugenio Su\u00e1rez finally got resolution on that front yesterday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":449643,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[21168,49,48,462,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-449642","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-brendan-donovan","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-mlb","12":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449642","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449642"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449642\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/449643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}