NASHVILLE — Two months after narrowly missing the playoffs, the Seattle Mariners have parted with a sizable portion of their lineup in the name of payroll flexibility. Right fielder Teoscar Hernández walked into free agency without a qualifying offer. Third baseman Eugenio Suárez was traded to Arizona. Then the Mariners opened MLB’s Winter Meetings with a somewhat surprising splash, sending left fielder Jarred Kelenic, first baseman Evan White and left-hander Marco Gonzales to Atlanta.
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If you’re hoping the club will put the savings right back into payroll, manager Scott Servais is right there with you.
“I don’t do the books,” Servais said Monday, laughing. “I coach the team. But that’s my understanding that we will (bring that salary back). We need to get better. Our lineup is not complete right now, and we need to have the ability to compete with the teams in our division as we stand today.”
The Mariners ended the season with an estimated $140 million payroll. Suárez, White and Gonzales were due to make about $30.5 million combined in 2024. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told the Seattle Times late Sunday that payroll “is very likely to be higher” than it was on Opening Day 2023. “But we needed to create flexibility if we wanted to do things that could make us meaningfully better,” he said. (Dipoto will meet with media again Tuesday afternoon.)
The cost of achieving that flexibility is that it has carved huge holes in a Mariners lineup that last season fell squarely in the middle of the major league pack in runs scored (758) — and third in the AL West, behind the Houston Astros (827) and Texas Rangers (881). Hernández, Suárez and Kelenic accounted for 1,788 plate appearances and 59 homers — and, yes, 557 strikeouts — last season. The Mariners still have a few big bats in Julio Rodríguez, Cal Raleigh and Ty France, but they’ll need more.
Servais, like Dipoto, said he expects the Mariners will add multiple hitters. He stressed that, having lost the thump of Hernández and Suárez and Kelenic, they’ll need guys with a history of hitting in the middle of the lineup. The Mariners’ need for outfielders is now obvious. As for third base, Luis Urías and Josh Rojas are internal options who could spend time there, but the Mariners will scour the free agent and trade markets for those spots as well.
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Servais preached patience to Mariners fans as they await more moves.
“There is a lot of skepticism,” he acknowledged. “Expectations have risen dramatically the last couple years on our team. I said it last year, that’s a good thing. We do have a young team. That is exciting. We do want to take the next step to win and, again, we’re trying to do the best with the cards that we’ve been dealt. I guess that that’s the best way to say it. … Certainly (the Astros’ and Rangers’) payrolls are higher than us, but at the end of the day when you line up and play, nobody checks the payrolls. We just got to figure out a way to beat ’em.
“I love our young pitching. I love the core of players that we have. We do need to get better. There’s no question about that. I’m hoping over the next few weeks we continue to add.”
(Photo of DiPoto and Servais: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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