The Mariners have made one thing clear: they’re shopping for help on the left side of the infield, but a reunion with J.P. Crawford is off the table. That decision points to a broader plan in Seattle, one that appears to value defense first and spending carefully enough to keep room for bullpen upgrades.
Jerry Dipoto laid out part of that thinking in an interview with Teren Kowatsch of Roundtable Sports last week, where he sounded especially bullish on the relief market. “This year’s bullpen market is pretty appealing.
There’s a lot of guys out there we feel like could help us. We’ve already identified who they might be.”
He also hinted that the Mariners are kicking around Seiya Suzuki’s corner of the market among the bats, but that kind of move sounds more like a wish list item than a likely outcome. At the GM Meetings on Tuesday, Dipoto made the defensive priority even more explicit.
“A priority for us is to get better offensively, but the max priority is to button up our defense, so however that looks at the end of this and if that includes a star from the NPB then that would be even better.”
That helps explain why Crawford is no longer in the picture. He can still hit, and his reputation in the clubhouse isn’t the issue. The problem is that his range and throwing strength have slipped enough that he no longer profiles as a plus defender.
Mauricio Dubón stands out as the obvious name if the Mariners want a utility Gold Glove type, but that route may not fit if they’re trying to preserve money for the relievers Dipoto wants. MLB Trade Rumors has Dubón projected for two years and $18 million, with Crawford at two years and $16 million.
So if Seattle is headed toward a cheaper stopgap, the options are likely to come with some frustration attached. There are a few possibilities that make some sense on paper, but none of them would exactly light up the fanbase.
Edmundo Sosa is one of them. The right-handed hitter has more than 1,000 innings at shortstop and third base, and his defensive numbers at both spots are solidly above average.
He could fit as a platoon partner with Colt Emerson and/or Brendan Donovan at shortstop and third base, while also filling in when injuries hit. The issue is that he looks more like a part-time answer than an everyday one, even with an .806 OPS against lefties for his career.
And Seattle’s recent track record with platoon bats has not exactly been encouraging.
Isiah Kiner-Falefa brings a different kind of case. He has logged 857.1 innings at second base, 1,864 at third, and 3,947 at shortstop over nine big league seasons, and his Defensive Runs Saved across those three spots total +81.
That’s a serious defensive résumé, even if Outs Above Average hasn’t loved his work at shortstop. The bat, though, is the problem.
He’s a right-handed hitter with OPS marks against both lefties and righties in the .600s, which is how he ends up with a career 81 OPS+.
Then there’s Ha-Seong Kim, the upside swing of the group. He was a 5-WAR player for the Padres in 2022 and 2023, pairing strong infield defense with above-average offense.
Injuries have dragged him down since then, though, and he played only 99 games over the last two seasons. In 51 games with the Atlanta Braves, he was excellent at shortstop with +4 DRS but barely a threat at the plate, posting a 2 OPS+.
If Seattle signed him, the hope would be that better health would bring the bat back without sacrificing the glove.
There’s still a catch with Kim, though: he hasn’t played third base since 2023. If the Mariners want him to cover both short and third, they’d be betting on the rust coming off quickly. If they want him strictly at short, then they’d be pushing Emerson out of his natural position just to make the experiment work.
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The bigger question for Seattle is what to make of the names that were supposed to shape the next wave. Colt Emersons year never really settled into the kind of momentum the organization hoped for, and his health and performance issues only added to the uncertainty around the farm systems timeline. For a Mariners club that has leaned on internal development to keep its window open, Tacomas uneven season left more questions than clean answers about who is ready to help next and when. [Read more 🡒]