Winter Meetings: How are the Seattle Mariners responding to the Texas Rangers?

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The Seattle Mariners were the trendy pick heading into 2023 to take that next step and end their World Series drought. They had just made the playoffs in 2022 for the first time since 2001. They beat the Toronto Blue Jays to win their first playoff series since 2001. They played a highly competitive series against the Houston Astros that came down to about two pitches. Yordan Alvarez hit a game-winning home run against Robbie Ray in game one and then Jeremy Pena hit a solo home run in the 18th inning of game three. It was something to build on for the Mariners for 2023.

Seattle made a few moves around the fringes of the roster last offseason. They acquired Teoscar Hernandez in a trade with the Blue Jays. They traded for Kolten Wong from the Milwaukee Brewers. They signed A.J. Pollock in January. They went into the season with much of the same team they had in 2022.

Seattle with their minor improvements was still predicted to finish ahead of Texas and in some publications picked to win the AL West. Texas was picked anywhere from third to fourth in the division and to not make the playoffs. In the end Texas jumped the line and passed the Mariners. Texas finished 90-72 on the season and won one of the wild card spots. Seattle came up short and finished with an 88-74 record and did not make the playoffs. A lot of reasons for that, but one of the main reasons is that Seattle had a 4-9 record against Texas.

General Manager Jerry Dipoto in his exit press conference made some comments that riled up the Mariners fan base. He mentioned how the teams' goal is to win 54 percent of their games. He then also said this,

If what you're doing is focusing year-to-year on ‘what do we have to do to win the World Series this year’ you might be one of the teams that's laying in the mud and can't get up for another decade, so we're actually doing the fan base a favor in asking for their patience to win the World Series, while we continue to build a sustainably good roster.
Jerry Dipoto

It certainly did not help his case when almost a month after making these comments the Mariners' rival in Texas did go off and win their first World Series. That left the Mariners on an even shorter list of teams that have never won a World Series. They are on the list with the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, and Colorado Rockies. Seattle is the only Major League team to have never been to the World Series. Now the question becomes how does Seattle respond to Texas winning the World Series? Do they go all-in or still make cautious moves?

Seattle's moves so far this offseason

General Manager Jerry Dipoto has made a couple of moves so far. They traded their starting third baseman Eugenio Suarez to the Diamondbacks for pitcher Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala. Not a real popular move among the fan base. This week Seattle followed that up with an even more confusing move. They traded Marcos Gonzales, Evan White, and former top prospect Jarred Kelenic to the Atlanta Braves for two young pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips.

It feels like Seattle is setting up for a bigger move and is clearing payroll to make room for a significant player. The market is moving slow as baseball waits for Shohei Ohtani to make his decision. Seattle stepped back from Ohtani at the beginning of free agency. The question becomes if they are setting up to make a trade for Juan Soto? Are they clearing payroll to make room to sign Cody Bellinger?

Texas has not been very active either. They did make their first significant addition by adding reliever Kirby Yates to the bullpen on Tuesday. He will likely take over the role that Will Smith had in 2023. He will pitch in the late innings and sometimes close when Leclerc needs a break. Texas is trying to repeat as champions. I am not sure what Seattle is doing to this point. It feels like the Mariners have made their team worse trading away Suarez and Kelenic from a lineup that already was not very deep.

This is the difference between Seattle and Texas. The Rangers had to made several splash moves to turn around the franchise because of their lack of minor-league player development. They went into free agency and signed several good veteran players that helped Texas win now. Seattle is mostly relying on being able to develop a winner from a strong minor league system and being able to sustain that over several years. They have made some splashy moves, but for the most part, have stayed out of the market for high-priced free agents. They might need to change course if they are to compete with the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros in the AL West in 2024 and beyond.

Texas Rangers' fans should keep a close look at what the Mariners do. The roster decisions they make will have a direct impact on how good Texas can be in 2024. We saw this past season that one team dominating the other led to Texas making the playoffs and winning the World Series and Seattle missing the playoffs and facing several questions. If Seattle makes drastic additions it could impact the season series in a negative way for Texas. Make no mistake Seattle will still be good and will still be in the playoff race next season. Just because Texas won the World Series does not mean they will dominate the Mariners and win the division in 2024. Texas will have to earn their way back to the playoffs and Seattle will try to put up a fight and keep them from getting there.

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Seattle's moves so far this offseason

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