It's time to look back at every team from around the MLB and what they showed us during the 60 game sprint! We are going to explore a few things for each team: Review in-season transactions, what we learned, what we loved, what we didn't love, the most significant need(s), and lastly, the biggest takeaways.
Let's jump over the AL with the Seattle Mariners today. We talked about the Padres, A's, Marlins, Yankee's, Cardinals, Whitesox, Cubs, Twins, Reds, BlueJays, Brewers, Indians, Giants, Phillies, Braves, and Astros thus far; you can find all posts on the homepage https://www.theballboyblog.com/.
DISCLAIMER: This one may be super biased because of my love for the Seattle Mariners. I was born and raised and am still, to this day, a die-hard Mariners fan!
Before we get any further into the post: Congrats to ROY Kyle Lewis and Gold Glove Winners JP Crawford and Evan White.
What moves did the 2020 Mariners make?
Seattle Mariners designated 1B Daniel Vogelbach for assignment. Seattle Mariners traded 1B Daniel Vogelbach to Toronto Blue Jays for cash.-The move to DFA and then Trade Vogey after an All-Star 2019 was surprising. But not as he was struggling. He was then cut by Toronto days later, then picked up and finished the Brewers season.
Seattle Mariners traded RHP Taijuan Walker to Toronto Blue Jays for Player To Be Named Later.- Man, I was hoping we would keep Walker this time around instead of trade him for nothing. Still, the team had to make room for Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn, and Nick Margevicus and future rotation additions of Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, who are all on their way.
Seattle Mariners traded RHP Austin Adams, C Austin Nola, and RHP Dan Altavilla to San Diego Padres for RHP Andres Munoz, C Luis Torrens, Taylor Trammell, and 3B Ty France.- The saddest part of the trade was the feel-good story of Austin Nola being traded but getting future 2B and heir to Kyle Seager at 3B Ty France was fantastic! Shed Long did not and had not been promising, and I love what we saw from France after the trade.
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What did we love about the 2020 Mariners?
We loved that the Mariners were not the last-place team in the AL West. That was pretty great, and the team could stay in it until the last few days of the season. I mean, the Mariners finished in 3rd place this season with a 27-33 record. We loved having two Gold Glove candidates in 1B Evan White, SS JP Crawford. These two are the developing core of the Mariners. White was given a significant off-season extension to be the 1B of the now and future, and we saw that Glove that we saw in the Minors. We saw the more great play from JP, and he leads the BA team with a .259BA 22BB-38K. Not bad for JP.
We also loved having the AL Rookie of the Year OF Kyle Lewis. Leading the team in HR(HR) and tying for BA(.259) while getting 5SB. We have a 20/20, if not a 30/30 type of player. We also loved the season we saw from breakout Dylan Moore, the utility man, and possible 2B going into 2021. Moore had an excellent season before injuries with 8HR, 17RBI, 12SB, and a .255BA. Kyle Seager also looked refreshed, leading the RBI(40) and 9HR, 5SB, and a .244BA. The last thing we loved was the top-shelf rookie performance from Justus Sheffield 3.48ERA(2nd among AL rookies), 48K(6th among AL Rookies), 4W, 1.6fWAR(1st among AL rookies), 0.33HR/9(1st among AL rookies) during 55.1IP(3rd among AL rookies) to say the lease we have a pitcher to go behind Marco Gonzalez. He also had an excellent ace caliber season.
What did we not love about the 2020 Mariners?
There was quite a bit I didn't love as an M's fan. Yusei Kikuchi's less than great 2nd season in the MLB. We saw Kikuchi pitch to an ERA over 5. But he did only give up 3HR during his 47IP, so maybe we did see a good season hidden underneath some alarming numbers. I am still not sold on Kikuchi's long term value to the team. We did not love the teams .226BA or the teams 4.98ERA. We saw what we wanted to visit from the 2020 Mariners, except we didn't see Julio Rodriguez or Jared Kelenic, who could give the Mariners repeat ROY awards.
What was the biggest takeaway for the 2020 Mariners?
The youth movement is on, with Kyle Seager and Marco Gonzalez at the helm. These two are veteran talents and haven't been traded yet, and I don't see them being dealt. We saw exactly what we needed from Sheffield, Dunn, Lewis, White, Crawford, France, Marmo, and the rest of the team. With the window for contention opening up a bit this season with the Astro's possibly losing a key member and the A's system changing. The time is now for the Mariners to make a move with money to spend this winter.
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What is next for the 2020 Mariners in 2021?
Dipoto has come out and said he plans to sign 3-4 RP this winter. This means we will have a decent pen to win games after our high upside rotation. We should see more of the wealth of talent come into play this season like J-Rod, Kelenic, Gilbert, and maybe even have Haniger back in the mix. They need to fill out the pen and the veteran depth, and this team could be real contenders in 2021.
Thank you guys for being with me today. I hope you have enjoyed the blog today. Please stay tuned through the winter; we have more Around the Horn, Yearly Reviews, Ball Boy Talk, and of course, the Podcast. Don't forget to share with a friend and until next time Ball boys & girls.