As offseason continues, Mariners still looking to add pitchers, GM Jerry Dipoto says
Baseball’s annual Winter Meetings are days away, and while Seattle Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto doesn’t expect to be incredibly active during the week-long trip to San Diego, he still has a to-do list as the offseason continues.
It includes continuing to address the club’s pitching needs. Dipoto said during a Wednesday morning conference call the Mariners would like to add another starter and another bullpen piece — ideally a veteran to help guide a young group — before the 2020 season arrives.
He doesn’t necessarily expect either of those items to be checked off during the meetings, but won’t shy away from the right opportunity to additions anywhere on the roster.
“We will engage, like we always do, with teams in discussions about potential trades,” Dipoto said. “We do have some ongoing conversations with potential free agent additions.
“But, it’s very much more of the same. What you’ve seen us do to this point, which is bring in guys like Kendall Graveman, like (Carl) Edwards, who have had success at the major-league level and needed an opportunity to bounce back ... we want to be that team.”
The Mariners haven’t been as active this offseason in the trade and free agent markets as they were in the last, but have still made several roster changes.
They’ve offloaded a handful of veteran free agents, including longtime ace Felix Hernandez, and have had 10 total players depart. They’ve added six to the 40-man roster, including four pitchers, a versatile infielder who should add some organizational depth at first and third base, and signed first base prospect Evan White to a six-year deal.
As of Wednesday, the 40-man roster is at 39 players, and any moves made from now until spring training are likely to bolster the pitching staff.
“We don’t feel like it’s critical, but we would like to have a starter,” Dipoto said. “If we can find that one more guy to plug in and give us a little bit of certainty innings-wise, that would be ideal for us. ... We have Marco (Gonzales), we have Yusei Kikuchi. We very much plan on starting the season with Justus Sheffield in our rotation. We have Kendall Graveman who will be in our rotation.
“And with the fifth spot we want to provide some stability. We also want to provide the potential for Justin Dunn to walk out of spring training taking a start every fifth day.”
Dipoto said if the Mariners do acquire another pitcher for their rotation, versatility will be important.
“Finding the right guy who can step into what might be a little bit more of a nebulous role, and be built that way is kind of what we’re eye-balling,” he said. “As you might expect, that’s not something that is likely to happen early December. It’s probably more likely to happen sometime in January, or even as we head toward spring training.”
Where Dipoto does expect to be active in the next week is in the Rule 5 Draft, considering the success the Mariners had after acquiring reliever Brandon Brennan in the same way last December.
“We’re going in thinking that Rule 5 is a good play for us,” he said. “We have the spot open on the roster, particularly after the non-tenders with (Tim) Beckham and Domingo (Santana). That was all generally by design. We don’t expect to fill that spot before the Rule 5 Draft, and we do plan to be active.
“That said, we will target a small group of players we feel like are worthwhile Rule 5 investments and find someone who, like a Brandon Brennan, we think may be able to create some impact either short or long term. If that player’s not available, we’ll just stand down. But, we do plan on being active.”
Again, if the Mariners are active anywhere, it’s likely to add to the pitching staff. The club isn’t likely to make any substantial adjustments with its position players before camp.
“We have very likely the position player club you are looking at right now, barring the potential for a trade, which is always possible,” Dipoto said. “That’s our team. We will line up around the field the way you would expect, based on the competition in camp for certain positions.”
Any acquisitions Seattle makes before spring training are likely to be in a similar category as the players they’ve already picked up — younger guys with bounce-back potential.
“Especially players who are in their 20s,” Dipoto said. “Players who we feel like ... appropriately line up with what we’re trying to do with our roster.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2019 at 12:46 PM.
