Brock on M's complete reversal

[D-train]

bUT JuDGe wON't bE WOrtH iT tHe laST 3 SEaSOnS!

[Michael K.]

That should cure the offense that didn't score the last 24 innings of the season.

Ouch! When you say it that way it sounds so damn bad! LOL

[bpj]

bUT JuDGe wON't bE WOrtH iT tHe laST 3 SEaSOnS!

Yeah, it will affect them about as much as Stantons contract has.

Because they're not a bunch of pussies like Dipoto.

The Yankees now have $111M committed in 2026 compared to the Mariners $44M.

Hollander looks like a guy that wears panties and crosses his legs at the knees.

I'll believe those two can put together a potent offense when I see it.

[Donn Beach]

We are to the Astros what the Padres are to the Dodgers. Actually, we're cheaper than the Padres. Can't wait to see who this year's Winker is going to be.

Not seeing that analogy, cheaper than the padres? Well yeah, padres ran a $220 mil payroll in 2022 and they just signed Bogaerts to a $280 mil contract

[D-train]

[D-train]

By Ryan Divish
Seattle Times staff reporter
SAN DIEGO — With the Major League Baseball Winter Meetings nearing their end, the Mariners were unusually if not unexpectedly absent in terms of trades, signings or even rumors.

A return of the annual get-together that encompasses all of professional baseball after a two-year hiatus didn’t lead to any action for Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and recently promoted general manager Justin Hollander.

Having made trades to acquire outfielder Teoscar Hernandez and second baseman Kolten Wong in the weeks leading up to the meetings, the Mariners were looking for specific needs at the meetings — hitters, preferably right-handed, who can play the corner outfield spots or the corner infield spots.

They only saw the pool of potential candidates diminish slightly at the meetings.

Early Tuesday evening, veteran outfielder Mitch Haniger reached an agreement with the Giants on a three-year, $43.5 million contract.

Haniger will receive a $6 million signing bonus and a $5 million salary in 2023, a salary of $17 million in 2024 and $15.5 million in 2025. The deal also features an opt-out after the 2024 season and a $1 million assignment bonus if he’s traded.

“He’s a really good all-around player,” Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi told Giants reporters. “I’ve been a fan of his for his entire career. The interest was mutual, which is kind of what you need to make these deals.”

Haniger’s injury history, which included missing most of 2019 and all of 2020 because of a ruptured testicle and four subsequent surgeries as well a large portion of 2022 with an ankle sprain, didn’t seem of concern to Zaidi.

“We’re really confident in his current health,” Zaidi said. “We view some of his injuries over the last few years as fluke-ish. He’s had two years where he played a lot. You look at his 2018 season, his 2021 season, he has the ability to play a lot. He’s kind of demonstrated that. He’s very motivated. He’s someone who’s really in tune with his body and what he needs.”

The Mariners seemed motivated to bring Haniger back early in the offseason. Dipoto and Hollander talked about the possibility in the days after the 2022 season and at the MLB General Managers meeting, valuing his leadership in the young clubhouse, his commitment to what the team has built and his production when healthy.

But it appears their desire was also limited by cost or concern over Haniger’s age (he turns 32 Dec. 23) and injury history.

Per multiple MLB sources, the Mariners early offer was nowhere near what the Giants were ultimately willing to pay. With the Mariners not attaching a qualifying offer to Haniger, his free-agent market was better than most, including the Mariners, anticipated. He also drew interest from the Rangers, Angels, Dodgers and Red Sox.

With a strong loyalty to his teammates in Seattle and because of the recent success, Haniger wanted to make sure his agent, Adam Karon, kept communication lines open with Hollander and the Mariners. Haniger wanted them to be informed of potential offers from other teams, allowing them to react and match.

It became clear leading up to the meetings that the Mariners weren’t going to match any deals beyond their early offer.

Haniger thanked Mariners fans, teammates and the organization in a post on social media.


Industry sources don’t believe Mariners will be factors in any of the major free agents remaining — a pool which dwindled more when Japanese outfielder Masataka Yoshida agreed to a five-year, $90 million contract with the Red Sox on the day his posting window opened.

Is the reason for the reticence payroll related? That was a topic of debate in the lobby of the Manchester Grand Hyatt where scouts, front-office employees, agents, reporters and other insiders congregate for hours, discussing a variety of subjects.


There was some thought that Dipoto is operating under constraints of a payroll budget set by ownership based on comments he’s made to other teams and to agents. Others believe the Mariners have money available, but are being selective in their approach, either looking for short-term deals for free agents while still preferring the trade route — particularly finding a way to get Pirates outfielder Bryan Reynolds.

“If we’re doing a deal, we’re not going to do a deal because we were emotionally driven,” Dipoto said Monday. “We’re not going to do a deal because somebody else did one and we feel like we have to. We’re also not going to do it just because we can. We’re gonna do it because we think it’s the right thing to do.”

What will the next deal be?

“It’s the same shopping list that we had in some ways coming in,” Hollander said Wednesday afternoon. “We would like to add more offense if we could. We’d like to create more advantage either by platoons or just depth as we get deeper into the offseason. And then if something else presents itself that just makes our team better, we are open to that.”

Hollander said trade talks were “pretty static” and even the free agency aspect wasn’t as busy as expected, even though Aaron Judge finally made his decision on Wednesday morning, returning to the Yankees. The shortstop trio of Carlos Correa, Xander Bogaerts and Dansby Swanson are still on the market along with outfielders Brandon Nimmo and Andrew Benintendi and pitcher Carlos Rodon.

“There’s still a lot of the headliners that are out there that seem to be holding up free agency to some degree and trade talk,” Hollander said. “This was the weirdest winter meetings I’ve ever been a part of in terms of the lack of trade activity. I can’t remember a winter meetings in 15 years where there was this little trade activity. We had a GMs and presidents meeting upstairs today with the commissioner and some of us were talking before and nobody could remember a winter meetings that was this quiet universally on the trade front.”

Obviously, the offseason doesn’t end with the winter meetings, and the Mariners under Dipoto’s regime have shown a relentless approach to making deals to address needs.

“When we get home, we’ll regroup,” Hollander said. “I think things will start to open up a little bit once we get into next week.”

[D-train]

Then STFU and a make a trade

“There’s still a lot of the headliners that are out there that seem to be holding up free agency to some degree and trade talk,” Hollander said. “This was the weirdest winter meetings I’ve ever been a part of in terms of the lack of trade activity. I can’t remember a winter meetings in 15 years where there was this little trade activity. We had a GMs and presidents meeting upstairs today with the commissioner and some of us were talking before and nobody could remember a winter meetings that was this quiet universally on the trade front.”

[Cascade Kid]

This is JD's way of saying that he 'fucked up' and Evan White's future earnings are holding shit up.

[bpj]

Then STFU and a make a trade

“There’s still a lot of the headliners that are out there that seem to be holding up free agency to some degree and trade talk,” Hollander said. “This was the weirdest winter meetings I’ve ever been a part of in terms of the lack of trade activity. I can’t remember a winter meetings in 15 years where there was this little trade activity. We had a GMs and presidents meeting upstairs today with the commissioner and some of us were talking before and nobody could remember a winter meetings that was this quiet universally on the trade front.”

Their problem seems to be that they're waiting for the trade market to develop, but that can't happen until the guys they should be signing in free agency find homes, so they're just going to be left with their dick in their hands with Kelenic in a LF platoon again when the teams with players to trade end up asking more than they want to part with.

[GL_Storm]

This is JD's way of saying that he 'fucked up' and Evan White's future earnings are holding shit up.

I don't know what you're talking about. The White contract was a dumb move (for the Mariners, great for the player) but the money isn't that big a deal and I've never heard JD imply otherwise.