Mariners Off Season Plan 2.0

[Seattle or Bust]

Trades:

Mariners trade OF Dom Canzone to the Phillies for 3B Alec Bohm

Bohm is in the final year of arbitration and set to become a free agent in '27. While his numbers look underwhelming in '25, Bohm got off to an absolutely horrid start in April and then rebounded to finish with 2.2 fWAR from May forward. Bohm brings below average power for the position but he's hit better than .274 in each of the last 4 seasons, striking out less than 100 times in each of the last 3. It seems like a move that cement a 3B for at least '26 while the M's wait for Emerson and Arroyo to arrive. The Phillies need OF help in the worst of ways. They're going to lose Bayder and Kepler to F/A and are left with just Brandon Marsh and Nick Castellanos who combined for just 0.9 bWAR in '25. This may sound crazy, but moving Canzone may give Harry Ford some chances to play in the OF alongside playing backup catcher if the M's want to travel that route.

Mariners trade 2B Cole Young, RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje to the Cardinals for 2B Brendan Donovan, LHP Jojo Romero

Donovan just feels like he's got to be a Mariner in '26. The M's have the 2B to move to get him alongside a bevy of pitching prospects that the Cardinals will be looking for in a trade. Cijntje is probably the arm I'm most comfortable moving from the top of the farm. As mentioned in prior threads, Donovan hits for high average, doesn't strike out, and plays elite defense. Jojo Romero is in his final year of arbitration and has quietly been quite good over the past 3 years... culminating in a '25 where he pitched to a 2.07 ERA over 61 innings.

Mariners trade RHP Logan Evans, 2B Ryan Bliss to the Rays for DH Yandy Diaz

It sounds very much like the Rays intend to move Diaz this off season. I think MLBTV is a bit lite on him at $7M of trade value. I have the M's moving 2x MLB ready players who are blocked for Diaz that the Rays can plug and play right away. As mentioned in prior threads, Diaz is more of a DH these days but a damn good one. He's an elite contact hitter that adds to a bevy of contact-heavy hitters in this plan.

Free Agents:

Mariners sign 1B Munetaka Murakami to a 5-year, $100M deal.

Here's the splashy move. Yeah, yeah he has apparently struggled against high velocity... but how often do you have the chance to add a 25 Y/O hitter that is capable of hitting 40+ homers at 1B? I think his flaws are oversold. As a 21/22 Y/O his K rates were totally manageable... combine that with a killer eye, I don't see the swing and miss being such a problem. I think there's still some development here and watching him, he's got the swagger and confidence I think to not let up from a production standpoint. He also fits into a nice, young core at the right moment of contention. I just really like the fit here.

Mariners sign LHP Danny Coulombe to a 2-year $8M deal

Coulombe is a lefty specialist who dominated the last few years with the Twins and Orioles. He's a solid depth piece.

Lineup:

1. Brendan Donovan 2B
2. Cal Raleigh C
3. Julio Rodriguez CF
4. Yandy Diaz DH
5. Munetaka Murakami 1B
6. Alec Bohm 3B
7. Randy Arozarena LF
8. Victor Robles RF
9. JP Crawford SS

Bench: Harry Ford OF/C, Leo Rivas IF, Luke Raley OF/1B

Rotation/Bullpen:

1. Bryan Woo
2. George Kirby
3. Logan Gilbert
4. Luis Castillo
5. Bryce Miller

CL: Andres Munoz
HL: Matt Brash, Gabe Speier, Jojo Romero, Eduard Bazardo
ML/LL: Carlos Vargas, Gregory Santos, Danny Coulombe

[GL_Storm]

JoJo Romero is a LHP, so if you make that trade you probably don't sign Coulombe.

[Seattle or Bust]

JoJo Romero is a LHP, so if you make that trade you probably don't sign Coulombe.

I mean I guess. I don't see what's wrong with having 3x lefties in the pen... specially when Romero is 96-97 and Coulombe is more of a junk baller.

[D-train]

There is just no way I would go with Murakami over Okamoto give the Contract and the floor of each player. Oka's floor is WAR higher And Muri Ceiling is only slightly higher. And I am usually a risk taker and not risk averse but you could easily be flushing $100M. No way they do that and I agree with them for once.

[Seattle or Bust]

There is just no way I would go with Murakami over Okamoto give the Contract and the floor of each player. Oka's floor is WAR higher And Muri Ceiling is only slightly higher. And I am usually a risk taker and not risk averse but you could easily be flushing $100M. No way they do that and I agree with them for once.

Murakami had an elbow injury that required surgery post '24... the season where everyone is freaking out over how he hit off velo.

The guy hit 24 homers in 69 games in '25 and significantly cut down his K rates.

I think Okamoto's floor is Dae Ho Lee.

I think if we let Murakami go to the Yankees or Dodgers he hits 45 homers year one and we're left kicking ourselves per usual.

[D-train]

Murakami's floor is a sub .200 BA and 200+ Ks. Oka averaged 35 HRs for 8 seasons.

[Donn Beach]

The strikeouts scare the crap out of me terms of transitioning

[Pharmabro]

Murakami's floor is a sub .200 BA and 200+ Ks. Oka averaged 35 HRs for 8 seasons.

And Oka is said to be able to stick at 3rd base vs being a 1B/DH only. And Oka K’s less than 20% of the time. But Murakami is 25 and has an 80- grade power tool.

[Seattle or Bust]

Murakami's floor is a sub .200 BA and 200+ Ks. Oka averaged 35 HRs for 8 seasons.

I don't think that's his floor at all. He hasn't shown anywhere near those sorta numbers in Japan.

[Seattle or Bust]

The strikeouts scare the crap out of me terms of transitioning

"the strikeouts"

He strikes out and walks at more or less the same rate that Ohtani did before he transitioned.

Ohtani still strikes out a lot but has repeated largely the same success after a small transition period and some injuries in the early days in LAA.

The uptick in K's in '24 corelate to injuries. He struck out 71 times in 69 games in '25 which is more than fine.