Spring Training Thread

[D-train]

~22,000 men have played MLB and 423 have put up 37+ WAR. 1.9% If you include minor leaguers that never made the big leagues you are looking at probably less than 1/2 of 1%.

[Donn Beach]

Geez I open this in the morning and the discussion is why can't Emerson hit a 1.000 ops and needs to get bigger. Hello, he's the shortstop of the future, we don't want him to get bigger. I'd just finished this article about it. He's refusing to accept the narrative that he's going to get too big.

On playing himself off of shortstop

“We don’t think that’s the case at all," said the Mariners' POBO, adding: "He’s refined his body and became an even better shortstop.”

Interesting, they are practically making a SS controversy out of it. It's the given it's JPs last season. That seems a little strange to me.

https://sodomojo.com/jerry-dipoto-basic ... r-mariners

[Coeurd’Alene J]

Colt has big thighs which should transfer into more power as he gains experience and he should continue to fill in and hopefully not as fat as Seager. Kyle was basically overweight later in his career who ran very slowly even compared to his brother Corey who had a similar frame to colt. I hope he’s not Kyle

Kyle put up 37 bWAR. That would be a pretty good outcome.....

People tend to not understand this. A productive major league career like Kyle Seager's is almost a miracle. No, it isn't HOF, but any prospect that gives you that outcome is a massive success.

My thought was Kyle was slow and over weight…. That was why I didn’t want him to be Kyle Seager. I actually said more like Corey. But people don’t tend to not understand this……..

[Donn Beach]

ESPN grade on the mariners off season, I felt they had left themselves thin behind Cal

Seattle Mariners: A-
Key additions: 1B Josh Naylor (re-signed), INF Brendan Donovan, LHP Jose A. Ferrer, DH/OF Rob Refsnyder

Key departures: DH/2B Jorge Polanco, 3B Eugenio Suarez, C Mitch Garver, C Harry Ford, RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje

There is no single blow-your-socks off move here, but the Mariners did what they had to do to remain favorites in the AL West. Bringing back Naylor on a five-year deal was the pivotal transaction, as he excelled in his two months in Seattle while becoming an instant fan favorite. First base has long been a problem for the Mariners going back two decades (save for a short stint of good play from Ty France), so Naylor provides a long-term fix there without blowing out the budget.

The early February trade for Donovan gives them a guy who can play second or third, plus a leadoff hitter who had a .353 OBP last season, including .383 against right-handers (Seattle leadoff hitters ranked 24th in the majors with a .311 OBP). Ferrer is a premium left-handed bullpen arm, and Refsynder mashes lefties. The one quibble here is that the Mariners are weak at backup catcher, so Cal Raleigh will again have to carry a big workload, playing nearly every game behind the plate or at DH. The season-ending injury to Logan Evans announced just before spring training leaves the Mariners scrambling for a sixth starter if one of the top five goes down, but maybe Kade Anderson, the No. 3 pick last year, is as polished as hoped and ready to contribute if needed. Polanco is the only significant contributor gone from the 2025 roster, so the Mariners' World Series dreams are bigger than ever

[D-train]

Kyle put up 37 bWAR. That would be a pretty good outcome.....

People tend to not understand this. A productive major league career like Kyle Seager's is almost a miracle. No, it isn't HOF, but any prospect that gives you that outcome is a massive success.

My thought was Kyle was slow and over weight…. That was why I didn’t want him to be Kyle Seager. I actually said more like Corey. But people don’t tend to not understand this……..

He will definitely be more like Corey if he can stick at SS and yes while he isn't a speed demo he had 14 SBs in 130 games which is pretty good..

[D-train]

ESPN grade on the mariners off season, I felt they had left themselves thin behind Cal

Seattle Mariners: A-
Key additions: 1B Josh Naylor (re-signed), INF Brendan Donovan, LHP Jose A. Ferrer, DH/OF Rob Refsnyder

Key departures: DH/2B Jorge Polanco, 3B Eugenio Suarez, C Mitch Garver, C Harry Ford, RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje

There is no single blow-your-socks off move here, but the Mariners did what they had to do to remain favorites in the AL West. Bringing back Naylor on a five-year deal was the pivotal transaction, as he excelled in his two months in Seattle while becoming an instant fan favorite. First base has long been a problem for the Mariners going back two decades (save for a short stint of good play from Ty France), so Naylor provides a long-term fix there without blowing out the budget.

The early February trade for Donovan gives them a guy who can play second or third, plus a leadoff hitter who had a .353 OBP last season, including .383 against right-handers (Seattle leadoff hitters ranked 24th in the majors with a .311 OBP). Ferrer is a premium left-handed bullpen arm, and Refsynder mashes lefties. The one quibble here is that the Mariners are weak at backup catcher, so Cal Raleigh will again have to carry a big workload, playing nearly every game behind the plate or at DH. The season-ending injury to Logan Evans announced just before spring training leaves the Mariners scrambling for a sixth starter if one of the top five goes down, but maybe Kade Anderson, the No. 3 pick last year, is as polished as hoped and ready to contribute if needed. Polanco is the only significant contributor gone from the 2025 roster, so the Mariners' World Series dreams are bigger than ever

Yeah they went with bare minimum to save a million or two on BU Catcher. I wonder if they give Cal more full off days instead of DHing him so he can PH for Knizner late in games and since DH is pretty well covered with the Dom Ref platoon....

[bpj]

ESPN grade on the mariners off season, I felt they had left themselves thin behind Cal

Seattle Mariners: A-
Key additions: 1B Josh Naylor (re-signed), INF Brendan Donovan, LHP Jose A. Ferrer, DH/OF Rob Refsnyder

Key departures: DH/2B Jorge Polanco, 3B Eugenio Suarez, C Mitch Garver, C Harry Ford, RHP Jurrangelo Cijntje

There is no single blow-your-socks off move here, but the Mariners did what they had to do to remain favorites in the AL West. Bringing back Naylor on a five-year deal was the pivotal transaction, as he excelled in his two months in Seattle while becoming an instant fan favorite. First base has long been a problem for the Mariners going back two decades (save for a short stint of good play from Ty France), so Naylor provides a long-term fix there without blowing out the budget.

The early February trade for Donovan gives them a guy who can play second or third, plus a leadoff hitter who had a .353 OBP last season, including .383 against right-handers (Seattle leadoff hitters ranked 24th in the majors with a .311 OBP). Ferrer is a premium left-handed bullpen arm, and Refsynder mashes lefties. The one quibble here is that the Mariners are weak at backup catcher, so Cal Raleigh will again have to carry a big workload, playing nearly every game behind the plate or at DH. The season-ending injury to Logan Evans announced just before spring training leaves the Mariners scrambling for a sixth starter if one of the top five goes down, but maybe Kade Anderson, the No. 3 pick last year, is as polished as hoped and ready to contribute if needed. Polanco is the only significant contributor gone from the 2025 roster, so the Mariners' World Series dreams are bigger than ever

Yeah they went with bare minimum to save a million or two on BU Catcher. I wonder if they give Cal more full off days instead of DHing him so he can PH for Knizner late in games and since DH is pretty well covered with the Dom Ref platoon....

I'm hoping thats what it means. Cal's playing time comes at catcher. Much less incentive to ever get the backup catcher in the game when you're not paying him $12 million.

Any day Cal's at DH, we have a .600 OPS bat behind the plate. So keep him behind the dish as much as possible.

Day off after a night game, but pinch hits late? Ok, perfect.

Trying to justify their $12M to Garver was a big negative the last couple years. We should rarely hear the backup catchers name as God intended.

[D-train]

ESPN grade on the mariners off season, I felt they had left themselves thin behind Cal

Yeah they went with bare minimum to save a million or two on BU Catcher. I wonder if they give Cal more full off days instead of DHing him so he can PH for Knizner late in games and since DH is pretty well covered with the Dom Ref platoon....

I'm hoping thats what it means. Cal's playing time comes at catcher. Much less incentive to ever get the backup catcher in the game when you're not paying him $12 million.

Any day Cal's at DH, we have a .600 OPS bat behind the plate. So keep him behind the dish as much as possible.

Day off after a night game, but pinch hits late? Ok, perfect.

Trying to justify their $12M to Garver was a big negative the last couple years. We should rarely hear the backup catchers name as God intended.

Good stuff brother.

[Coeurd’Alene J]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/ ... -deal.html

Mitch is baaaaack

[Donn Beach]

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2026/02/ ... -deal.html

Mitch is baaaaack

Interesting, I have been tempted to predict that. I believe theres a clause in Knizners contract that he can be sent down. That he was signed with the possibility of being used for depth. I'd like to know if that's true or not. Interesting too garver on a minor league deal. Between the two of them I think I would go with garver