Mariners focused on adding bats -- but not at expense of pitching

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The whiteboard of trade and free-agent targets that resides in the Mariners’ suite at the Gaylord Opryland Resort was much denser on Tuesday morning when president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto and his staff began the day’s work.

Sunday's trade motivated by “payroll flexibility” that sent Jarred Kelenic, Marco Gonzales, Evan White and cash considerations to the Braves in exchange for pitchers Jackson Kowar and Cole Phillips has opened more doors for Seattle to reinvest in the roster.

"Our offseason, I want to say, it really began today in earnest,” Dipoto said Monday. “We’ve had two avenues that we can travel. One, is that we can do some of the things that we’ve done recently, and another is if we did some of the things that we’ve done recently.”

Translation: The Mariners could have stood pat with the players who have since departed, ran it back with that group and hoped it’d translate to a few extra wins, which wound up being the difference in a postseason berth in 2023. The other path -- the one they’re taking -- is to subtract from the roster to free up money, then use those means toward other players, preferably multiple hitters with fewer strikeouts and club control beyond one year.

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“We're excited about what could come to pass, but we still have a lot to do,” Dipoto said.

The addition-by-subtraction path certainly doesn’t come without risk. The club has created far more holes to its roster, with Dipoto and general manager Justin Hollander recognizing that it's not nearly as good of a team as it was at season’s end.

It’s a vulnerable position to be in, but there’s plenty of offseason remaining and there’s been virtually no movement among the biggest movers and shakers, with all eyes focused on the Shohei Ohtani free-agency domino dropping. The trade market has also lagged, with the Mariners' move on Sunday and the deal sending Eugenio Suárez to Arizona on Nov. 22 serving as MLB’s most notable so far.

“The area that we were surfing in, everybody that was available a month ago is available today,” Dipoto said.

Despite some of the uncomfortable decisions to part with well-known and liked players, these moves have put the club on what it believes is a more comfortable path the rest of the way.

“As a trade partner, we have the types of players that teams are interested in,” Dipoto said. “Our farm system is pretty robust -- and not just in our opinion, but in many opinions. And we have the payroll flexibility to go out and do interesting things now.”

So far, they’ve also retained each of their young starting pitchers, which are among the most sought-after market of players this offseason. Seattle is balancing the conundrum of dealing from that coveted depth to address clear weaknesses, but with Gonzales (and the valuable innings he provided) gone, the Mariners are even more wary of trading Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo.

“I'd say it's less likely now than it was 24 hours ago,” Dipoto said.

If so, the Mariners' path to adding “at least two, if not three bats,” as Dipoto mentioned, becomes far more unclear, unless they were to dip into their prospect capital.

“As you go into an offseason, everybody has limitations and the resources you can spend,” Mariners manager Scott Servais said. “But we do need to add to our club. I talked about that core that we have that we really like. We've got a ton of pitching and we don't want to lose any of that or lose sight of who we are. But we need to add offense, there's no question about it.”

The Mariners are operating at a payroll of roughly $115 million, and Dipoto said it’s “very likely” that it will increase from its $140 million figure in 2023.

Yet with unspecified constraints stemming from unforeseen challenges this winter, the Mariners are threading a tighter needle -- and at a time where they firmly believe they are in a World Series window.

“There is a lot of skepticism,” Servais said. “Looking at our club, expectations have risen dramatically for the last couple of years on our team. And I said it last year, that's a good thing. We do have a young team that's exciting. We do want to take the next step to win. Again, we're trying to do the best with the cards that we've been dealt. And that's the best way to say it.”