The Seattle Mariners once again fell short of reaching their goal of making the postseason in 2016. With a little more luck, baseball fans are hoping they can find a way to make it back to the playoffs in 2017. The Mariners have gone 15 seasons without a playoff appearance but the core group that produced 86 wins is back and management tinkered with the roster in an effort to add the finishing touches to a potential contender in the American League. Seattle will need a lot to go right to make the playoffs but there is no doubt they have the potential to finally end their drought in 2017.
Key Additions: 2B Jean Segura, SP Yovani Gallardo, 3B Danny Valencia, RP Marc Rzepczynski, SP Drew Smyly
Key Losses: OF Nori Aoki, OF Franklin Gutierrez, C Chris Iannetta, SP Nathan Karns, RP Drew Storen, SP Taijuan Walker, SS Ketel Marte
Strengths
The Mariners added a new leadoff hitter in Jean Segura that should make them even more dangerous on offense and defense. Segura is coming off a career year with the Arizona Diamondbacks when he hit .319 with 20 home runs, 64 RBI’s and 33 steals in just 153 games, so he should be the perfect fit in this Seattle lineup. Segura will bat in front of Seattle’s big three of Robinson Cano, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager with the potential for that group to put up some big numbers in 2017. Meanwhile, the Mariners will need more from their pitching staff but they should be happy with what they have in the bullpen, which is a much more known quantity heading in to this coming season. Youngster Edwin Diaz took over the closer role a year ago and looked dynamic. He posted a 2.79 ERA and 1.16 WHIP while collecting 18 saves in 21 opportunities (all of his save opportunities came after the All-Star break when he took over the role). He returns to that role with Steve Cishek becoming the late inning setup man and offseason addition Marc Rzepczynski added to the mix.
Weaknesses
While the offense and bullpen should be fine, Seattle will have to figure things out in its starting rotation with plenty of question marks. Last year, the Mariners got 57 starts of five innings of fewer and produced a 13-44 record in those games. The added strain put even more pressure on the bullpen so there is no doubt the starting rotation needs to be better. That includes Felix Hernandez and Hisashi Iwakuma, both of whom were inconsistent throughout the year. Neither one of them is an elite pitcher anymore but they can still hold their own in the 1-2 spots. Some will hope that that’s not the case with King Felix but you have to look at the numbers. His WHIP and ERA have increased in two straight seasons. His 3.82 ERA is his worst since 2008. He’s still just 30 years old but there is a lot of mileage on that arm as he’s thrown 2415.2 innings. His WAR of 1.6 in 2016 was the second-worst of his career. Compared to 4.4, 6.8, 5.2 and 4.6 that he posted in previous seasons, it’s clear that he’s faded.
Meanwhile, Seattle added Drew Smyly and Yovani Gallardo with the hope that they could be upgrades for Taijuan Walker and Nathan Karns.
2017 Seattle Mariners Depth Chart
| Catcher | Mike Zunino | Carlos Ruiz | Tuffy Gosewisch | ||
| First Base | Dan Vogelbach | Danny Valencia | |||
| Second Base | Robinson Cano | Shawn O’Malley | Mike Freeman | ||
| Third Base | Kyle Seager | Danny Valencia | Shawn O’Malley | ||
| Shortstop | Jean Segura | Shawn O’Malley | Mike Freeman | ||
| Left Field | Jarrod Dyson | Ben Gamel | Guillermo Heredia | Taylor Motter | |
| Center Field | Leonys Martin | Jarrod Dyson | Ben Gamel | Guillermo Heredia | |
| Right Field | Mitch Haniger | Nelson Cruz | Taylor Motter | Ben Gamel | |
| Designated Hitter | Nelson Cruz | Dan Vogelbach | |||
| Starting Pitcher | Felix Hernandez | Hisashi Iwakuma | James Paxton | Drew Smyly | Yovani Gallardo |
| Relief Pitcher | Steve Cishek | Evan Scribner | Nick Vincent | Dan Altavilla | Tony Zych |
| Closer | Edwin Diaz | ||||
Projected Win Total: 87.5
World Series Odds: +2000
Outlook
The goal for the Mariners remains the same as they look to finally end their drought and make a return to the postseason. Seattle has enough weapons on offense to make a run at a playoff spot but they will need more from a starting rotation that wasn’t nearly good enough a year ago. The Mariners should put up big numbers on offense if they stay healthy but ultimately a lack of quality starters could lead to them falling just short of making the postseason in 2017.
Prediction: 88-74
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