Player decisions this past off-season

[DavidGee24]

1. Brought back Mitch Garver, hoping for a "bounce back" that is obviously never going to happen.

2. Took a pass on Pete Alonso who would have been easy to sign. Even if he wasn't off to a hot start and just hitting at his average standards, him in the lineup would probably have us close to .500 right now.

3. Turned down Triston Casas and Masataka Yoshida for Luis Castillo. This would be okay if the Mariners had signed Alonso, but since they didn't, this might well be a bad no-trade although we'd have to see how the season progresses on this.

4. Decided that Ryan Bliss was our everyday second baseman. The ceiling for Bliss is probably that he'll be a similar player to Dylan Moore, which is kind of a compliment but not really much of one.

5. Didn't seek out an alternative for J.P. Crawford, who has lost his bat speed and isn't ever going to get it back.

6. Signed Donovan Solano as our big free-agent pickup. While Solano has been a decent hitter, he's 37 and is looking like yet another one-year-too-late pickup.

7. Signed Jorge Polanco after previously deciding that he wasn't good enough to be on the team. This might actually work out, which will unfortunately convince ownership that their approach is the right one.

8. Signed Rowdy Tellez who had almost nothing left in the tank and apparently used up the rest of it in spring training.

Man, even the one thing that has worked out so far (Polanco) might still blow up on us, and it's doubtful that any of these dumb decisions will work out.

[ddraig]

Welcome to the fandom of MLB's AAAA franchise.

[Donn Beach]

Alonzo is off to a good start, he's got as many doubles as strikeouts, five, pretty amazing

[Seattle or Bust]

Had the M's signed Bregman and Alonso, they are undoubtably a World Series contender. Would have cost them $55 million a year.

Instead, they are stuck paying Garver and Haniger $30 million to produce nothing.

People want to give Jerry the constant excuse that he's hamstrung by ownership... but it was him who chose to waste nearly 20% of the team's budget on 2x worthless players.

[Donn Beach]

They could have signed them but not for the short term contracts the Mets and red Sox gave them. Those are positioning them to reenter the market soon. The mariners would have needed to come up with the sort of contract they originally intended

[Seattle or Bust]

They could have signed them but not for the short term contracts the Mets and red Sox gave them. Those are positioning them to reenter the market soon. The mariners would have needed to come up with the sort of contract they originally intended

And it's exactly what they should have done.

Reinforcements from the farm are set to hit in 2027 from a position player standpoint with Montes, Emerson, Young, Ford, Celestin, etc...

They should have been doing everything in their power to get an Alonso or Bregman in for '25 and '26 on shorter contracts.

[Donn Beach]

Yeah, bringing in guys to bridge with short term deals would been nice. But I don't see what that has to do with Alonzo or bregman, that's a different situation. Probably trades would made more sense if you're interested in a couple years of control

[tehmc]

I would have done the Castillo for Casas/Yoshida trade but as we found out with Kirby going done we don't really have a ready replacement for him. Also neither Casas or Yoshida have been lighting it up yet this year.

I would have loved for them to get both Bregman and Alonso, I could have lived with Polanco/Bliss/Crawford if we had made those moves.

I have a feeling the Mariner's are playing for after the new CBA and are expecting changes to contracts/guarantees to be more affordable so they don't want to be stuck with a huge contract they would have had an out for under the new CBA.

[D-train]

1. Brought back Mitch Garver, hoping for a "bounce back" that is obviously never going to happen.

2. Took a pass on Pete Alonso who would have been easy to sign. Even if he wasn't off to a hot start and just hitting at his average standards, him in the lineup would probably have us close to .500 right now.

3. Turned down Triston Casas and Masataka Yoshida for Luis Castillo. This would be okay if the Mariners had signed Alonso, but since they didn't, this might well be a bad no-trade although we'd have to see how the season progresses on this.

4. Decided that Ryan Bliss was our everyday second baseman. The ceiling for Bliss is probably that he'll be a similar player to Dylan Moore, which is kind of a compliment but not really much of one.

5. Didn't seek out an alternative for J.P. Crawford, who has lost his bat speed and isn't ever going to get it back.

6. Signed Donovan Solano as our big free-agent pickup. While Solano has been a decent hitter, he's 37 and is looking like yet another one-year-too-late pickup.

7. Signed Jorge Polanco after previously deciding that he wasn't good enough to be on the team. This might actually work out, which will unfortunately convince ownership that their approach is the right one.

8. Signed Rowdy Tellez who had almost nothing left in the tank and apparently used up the rest of it in spring training.

Man, even the one thing that has worked out so far (Polanco) might still blow up on us, and it's doubtful that any of these dumb decisions will work out.

Speaking of Alonso, the Mets are 2nd in fWAR for 1Bs and we are 29th. He has a 1.118 OPS and has already put up 0.8 fWAR. M's have put up -0.6 WAR at 1B. 1.4 differential less than 10% into the season.

https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major ... s=0&pos=1b

[Donn Beach]

Its a long season but they are already talking extension in NYC. He was called stupid for turning down that seven year $157 mil or whatever it was deal. After the Vladimir Guerrero Jr deal see who has the last laugh.
There's the upcoming free agent class

First base: Pete Alonso (opt-out), Josh Naylor, Paul Goldschmidt, Rhys Hoskins (mutual option), Carlos Santana, Justin Turner, Josh Bell, LaMonte Wade Jr., Donovan Solano, Ty France, Connor Joe