Jason's new fav player

[bpj]

J.P. Crawford (while playing half his games in T-Mobile):

[Donn Beach]

I'm more interested in just obp when it comes to lead-off than ops.

[bpj]

I'm more interested in just obp when it comes to lead-off than ops.

JP has a career .342 OBP batting leadoff to Donovans .334

Guess we'll see how much everyone loves Donovan by the end of the season, but I don't think he's the player you guys think you've been sold.

He's like when they took Jarrod Dyson and tried making him our primary left fielder.

[Captain 97]

The thing about Donovan is the attitude. His seems legit and pretty relentless...

After being drafted by St. Louis in the seventh round of the 2018 MLB draft, Brendan gravitated to Cardinals mental skills and well-being coordinator Brian Alazzawi, whose background included 18 years with the Navy SEALs.

In 2022, Alazzawi gifted the revelatory rookie a sign the SEALs hung during training. Which is how this motivational memento lived for years in Donovan’s locker:

THE ENEMY THANKS YOU FOR NOT GIVING 100% TODAY

Terms of the spring he had, wanted to make the team

My goal every year is to make the team out of camp, and that’s a goal I set for myself. Obviously I was traded over here, but I still look at that as an opportunity. I want to make the team first.”

“He’s a pro, a stinkin’ pro,” Mariners hitting coach Kevin Seitzer raved in a recent interview with 710 AM Seattle Sports. “Fans are going to love this dude. They’re going to soak him up the way they did Naylor last year.”

My prediction is bpj is going to have a hard time not liking him

I really liked Brendan Ryan for his heart and hustle too.

Still sucked.

I predict Brendan Donovan looks like JP Crawford on paper at the end of the season.

A .700-.720 OPS guy.

It's not that there's nothing there to like, it was just way oversold.

We needed to replace Jorge Polanco and Geno Suarez's bats and we got Brendan Ryan and Rob Refsnyder.

No upgrades in sight.

Geno hit .189 with a .682 OPS for the M's last year. Donovan will be an upgrade over that easily and he is a much better defender as well.

[bpj]

The thing about Donovan is the attitude. His seems legit and pretty relentless...



Terms of the spring he had, wanted to make the team




My prediction is bpj is going to have a hard time not liking him

I really liked Brendan Ryan for his heart and hustle too.

Still sucked.

I predict Brendan Donovan looks like JP Crawford on paper at the end of the season.

A .700-.720 OPS guy.

It's not that there's nothing there to like, it was just way oversold.

We needed to replace Jorge Polanco and Geno Suarez's bats and we got Brendan Ryan and Rob Refsnyder.

No upgrades in sight.

Geno hit .189 with a .682 OPS for the M's last year. Donovan will be an upgrade over that easily and he is a much better defender as well.

He didn't start a single game at 3B in 2025, I don't think its a given he'll be a better defender than Geno at 3B.

He should replace what we got from Geno's bat just fine. A .680 would be the DOWN scenario for Donovan imo.

The Mariners problem is they didn't replace the production they got from Jorge Polanco's bat or account for any regression from Cal, Naylor, and even Canzone.

I think the M's are a little worse than we ended 2025.

Meanwhile the Blue Jays knocked us out of the playoffs then added Dylan Cease, added Kazuma Okamoto, and extended Vlad Jr. as a cherry on top.

[Donn Beach]

Where did Toronto replace Bo Bichette? I prefer Donovan over Kazuma Okamoto.

Here's CBS sports grade of the mariners off season. I'm just saying Im pretty much in agreement. I think they had a nice off season, successfully targeting multiple players

They grade it higher than the Blue Jays

Seattle Mariners: A
Is this the best team in the AL? That's a defensive question to ask after a strong winter in Seattle. The Brendan Donovan trade was an excellent targeted strike, and Jose A. Ferrer should be a strong long-term fixture in the bullpen. Re-signing Josh Naylor made a lot of sense, and Rob Refsnyder gives manager Dan Wilson a potent platoon bat.

So let's see how Okamoto develops relative to Donovan, that might be interesting

[bpj]

Where did Toronto replace Bo Bichette? I prefer Donovan over Kazuma Okamoto.

Here's CBS sports grade of the mariners off season. I'm just saying Im pretty much in agreement. I think they had a nice off season, successfully targeting multiple players

They grade it higher than the Blue Jays

Seattle Mariners: A
Is this the best team in the AL? That's a defensive question to ask after a strong winter in Seattle. The Brendan Donovan trade was an excellent targeted strike, and Jose A. Ferrer should be a strong long-term fixture in the bullpen. Re-signing Josh Naylor made a lot of sense, and Rob Refsnyder gives manager Dan Wilson a potent platoon bat.

So let's see how Okamoto develops relative to Donovan, that might be interesting

Won't surprise me if every single one of those 4 guys (Donovan, Ferrer, Naylor, Refsnyder) have terrible seasons.

It's a C offseason at best.

Can easily look at every one of those guys and see the downside. No idea how that gets an A.

[bpj]

Where did Toronto replace Bo Bichette? I prefer Donovan over Kazuma Okamoto.

Here's CBS sports grade of the mariners off season. I'm just saying Im pretty much in agreement. I think they had a nice off season, successfully targeting multiple players

They grade it higher than the Blue Jays

Seattle Mariners: A
Is this the best team in the AL? That's a defensive question to ask after a strong winter in Seattle. The Brendan Donovan trade was an excellent targeted strike, and Jose A. Ferrer should be a strong long-term fixture in the bullpen. Re-signing Josh Naylor made a lot of sense, and Rob Refsnyder gives manager Dan Wilson a potent platoon bat.

So let's see how Okamoto develops relative to Donovan, that might be interesting

I rarely ever saw Bichette do anything, but looks like he contributed elsewhere.

Maybe never noticed him because of his .702 career OPS in T-Mobile...

Hope Donovan and Refsnyder don't pull a Bichette.

[Donn Beach]

Where did Toronto replace Bo Bichette? I prefer Donovan over Kazuma Okamoto.

Here's CBS sports grade of the mariners off season. I'm just saying Im pretty much in agreement. I think they had a nice off season, successfully targeting multiple players

They grade it higher than the Blue Jays

Seattle Mariners: A
Is this the best team in the AL? That's a defensive question to ask after a strong winter in Seattle. The Brendan Donovan trade was an excellent targeted strike, and Jose A. Ferrer should be a strong long-term fixture in the bullpen. Re-signing Josh Naylor made a lot of sense, and Rob Refsnyder gives manager Dan Wilson a potent platoon bat.

So let's see how Okamoto develops relative to Donovan, that might be interesting

I rarely ever saw Bichette do anything, but looks like he contributed elsewhere.

Maybe never noticed him because of his .702 career OPS in T-Mobile...

Hope Donovan and Refsnyder don't pull a Bichette.

Are you saying you don't see Bichette as a significant loss for the Blue Jays? You brought up Toronto's off season. I'm happy to go with the comparison. They replaced Bichette with Okamoto and the mariners replaced Polanco with Donovan. Let's see how things work for their respective teams. And Bichette and Polanco both playing for the Mets.

[bpj]

Where did Toronto replace Bo Bichette? I prefer Donovan over Kazuma Okamoto.

Here's CBS sports grade of the mariners off season. I'm just saying Im pretty much in agreement. I think they had a nice off season, successfully targeting multiple players

They grade it higher than the Blue Jays


So let's see how Okamoto develops relative to Donovan, that might be interesting

I rarely ever saw Bichette do anything, but looks like he contributed elsewhere.

Maybe never noticed him because of his .702 career OPS in T-Mobile...

Hope Donovan and Refsnyder don't pull a Bichette.

Are you saying you don't see Bichette as a significant loss for the Blue Jays? You brought up Toronto's off season. I'm happy to go with the comparison. They replaced Bichette with Okamoto and the mariners replaced Polanco with Donovan. Let's see how things work for their respective teams. And Bichette and Polanco both playing for the Mets.

I never saw him as a significant player, but his numbers show they'll obviously miss him.

But, especially given the contracts, Toronto made net gains adding Okamoto+Cease.

Yeah, guess we'll see at the end of the season.

Bottom line, I wouldn't have signed Bichette and would have taken other players over Donovan, or at least in addition to Donovan given the production we lost with Polanco, and expected regression from at least Cal Raleigh and Naylor.

Donovan would have been good as the third or fourth best move they made.