Why Mariners’ offseason is an ‘easy fix’ according to former MLB GM

The Seattle Mariners are looking at a rare opportunity thanks to the dominance of their pitching staff, but the struggles of their offense may prevent the M’s from doing something with it this season.

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Going into a three-city, 10-game road trip that starts Friday, the Mariners sit at 68-66, which is 3 1/2 games back of a playoff spot with just over a month to go in the season. Whether or not Seattle can play itself back into the postseason, it’s clear what their offseason priority needs to be: make improvements to the lineup.

Jim Bowden, a former MLB general manager who is now a columnist for The Athletic and host for MLB Network Radio, thinks the task is pretty simple.

“In the offseason, you know it’s going to be an easy fix of improving this offense,” Bowden said Tuesday to Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy. “And it doesn’t have to mean going out and getting Juan Soto or Anthony Santander or Pete Alonso (in free agency), but it does mean creating an offense that can produce runs by putting the ball in play and being more athletic.”

As things stand, the Mariners score more runs per game (3.95) than only four other teams in baseball, rank last in the league in batting average (.216), and their hitters have the most strikeouts in all of MLB. On its face, it doesn’t exactly sound like an easy fix in one offseason, but Bowden’s point was more about how Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto should know where to put his focus.

“I think Jerry has to look at the fact that, whether it be professional scouting, the analytic department, or maybe the weight that is put on each is not working, and so you better figure out why and you better fix it,” said Bowden, who had tenures as Cincinnati Reds GM (1992-2003) and Washington Nationals GM (2005-09).

“Look, it’s not that hard. It’s 2024. We all see what the problems are and what the issues are, and we’re seeing how offenses succeed in this game. You’ve got to look at your own lineup and go, ‘OK, this is why we’re not scoring enough runs, and we need to change the way we build the lineup. We have to change the way we evaluate players so that we don’t keep making this same mistake when we have a window like we have with this pitching staff.’ And so easy fix, sure. It’s philosophical, but more importantly, it’s targeting guys that – ‘Let’s get the ball in play, let’s get two or three guys with power in the middle, but let’s have athletes and let’s have contact.’ And with that you’ll have the runs, and with that you’ll have a contending team with the best teams in the (AL) West.”

Pull an A.J. Preller?

Easy or not, the way the Mariners go about fixing their offense may be painful because it could mean trading one of their stellar young starting pitchers or highly-ranked prospects such as Colt Emerson or Harry Ford.

Bowden said if he was in the Mariners’ situation, he wouldn’t hesitate to make a move reminiscent of Padres general manager A.J. Preller, who is well known for giving up heavy hauls to make blockbuster trades.

“Yeah, I would trade one,” Bowden said about potentially making a Mariners starting pitcher available. “I mean, look, you hate to give it up, I get it, but you’re sitting there with five of them. I’m OK with trading one of them. I’m OK with trading my top prospects. I’m OK with pulling an A.J. Preller. I would not be afraid to do that. I think you have to do that.

“Look, I know you want to keep them all. I get it. You can keep them all if you can win. And if you can’t win, then you’ve got to go about things a different way. So yeah, I think it’s OK in the offseason if you’re going to trade one of the starters. It’s going to hurt, you don’t want to, but if you get the right hitter and the right bat – you know, build around (Julio Rodríguez). Get two more hitters around ‘JRod’ and then fill the rest of the lineup up with contact, athletes and defense and you’ll be there next year.”

Bowden believes the opportunity that the Mariners’ pitching staff presents makes potentially painful trades worth it in the end.

“I think what is unique is when you have a rotation like the Mariners have, and a rotation like the Phillies have, you just have to go for it when you have that because you know in October what you can do. And champagne on Nov. 1 tastes so much better than any other time. It just does,” he said.

“… That’s kind of how I feel like you have to look at it a little bit differently. Maybe (ownership) has to go sign Anthony Santander to hit in the middle of the lineup. Maybe Jerry has to trade those two prized prospects in A-ball and one of his prized starters to be able to get the three bats to turn this thing around. But it’s worth it when you have a chance to legitimately win. Because it’s not about building when you’re this close, it’s about closing.”

Listen to the full Bump and Stacy conversation with former MLB executive Jim Bowden in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Bump and Stacy live from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.

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