Salk: Some players linked to Mariners are exciting, others aren’t

As baseball’s general manager meetings wrap up, the Seattle Mariners have been linked to a couple of names, let’s say four of them that have come out over the last couple of days. There’s two I like. There’s two you’re going to take a little bit to sell me on.

Morosi: What Mariners are looking to add to bullpen

The first one was outfielder Seiya Suzuki from the Cubs. He’s gonna be 32 years old. I like it. It would cost some money, but that dude can hit and he can play defense. He allows them to improve their defense in the outfield, which they need, without sacrificing offense. He’s a really good offensive player. He would be, in effect, a Randy Arozarena replacement, and I think that’s a reasonable place to invest a significant amount of money.

The other name that I absolutely loved was Gunnar Henderson from the Orioles. He’s just 26 years old. He’s a shortstop who could play third base if you wanted to go down that direction. But he’s really an athletic shortstop who’s coming off a couple of down years in a bad Baltimore organization. It would take a lot to get him – a lot. But you know what? The Mariners have eight starting pitchers who are legitimate major league starters. That’s not just having enough. That’s not just having backup. That’s starting to hoard major league starters, and at some point, you are hurting yourself on the other side of the ledger. I’m fine with trading one or two of them if it means you get back a player of that caliber who I think can be a huge difference maker.

On the other side, you’re hearing a lot about defense. And I’m not saying defense isn’t important, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of offense.

Ian Happ of the Cubs? He is not a bad player. He’s a really good defensive player, but at this point at 32 years old, that is not a bat that I would like to see the Mariners take on.

The other name is Mauricio Dubón. You remember him probably with the Astros. He’s been more recently with the Braves. Again, a really good defensive player, and he’s got some ability to move around the diamond. I’m just not willing to sacrifice offense for defense. It doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice defense for offense, but remember, offense has to come first, especially for this team.

This post is a transcript of the video at the top of the post. It is edited for clarity. Catch Mike Salk weekdays from 6-10 a.m. on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk.

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