Mariners Offseason: How ESPN’s Passan views them right now
Jan 9, 2025, 2:55 PM
ESPN’s Jeff Passan took his turn in talking about the Seattle Mariners’ surprising lack of moves so far this winter, joining Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk on Thursday morning.
Drayer: Mariners have been quiet so far, so what now?
In his eyes, the Mariners’ inactivity has largely boiled down to being a trade problem. Where they are in the calendar, however, should help clarify things – and perhaps not in a exciting but rather necessary manner.
“M’s fans should ask themselves this question: When we are sitting around waiting, waiting desperately for something to happen, do you think sometimes we trick ourselves into thinking that some action is better than no action when no action is maybe actually better than some?” Passan asked. “How much better is this team in 2025 without Luis Castillo?”
Integral to that equation, according to Passan, was how compelling a potential move following a hypothetical trade of Castillo could be at this late date with the mid-tier free agents off the board. Asked about the upper tier of remaining bats in free agency, Passan pointed out “late date” goes two ways – with potential for opportunity with two of those bats, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso, if the Mariners are willing to grab it.
“Either of those, I mean, it’s like stretch. ‘Let’s stretch for this guy,'” he said. “Let’s go and get the power and get the home runs from Alonso. Let’s get the contact and on base, the glove, the leadership with Bregman. And I think it’s a matter of waiting and waiting and waiting, and hoping that guys get a little bit desperate that you can come in at the end and get them under what you thought you were going to be able to. You’re not paying retail for them at this point, and if the Mariners want to avoid paying retail in free agency, if that’s like something that they’re looking to do out of necessity, then man, waiting this long and pouncing when the opportunity is there seems like a real no-brainer.”
What about Sasaki?
From no-brainer to head-scratcher, Passan was also asked about the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes. The star pitcher from Japan’s Nippon Pro Baseball has until Jan. 23 to sign with a team, and curiously enough, the Mariners do not appear to be a finalist as they have not been named as a team that has had a face-to-face meeting with the 23-year-old right-hander.
“The case they have to make is a pretty darn good one,” Passan said. “Nobody has developed good starting pitching the way the Mariners have over the last 3-4 years. With their starting pitching depth, they have the ability to put him on a schedule where there’s not a lot of pressure coming into Year 1. They can kind of ‘Bryan Woo’ him and keep the arm healthy and prioritize that.”
While a “mystery team” has been reported to have entered the fray this week, Passan said he did not know if that team was the Mariners.
“The whole process has been very secretive and very covert. I still don’t know what’s what yet,” he said. “Things can change, but I do not see them as being the team at the end of the day.”
"The #Mariners have such an interesting next 18 or so months."
ESPN'S @JeffPassan discusses 'bridging the gap' between the present & future.
Full video 📺: https://t.co/9oGlbk87w1 https://t.co/3bABOKqK38 pic.twitter.com/2w7alzrJqq
— Seattle Sports (@SeattleSports) January 9, 2025
Hear the full Brock and Salk conversation with ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post. Catch Brock and Salk live from 6-10 a.m. weekdays on Seattle Sports.
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• Has the AL West changed on the Seattle Mariners this offseason?
