Mariners’ Jack Zduriencik hints at an interesting outfield option

The Mariners’ 2015 roster is still a work in progress, with the biggest need being another outfielder. General manager Jack Zduriencik addressed this topic at both the Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz press conferences this week, but he went a little more in-depth on the subject Thursday afternoon when he joined “Danny, Dave and Moore” on 710 ESPN Seattle.

With Dustin Ackley in left field – manager Lloyd McClendon would still prefer not to move him around in the outfield – and Austin Jackson in center, it is clear the Mariners are looking for someone to play primarily in right. There are options on the free-agent market, most notably Melky Cabrera.

“We will see what happens,” Zduriencik said, acknowledging that he’s well aware of Cabrera’s relationship with Robinson Cano from their time with the Yankees. “I’m not saying anything is developing there in any way, shape or form, but players have friendships. I am sure Nelson Cruz has friends elsewhere and some of our other veteran players who have been around have friends that play in other organizations who are on the free-agent market also.”

There are a number of high-profile outfielders available via trade, but the price is high in terms of talent that the Mariners would have to give up. Are they still in the mix for this group of players?

“We have discussions going on. I don’t know where that is going to lead,” Zduriencik said.

There is little question they would like to add another big bat, but not if they have to give up too much. The Dodgers’ asking price for Matt Kemp is said to be three premium prospects. Atlanta wants top pitching prospects for one year of Justin Upton. Boston’s price for Yoenis Cespedes is still high. The Mariners have the players to acquire any of these outfielders, but by all appearances Zduriencik would much rather hold onto the young players the organization has developed.

“We’ve been all about pitching and now we have added an offensive piece – that is big,” Zduriencik said. “Our kids are growing, they are maturing. Now I look at our club and I say we have some nice pieces in place and we are going to continue to get better. We are going to look at every way we can to help our club, but I don’t think we are going to do anything that basically is going to be earth-shattering.”

If the Mariners want to wait to see if the price for any of the of the above players comes down, will they be covered in the outfield should nothing materialize? Zduriencik talked about his options in right field.

“The alternatives I think that we are going to end up with in the outfield I think will be enough to really satisfy what we need,” he said. “It’s still a little bit of an unknown. We have internal guys that could go a platoon route. We’ve talked about some other players in our organization possibly playing elsewhere, and one of them could be in the outfield. We’ll see. We will keep these discussions going on. It will be interesting not only now through the winter meetings, into spring training, and who knows what happens in spring training.”

The platoon options would be James Jones and Stefen Romero. The more interesting comment Zduriencik made, however, was about the possibility of a position change for someone in the organization. There are a few options that come to mind, starting with two players who played at Double-A last year, Patrick Kivlehan and D.J. Peterson.

Kivlehan, while primarily a corner infielder, played some left field in the Arizona Fall League. He told me he was comfortable playing wherever the Mariners put him. I did have the opportunity to watch him in left for a short time and saw nothing alarming. Peterson hasn’t played in the outfield but told me that he had heard rumblings that it could be something the Mariners try.

My feeling is that it’s a transition Kivlehan could make quickly. With Peterson I would suspect they would want to take more time if the decision was made to move him to the outfield. I’m sure both are options to some degree down the road. To fill the need next year would be a stretch seeing that neither has played above Double-A.

There is another option, however, someone who spent last year on the major-league roster.

Brad Miller is most likely the player they would give serious thought to making the switch now. It’s an idea that has been talked about before, and while he didn’t see any game time in the outfield, Miller did take work in left and right with outfield coach Andy Van Slyke before a few games late last season. The reviews were favorable.

“My outfield coach said he was an absolute natural,” McClendon said in October. “He was really impressed with what he did. The ability to turn and go to the ball without looking at it. Obviously, we know his arm plays, speed plays, he’s made for the outfield because he runs wild as hell, so he can’t hurt anybody out there. We’ll see, we’ll see. He’s interesting.”

The Mariners like what Miller did offensively in the minors and are still intrigued about what he could be at the big-league level. The defense is more of a question mark. Even before Zduriencik’s comments I wouldn’t have been surprised to see Miller get at least some work in the outfield this spring. If another outfielder is not brought in, that look may turn out to be a very long look.

It’s one of the Mariners’ many options and certainly one of the more interesting ones.

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