Morosi: What’s holding up Mariners’ next offseason move

With pitchers and catchers due to report to spring training in five weeks, the Seattle Mariners still have needs to fill on their roster, as do most teams in baseball.

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It has been particularly quiet on the free agent front with a number of big names still without a team. During his weekly visit Tuesday with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob, MLB Network insider Jon Morosi pointed out one hangup for front offices, as they are focused this week on arbitration salaries with the deadline to exchange numbers coming up Thursday. He’s not certain, however, the dam will break once the deadline passes.

“After that, we are likely to get hopefully some bit of a breakthrough in terms of the free agent movement,” Morosi said, before continuing with a caution. “I will say this, though. I had one agent tell me unless the (Kyle) Tucker asking price comes way down, the (Cody) Bellinger price comes way down and (Alex) Bregman, teams are probably going to wait them out until spring training, potentially.”

Morosi noted the Mariners focus being on finding one more infielder, with Cardinals infielder Brendan Donovan an option on the trade front and Eugenio Suárez possibly another as a free agent. The Mariners have maintained since the start of free agency that bringing back Suárez, commonly referred to as “Geno,” was a possibility. More recently, Mariners general manager Justin Hollander said in an MLB Network Radio interview from the winter meetings there “certainly was a chance” of reuniting with Suárez, and that the team had stayed in touch with the third baseman’s reps. Morosi sees such a deal likely to happen later than sooner, with the holdup being the names still available at the top of the market.

“With Suárez, it’s Bregman. He’s comfortable waiting,” he said. “(Suárez) is going to have to wait unless he’s ready to take something of a below-market deal. I think honestly once you have waited this long, might as well wait a little bit longer and get the right deal in the right place.”

Seattle would check off the “right place” box for Suárez. As for the right deal? That would likely come down to what Suárez wants or is able to get elsewhere in years.

“A lot of people I have talked to say the Mariners are very much focused on a shorter-term scenario,” said Morosi. “That again might sort of nudge you toward a Donovan trade or signing Geno back because they do believe that (top prospect Colt) Emerson can be an everyday player for them soon. They believe that (third baseman Ben) Williamson is an elite defender. They still believe that J.P. Crawford can play shortstop. For all of these reasons, you are probably not going to sign Alex Bregman to an eight-year deal. If there’s a one- or two-year deal out there at a really high number, maybe that makes sense.”

One way or another, Morosi sees the Mariners getting something done.

“There’s a lot of things to like about this team. It’s not just that one more bat is a wish and a bonus. I think it’s actually a mandate,” he said. “I will be really surprised that if by the middle of February the M’s have not added one more significant, either an everyday or close bat, because they are such a great team. The pitching is so solid, and they’re so close to being a World Series team as we obviously saw a few months ago.”

Hear the full conversation with Morosi at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Wyman and Bob weekdays from 2-7 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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