A lid for every pot in baseball pants
First, some background for the washed and/or not chronically online: Your “hear me out” person is a nontraditional crush or being you find attractive. Examples of this genre include Steve Buscemi, Ludwig II of Bavaria, the rabbit cop from Zootopia, the fox Robin Hood, etc. This concept has been around for a long time (ask your own site manager about her high school crush on Carl Sagan. Billions and billions.), but has been re-energized lately by a TikTok trend that involves cake. You can read more about it here, if you really want to.
For our Mariners version, the key here is that this player should be reasonably available—but not readily desirable. Juan Soto? Great player, but a bad Hear Me Out candidate due to being an all-time talent, young, highly decorated, basically perfect, etc. Everyone wants a Juan Soto. Remember, we’re looking for baseball Steve Buscemi here. For this to be the most fun, the ability of the Mariners to actually get the player needs to be at least somewhere close to the realm of possibility. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments, or let us know which of these players you’d hear a case for or against.
“But Kate,” I hear you saying. “We have This Boy! Maybe slightly less Round and only occasionally mustachioed, and certainly less barrel-chested if equally baby-faced, but we have a slow-footed slugging strikeout boy, and one with way more defensive chops than this absolute pumpkin of a lad.” True, idealized Reader! Those are all excellent points. Burger does very little to offset Seattle’s marked strikeout problem, and he certainly doesn’t fill the defensive hold in the infield. And admittedly, while Burger should be available, because Miami, he certainly won’t be free, coming off a 29-homer season where he was the best Marlins hitter, which is admittedly like being the least-expired meat in the deli case at Big Don’s Value Vat. But Big Jake has steadily cut down on his strikeouts since escaping the festering bog that is the White Sox organization, and while his defense is obelisk-like, he’s perfectly capable at first and could platoon against lefties with Josh Rojas at third, provided Perry Hill is first locked in a sensory deprivation chamber. Miami needs pitching, and Burger, entering his age-29 season and first year of arbitration (which will be spendy, considering he was a Silver Slugger finalist), should be available at less than the cost of one of Seattle’s current starting five. Bring me a big beefy Burger!
So here’s the thing. In the deepest, darkest-but-truest part of my heart, I believe that there is always room for another catcher. Even - perhaps especially - if that catcher profiles to be more of a backup catcher. The heart wants what it wants, and I am here, perched at the edge of the moors with the wind in my hair, yearning for a backstop.
Does his birth year start 198_? Yes. Does that make him geriatric for a baseball player and positively decrepit for a catcher? Certainly.
Does he have a storied injury history? Yes. Does that injury history include a number of body parts you’d least like to see on an injury list, including “back” and “knee”? Absolutely. Are those even more worrisome if the player’s job is loosely described as “squat up and down for 2-3 hours with some hopping and swift side to side movements”? You bet.
But, the Mariners need someone not named Cal Raleigh to catch games at least a few times throughout the season, and to ideally not be doing the equivalent of waving an enormous white flag when that person’s name appears in the lineup. Yes, yes, I see you gesticulating wildly towards that catcher’s gear over in the corner with Garver written across the chest, but I’m told it’s best not to acknowledge your sleep paralysis demons, so we’ll pay no mind to that.
For a few years in the late 2010s, Grandal was one of the better catchers in baseball, racking up multiple 5+ win seasons in the way that catchers who put it together on both sides of the plate can. As he undulated out of his 20s, his numbers took a gentle dip and then a precipitous dive. Some may look at last year’s tasteful resurgence as the last gasp of a 35-year-old catcher, but you know who often have things work out for them? Beautiful people. And oh can Grandal wear the heck out of that chest protector. Sorry, did you want a statistically-based defense of this pick? Too bad, it’s my cake (and the Mariners have set the bar for backup catchers so catastrophically low that it doesn’t need much argument anyway).
Admittedly this is in some ways an easy to swallow “hear me out” because Blake Snell is a local product who has clearly expressed his interest in playing for his hometown team, which coupled with his typically stalwart skillset has made him an easy mention for a potential Seattle target every time he is a free agent, and that season has set upon us once more. Where it gets more complicated is in terms of fit and need. You know, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There is nothing broken about the Mariners’ current rotation, and there is simply no need to go out and get themselves a Blake Snell or adjacently skilled player. BUT… if the Mariners were to go out and snag themselves the local 31 year old, that opens the door for the much-dreaded but still definitely-a-possibility “trade one of the rotation for a solid bat” route.
Which, to be clear, is not my ideal Plan A. Plan A would be signing Juan Soto and keeping the rotation intact. But if the Mariners are going to opt for a Plan B, C, or Y and this is the framework for it, I could be talked into it for the right player. For me, that player is Blake Snell. There is the stat line, of course. It’s hard to turn your head at a K-BB% that has only reached a LOW point of around 18% in two separate seasons since 2017, and usually in the 22-24% range, buoyed by a strikeout rate in the 30 percent range every one of those seasons. He posted at least 2 fWAR in every one of those seasons not named 2020, and this last season he posted the lowest xERA and xFIP of his career at 2.54 and 3.01, respectively. And that was after a slow start because of missing spring training. If the Mariners are going to do a rotation change, it’s important they inject someone that can compare in performance, but Snell provides another important element. He wants to be here. And he is a Boras client. So, basically, I also see it as an opportunity to practice negotiations for a separate Boras client who seems like he wants to stay here. Yes, I am suggesting we get Blake Snell so that we may also extend Cal Raleigh. I can’t say it would happen or even be likely, but, hear me out…
I have long been an admirer of José Iglesias, and have constantly been confused as to why teams get rid of him. I mean Boston, I understood; they were poorly managed and making room. The Tigers, I get it; they were going nowhere, and there was no reason to keep him. Cincinnati, I get it’s not the best OPS+, but that batting average and on-base percentage are nothing to smirk at. Baltimore, makes sense, ya got hot young prospects lined up behind him. The Disney Angels of Anaheim, he had an awful season, understandable, but he had a good half-season for Boston. He washes up in Colorado and then is out of baseball entirely in 2023, only to make a stunning return as a part of a surging Met squad that manages to turn it around halfway through the season.
Now do I think Iglesias will be a massive difference maker for the Mariners? Not really. Do I think he can fill a black hole at second base and provide halfway decent hitting at a position the Mariners have struggled to fill since the Obama administration? Yes. If we’re gonna sign some washed-up shmuck to play second base for the fourth season in a row, we might as well get someone who has shown he can still do it at the major league level and doesn’t hit like he’s going to power the continental United States with the wind generated by his whiffs. I, for one, am tired of watching what can be generously called a clown car of light-hitting second basemen come on to be DFA’d in mid-August because not only can they barely get the ball out of the infield, but they strikeout a butt load to boot. Throughout his nine-year career, Iglesias has only finished outside of the top 10% of K percentages twice, in 2021 when he was cursed to play for the Angles, and last year, when he played only 85 games.
Now I can hear you, “Ezra, isn’t Iglesias just destined to end up on the scrap heap like Kolten Wong and Adam Frazier before him? He’s 34, after all, and barely made it back on to the Mets squad as it is. Isn’t he due for a fall-off?” I would respond who are you, and how did you get into my house? Now, once I’ve called the police and you have been safely handcuffed, I would then respond I don’t think so. Iglesias’s stats have remained reasonably consistent over the past nine years, with some exceptions here and there. Most importantly, he has remained in the top percentiles in both strikeout percentage and whiff percentage.
Iglesias has also been an average defender at second and third base. Over the course of 607 innings split between second and third base last year, Iglesias posted a +1 fielding run value. Considering prior to last year he’d played a grand total of 123 innings at second base, I’d say that’s pretty good.
Now, is Iglesias a long-term solution? No. But I think he can be more than a warm body taking up space on the roster and be a solid contributor on a Mariners team that strikes out a ton and often fails to get on base at even an average clip. Worst case scenario, he keeps the spot warm for Colt Emerson or Cole Young in 2026, and as we all know the Mariners could do a lot worse than someone who isn’t going to actively be an anchor in the lineup.
For a time, I thought about remaining moored to some semblance of feasibility and campaigning for George Springer in this space. A Mitch Haniger for Springer swap could sate Seattle’s fetish for hoarding money instead of talent. But this is a hear me out, where we opine on the dateability of an Easter Island head, why should a little no-trade clause impede my dreams? There’s a few pause-giving peccadillos to stymie my lifelong dream of seeing the Mariners complete their Mike Stanton box set.
The no-trade clause is pertinent, as Stanton seems likely to remain in NYC on a club he helped carry through the postseason if given his druthers. Then again, Giancarlo has heard a healthy heaping of boo birds from the Bronx Bleacher Creatures. Perhaps the West Coast kid would relish a relative homecoming? Another bulwark between the 35 year old and the PNW is his health, which still allowed him a 116 wRC+ in 459 plate appearances this past season, but will not make the man who once proclaimed his nominative incompatibility with the other Washington team a surefire bet to post enough to improve on Mitches Haniger and Garver at the DH spot. Last, though we are casting off sense, we cannot forget the dollars, specifically $82 million guaranteed still owed for the next three years (which includes the $10m buyout in 2028 of his team option and the $9m remaining from the Marlins to pay off his trade). Absurd? Of course. But if the bafflingly pauperish Yankees (at least relative to historical standards) continue to cower in fear of approaching the sport from a Dodgers-esque level of commitment to excellence, Seattle can extract significant prospect and/or financial paydowns as compensation for clearing not just the money itself, but the massive luxury tax impact of Stanton’s deal.
For the M’s the on-field fit is relatively simple. His track record of hitting exceeds Garver’s, while his scorching power is such that T-Mobile Park will have little impact on his contact, which will land in the 23rd row instead of the 30th. His reputation in the sport seems positive, and his track record of performance in high leverage moments and games would certainly fit Seattle’s recent valuation of playoff performers as role models in the clubhouse for their young core to model after. Stanton may be fragile, but he’s likelier than most of the roster to register above-average offensive numbers for much of the season, something Seattle should prioritize. Chase 500 big flies with Giancarlo, Seattle.
Given the inherent volatility of relievers and Seattle’s now longstanding track record for developing quality bullpen arms out of thin air (Collin Snider, anyone?), I’m usually on the side of “hey, don’t spend your limited resources on these guys”. Hear me out about Andrew Chafin, though: since breaking into the league with the Diamondbacks in 2014, he’s put up a 3.29 FIP in 508.1 innings across 601 appearances. After undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2010 at Kent State University, he’s quietly been one of the most durable lefties in the game over the last decade, needing just three trips to the injured list throughout his career, with a two-month stint in 2016 for left shoulder tendinitis his longest absence.
Diversity of handedness may take a lower priority in assembling a pitching staff in recent years, but the Mariners’ dearth of effective southpaw options in 2024 came back to bite them on a few occasions. After a scintillating 2023, Gabe Speier battled injuries all season, seeing his walk rate more than double. Kirby Snead - aka Mr. 1000 - and Jhonathan Díaz also made a handful of forgettable appearances, but I think I speak for everyone when I say the fewer times we saw them pitch, the better. We all love Tayler Saucedo, and he largely did his part against same-handed hitters, but his struggles without the platoon advantage made him a suboptimal option as the sole lefty in the ‘pen. Chafin, by contrast, has put up fairly even platoon splits throughout his career, and actually put up reverse splits in 2024 - though that’s probably more small sample noise than anything else.
There’s also one final, selfish reason I would love for the M’s to bring in Chafin: he looks like me! Between the left-handedness, horseshoe ‘stache, and long, curly hair sticking out of the back and sides of his hat, he brings me joy every time he comes into a game, and my wiffleball teammates can vouch that I have made this exact face on the mound many a time. So hear me out, friends: sign the Connor doppelgänger to bolster a beleaguered bullpen.
I am not a rational man. I will fully admit to that. I am incredibly susceptible to nostalgia. I liked that new Robert Zemeckis movie “Here,” even though I fully admit it’s violently saccharine emotion bait. Sometimes I like things like that.
Which is why it brings me great joy to say that the Mariners should bring Abraham Toro home. I know what you’re thinking. “But Jake! We already tried the Abe Toro Experiment and it didn’t work! He was bad in 2022!” Well, here’s my very disciplined and reasonable response to all that: I don’t care! Toro has the vibes, and this is a vibes-based team, as we always say. You can point to his low wRC+ in 2022, and the fact that he was barely in the majors in 2023, but I don’t care about any of that. What I do care about is that watching Toro play baseball makes me happy.
I could also remind you that Baberaham has a frankly unreal clutch factor, with 4 game-tying or winning hits in the 9th inning in 2022. My personal favorites are his game-tying homer from the Mother’s Day game on May 8th, and this walk-off single against his future team on July 9th.
That single being against the A’s brings me to my next point: Toro was actually pretty good last year for them. From the beginning of the season to the end of May, Toro was one of the best offensive third basemen in the AL, with a wRC+ of 120. In addition, and this is the key, he is still one of the toughest hitters in the league to strike out, with a Whiff% of 17.4, good for the 88th percentile, almost exactly where it was back in 2022 when I wrote my first Lookout Landing article. How many times did we complain last year about the Mariners striking out too much? Well here’s a guy who almost always puts the ball in play.
I want to see Toro again. I want to watch his eyes lock onto a baseball before sending it into the next county again. Maybe I’m overly sentimental, but look at this picture and try to tell me that you aren’t too.
