27-year-old catcher Omar Narvaez was brought over from the Chicago White Sox in exchange for Alex Colome. In 97 games/280 plate appearances, he hit .275 with 9 HR and 30 RBI’s. Narvaez reached career highs in many categories, his slugging % went from .340 in 2018 to .429 last season, and his hard hit % raised from 19.4 to 28.6. Narvaez had a 2.1 WAR in 2018. Narvaez will be counted on to call at least 70% of Mariner games this season. Will he be an upgrade at the position over former Mariner, Mike Zunino? Offensively he will be less of a boom/bust type but looking at the defense aspect of each player, Narvaez will be a work in progress (much like many players on this roster). Zunino was number two in all of baseball in defensive WAR last season at 1.7 compared to Narvaez who finished barely over replacement level at 0.1. Zunino also only allowed 34 steals in 111 games played where Narvaez allowed 66 in 85 games played.
One of the biggest off-season changes for the Mariners occurs at shortstop. The Mariners have a bright young prospect in J.P. Crawford. Crawford was brought in from the Philadelphia Phillies and will no doubt take some time to adjust with the big league club. He has all of 225 plate appearances at the big league level with the Phillies organization. We won’t get into what he’s done to date where it is such a small sample size. Needless to say, the Mariners view him as top notch prospect that, if all goes according to plan, will grade up as a high caliber player. Jean Segura, another player apart of the Crawford acquisition, will be missed as he brought consistent production to the top of the Mariner order. Crawford has some big shoes to fill as it won’t be easy to replace 20 steals, 10 homers and a .304 batting average that Segura produced in 2018.
The rest of the infield remains in tack with a minor acquisition in Jay Bruce. He was brought in to spell off Ryan Healy at first base as well as fill in at designated hitter and in the outfield. The Mariners will need much better production out of 31-year-old third baseman, Kyle Seager. Seager a career.258 hitter, hit a measly .221 last season, all while playing his usual steady third base. Seager will need to address his walk and strikeout issues of last season. Seager carried a 21.9 K% compared to his career rate of 17.3%. His walk to strikeout ratios was out of whack as well. Career: 0.47 BB/K, 2018: 0.28 BB/K.
Speedster Dee Gordon will man second base as the smooth-swinging Robinson Canosigned with the New York Mets in the off-season. Cano is on year five of his 10-year deal that will pay him an absurd $240 million. Gordon isn’t nearly the caliber of player that Cano is /was but he can steal bags and hit for a decent average all while costing the Mariners way less. His defense at second may need some work though.
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