Do the Seattle Mariners have enough hitting for 2018?

The rest of the Seattle Mariners bunch

Left Field (-0.2 WAR difference from 2017)—Left field was primarily handled by Ben Gamel and Guillermo Heredia last season. Neither were league average offensively. Both are back for 2018. This is a spot where the Mariners can upgrade.

Center Field (+1.5 WAR difference from 2017)—Jarrod Dyson was right for the Mariners last year. He was about an average MLB league player despite being limited to 111 games. It was the other guys who got playing time in center field who hurt them, including Guillermo Heredia (-0.5 WAR in 203 PA) and Leonys Martin (-0.4 WAR in 61 PA).

Dee Gordon should be THE guy at center field in 2018. It’s hard to know how he’ll handle center field defensively, but he’s projected to be worth close to what Dyson was worth last season and the team won’t have to suffer from lesser players handling the position because Gordon should play there the vast majority of the time.

Right Field (-2.4 WAR difference from 2017)—Mitch Haniger and Ben Gamel had the bulk of the innings in right field in 2017 and combined for 3.8 WAR at the position between them.

Haniger is expected to handle the position himself this season, and he’s projected to regress from last year’s .282/.352/.491 batting line. The right field spot is expected to be right around league average (which is 2.0 WAR) this year, which is a significant downgrade from the 4.3 WAR they earned last season.

Designated Hitter (-1.0 WAR difference from 2017)—Nelson Cruz has to age sometime, right? The Fangraphs projections expect him to lose about one win of value at age 37.

Based on last year’s stats and next year’s projections, the Mariners will gain value at four positions and lose value at five positions.