Seattle Mariners 2018 season review

2018 Mariners: Offseason Moves

A couple weeks after the 2017 World Series ended, the Mariners traded pitcher Emilio Pagan and minor league infielder Alexander Campos to the Oakland A’s for first baseman Ryon Healy. They had earlier lost first baseman Yonder Alonso to free agency. Healy was brought on board to provide some pop after hitting 25 home runs the previous year (more on him later).

In December, the Mariners traded three minor leaguers to the Marlins for Dee Gordon. The Marlins were in fire sale mode and the Mariners tabbed Gordon as a guy they’d like to have even though they already had a prominent player named Robinson Cano at Gordon’s natural position, second base. Gordon would be moved to center field (more on him later).

The Mariners also received international bonus slot money in the Gordon trade, just as they had earlier when they traded pitcher Thyago Vieira to the White Sox in November. The purpose for this international bonus slot money was to sign their number one offseason target: Shohei Ohtani.

In the Ohtani sweepstakes, the Mariners looked like top contenders. General Manager Jerry Dipoto made no secret of his desire to sign Ohtani and the Mariners went all-out to get him. Many fans thought he was practically a sure thing. They could picture him in the Mariners uniform, pitching every five days and DH-ing on his days off.

Unfortunately for Seattle fans, Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Angels. It was a crushing blow that put a big damper on the offseason. The Mariners signed other players, including pitcher Juan Nicasio, infielder Gordon Beckham and outfielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis. They even brought back the great Ichiro Suzuki as a free agent in March, but nothing made up for missing out on Ohtani and seeing him sign with a team in the same division.

The late-March signing of pitcher Wade LeBlanc would prove to be a nice pick-up, but the big offseason deals consisted of acquiring Ryon Healy and Dee Gordon, both of whom will feature prominently in the “What Went Wrong” section of this article. Before we get to the good and bad, let’s take a look at the craziness of the Mariners’ 2018 season.