2018 Mariners: What Went Right
The top two position players on the Mariners this year were right fielder Mitch Haniger (4.6 WAR) and shortstop Jean Segura (3.8 WAR). Two years ago, Haniger and Segura were acquired in a trade with the Arizona Diamondbacks for pitcher Taijuan Walker and infielder Ketel Marte. This is one of the better deals Dipoto has made as Mariners GM.
In his two years in Seattle, Haniger has been worth 7.1 WAR and Segura has been worth 6.8. That’s a combined 13.9 WAR at a cost of roughly $17 million. The Diamondbacks duo, Walker (2.7 WAR) and Marte (3.2 WAR) have been worth 5.9 WAR at a cost of around $8.5 million.
Along with Haniger and Segura, veteran slugger Nelson Cruz turned in another good season. He led the team with 37 homers and 97 RBI. This was the last year of the four-year deal Cruz signed as a free agent before the 2015 season. The team will have to decide whether to bring him back as a free agent. As good as he’s been overall, his numbers have slipped each season in Seattle, from 5.0 WAR to 4.3 to 3.9 to 2.5. He’ll be 38 years old in 2019.
The Mariners top starting pitcher was James Paxton, who tossed a career high 160.3 innings with a 3.76 ERA and 3.24 FIP. His 32.3 percent strikeout rate was fourth-best in baseball for starting pitchers with 160 or more innings. Only Justin Verlander, Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole struck out batters at a higher rate. Paxton has been an effective pitcher for most of his career, but this was the first time he pitched more than 140 innings in a season.
The second-best starting pitcher on the team, Marco Gonzales, was a surprise. He was a top-100 prospect a few years ago but injuries limited him before this year. The Mariners acquired him in July of 2017 for outfielder Tyler O’Neill. This season, he had a 4.00 ERA and 3.43 FIP in 166.7 innings. He significantly improved his walk rate and the number of home runs he allowed.
On Thursday, he was rewarded with a two-year, $1.9 million contract. It was an unusual move because he is not arbitration eligible until after the 2020 season. As reported by Jon Heyman, the deal came about because Gonzales had a grievance pending because of the timing of a demotion while with the St. Louis Cardinals. Gonzales agreed to drop the grievance to get more money now.
So Marco Gonzales, to clarify, agreed to drop his grievance and the potential for more service time in exchange for a bigger deal now, one that guarantees a 2nd year and is about 700-800K more than a 0-2 player would normally get over 2 years #mariners
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) November 2, 2018
Two other starters were roughly league average. Mike Leake (4.36 ERA, 4.14 FIP in 185.7 innings, 2.3 WAR) and Wade LeBlanc (3.72 ERA, 4.28 FIP in 162 innings, 1.7 WAR) are fine guys to fill out the rotation. They don’t strike out many batters, but do enough other things well to be useful.
Coming out of the bullpen, closer Edwin Diaz had the best season by a relief pitcher in Mariners history. He obliterated the team record for saves in a single season, with 57. The previous record was 48 by the Fernando Rodney Experience in 2014. Diaz’ 57 saves tied Bobby Thigpen in 1990 for the second-most in MLB history. Only Francisco Rodriguez, with 62 in 2008, had more.
Then there’s Robinson Cano. His performance on the field belongs in the “What Went Right” column, but his 80-game suspension for PED use belongs in the “What Went Wrong” column. In the 80 games he played, he hit .303/.374/.471 (136 wRC+, second on the team) and was worth 2.9 WAR.