Seattle Mariners now have their rebuild anchors

For those fans waiting for the Seattle Mariners to trade their prize outfielder, they may be out of luck.

With the signing of Yusei Kikuchi, the Seattle Mariners have made it evident that they are not in for a long rebuild, as their general manager Jerry Dipoto has stated multiple times throughout the offseason. While Dipoto may have more trades up his sleeve this offseason, he’s likely not moving the guy many teams are lusting after, Mitch Haniger.

After acquiring Domingo Santana from the Brewers, the Seattle Mariners have a young outfield of Santana, Haniger, and Mallex Smith, with Haniger the eldest of the group. However, Haniger will also be the face of the rebuild for the Mariners, and those thinking that their favorite team could swoop in late in the process and get Haniger for a reduced price are going to be sadly disappointed.

The Mariners now have a 27-year-old starter to base their pitching rebuild around and a 28-year-old outfielder to base their lineup rebuild around. Those two will likely be the faces of the franchise for the next half-decade.

The Mariners will likely still make some significant moves this offseason to shed players from their roster. Edwin Encarnacion is almost certainly gone, as is Mike Leake. The M’s would like to find a suitor for Jay Bruce, Kyle Seager, and/or Felix Hernandez, but their contracts could get too hefty to move. Veterans Dee Gordon and Anthony Swarzak both have some question to their availability, based on reports of teams being turned away in requests on either, but the exact offer for the players is not mentioned in these rumors.

Is he the right guy, though?

Hot stove season is a time for plenty of buzz and rumors around potential players that your favorite team could acquire via trade or free agency. While he certainly has no issue making plenty of deals, Jerry Dipoto is not likely to remove his two faces of the Seattle Mariners while he rebuilds.

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That will leave many fan bases disappointed, but in reality, the Mariners very possibly acquired Haniger’s equal in Santana recently, and there’s been much less buzz about the big outfielder picked up from the Brewers.

Haniger’s 2018 was a very impressive year, and if he can repeat it, he’s going to have many more All-Star seasons ahead of him, but the reality is that before 2017, Haniger’s age-27 season, he had all of 130 total games under his belt with a .270/.342/.471 line in those games, with 27 doubles and 21 home runs.

The player that many felt the Seattle Mariners should have based their rebuild around was also acquired in that same deal from Arizona, shortstop Jean Segura. The Mariners signed him to an extension through at least 2022 that was very affordable, and he is coming off of three years where he averaged .308/.353/.449 with 14 home runs and 25 steals, bouncing back in a big way after multiple seasons struggling in production after the tragic loss of a child.

Instead, Dipoto shipped him to Philadelphia.

The Seattle Mariners have made their bed with Mitch Haniger. Perhaps that’s the right decision; perhaps it’s not. Regardless, he’s not going to be moving anytime soon.