Let's Talk About Second Base
What should the Mariners do at a position where they've failed at since 2018?
Mariners fandom is full of talk about curses. Some believe T-Mobile Park was built on an ancient Native American burial ground. The team uses the trident logo as well as a literal trident to celebrate home runs, and many fans attribute a curse to that icon.
Multiple different positions at some point in the team’s history have been considered cursed. Cal Raleigh halted a disastrous run of post-Dan Wilson catchers. Randy Arozarena is arguably already the best LF the team has ever had.
The current cursed position du jour is second base. In late 2013, the Mariners signed Robinson Canó to the third-largest contract in MLB history at the time to play the position, and he provided 4.5 years of as-expected elite production. Canó, Nelson Cruz, and Félix Hernandez couldn’t drag a bad overall roster to the playoffs under either the Jack Zduriencik or Jerry Dipoto regimes. Canó popped for a PED violation midway through his fifth year, and after the season, Dipoto tore down the aging core in a cost- and job-saving maneuver, which included shipping Canó and Edwin Díaz to the Mets for future franchise savior Jarred Kelenic (or something like that).
Since the Canó trade, the Mariners have started a different second baseman on Opening Day every season, and will have a different one in 2025, although it may be a previous entry on the list.
Here’s how those six players performed in those six seasons:
2019 Dee Gordon: 77 wRC+, 0.7 fWAR
2020 Shed Long: 50 wRC+, -0.3 fWAR
2021 Dylan Moore: 74 wRC+, 1.1 fWAR
2022 Adam Frazier: 82 wRC+, 1.3 fWAR
2023 Kolten Wong: 50 wRC+, -0.7 fWAR
2024 Jorge Polanco: 92 wRC+, 0.3 fWAR
The Mariners have had a terrible “Plan A” at second base in every season since trading Canó. Perhaps the only bright spots have come from their “Plan B” for the position, when they’ve brought in guys like Abraham Toro in 2021 and José Caballero and Josh Rojas in 2023 for stints that briefly settled the position.
The last three names on the list have been high-profile, high-stakes bombs for the Mariners. Frazier, overall the best attempt at getting something decent out of second base, was cheaply acquired off of a 3.3 fWAR all-star campaign in 2021, but mostly struggled at the plate before becoming a postseason hero with the second-biggest double in franchise history in Toronto in the Wild Card series. Wong, who delivered solid 2B season after solid 2B season for nearly a decade in the NL Central, is arguably one of the worst Mariners ever, although his image is helped by Tommy La Stella, another star of the Mariners’ dreadful 2022-2023 offseason. He lost his job to Caballero in less than a month and was DFA’d at the trade deadline. Polanco, revered for his consistently above-average MLB bat, succumbed to constant injury and limped through one of the worst defensive seasons I’ve ever seen from a Mariners infielder.
All of these guys had some sort of impressive performance track record before arriving in Seattle. The Mariners didn’t give up anything that is likely to hurt them down the road in any of the trades to acquire them. But at the end of the day, all three proven veteran second basemen were varying degrees of disastrous acquisitions.
Add talent or handle internally?
That brings us to 2025. The Mariners face a frustratingly similar conundrum this offseason; how can they augment a promising roster core to break through the 85-to-90-win, maybe-playoffs purgatory and actually accomplish something meaningful under Dipoto with an unnecessarily tight (although not impossible to win with) budget provided by ownership?
At second base, they face an all-too-familiar hole without a proven MLB every day player. They’ve made that hole deeper and wider since the 2024 season ended by wisely declining Jorge Polanco’s 2025 club option and more dubiously non-tendering Josh Rojas, who played more than 50 games at 2B for the team in 2023 and 2024.
At the beginning of the offseason, I expected the Mariners to retain Rojas and operate with some sort of a platoon with the non-Polanco players to handle 2B for the team in 2024, Rojas, Moore, Ryan Bliss and possibly Leo Rivas. That approach would likely clear the runway for the future answer at second base for the Mariners, consensus top-50 prospect Cole Young, to arrive at some point between May and July. But then, a Jon Morosi report from the GM Meetings in November appeared to change the calculus.
Now, Morosi is prone to passing off what seem like good roster fits as reporting, but this intel clearly came from a direct conversation he had with the Mariners general manager. The state of play had shifted, and the Mariners seemed poised to once again pursue a veteran option at 2B.
There isn’t a more natural fit for that addition reasonably available than Korean infielder Hyeseong Kim. Kim is an ideal MLB 2B, a defensive wizard who steals bases and excels at hitting for contact, although his offense profile isn’t guaranteed to translate from the KBO, where he plays for the Kiwoom Heroes. It’s unclear how large of an MLB contract he’ll command, but projections largely paint the picture of an affordable multi-year contract in the $10 million-per-year range.
And so, especially with the non-tender of Rojas, I was under the impression that the Mariners would add another bat at 2B. But then, Ken Rosenthal started December with an interesting report that completely contradicted what Hollander told Morosi nearly a month ago.
Well, that doesn’t seem to suggest that they’re prioritizing adding talent at 2B. I generally am skeptical about Morosi’s reporting, especially after his high-profile flameout regarding Shohei Ohtani and Robert Herjavec’s plane this time last year, but I also don’t think he would make up a conversation with Justin Hollander. I also trust Ken Rosenthal when he provides intel about the Mariners front office. He broke the news of Scott Servais’ firing to Scott Servais, after all.
It’s fair to assume the Mariners were considering making a move at second base and no longer are, instead prioritizing a big move at 3B and the presumptive signing of a “veteran 1B/DH that Julio Rodriguez likes,” either Justin Turner or Carlos Santana.
And here’s where I say, I’m fine with that. I mean that not in a way that absolves the front office or says this is an incredibly ideal path to go down, but in a way that assesses the strengths and weakness of this front office (who we as fans are somehow still stuck with) and the nature of the second base market.
Assessing the 2B market
Firstly, yes, I would absolutely love for them to sign the aforementioned Kim. That said, I’m sure there’s deep competition for an affordable option in a weak market, and I would imagine the change from the Morosi report (Morosi and his colleague Mark Feinsand have also linked Kim to the Mariners) to the Rosenthal report is reflective of the Mariners at least not being a frontrunner for his services. He’d fit into their roster nicely, but they are ultimately one of 30 options for Kim to choose from, in theory.
Beyond Kim, the second base free agent market is bone dry. It’s headlined by Gleyber Torres, the leadoff hitter for the reigning AL Champion New York Yankees. Torres turns 28 next week and is coming off a full season where he posted a 104 wRC+ and 1.7 fWAR. His defense at second base has largely always been terrible despite his pedigree as a highly-touted shortstop prospect, and it’s not clear what his position would be as he ages. As the only truly established prime 2B available, MLBTR projects he will receive nearly $20M per season. In the strongest terms, no thank you.
Past Torres, the picture muddles even further. In September, MLBTR identified two others, Ha-Seong Kim and Jose Iglesias, as “potential regulars” in the class. The Padres’ Kim has played shortstop most recently and could be intriguing, but he’s repped by Scott Boras and recently had shoulder surgery, so he’s a risky, costly mess of a free agent. Iglesias is a 35-year-old journeyman, as are a lot of the other names on the 2B market, like Brandon Drury, Whit Merrifield, Garrett Hampson, and even Frazier. Polanco may actually be the second-best MLB 2B available, behind Torres.
For any sort of established MLB “upgrade” at 2B, the Mariners would likely need to hit the trade market, as they have for three consecutive seasons. As the last three years have shown, “guy at a weak position who a team is willing to give up cheaply” isn’t an ideal way to find an established, quality player. The Mariners’ best crack at a realistically available, quality 2B option is someone like Brendan Donovan from the Cardinals, who is coming off another solid, above-average season but has more MLB experience in the outfield, or the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner (who Adam Jude reported the Mariners have inquired about), an elite defender and contact hitter who is hard capped at a .750 OPS, or even the Rays’ Brandon Lowe, another injury-prone, wrong side of 30 bat-first 2B like Polanco.
Maybe there’s a more creative trade for a name I’m missing from that list that could offer legitimate help at second base. Do you trust this front office to make it? Their three big ideas for how to fix the Canó sized hole they cleaved in the roster have combined for less than 1 WAR. Acquiring an available above-average MLB 2B isn’t easy, and this group surely hasn’t come close to doing it in three attempts. How can you possibly believe in them to finally get it right a fourth time?
So sure, you could pay Gleyber Torres $20 million in 2025, but they won’t, because they’re cheap and that’s dumb anyway. Or, they could thread the needle and try again to nail a perfect trade for a position they’ve massively whiffed on for a half decade.
Looking inward
What I’d like to see them do is lean on something they’re actually (at least supposed to be) good at: creating value from their prospect development.
A lot of people made Rosenthal’s report earlier this week about the Mariners entering a contending season with Dylan Moore as their everyday 2B, and I think that’s a reactionary misreading of their plans here. Moore just had a 2.5 fWAR season in which he appeared in 135 games and racked up 370 ABs. He had a 125 wRC+ against LHPs and a 92 wRC+ against RHP, and he’s in the final year of a contract that pays him $4 million in 2025. That player, especially since he’s the longest-tenured player on the roster, is going to have a role on the 2025 Mariners, and frankly, he’s earned one.
What I don’t see, is Moore’s name being listed first by Rosenthal as an indication that he’ll play every day to start the year, even if no one else is added. Sure, he might top the depth chart at the position, but he was always going to see an intentional 100-150 ABs against LHP, because he’s making 5x the league minimum on a cheap team and he’s got a proven track record of hitting them.
Then there’s Bliss, the actual prospect acquired in the 2023 trade deadline deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks that saw Paul Sewald shipped out to win an NL pennant. I guess I don’t know what people expect with Bliss, but the idea that the Mariners were just never going to intentionally try him for a decent period of time at the MLB level is odd, to me. In 2024, Bliss got juggled all over the place by the Mariners’ bizarre roster management, but thanks to a hot weekend in Miami, he delivered a promising opening salvo: 63 ABs, 0.4 fWAR, 101 wRC+. I get trepidation and “same old Mariners” talk if they were to give Bliss the Opening Day job, but if you have a 24-year-old 2B in AAA who posts an .833 OPS with 50 steals, shouldn’t you at least explore if that’s someone who can help you at the position with the lowest bar for productive offense?
And finally, and most importantly, there’s Young. The Mariners took Young in the first round in 2022, the second player in a run of investment in HS offensive talent that also includes Harry Ford, Colt Emerson, Johnny Farmelo and Tai Peete, essentially all of the big American names currently at the top of Mariners prospect lists. Young is a player that a team so outwardly committed to “draft, develop and trade” like the Mariners needs to become an above-average MLB regular. Formerly the team’s No. 1 prospect until he was usurped by Emerson over the past year, he succeeded at every level he’s faced in the Mariners system so far. In 2024, he was a key cog for the Arkansas Travelers’ Texas League championship. While the numbers (.759 OPS, nine homers in 124 games) don’t jump off the page, he passed the challenge of the Travelers’ home stadium, one of the worst hitting environments in MiLB.
Young played roughly 75/25 shortstop in AA in 2024, but his high-contact, speed and defense approach fits an ideal 2B/leadoff hitter profile. He will go to AAA to start the season, and his offensive output could see him shuttled up I-5 sooner rather than later. He represents a real shot at both the second baseman and the leadoff hitter the Mariners have been striving for this entire contention window.
That’s why I implore people to look past the potential implications of Moore starting at 2B on Opening Day 2025 for your Seattle Mariners. He was their fourth-most valuable offensive player in 2024. The guy has earned a role somewhere, somehow. Bliss deserved a longer look than he got last year, and he’s produced well enough in the high minors to be deserving of a real chance at some point. Why not in early 2025, before the 2B of the future, Young, takes over after a few months in AAA?
The Mariners have tried the most-available veteran 2B approach for three straight contending years, and that approach has actively harmed their contention. They’ve also chosen three slower players who played poor 2B defense, further lowering the floor that those players eventually sunk to once they arrived and struggled to hit. In 2025, shouldn’t they choose players with valuable floors and more conventional profiles, and invest time in actually solving the second base problem once and for all?