With Matt Chapman nonetheless out there as we enter late February, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Instances writes that “the Mariners have mentioned the opportunity of” signing the free agent third baseman. It isn’t clear if these discussions might be due-diligence explorations throughout the entrance workplace, or whether or not or not president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto might need reached out to Chapman’s camp a couple of potential contract.
Eugenio Suarez was seemingly locked in at Seattle’s third baseman when the offseason started, but the M’s created a emptiness on the scorching nook when Suarez was traded to the Diamondbacks in November. Since Luis Urias was acquired in one other commerce with the Pink Sox a couple of week earlier than the Suarez deal, the preliminary expectation was that Urias might probably take over for Suarez, but that state of affairs was additional altered after one other commerce — final month’s swap with the Twins that introduced Jorge Polanco to the Pacific Northwest. With Polanco now established as the brand new each second baseman, third base seemed to be coated by Urias and Josh Rojas in a platoon, with utilityman Dylan Moore additionally offering extra depth.
Signing Chapman would ship yet one more shakeup to the infield image, and push Rojas, Urias, and Moore firmly into backup roles except any obtained some at-bats spelling Ty France at first base. Since public defensive metrics haven’t historically been impressed by the glovework of France, Polanco, or shortstop J.P. Crawford, including a multi-time Gold and Platinum Glove winner like Chapman would go a good distance in the direction of serving to the Mariners’ run prevention.
There would even be an offensive improve, although not as a lot as one may think. Since the beginning of the 2021 season, Chapman has posted a 110 wRC+ over 1824 plate appearances, whereas Urias has a 107 wRC+ in 1219 PA and Rojas a 99 wRC+ in 1410 PA. Urias and Rojas each hit so poorly in 2023 that it obscures their very strong numbers within the earlier two years, albeit in much less enjoying time than Chapman obtained as a real on a regular basis participant with the A’s and Blue Jays.
That stated, Chapman’s 2023 marketing campaign was additionally a combined bag at finest on the plate. He obtained off to a scorching begin that gained him the AL Participant of the Month Award for April, however Chapman then hit solely .205/.298/.361 over 467 PA from Could 1 to the top of the common season. A finger harm significantly hampered Chapman during the last couple of months and he ended up with a 110 wRC+ (from 17 homers and a .240/.330/.424 slash line in 581 PA), but this shaky platform yr is sort of probably the explanation why Chapman has lingered so lengthy on the open market.
Chapman can be a free swinger on the plate, which might seemingly run counter to the Mariners’ offseason aim of enhancing the lineup’s contact hitting. Seattle’s 25.9% strikeout fee was the second highest of any crew in baseball in 2023, but Chapman has averaged a 29.9% strikeout fee because the begin of the 2020 season. Chapman has typically been capable of offset his strikeouts by doing a number of injury when he did make contact, and his barrel and hard-hit ball charges had been among the many finest within the league final yr, even when his bottom-line numbers didn’t mirror the standard of his contact.
Past the on-field questions, there’s additionally the extra sensible matter of whether or not the Mariners may even meet Chapman’s contract calls for. It’s attainable Chapman and agent Scott Boras might need lowered or been keen to decrease the asking worth this deep into the offseason, but if that’s the case, different rumored suitors because the Giants or Cubs may nonetheless be in a greater place than the M’s to take benefit, to say nothing or some other thriller groups.
The Mariners’ full buy of the ROOT Sports activities Northwest regional sports activities community has put some added bills onto the group’s books, and seemingly restricted what the entrance workplace has had out there to spend this offseason. Roster Useful resource initiatives Seattle for a $135MM payroll in 2024, and although Dipoto stated that the Mariners had been capable of spend past their $140MM payroll from final season, there doesn’t look like a number of wiggle room out there.
Chapman would nonetheless require a hefty common annual worth even on a shorter-term cope with opt-outs concerned, and as talked about earlier, one other membership may effectively have the ability to outbid Seattle inside that sort of distinctive construction. There’s additionally the truth that Dipoto has historically been rather more open to trades than dear free agent signings as a roster-building technique, as Robbie Ray’s five-year, $115MM contract from the 2021-22 offseason is way and away the most important deal given to a free agent in Dipoto’s tenure.
As Divish notes, the Mariners have had curiosity in Chapman up to now, again when the A’s had been purchasing the third baseman as a part of their wide-ranging hearth sale after the 2021 season. The Athletics reportedly needed Noelvi Marte as a part of any commerce package deal involving Chapman, and the M’s as an alternative held onto Marte solely to finally transfer him within the Luis Castillo deal on the 2022 deadline.