With Matt Chapman nonetheless obtainable as we enter late February, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Occasions writes that “the Mariners have mentioned the potential of” signing the free agent third baseman. It isn’t clear if these discussions might be due-diligence explorations inside the entrance workplace, or whether or not or not president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto might need reached out to Chapman’s camp a few 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 few 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 appeared to be coated by Urias and Josh Rojas in a platoon, with utilityman Dylan Moore additionally offering extra depth.
Signing Chapman would ship one more shakeup to the infield image, and push Rojas, Urias, and Moore firmly into backup roles except any received 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 direction of serving to the Mariners’ run prevention.
There would even be an offensive improve, although not as a lot as one may think. For the reason that begin 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 stable 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 mentioned, Chapman’s 2023 marketing campaign was additionally a blended bag at greatest on the plate. He received 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 Might 1 to the tip of the common season. A finger damage notably hampered Chapman over the past 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 doubtless the rationale 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 purpose of bettering the lineup’s contact hitting. Seattle’s 25.9% strikeout charge was the second highest of any group in baseball in 2023, but Chapman has averaged a 29.9% strikeout charge for the reason that begin of the 2020 season. Chapman has typically been in a position to offset his strikeouts by doing plenty of injury when he did make contact, and his barrel and hard-hit ball charges have been among the many greatest 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 may be additionally the extra sensible matter of whether or not the Mariners may even meet Chapman’s contract calls for. It’s doable Chapman and agent Scott Boras might need lowered or been keen to decrease the asking value 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 obtainable to spend this offseason. Roster Useful resource initiatives Seattle for a $135MM payroll in 2024, and although Dipoto mentioned that the Mariners have been in a position to spend past their $140MM payroll from final season, there doesn’t look like plenty of wiggle room obtainable.
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 nicely be capable of outbid Seattle inside that form of distinctive construction. There may be additionally the truth that Dipoto has historically been far more open to trades than expensive 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 previously, again when the A’s have 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.
