There are a lot of teams to watch for in the American League heading into the 2025 season. What do the Yankees look like without Juan Soto? Did the Red Sox do enough to take the steps further? Can the Rangers stay healthy? Will the Astros free fall? There are so many questions, which makes for a very intriguing season. One of the biggest questions looms with the Seattle Mariners. This is a team that has a playoff ready roster and a roster that is very much capable of winning the World Series. But their plan is not working.

What are the Mariners Doing?

Every team has a method of operation. For the Mariners, they love the idea of integrating players that are under cost control in order to control payroll. That’s not exactly a poor method to have, as they’ve managed to construct a good enough roster to compete, but at some point they have to spend money. Yes, they’ve handed out the big contract to franchise pillar Julio Rodriguez, but at some point you need to shell out more. Heck, this is a front office that has been wanting to unload Luis Castillo in order to shed payroll. Fortunately for the Mariners that is a move they can make due to how deep their rotation is. Which now leads us to their plan.

The Mariners undisputedly have the best rotation in baseball. They led the league in ERA with 3.38 and each of their starters could legit be an ace on most rotations across the league. Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Luis Castillo, Bryan Woo, and Bryce Miller each gives this team a chance to win each and every night. However, this team needs more, evidenced by them missing the playoffs by one game and if they just addressed the needs, they are in that convo and punched their ticket to the dance. To further emphasize this, the Mariners did NOTHING this winter and did not bring in a necessary bat. This caught the attention of Justin Turner (now signed with the Chicago Cubs) and he shed light on this plan.

https://t.co/Sf4dau9Cyv pic.twitter.com/83mR8Vx06k

— nugget chef (@jayhaykid) March 5, 2025

“The fact that they missed the playoffs by one game, and didn’t go out and add an impact bat or two when you have the best pitching staff in baseball, just seems absurd to me…Honestly, as much as I wanted to be back there, if I was the only piece they brought back in, I would be saying the same thing: What the hell are we doing? Are you trying?”

Jerry Dipoto says he operates with a 10 year plan to win 54% of the time and is asking for the fan base to be patient. But how much more patience do you want this fan base to have and for a team that legitimately can contend in what is a wide open AL. This team went 21 years without a playoff appearance. The plan is not working and it’s time to shift the course.

Finding a New Plan

I am not going to sit here and label out players that they should sign. But this team easily could’ve used Anthony Santander and Pete Alonso. To Turners point above, they need bats and everybody in the baseball world knows this. Rodriguez is a great player and so is Cal Raleigh. Heck, they were the only qualified batters to legit hit above .250 in 2024.But this lineup needs more and this pitching staff deserves better. They take a lot of pride in competing hard, but it’s time to put stable bats around them.

The Mariners were horrendous at the plate and that’s being gentle on the matter. They ranked 29th in batting average, ranked only ahead of the lowly White Sox. In addition, they hardly hit for power and their OPS was ranked 22nd. You need more and you did nothing to add to that. The Mariners also had a striking out problem, striking out 26.8% of the time. It’s a recipe for disaster and the front office just scoffed at it and did nothing. It genuinely makes you wonder why they didn’t take that offer of Triston Casas and Masataka Yoshida from the Red Sox, but then again that would mean taking on Yoshida’s money.

All I know is, this Mariners pitching staff deserves better. This fan base deserves better and this team deserves to be playing meaningful baseball. They did make coaching changes for their hitting so hopefully that takes a turn, but this plan is not working and it needs to change.