The 2015 edition of the Seattle Mariners starting rotation has many to choose from. It starts with King Felix, under contract through 2019. Hisashi Iwakuma has a club option for 2015 and the Mariners will pick that up. They have three young pitchers in Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, and Roenis Elias. That is five and next season, finally at full health is Danny Hultzen, a left handed pitcher and former number one pick of Seattle. That is six and I am not counting Erasmo Ramirez who is out of options and his 2014 performance indicates he will not return. And though Chris Young would be welcomed back by me at any rate, he is a free agent and the Mariners have not indicated he fits into their 2015 plans.
Mariner GM, Jack Zduriencik has said he wants another starting pitcher. With six to choose from the question is why. The answer is that they have four young pitchers and young pitchers are unproven, even with the brief success of Paxton and Walker, there is no real track record.
The indications are one or two of the young pitchers will be packaged for a big right handed bat. A lot of fans would like to see the Marlins Giancarlo Stanton and his home run hitting bats in a Mariner dugout and there will be talk, by fans, radio talking heads, and others to create buzz. But the odds say no. If you had Stanton, why trade him when you can build around him. So lets leave Stanton alone. If the Mariners want to sell the farm so be it, but I look for something more realistic.
If the Mariners trade a youthful arm or two for some young bats, then a starting pitcher will come from the free agent market. A partial list of those available according to Baseball Prospectus are John Lester, Max Scherzer, Ryan Vogelsong, James Shields and Brandon McCarthy. A couple of pitchers with options are Dan Haren and Johnny Cueto. These are on my short list. There are others to choose from, but these arms are a good starting point.
There are more options on the free agent market for pitchers than hitters, thus it seems a pitcher, like Walker, whom the Mariners previously offered to Arizona for Justin Upton, could be traded.
Filed under: Baseball, Dailies, Mariners, Seattle Mariners, sports Tagged: baseball trades, chris young, elias, Felix Hernandez, free agent pitchers, iwakuma, James Paxton, james shields, john lester, mariner rotation, max scherzer, seattle pitchers, taijuan walker
