The Seattle Mariners have a lot of room to grow, which is a scary thought for rival AL West teams. The Mariners starting rotation, when healthy, includes four of their own draft picks from 2018-21. A recent success story involves Ben Williamson, who's been better than expected at third base. However, one common theme for Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto is that his offseason moves – or sometimes lack thereof – receive the brunt of criticism from Seattle fans.
Even the Mariners lack of spending cannot be fully blamed on DiPoto, of course – it's not as though he prefers not to open his wallet. DiPoto, like all presidents of baseball operations, is only given a certain allotment to spend on on-field talent. DiPoto's decision-making isn't always perfect, but he's honest with the fanbase (sometimes too much so). DiPoto once told reporters that he's operating on a 10-year plan to win 54 percent of the Mariners games. That doesn't sound like much, but by getting granular DiPoto was honest with the fanbase.
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Mariners offseason was better than it looked on paper
Mariners fans didn't take that comment well, and it's not the first nor last time they'll be upset with DiPoto. However, even DiPoto's harshest critics have to give credit where it's due. At least for now, it appears the Mariners offseason plan was a successful one. Seattle had been connected to the likes of Alec Bohm, Anthony Santander and Triston Casas this winter, only to settle on lesser names.
The Mariners offseason was a little too quiet for fans, as they re-signed Jorge Polanco and added 37-year-old infielder Donovan Solano. That...was pretty much it.
However, those same players Mariners fans wanted DiPoto to acquire aren't exactly performing well this season, either. Meanwhile, Seattle's offense is humming by comparison. Bohm is hitting just .220 and has a -1.0 WAR. Santander is under the Mendoza line with a -0.6 WAR. Casas is in a similar position, hitting just .172 with a -0.7 WAR. All three would've been frustrating additions for a Mariners team that couldn't afford to get much worse offensively.
Instead, the Mariners stood pat, and DiPoto had faith in his coaching and development staff. It's early in the season, but the M's rank third in MLB with 42 home runs. They have a collective .234 batting average, which is an improvement from last season. Seattle has scored the eighth-most runs in baseball.
The Mariners lineup is far from perfect, and improvements still must be made, but it's a heck of a lot better than last year.