Seattle Mariners and their management are under fire for their recent comments. This has left the front office reeling. Many fans think that this Moneyball tactic is not a good idea and might backfire big time. As controversies fly around the Marines the fans are looking for some answers and they are looking for it now. Jerry Dipoto, the owner of the Seattle Mariners has made some statements that have not sat well with the fans.

This has caused a massive drift between the fans and the front office. Dipoto said, “One of our points going into this offseason, and I know I made it sitting in the dugout in the final series, was that we didn’t anticipate a great deal of movement around the team. And as we are now about a week away from heading to spring training, I’d say that probably played out to be spot on, much to, I think, the dismay of a few, but we have a good team.”  This has not only got the fans questioning the thinking of Dipoto but the whole management. Although it is very early to predict what is going to happen at the start of the season, many of them think that this will never work.

To add to this Ken Rosenthal had this to say on the Foul Territory show. This is what he said, “Well the fans are not happy and Jerry Dipoto knows that. Their fans are frustrated by this team’s unwillingness to spend what they should be spending to support a rotation that is arguably the best in the game and a rotation you will have together for only so long.” All this being said by someone who is so close with MLB means a lot.

This clearly shows that the fans are not happy and they have good reason not to be. The Mariners have not spent even a minimum of what they should to improve their pitching rotation. The Seattle Mariners have signed Donovan Solano and Jorge Polanco. But it won’t mean anything if they don’t have a good bullpen to back them up. But they don’t have any stars who can turn the game around.

Rosenthal also said, “What this team really needs is one more huge bat. And the place to do it would have been first base. But they weren’t involved in Christian Walker. They don’t seem to be involved in Pete Alonso.” It looks like there are no other good batters in the Mariners camp except Julio Rodriguez. But even he will need someone to back him up. With them not wanting anyone in the trade window, it will be very difficult for the Mariners’ offense to keep up with the rest of the league.

Many fans and the media know that the best version of the Seattle Mariners will have had more offense, but this is not the one fans had expected to see with the season about to start.

Seattle Mariners’ offseason: A tale of missed opportunities

The Seattle Mariners entered the offseason with very high hopes of signing some new talent. Even the president of Mariners, Jerry Dipoto, said that they are in need of two very highly skilled infielders. They did have big targets like Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso. But those deals don’t seem to be happening.

The Mariners entered January 2025 by extending a one-year $7 million contract for Jorge Polanco that triggered an automatic second-year option for 2026. Polanco had a very difficult 2024 season. He put up a subpar number on board. He had a low average of .213 with 16 home runs. Polanco is expected to play third base for the 2025 season. The Mariners believe in Polanco, and it might turn out to be fruitful.

The Seattle Mariners failed to secure the signing of Korean infielder Hye-seong Kim after he agreed with the Los Angeles Dodgers organization. This was a major setback for the Seattle Mariners. Especially because they need to fill their first, second, and third bases. With a mere $15 million payroll, they are going to be facing major challenges.

Former Major League General Manager Jim Bowden placed the Mariners in the category of major offseason losers. The main reason for this was that they failed to look at the glaring problems in the infield despite having one of the best pitching rotations in all of baseball. Bowden was frustrated with the owner’s reluctance to solve these red flags of missing high-quality infielders. He believes that if they had solved these problems they would have been in the playoff contention.

The Seattle Mariners’ offseason is full of missed opportunities with financial limitations. This has left the fans questioning the intent of the owners to build a competitive roster that might help them win something.