Inside The Mariners

ANALYSIS: What Does Handling Second Base Internally Look Like For Seattle Mariners?

The Seattle Mariners seem to lean to handling second base in-house for 2025, but there's still some question about what that would look like.

Teren Kowatsch

Seattle Mariners second baseman Ryan Bliss hits a home run against the New York Mets on Aug. 9 at T-Mobile Park.
Seattle Mariners second baseman Ryan Bliss hits a home run against the New York Mets on Aug. 9 at T-Mobile Park. / Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
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The Seattle Mariners seem to have irons in a lot of fires this offseason.

The Mariners have been involved in trade talks with the Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. And that's just the teams that have been reported on.

Reports in the days leading up to MLB Winter Meetings (Dec. 9-12 in Dallas) have said Seattle has been in talks for players like Alec Bohm, Nico Hoerner and Cody Bellinger.

There's been additional reports saying that the Mariners would prefer to bring in players to upgrade third and first base while handling second base in-house. But that depends on whether or not any of the aforementioned trade talks bear fruit.

If Seattle does has to look within its own team to find a second baseman, how exactly would that look?

The two names that have been brought up the most are Ryan Bliss and Dylan Moore.

Moore is coming off a season where he won the first Gold Glove of his career as a utility player. He was used in every single position except for right field, pitcher and catcher. He also possesses speed on the base paths with 32 steals.

The issue is he's coming off a single-season career-low .201 batting average. Despite possessing a high walk-rate of 12%, he had just a .320 on-base percentage.

Bliss also brings his own share of question marks. For one, he's only played 33 major league games. All of those games came in 2024. He had a .222 batting average with two home runs and nine RBIs while stealing five bases.

Bliss' general inexperience and Moore's poor bat makes either option less-than-ideal.

There's also the issue of who the Mariners would platoon with either Moore or Bliss. Leo Rivas is a switch-hitter who played well while filling in for injured shortstop JP Crawford. He played 43 games and hit .233 with eight RBIs and three stolen bases.

All of Rivas' major league games were also limited to last season. His numbers and playing opportunities started to dwindle when Crawford returned from injury.

If Seattle's current options aren't enough, it could sign left-handed hitter Hye-Seong Kim out of the KBO and give him most of the playing time at second base. That would leave Bliss or Moore as occasionally filling in as the right-handed bat.

The Mariners could still trade for Hoerner and move Moore over to third base.

But the most likely scenario for second base in 2025 is a combination of Moore/Rivas or Bliss/Rivas. Moore and Bliss could also rotate starts through the early part of 2025 while the club figures out which player works best as the perennial starter.

There's also the matter of one of the team's top prospects, Cole Young. He'll reportedly start the season with the organization's Triple-A affiliate, the Tacoma Rainiers. But he could find his way on the major league roster sooner rather than later, especially if one of the aforementioned platoons fails.

The status of second base on Opening Day can play out in several ways and there's a very good chance it continues to be an issue for throughout the season.

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Teren Kowatsch
TEREN KOWATSCH

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