Elite Reliever Among Players in Seattle Mariners Price Range, Per Insider
Most of the Seattle Mariners offseason will likely be focused on the offense.
The team has needs at first, second and third base. And those holes grew wider on Friday as the Mariners declined the option of second baseman Jorge Polanco and third baseman Luis Urias cleared waivers and elected free agency.
The bullpen was the secondary concern in 2024 compared to Seattle's offense. The relievers improved in the second half of the season and will have several key arms back in the fold for 2025.
Even so, the Mariners have five relievers up for arbitration and could be in the market for a couple bullpen arms before Opening Day on March 27.
According to an article from Seattle Times' Adam Jude, one player Seattle could target in the offseason is one of the best relievers in the entire league.
In the article, Jude listed four free agents that work within the Mariners price range. Among them was 2024 All-Star Tanner Scott.
Jude said the following about Seattle possibly going after the recent San Diego Padre:
"You could call this a luxury buy — and you could call it an unlikely move — but signing a reliever like Scott is the kind of move the Mariners (should) make to help put them over the top this winter. For all the talk about the lack of offense, the thin bullpen was as much to blame for some of Seattle’s summer struggles. Scott won’t be cheap — he’ll command at least $10 million per season — and it would require a change of strategy for the Mariners, who have been successful at relying on low-budget reclamation projects to fill out their ‘pen. But Scott would take pressure off Andres Muñoz and give the Mariners a legitimate left-handed pitching option to throw at the best left-handed sluggers (Yordan Alvarez and Corey Seager, in particular) the Mariners face in the AL West."
Scott has been in the league for eight years and has been one of the best bullpen arms in the game over the last two.
Scott posted an exemplary 1.75 ERA in 2024 with 84 strikeouts and 22 saves across 72 innings pitched. He made 72 total appearances with the Padres and Miami Marlins.
Tanner Scott, 99mph ⛽️ pic.twitter.com/d3TUxTH0Yu
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) October 12, 2024
As Jude said in his article, Scott is a luxury for the Mariners. But he could be a worthwhile one. Few teams in the league have even one legitimate closer. If Seattle signed Scott, they would have two (2024 All-Star Andres Munoz being the other one). A back-end swap of Scott and Munoz would theoretically make it very difficult for either to be overused in high-leverage spots.
Matt Brash is also set to return by June or July of 2025 and Gregory Santos will presumably be available after dealing with injuries for most of 2024.
Scott is estimated to have a market value of four years, $65.59 million according to Spotrac.
If the Mariners were to bring in Scott, then the club would go from having a bullpen that often struggled to close out games in 2024 to one of the best group of relievers in all the majors.
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