Seattle Mariners Officially See Two Players Exit the 40-Man Roster on Thursday
The 2024 baseball season officially wrapped up on Wednesday night with the Los Angeles Dodgers beating the New York Yankees in the World Series.
With the season officially over, we're now onto the offseason for all clubs, including the Seattle Mariners.
The first matter of housekeeping in the offseason per MLBTradeRumors is the changing of official rosters.
OCTOBER 31: Free agency begins for eligible players, but they aren’t permitted to sign with other teams for at least five days. Free agents no longer count against their previous teams’ 40-man rosters. Trades of players who were on the 40-man roster reopen for the first time since last summer’s deadline.
So yes, Jerry Dipoto can not get more engaged on the trade market. Furthermore, the M's have five days to exclusively negotiate with their own free agents. However, those free agents are also now off the 40-man roster.
That means Justin Turner and Yimi Garcia are on the open market.
Turner, who was acquired at the trade deadline from the Toronto Blue Jays, made quite an impact in Seattle. In 48 games with the Mariners, he hit .264 with five homers, 24 RBI and a .363 on-base percentage. He also helped serve as a continued veteran presence with the M's in the clubhouse. His presence was highly regarded.
For the season as a whole, he hit .259 with 11 homers.
Turner just finished the 16th year of his career with the Baltimore Orioles, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Blue Jays and Mariners. He's a .285 lifetime hitter who helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 2020.
The Mariners could certainly have interest in bringing him back next year, though it remains to be seen if Turner officially wants to be back. The M's could use an upgrade at first base and could elect to sign a big name like Pete Alonso, or they could use a platoon of Turner and Luke Raley with each getting time at DH as well.
As for Garcia, he was a disappointment after also being acquired in a trade with the Blue Jays.
The 34-year-old had an ERA of 6.00 in 10 games with the Mariners, surrendering multiple crushing home runs that led to losses. He ended the year with an elbow injury and there are questions about his health moving forward.
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