Yu Darvish and the Seattle Mariners: A Perfect Marriage

Ever since the Seattle Mariners fired General Manager, Jack Zduriencik in August of 2015, the franchise has been in win-now mode and is essentially doing all it can to put a championship caliber club on the field while trying not to spend ax exuberant amount of money. Current Mariners General Manager, Jerry Dipoto, made a name for himself as he wheeled-and-dealed several different trades to improve the ball club and has made even a few more adjustments this winter, but far less than he did last offseason. Of course, there is still plenty of time for Dipoto to continue his wheeling-and-dealing as the Hot Stove has been fairly cold to this point and one of the biggest things he should focus on is figuring out a way to sign Yu Darvish.

Darvish, who is one of the top starting pitching free agents on the market this winter alongside Jake Arrieta, has garnered interest from the: Dodgers, Astros (prior to them acquiring Gerrit Cole from the Pirates), Brewers, Twins, Cubs, and Rangers. Over the past several weeks, Darvish has been adding to the speculation with all of his followers on Twitter hinting at which teams were interested and this past weekend, we learned from Yahoo Japan that he did indeed receive an offer from the Milwaukee Brewers. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but Ken Rosenthal later confirmed it on Twitter and Jerry Crasnick followed up with a tweet yesterday saying that Darvish has a 5-year offer on the table. It is unknown if that was the Brewers offer or if that came from another team, but it appears as though, Darvish is still playing the waiting game which gives the Mariners the perfect opportunity to get involved in the race.

Right now as it looks on paper, one thing is missing from the Mariners roster and that is a legitimate, top of the rotation ace that can take the ball every 5 days and give the team that workhorse mentality. The Mariners rotation looks more like a hodgepodge at the moment compared to a well-thought out and well constructed 5 man rotation. Also, considering the division where the Mariners play, they are going to need to make a significant upgrade if they want to make any noise. The Astros will be strong, maybe even stronger next season, the Angels will be improved with the moves they've made this winter, and you can never count out the Rangers or A's as both could play spoiler and go far if everything goes according to plan.

Felix Hernandez and James Paxton 

Circling back to the Mariners starting rotation, James Paxton really made a name for himself last year and developed a huge following in which fans coined him the nickname, The Big Maple. As it looks right now, Paxton would be the team's ace and would be followed by Felix Hernandez, otherwise known as King Felix. Hernandez used to be a very good pitcher with ace like stuff, but has faced some regression over the past few years meaning that the team can't count on him entirely like it could in the past. After Paxton and Hernandez, come a bunch of hodgepodge candidates for the  rotation which all primarily look like number 4 or 5 starters on the average MLB team.

According to the Mariner's depth chart online, Mike Leake would currently slot into the number three hole in the rotation followed up by Erasmo Ramirez, Marco Gonzales, Ariel Miranda, and Andrew Moore. The order of the last four will change between now and Spring Training depending on if the Mariners make another addition, like they should with Darvish, and depending on the performance of each during big league camp which starts next month.

Sure the Mariner's rotation as it stands right now is deep, but it is not the best rotation in the division, that honor belongs to the Houston Astros who now have three top starting pitchers in Dallas Keuchel, Justin Verlander, and Gerrit Cole. You could argue that Seattle would rank ahead of the Rangers, who also need starting pitching still, but they are probably on the same level as Texas with the A's and Angels battling it out for the 4th and 5th spots. Regardless, if Seattle wants to make any noise and have a legitimate shot at the postseason, it needs someone like Yu Darvish to go along with James Paxton and Felix Hernandez.

Now one of the biggest problems that could cause the Mariners to look elsewhere for starting pitching help is the type of contract that Darvish would command. According to Cot's Baseball, Seattle's payroll sits at a tick above $157 million dollars which would put them 6th in the league just below the Red Sox, Giants, Dodgers, Angels, and Nationals.

Depending on how things go this coming season, the Mariners might end up selling at the trade

deadline or next winter especially if they feel as though they can't compete with the rest of the division. That is unless they make a big splash like they would in signing Yu Darvish who would be an excellent investment and someone who could help Seattle keep their window open longer than it looks on paper right now. Forget the fact that Darvish would fit the culture of Seattle, is familiar with pitching in the AL West since he spent 5 years pitching with the Texas Rangers, and would give the franchise another icon name to build around moving forward as well.

Following this season, the Mariners have quite a bit of money coming off the books, $26.3 million dollars to be exact, will have $96.8 million committed, and have five arbitration-eligible players that will be due raises. Regardless, if the Mariners are somehow able to sign Darvish, they could give him a five or six year deal in the range of $120-$140 million dollars and try to backload the contract to where a majority of the money is paying paid in future seasons rather than this coming season. Come 2020, the Mariners payroll looks even better with about $87.5 million dollars committed which is where some of the Darvish contract could be backloaded too.

While it might seem like a long shot for the Mariners to open the season with Yu Darvish on their roster, Jerry Dipoto and the entire front office owes it to the fans to make a big splash and do everything they can now to win a World Series ring while the team's window is still open. If the Mariners go into the season relying on James Paxton and Felix Hernandez, who is a huge wild card when it comes to health anymore, they are not setting themselves up for success and will likely see themselves become sellers before they play in the postseason. After all, Seattle now has the longest playoff drought in all four of the professional sports giving even more reason as to why the Mariner's ownership group needs to step up to the plate and sign Darvish who can help end that drought as soon as this coming season.