It is a fairly similar approach to that of Dipoto, Hollander & Co. last season. In the winter of 2024-2025, the Mariners were looking for several big-name trades, but found that many clubs with players available in trades were looking for young big-league players — not the top players who multiply the top of a stacked farm system in Seattle. There are more pure rebuilding clubs this winter, at least on paper, but the Cardinals have prioritized MLB-ready pitching in exchange for Son Gray (Richard Fitts) And Willson Contreras (Hunter Dobbins). The D-backs reportedly want to add Major League pitching (presumably multiple rotation candidates) to any deal for star infielder Kettle Marte.
Although Seattle’s system is deep in high-end prospects, the M’s had eight players on Baseball America’s top-100 prospect list at season’s end, although they have since traded Harry Ford – the actual depth outside the rotation in the big league is relatively small. Each of Luis Castillo, Logan Gilbert, Bryan Woo And George Kirby started at least 23 games in 2025. They all pitched well – Kirby had some brutal outings but was largely strong – but only Castillo did so while avoiding an IL stint. Bryce Molenaar missed more than half the season due to elbow inflammation. The options outside that few are less encouraging.
Emerson Hancock is a former No. 6 overall pick, but spent the latter part of the season as a reliever. He will enter camp as a starter, but is more likely to be viewed as a fifth starter candidate than you might expect based on that lofty concept. He turns 27 in May and has a career ERA of 4.81 with a poor 15.6% strikeout rate in 162 MLB innings. Twenty-four years old Logan Evans This past season as a rookie, he threw 81 1/3 innings with a 4.32 ERA and briefly drew some top-100 fanfare before being promoted to the majors. Like Hancock, he struggled to miss bats in the major leagues (16.9 K%, 7.8% swinging-strike percentage). He was also hit hard in eleven Triple-A starts last year.
Depth options beyond those seven are slim. Jonathan Diaz And Blas Castano are both on the 40-man roster, but are already in their late 20s and have no MLB track record to speak of. The Mariners have numerous notable pitching prospects, including Cijntje, Ryan Sloan and 2025 No. 3 overall pick Kade Anderson. However, Cijntje has all seven Double-A starts under his belt and could need more development time than most prospects given his status as an extremely unusual switch pitcher. Sloan hasn’t pitched above A-ball. Anderson did not pitch for a Mariners affiliate again after last summer’s draft. Former prospects like Taylor Dollard And Michael Morales was not selected in this year’s Rule 5 Draft despite being eligible. The former struggled with injury problems. The latter was hit pretty hard, recording just a 16% strikeout rate in Double-A this season.
The Mariners could certainly use their rotation to improve the lineup and complement with cheaper free agent signings, but it’s understandable if the front office is reluctant to compromise the team’s depth at all given the shaky performances of Miller, Hancock, and (to a lesser extent) Evans in 2025. In any case, you could argue that it would be wise to add to the current group by signing/acquiring some optional depth or a swingman/sixth starter to add close in a long relief role to start the year.
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