Dipoto wants Mariners to get 'deeper' in pitching
Jerry Dipoto has already had a busy offseason for the Seattle Mariners, adding 11 players to the roster, and he may not be done just yet.
The general manager is interested in getting deeper on the pitching front, and, if the offseason so far is any indication, he won't shy away from making a move to help the club improve.
"We’d like to get deeper in terms of our pitching," Dipoto told Bob Dutton of The News Tribune. "That is likely to happen at this point in addressing bullpen needs. As we get into the month of December, we’ll determine whether that’s going to be via trade or free agency."
The Mariners have already acquired pitchers Nathan Karns, Joaquin Benoit, C. J. Riefenhauser, and Anthony Bass via trades, giving them some new looks, but the team currently sits without a proven closer.
"Those are confidence roles," Dipoto said, "and we’ll see where that goes. Carson Smith is on our roster and had some small level of experience in pitching the ninth inning. He had an outstanding year as a set-up man.
"Joaquin Benoit has had closing experience in the past on two different occasions and has done an excellent job when been asked to do that. He’s also been an excellent set-up man. Between the two, I feel like we do have options in-house and there is a lot of offseason yet to go. So it’s to be determined on who will pitch the ninth inning on opening day."
2015 CLOSING EXPERIENCE
| PLAYER | SAVES | ERA | WHIP | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joaquin Benoit | 2 | 2.34 | 0.90 | 63 |
| Carson Smith | 13 | 2.31 | 1.01 | 92 |
Along with the bullpen, Dipoto also discussed the starting rotation, and although he's happy with the current depth, the GM feels like there are ways to improve, and getting a deal done with Hisashi Iwakuma is something of interest.
"Part of the appeal of acquiring Nate Karns so early in the offseason," Dipoto explained, "is that among Taijuan Walker and James Paxton and Nate Karns and (Roenis) Elias and (Vidal) Nuno, it gave us a modicum of depth behind Felix (Hernandez) that we didn’t have to panic.
"We knew we could go out there and throw innings. Now all we need to do is focus on guys who get a little bit closer to the top of the rotation. Obviously, (with) Kuma, we’d love to have him back."
Seattle's team ERA of 4.16 was good for 22nd in all of baseball in 2015, and while the team pitched 1463 innings, good for fourth in MLB, it allowed 181 home runs and a .256 opponent batting average.