Mariners elect not to give qualifying offer to Outfielder Mitch Haniger
Mariners elect not to give qualifying offer to Outfielder Mitch Haniger
By way of the GM meetings in Las Vegas Jerry Dipoto told media that Mitch Haniger will not be given the qualifying offer. Will the Mariners bring Haniger back?
Following the GM meetings in Las Vegas, it was reported that the Mariners would not extend the 19.65 Million dollar qualifying offer to veteran outfielder Mitch Haniger. Dipoto did say however that the team has been in contact with Haniger and will remain in touch, with the goal of bringing him back.
Spending 20 million dollars on Haniger for next season while trying to get involved in the trade and free agent market wasn’t going to be an option for Seattle. Their goal is to maintain payroll flexibility according to Dipoto, especially entering free agency.
In an article from Ryan Divish with the Seattle Times, Dipoto stated his preference on getting a Haniger deal done. “We have a lot of needs that we would like to fill, and we’d like to have as much (payroll) flexibility in doing that as we can,” Dipoto said. “That would be a sizable one-year commitment when we would prefer to work out something that makes a little bit more sense for us and for Mitch too.”
While the team and Haniger haven’t seen eye to eye in the past, I get the sense a deal is likely to get done at some point. They are motivated to bring the former All Star back to Seattle. The Mariners’ President of Baseball Operations also said that if Mitch were to leave the team would need to add two corner outfielders and a middle infielder.
He is telegraphing a lot here if you look closely. The team has a “genuine” interest in bringing Haniger back, and if they do that leaves two remaining holes. Seattle feels they need to add two corner outfielders, and would love for Haniger to be one of the two. They also made mention of Winker returning but would prefer if he didn’t play the outfield as much as he did in 2022.
Seattle would like to get a deal done with Haniger that spreads the salary out for multiple seasons and makes sense financially for both player and team. The 31 year old outfielder is a leader in this clubhouse and has been invested in this group of players and their goals moving forward.
Haniger expressed his desire to remain following the 18 inning loss to the Astros saying, “he hopes to be back in a Mariner uniform.”
The Mariners feel the same way about Mitch, making this match a no brainer going forward. With that being said in free agency anything can happen. It takes two sides to get a deal done, and I fully expect these two parties to make this happen.
Haniger has played parts of six seasons in Seattle, making memories and becoming a beloved player. It only makes sense to bring him back to finish what he started.