What the Mariners will be doing with Brendan Donovan this season, after trading him for a bunch of people including Ben Williamson and Dutch switch-pitcher Jurrangelo Cijntje, both makes absolutely no sense and tons of sense depending on how well you know their situation.
Donovan is a multi-instrumentalist, and has played second base, third base, left field, right field and shortstop at the MLB level, which is one of the reasons the Cardinals valued him, before...y'know...trading him away. His defense has routinely been good-but-not-great, but as an infielder with contact ability he's very valuable, and is definitely a crucial piece for Seattle, who can always afford to up their contact game. But going into this season, the plan seems to be to let Donovan start as the primary third baseman, despite 2nd base being his primary position to date, and continue to let Cole Young [and to a lesser extent Leo Rivas] mature at second base.
And it seems like a very odd move to break in Donovan at a position he's obviously played but isn't as well known at. It's like the Red Sox signing Hanley Ramirez to play the outfield, or the Mets signing Jorge Polanco to play 1st, or...the Mets signing Bo Bichette to play third, or...the Mets signing Clay Holmes to start ga-you may be noticing a theme here. But I see the reasoning on a few levels. Firstly, Donovan is that kind of multi-position guy to not be too fazed by a move to third, and also...second base has been very problematic for this team in recent memory.
Since...I would say 2018, Seattle has been where promising second base signings and trades go to die. You could trace it back to when the Mariners, in 2016, traded their prized 2nd base/SS prospect Ketel Marte to Arizona for Jean Segura, who was primarily a shortstop in Seattle. That move poisoned the well, and every subsequent 2nd baseman in Seattle experienced pain and misery upon their arrival. Starting with Dee Gordon, whose strong Miami years trailed off, as did his OPS and defensive ability. In 2020, the team went with Shed Long as the primary 2nd base option, and while he was a promising farmhand with contact potential, he hit .171, and then .198, given the opportunity, and never recovered. Many times over the course of the next few years, the M's would attempt to give Dylan Moore the starting 2nd base job, but he'd only excel when used as a bench bat. So in 2021, Moore as the main 2B option was so overwhelming that they traded for Abraham Toro, who was nice down the stretch but completely underwhelming in 2022.
Then, starting in 2022, the Mariners made attempts to actually sign and field talent for 2nd base, which would be even more disastrous. Adam Frazier, after an all-star season in Pittsburgh and San Diego, hit .238 despite appearing in more games than any other Mariner. Kolten Wong, dealt for Toro ironically, was coming off a number of underrated contact seasons in Milwaukee only to hit .165 in 67 games, effectively ending his career. Jorge Polanco was next, and the interesting detail with Polanco is that, similar to Moore, he doesn't start really picking up until after he's moved to a DH option. As a 2nd baseman in 2024 he's decent, hitting .213 with 16 homers and 45 RBIs, but last year, as the primary DH, Polanco hit .265 with 26 homers and 78 RBIs. Prompting the misguided Mets contract.
Lost in all this was the fact that Cole Young, an organizational gem, was decent enough in a call-up year, despite a .211 average in 77 games. A slow start is understandable, especially for a 21-year-old. So moving Donovan to 3rd to keep Young in the lineup means they have faith in him to break this curse. And honestly, at this rate, I trust them.
Because, I don't know if you recall this, but the Mariners used to have a similar black hole at the backstop, going back to when Dan Wilson left. From 2005 til the early part of this decade, the catching position was a revolving door of both replacement options and fleetingly-kept answers. Names like Welington Castillo, Omar Narvaez, Miguel Olivo, Yorvit Torrealba and John Jason made their way through as hole-plugging options that didn't amount to anything. At the same time, this team tried to find young catchers to build into career guys, but Kenji Johjima was a disappointment, Adam Moore never stuck in the majors, and Mike Zunino, admittedly the best they could come up with during this period, wasn't any good as a catcher. This period even had the saga of Mike Marjama, a decent young catching option who left baseball for charity work, then came back only to get slapped with a PED ban. Snakebitten doesn't even begin. So for a position like that to go from completely hopeless to in amazing shape thanks to some guy named Cal Raleigh...that proves that even something that feels cursed has hope.
So I hope Cole Young figures it out this year, and spends a long career at second in Seattle. It's the relief this team deserves. And if it's not him, hopefully they find the guy soon, even if it needs to be Brendan Donovan. Though I won't blame him for not immediately wanting to test fate.
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