There’s no more clear of a need for the Seattle Mariners this offseason than offensive help. The idea has been floated, though, that the way to get that help is by adding more pitching.
Follow that? OK, let’s do a quick breakdown.
Seattle Mariners trade with Red Sox for infielder Luis Urías
The thought process is that this class of free agents is low on well-known hitters, and the Mariners don’t have much of a recent history in signing impact bats anyways. What may be Seattle’s best asset, though, is its group of young, impressive starting pitchers. So if the Mariners this offseason were able to sign a front-line pitcher, which they have had success with in recent years, it would allow them to use one of their younger arms in a trade for a big name to help the lineup.
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MLB Network insider Jon Morosi has just the pitcher to get that scenario rolling, too: Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Japanese star who will be posted Tuesday by Nippon Professional Baseball’s Orix Blue Wave as available to MLB teams for a 45-day period.
“I think that he is, in a lot of respects, the most intriguing free-agent pitcher out there,” Morosi said Monday during his weekly conversation with Seattle Sports’ Wyman and Bob. “… I actually think that there is a better chance the Mariners find a way to get Yamamoto, and then as a next domino effect trade a pitcher for a bat, than it would be to go out there and sign (Shohei) Ohtani right now. I think that’s in a lot of ways the higher percentage play.”
Doubt has been cast since last week on the Mariners making a serious run at Ohtani, the 2023 American League MVP, with MLB.com Mariners reporter Daniel Kramer writing: “Industry sources familiar with the club’s thinking told MLB.com this week that landing Ohtani doesn’t appear to be within the Mariners’ realistic agenda this offseason.”
Yamamoto, on the other hand, could be a realistic fit for Seattle, which may then lead to the team building a trade package around a pitcher like Logan Gilbert, Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo to get an available slugger on a short-term deal like Mets first baseman Pete Alonso or Padres outfielder Juan Soto.
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Morosi: Factors to watch in potential Mariners trade for Juan Soto
“There’s a lot of pitching out there, whether it’s Yamamoto or others, even whether it’s (2023 National League Cy Young Award winner Blake) Snell or Eduardo Rodríguez – go down the list, Sonny Gray, Jordan Montgomery,” Morosi said. “You sign one of those pitchers, then that allows you to have the capital – whether it’s Bryce Miller or Bryan Woo – to then turn around and trade for a bat. And I’m not saying that you would necessarily give up one of those guys for a rental, which is what Alonso would be and Juan Soto would be.
“I just think that you have to fish where the fish are, so to speak, and right now they are in the realm of starting pitching. So get your guy, upgrade your pitching, and then take a second look at the chessboard here – who you could trade, where the opportunities are? – and then make the move from there.”
Who is Yoshinobu Yamamoto?
If the Mariners would able to score Yamamoto, it would be an acquisition worth getting excited about. He stood out on the World Baseball Classic champion Japan team last spring, going 1-0 in two starts with 12 strikeouts to two walks, allowing two earned runs on four hits over 7 1/3 innings. And in NPB play he’s been especially dominant, winning the Sawamura Award – the NPB’s version of the Cy Young – in each of the last three seasons.
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In 2023, Yamamoto went 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA, 0.884 WHIP, 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings, and a 6.04 strikeouts to walk ratio for the Blue Wave, who were Mariners great Ichiro Suzuki’s team when he played in Japan. Additionally, he allowed just two home runs in 23 starts, and the year prior he gave up just two homers in 24 starts.
“He’s a high-end pitcher with a really devastating forkball breaking pitch – a splitter, effectively, similar somewhat to what (Mets All-Star Kodai) Senga throws,” Morosi said. “So a lot of excitement. A lot of different (MLB) GMs actually went over to watch him pitch in person this year, which doesn’t always happen. Brian Cashman of the Yankees happened to be there on the day that he threw a no-hitter. So there’s just a lot of really cool enthusiasm for Yamamoto right now.”
Senga, a fellow right-hander who made the jump from Japan to join the Mets last offseason, is a logical comparison for the 5-foot-10, 176-pound Yamamoto. The latter pitcher may be better, though.
“We just saw Kodai Senga come over this year, and he was an NL Rookie of the Year top candidate. Basically Yamamoto has been described to me as being a tick better than him,” Morosi said. “So we’re talking about he’ll walk in here likely and be one of the top pitchers in the league in his first season. There are some who believe that his immediate Year 1 impact could approximate what Yu Darvish did when he first came over, so we’re talking about a star. … There are people in the industry who look at what Yamamoto can do on the mound and are frankly as excited about him (as a free agent this year as Ohtani) just immediately because of the need for pitching and their belief that his pitching will work right away.”
There’s one more thing that makes Yamamoto especially intriguing: his age. While Senga debuted in the big leagues at 30 years old this year, Yamamoto just turned 25. As Morosi explained, it’s rare for teams to get a crack at signing a pitcher with his level of talent at that young of an age.
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“He’s one of the best pitchers in the world who’s in his mid-20s. And the unique thing is that pitchers who are in their mid-20s very rarely hit free agency domestically here in the US because they’re either still getting their way through the arbitration system – especially if they went to college – or their team has already signed them up long-term,” Morosi said. “It doesn’t quite work that same way in Japan, so it’s a unique opportunity.
“His pitch-making ability, performance are all very good. It’s hard to say that he’s better than the Cy Young winner in Blake Snell, or Sonny Gray or Aaron Nola, but it’s the age that he is that people are really intrigued by, and they believe that he’s got a pitch mix that’s going to work in Major League Baseball for a long time.”
Free agency has been slow going thus far, but Yamamoto’s 45-day posting that begins Tuesday has the potential to jump start at least the pitching market.
“It doesn’t have to take 45 days – that’s the really key thing,” Morosi said. “They could wrap that up in a matter of 10 or 12 days, and I think a lot of people around the industry hope that that happens because once he goes off the board, then the rest of the pitching market will likely follow.”
Listen to the full Wyman and Bob conversation with MLB Network insider Jon Morosi in the podcast at this link or in the player near the top of this post.
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More on the Seattle Mariners
• Morosi: How Mariners can improve lineup without Ohtani • Can Mariners keep up in AL West? The Athletic’s Keith Law weighs in • Drayer: Seattle Mariners close to adding Brant Brown to coaching staff
Seattle Reign is back at Lumen Field tonight, taking on Gotham FC at 7 PM PT. The match will air on CBS Sports Network and stream on CBSSports.com.
The Reign are riding a seven-game undefeated streak as they continue to make up for a rough start and push for a playoff spot. They’ve won their last three games, while Gotham has won three of their last four.
Gotham (11-4-4, 37 points) has scored 23 goals and conceded 16. Seattle Reign (5-9-5, 20 points) has scored 23 goals and conceded a league-high 32.
Match Preview: Seattle Reign vs. Gotham
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The Reign look to continue their unbeaten streak at home.
What to Watch
How the Reign deal with Gotham’s intense press – Gotham has one of the most intense presses in the league, but they are vulnerable when teams switch the field consistently and are good in possession
Gotham don’t allow many chances – can the Reign take advantage when they have a chance in front of goal?
Dangerous in transition – both teams are dangerous in transition, with the Reign adding this to their skillset in recent matches
Referees
REF: Shawn Tehini AR1: Noah Kenyawani AR2: Nicholas Seymour 4TH: Baboucarr Jallow VAR: Alexandra Billeter AVAR: Brian Marshall
This is your Seattle Reign vs. Gotham FC gamethread. Join the discussion in the comments or on Discord if you’re a paid subscriber. Get real-time highlights from @RoValks on Twitter.
Last year, Bon Appetit declared that we were in the middle of the Great Bagel Boom. This past April, the New Yorker described a “bagel renaissance” happening well beyond the borders of New York City. Writing in the New York Times, Karen Stabiner recently took note of just how long people are willing to wait for a bagel at Los Angeles’s famed Courage Bagels.
Along with identifying how the once-humble bagel has become so hyped, these pieces all have something in common. They reference trendy bagel shops in cities all across the country, including Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, Phoenix, and Portland — but not, pointedly, Seattle.
Up until recently, that wouldn’t have been seen as an oversight. When most people think of Seattle, they think of salmon, coffee, teriyaki, and hot dogs smothered in cream cheese and sauteed onion. They don’t think of bagels.
But they should.
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The Seattle area has had bagels for a long time, but only recently could you say it boasts a bona fide scene. From local chains like Rubinstein Bagels and Blazing Bagels to pop-ups that sell out in hours, you could spend weeks trying to sample every bagel in the region. The modest bagel has moved beyond its Polish-Jewish roots and become a playground for some of the Seattle region’s best bakers to experiment with flavor profiles and presentation.
The options have become so varied that we can even start to create a taxonomy to classify them depending on what you’re looking for. Want a chewy bagel? Head to Madison Valley’s Mt. Bagel or Georgetown’s Bloom Bistro. Crave a bagel with crunch? Track down Hey Bagel’s latest pop-up or find Salmonberry Goods at the Ballard Farmers Market or its new Sunset Hill brick-and-mortar. Need to get a nostalgic New York-style fix? Make for Ravenna’s Bagel Oasis or 6th Borough Bagels in Olympia. Lox lovers need look no further than Loxsmith (Beacon Hill/West Seattle) and Old Salt (Fremont/Ballard). Seeking a bagel sandwich to savor? Head to Rachel’s (Ballard/Lake City), Howdy Bagel (Tacoma), Toasted (U District), Sully Eats (Fremont Sunday Market), or Backyard Bagel (Fremont).
And that’s just the tip of the sesame seed-crusted iceberg. Despite the influx of spots to score a bagel and cream cheese (or much more), there are no signs of this growth slowing down. Along with the recent openings of Backyard Bagel, Toasted, and 6th Borough Bagels, both Salmonberry Goods and Andrew Rubinstein’s Hey Bagel are eyeing brick-and-mortar locations by the end of the year. Meanwhile, many of the city’s “old guard” bagel slingers like Rachel’s and Rubinstein have recently added new locations. And considering that there are still plenty of bagel deserts around town (West Seattle, Columbia City, Queen Anne, and Rainier Valley come to mind), there’s no reason to think we’ve hit peak bagel.
What’s driving this proliferation? As Bon Appetit and the New Yorker noted, the entire nation appears to be swept up in this schmear sensation as each city and region attempts to establish its own version of the bagel. COVID-19 played a major role as well. Several Seattle-area bagel shops began as pandemic hobbies or pivots from restaurants needing to come up with an easy grab-and-go option (that’s how Manolin birthed Old Salt in 2020).
Don’t discount the impact of social media. The Instagram-worthy bagel sandwiches and presentations at Howdy Bagel, Toasted, and Westman’s remain constants in your feeds. And proving to all your followers that you made it through the Mt. Bagel line remains a badge of honor even a year after its return.
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Then there’s the money factor. As the pandemic fades and prices rise, the desire to feel like you’re getting your dollar’s worth is paramount. Getting a bagel that causes lines and sellouts is pretty solid proof you’re not just on trend, but making wise dining decisions. It might just look like a bread circle but the bagel means a little bit more right now.
To say that Seattle bagels are “better” than New York’s is a fool’s errand. But there’s no denying that Seattle suddenly finds itself in the conversation among the many bagel boomtowns across the nation. The next time a major food publication puts out its roundup of the best bagels in the country, to leave out Seattle would be proof that it’s not actually paying attention.
Las Vegas Aces (25-13, 10-8 Western Conference) at Seattle Storm (24-14, 12-6 Western Conference)
Seattle; Tuesday, 10 p.m. EDT
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BOTTOM LINE: Seattle Storm will try to earn its 25th victory of the season when the Storm play the Las Vegas Aces.
The Storm are 12-6 against Western Conference opponents. Seattle is sixth in the WNBA with 34.6 rebounds led by Ezi Magbegor averaging 8.0.
The Aces’ record in Western Conference games is 10-8. Las Vegas is eighth in the WNBA with 34.1 rebounds per game led by A’ja Wilson averaging 12.0.
Seattle is shooting 43.4% from the field this season, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 43.2% Las Vegas allows to opponents. Las Vegas averages 7.3 more points per game (86.1) than Seattle gives up (78.8).
The teams meet for the fourth time this season. In the last matchup on July 10 the Aces won 84-79 led by 27 points from Jackie Young, while Jewell Loyd scored 28 points for the Storm.
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TOP PERFORMERS: Loyd is averaging 19.7 points and 3.6 assists for the Storm.
Kelsey Plum is averaging 17.7 points and 4.2 assists for the Aces.
LAST 10 GAMES: Storm: 6-4, averaging 82.2 points, 31.9 rebounds, 20.8 assists, 9.2 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 80.3 points per game.
Aces: 8-2, averaging 82.8 points, 33.3 rebounds, 21.0 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.8 blocks per game while shooting 44.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.2 points.
INJURIES: Storm: MacKenzie Holmes: out for season (knee).
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Aces: None listed.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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