Mariners go separate ways, future uncertain for some

SEATTLE — As the Mariners packed their bags to depart for homes and families across the country following Sunday’s season-ending 3-2 loss to the A’s, hugs and handshakes were exchanged with the knowledge that not all will be back next year.

Such is the nature of Major League Baseball and the Mariners have four pending free agents in outfielders Franklin Gutierrez and Norichika Aoki, first baseman Adam Lind and reliever Drew Storen, plus two other veterans — outfielder Seth Smith and catcher Chris Iannetta — who have club options that give the Mariners the choice of whether to re-sign them or not.

General manager Jerry Dipoto said all those players would be considered as return candidates, though the reality is that only a couple of them will likely be back.

“We’ll look at all of them,” Dipoto said. “The fact they were on our roster, most of them, for the entire season, they contributed or they wouldn’t have been here. I think you saw through the course of the year, we weren’t shy about making change when change was needed. All these guys did great jobs.”

Aoki is an interesting case as he had a $5.5 million vesting option for next year that would have kicked in if he’d reached 480 plate appearances. Instead, he capped out at 467 after being sent twice to Triple-A Tacoma in the second half.

But Aoki recovered from a slow start to post …

continue reading in source mlb.mlb.com