Dipoto keeps on dealin’ to develop Mariners

SEATTLE — Since he signed on as general manager of the Mariners at the end of the 2015 season, Jerry Dipoto has made one thing abundantly clear. He’s not afraid to trade.

In his first year on the job, Dipoto made 25 swaps involving 60 players among 12 other Major League clubs. Since the start of this offseason, his second with the Mariners, Dipoto has engineered seven more trades involving 20 players with seven different teams.

That’s 32 trades in a 14-month span. And while many of the moves have been relatively minor deals, looking for players who better fit the new regime’s system and philosophies, the boldest came last month when Dipoto dealt promising young right-hander Taijuan Walker and starting shortstop Ketel Marte to the D-backs for All-Star shortstop Jean Segura, outfield prospect Mitch Haniger and lefty reliever Zac Curtis.

Dipoto is still shopping this winter, looking now to add a starting pitcher who can replace Walker in the rotation, in his never-ending quest to find the right pieces to the puzzle. The GM’s moves led to a 10-win improvement over 2015, with the Mariners in contention for the postseason until late this past season.

“To me, the way you build a team, first you focus on draft and development,” Dipoto said. “Then you focus on trades. And then you focus on free agency. Any one of those three has the potential to bear fruit, but in the end, we’re open to any way we can add players to make us a better team.”

While some fans wonder why not just spend money in free agency instead of giving up players to get others in a trade, Dipoto notes that trades offer the ability to get younger players with more years of team control and flexibility.

“All you have to do is look at every step of the way, you get a little older and less controllable,” he said. “At the younger stage, you bring them to the big leagues and the expectation is their best years lie ahead. Sometimes they play out and sometimes they fall short.”

The Mariners already had big-name and big-money veterans anchoring their roster when Dipoto took the job. Even now, Robinson Cano still has seven years and $168 million remaining on the 10-year, $240 million deal he signed with previous GM Jack Zduriencik.

Felix Hernandez has three years at $80 million still remaining on a seven-year, $175 million extension signed in ’13. Kyle Seager has five years and $85 million to go on a seven-year, $100 million extension he agreed to in Zduriencik’s final season, while Nelson Cruz has two years at $28 million still left on a four-year, $57 million deal he signed that same year.

That’s a lot of guaranteed money already booked for …

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