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Hate is a strong word, but it looks really good in a headline or video title. Truth be told, I don’t hate most of the ideas being floated around about how the Seattle Mariners should attack this off-season. Don’t get me wrong, there are always flat-out stupid ideas that get floated around by the people who played 11U baseball so they think they understand MLB, but most of the ideas that are worth talking about can, and often do, make some degree of sense.

And that’s what I’m going to be writing about today; popular ideas to which I have an issue or two. But you can’t exactly put that in a 10-word headline, now can you? So, without further ado, let’s talk about why I’m not 100% in on these popular ideas.

1. Alec Bohm is the Third Base Solution

In reality, Alec Bohm makes a good deal of sense for the Mariners. He’s coming off a career year, doesn’t miss time, doesn’t strike out, and seems like a decent fit for the ballpark, at least on paper. Sure, we’ve heard some speculation that he’s not a great clubhouse, but that reputation can range from getting upset when you strike out to messing around with a teammate’s partner and everything in between. It appears Bohm’s issues are on the lighter side of the scale, so that’s not actually what bothers me.

What does give me pause is the incredible improvement Bohm made defensively. He didn’t go from average to good. He didn’t go from bad to average. In one season, Bohm went from one of the worst third basemen in baseball to one of the better ones. In one season. There wasn’t a gradual build-up over the last few years. Seemingly overnight, Bohm went from a liability to an asset at the hot corner. As a result, Bohm jumped from a 1.5 fWAR player to a 3.5 fWAR player. Bohm isn’t an elite bat. He needs to be solid in the field to carry everyday upside and yet he’s only done that once in 5 seasons.

If Bohm is a 1.5-win player and you pay for a 3-win player, you haven’t solved a problem. And trusting a major jump in value that mostly comes from the least dependable and predictable metric in baseball is a risk more people should be talking about. I’m not saying Bohm is a bad idea, just that he’s not a slam-dunk answer for 2025.

2. Trade Luis Castillo

There are a couple of ideas that branch off this base, and most of them aren’t well thought out. The first is the idea that Castillo needs to be traded for whatever you can get to create payroll space. Fans are desperate to clear payroll and some would rather give Castillo away for 1/4 of his value to save $24 million. Castillo is still a good, dependable starter who is nowhere near being overpaid.

Plus, trading Castillo doesn’t solve the problem the way many think. Let’s say that hypothetically you can trade Castillo for roughly fair value and shed all $24 million he’s owed in 2025. Now you need to replace a mid-rotation arm. Frankie Montas, the definition of a #5 starter just got $17 million a year from the Mets. Finding a replacement in free agency is going to cost you at least $12-$15 million of the money you just saved. You didn’t clear $24 million in that scenario. You cleared half and got half the pitcher in return.

But as luck would have us, that leads us directly to a related topic…

3. Trade Castillo, Use Emerson Hancock as the #5

This is going to sound personal, and I just want to say for the record that it isn’t, it’s just an opinion that is based on statistics and facts. Are you ready? Here we go: Emerson Hancock stinks. Look, I’ll give the guy credit for what he’s good at. He throws strikes. And for the first time in his career, he was quite durable. And sure, he can battle through a bad lineup a couple of times when he has 60-grade command.

But when he doesn’t, he’s the MLB equivalent of batting practice. A 4.75 ERA, a 5.93 xERA, 5.69 FIP, and 5.24 xFIP will tell you that. So will his pathetic 5.79 K/9 or his 14.7% K rate. MLB average is 22%. The stuff is awful. He doesn’t throw hard. He doesn’t have an outpitch. Even his 7.1% BB rate is nothing to write home about.

Simply put, Hancock isn’t a viable option to be anything more than he was in 2024: an emergency #6 starter. Is it possible he comes into camp next year with a new pitch and some added velocity and really turns his profile around? Sure, just as it’s possible I’ll be throwing the ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day next year. You wouldn’t bet on it. And betting any amount of your season on Hancock is the dumbest idea on the list today.

4. The Mariners Don’t Need to Add to the Bullpen

Yes, they do. The Mariners bullpen wasn’t good last year. Did you know they finished 26th in baseball in fWAR? That they ranked in the bottom 10 in HR% and HR/FB rate? Let’s keep in mind that half of their games happen at one of the most flyball-friendly ballparks in baseball and they still gave up a lot of homers, despite having to cover the fewest innings in baseball. The rotation masked the bullpen’s struggles nearly as much as they did the offense.

This sentiment only got louder this week after Adam Jude of the Seattle Times reported that Matt Brash was ahead of schedule and could join the Mariners by the end of April. Remember when Brash and Santos were both supposed to be back by the end of April this year? And then it became mid-May. Then June. Gregory Santos did make it back, for all of 8 appearances, but their absences were felt hard.

This year, the Mariners can avoid that by assuming they’ll get zero innings from Brash and building their bullpen as such. I’m not advocating for the team to spend its entire budget on a bullpen arm, but spending a few dollars or resources instead of trying your hand at waiver wire roulette isn’t the worst idea in the world. The Mariners cannot have a subpar bullpen and expect to challenge for the AL West, let alone the World Series.