Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto Looking Ahead, Says Team Will Be Aggressive In Free Agency

The Seattle Mariners sit at 44-40 in the AL West, seven games back of the first place Houston Astros.

Not many in the game are talking about Seattle, but this last week, Seattle general manager Jerry Dipoto said that the team is going to have a very active 2021 offseason.

Dipoto compared the Mariners' current rebuild to what the Toronto Blue Jays have done in recent years.

“We’ve always viewed ourselves as about a year behind the Blue Jays because roughly that’s about when we started (the rebuild),” he said on the weekly Jerry Dipoto Show.

“Similarly, when the Blue Jays started their rebuild, they did it with some premium guys in the minor leagues. Guys like Vlad (Guerrero Jr.), Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, etc. And they still have a couple (top prospects) who are on the way, guys like (Austin) Martin and (Nate) Pearson.

"They’ve done a really nice job of building up their players, and we feel like that’s happening for us, too.”

Dipoto watched as the Jays went four games over .500 last season, 32-28, and made the playoffs with the expanded field. Seattle, by contrast, wrapped up the season 27-33 and missed out on baseball's second season of the playoffs.

When asked whether the Mariners would be aggressive this offseason in free agency, Dipoto gave one word to show the mindset of the Mariners:

“Absolutely, in a word. And I think that’s the message I’ve been trying to send both to our team and most especially to our fans."