Ready or not, four days of round the clock baseball buzz is set to begin as the winter meetings get underway Monday in Orlando.

With front offices from all 30 teams, agents and of course media all in one place, trades and signings are always anticipated. There is work to be done in terms of roster building, and to that end, one MLB insider told Seattle Sports’ Bump and Stacy the Seattle Mariners impressively will arrive at the event ahead of the game.

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“When the season ended, they’re like, okay, our number one priority is Josh Naylor. They didn’t even say first base,” said The Athletic’s Jim Bowden. “They didn’t even make it fun for us to go, ‘Maybe they’ll sign Alonso.’ They did such a great job of locking him up early at a below-average market deal. I thought that was phenomenal.”

Naylor received the largest contract given by the Mariners to a position player since the hiring of Jerry Dipoto. Dipoto’s preferred route to player acquisition has always been through trade, something we have seen less and less of in the past couple of years Bowden pointed out.

“The last two trade deadlines, really, they took it to another level because now instead of Jerry needing to make a lot of moves, he just needs to make that one move and he understands how close he is,” he said.

Bowden believes the Mariners are in a good spot to add the final pieces.

“Jerry Dipoto hasn’t traded his top prospects,” he said. “He didn’t trade Colt Emerson. He didn’t trade Harry Ford. He hasn’t traded Lazaro Montes. He’s got Jonny Farmelo still coming. He’s got Cole Young coming. He’s got Michael Arroyo coming. He’s got Michael Morales coming. He’s got a system where when he made those trades for Naylor and (Eugenio) Suárez, he didn’t give up his top guys. That’s how deep the farm system was at the time. So, yeah, it’s a really good, exciting farm system. It’s one of the best in baseball.”

A farm system Bowden clearly enjoys talking about.

“You got Kade Anderson, who probably will be ready by June or July this year,” he continued. “You got Ryan Sloan, a teenage pitcher who everybody’s raving about with me. They can’t stop talking about him. And besides Harry Ford, you’ve got Luke Stevenson as well. You’re really loaded. You’re in a good spot, but not only are you loaded because you have great young players coming for the next five to seven years, but Jerry will be able to make that trade when he needs to, whether it be at this winter meetings or the next trade deadline.

“When he needs that one piece, he’s going to have enough in the system to go get that one piece.”

How M’s could get ‘greedy’

What if that one piece was a free agent? What would Bowden do?

“When you’re in this position and you’re that close to the World Series, like if I’m Jerry, I’m going after Alex Bregman or Bo Bichette,” said Bowden. “If my owner will write the check, that’s absolutely what I’m doing because I want to get greedy here.”

Bowden gave the edge to Bichette as his No. 1 noting he would overpay for all he brings.

“He’s 27 years old and he’d be part of the long-term future,” he said. “He’s led the league in hits twice. He’s got the hit tool. He’s got some power. He’s got the great makeup, the high focus. He’s a quiet guy, just obsessed with winning, which I love.

Bowden predicts Bichette and Bregman will end up getting contracts of six-to-seven years in the $185 to $200 million range. For a team in the hunt, Bowden feels either would be well worth the price tag.

“If I were to get greedy and I’m Seattle, those are October guys. That’s how you win championships,” he said. “I think this offseason is an opportunity for ownership to push Jerry financially. When you’re this close, you know the old expression: when a shark smells blood in the water, that’s when the shark attacks, right? And that’s what Seattle’s ownership needs to do now. Go give Jerry that extra little box of (money) and say, go get me a World Championship because you’re that close.”

Hear the full conversation at this link or in the audio player near the top of this story. Listen to Bump and Stacy weekdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. or find the podcast on the Seattle Sports app. 

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