How the Brendan Donovan Trade Impacts Seattle Mariners Bench Depth

On Monday, the Seattle Mariners finally acquired longstanding offseason desire Brendan Donovan in a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals. Donovan, one of the best contact hitters in the game, will deepen Seattle’s lineup and make it less prone to strikeouts.

He figures to hit at the top of the order and will be able to play second base, third base, the outfield or designated hitter.

Most pundits figure that Donovan will start the year at third base, providing cover for Colt Emerson to develop in the minor leagues. Once Emerson is ready to come up, the Mariners will have to figure out how to best deploy Donovan.

Another residual question of Donovan’s acquisition? What happens to the M’s bench.

Allow us to work with the following hypotheticals. Let’s say the Mariners are playing a right-handed pitcher.

C: Cal Raleigh

1B: Josh Naylor

2B: Cole Young

SS: J.P. Crawford

3B: Brendan Donovan

LF: Randy Arozarena

CF: Julio Rodriguez

RF: Luke Raley

DH: Dominic Canzone

The Mariners will have four bench spots available, meaning:

Bench 1: Victor Robles

Bench 2: Rob Refsnyder

Bench 3: Andrew Knizner (backup catcher)

Bench 4: Open

So the question we’re really asking is, who gets to occupy bench spot four?

With Canzone, Raley, Robles, Refsnyder and Donovan all capable of playing the outfield, it seems impossible that the Mariners need an outfielder only in this spot.

Refsnyder is capable of playing first base in a pinch, so the M’s don’t need a first baseman here, either. What they really need is a guy capable of backing up at any of the infield positions, and specifically third base.

Picture a world where Donovan gets hurt in a game, or where J.P. Crawford gets hurt and Donovan slides from third to second and Young goes from second to short. Or, Donovan goes directly to short.

The M’s need someone who can man third base. Donovan and Young are capable of handling second or short if they need to, but Young and Crawford are not capable of handling third if necessary.

That leaves us here: Ryan Bliss is a good runner with some good pop, but we’ve never really seen him at third. Miles Mastrobuoni is capable of playing each of the infield positions, which gives him a leg up, and he can play the outfield. But he’s left-handed, and do the Mariners really need another lefty?

Leo Rivas seems to make good sense, as he can play second or short, runs well, and is a switch-hitter, but have we seen him at third? Yes, for four total games and six total innings.

And finally, Patrick Wisdom is capable of playing third base and first base, and he’s right-handed. That could make some sense, but he doesn’t run well.

These are the kinds of questions that the M’s will have to answer throughout spring training.

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How the Brendan Donovan Trade Impacts Seattle Mariners Bench Depth

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