The Mariners raise the floor of the bench

Donovan Solano isn't a marquee name. But he should help improve Seattle's bench and lineup in 2025.

Gregory Bull / AP Images

It’s not the sexy move Mariners fans had been hoping for. But the club did add an established major-leaguer today by signing Donovan Solano to a one-year deal for a reported $3.5 million.

Solano spent last season with the Padres, his sixth club. He signed with San Diego on a minor-league deal last April and subsequently joined the big-league club in early May.

Selling points: Except for walks, Solano was better-than-average in every category listed above. His 118 wRC+ suggests he was 18-percent more productive than the average hitter last year.

Weighted Runs Created Plus (wRC+) quantifies how a hitter’s total offensive value compares with the league average after adjusting for park effects. League-average is always 100. Therefore, a wRC+ of 150 means a hitter was 50-percent more productive than the average player. An 80 wRC+ would be 20-percent below average.

Solano has a well-established history of being able to reach first base. His .343 OBP in 2024 aligns with his career .335 OBP over 11 seasons. Only three Mariners reached base at a higher frequency than the native of Barranquilla, Colombia did last year: Víctor Robles (.393), Justin Turner (.363), and Randy Arozarena (.356). It’s worth noting that Robles, Turner, and Arozarena were all in-season acquisitions by Seattle in 2024.

A review of his platoon numbers over the past three seasons reveals the right-handed hitting Solano has performed well against right-handed pitching.

Solano’s Platoon Splits (2022-24)

v RHP: 703 PA/.278 AVG/.351 OBP/.385 SLG/.326 wOBA
v LHP: 360 PA/.295 AVG/.356 OBP/.419 SLG/.341 wOBA

Granted, Solano was more successful when facing southpaws. But his balanced splits suggest he doesn’t have to be part of a platoon to be a productive member of a lineup.

Solano has demonstrated positional versatility ever since he debuted in 2012. Last year with San Diego, he appeared in 25-plus games at first base and third base. In 2023, the 37-year-old spent time at both corner infield spots and played second base in 28 contests.

Maybe someone with the Mariners would tell me I’m out to lunch with this idea. But I do believe Solano’s presence can lead to using Dylan Moore in a manner that better fits his skills.

Last year, the right-handed hitting Moore had a career-high 265 plate appearances against right-handed pitching even though his stats against righties were suboptimal. Perhaps having Solano around allows manager Dan Wilson to reduce the number of times he needs to use Moore against right-handers.

vs RHP (2024)

Solano: .277 AVG/.325 OBP/.401 SLG/.318 wOBA
Moore: .184 AVG/.300 OBP/.341 SLG/.289 wOBA

It’s important to recognize the necessity to play Moore versus righties was partially out of the hands of the manager last year. The University of Central Florida product was forced to make a career-high 38 starts at shortstop when starter J.P. Crawford was on the shelf.

And just to be clear, this isn’t an either-or situation for me. Even though many of the 2023-24 stats illustrated below favor Solano, the Mariners would be better off having both Solano and Moore on the roster this year.

Moore’s athleticism, speed, and ability to play shortstop, second base, both corner infield spots, and the outfield make him a unique and valuable contributor. Meanwhile, Solano has delivered better results against right-handed pitching and is more experienced at first and third base. Combining the duo’s strengths potentially raises the floor of the bench, which is something I’ve hoped the club would do the last few winters.

In his one season as a Padre, Solano was more productive at San Diego’s Petco Park than on the road. To me, this is an interesting nerd nugget since Statcast’s Park Factors rates San Diego’s 27th in favorability for right-handed hitters with Seattle’s T-Mobile Park ranking last.

Solano’s Home/Away Splits (2024)

Home: .271 AVG/.347 OBP/.451 SLG/.347 wOBA
Away: .300 AVG/.340 OBP/.387 SLG/.320 wOBA

It’s important to recognize Solano’s numbers at Petco Park are from one season that comprised just 150 plate appearances - the sample is relatively small. Still, having success at a pitcher-friendly venue is worthy of inclusion in the positive column.

Potential concerns: Well, he is 37. It’s likely there will be a dramatic age-related decline at some point. Hopefully for Solano and the Mariners, 2025 isn’t the year he craters. Health-wise, the one-time Silver Slugger has held up relatively well. Still, he did miss a month in 2021 with a calf strain, while a hamstring issue sidelined him for nearly three months the following year.

Defensively, the metrics suggest Solano hasn’t been a whiz with his glove. But he doesn’t appear to be a liability either. Over the past two seasons, the 11-year veteran accrued minus-4 outs above average (OAA) at first base and minus-2 OAA at third base.

Outs Above Average (OAA) is a range-based metric that quantifies how many outs a defender has saved compared to the average player. League-average is always ZERO. Source: Baseball Savant

Solano’s 25.5 feet-per-second sprint speed ranked 314th of 346 players with at least 75 competitive runs last year. For context, the only Mariners in this group who were behind Solano were Turner (25.4 ) and Ty France (25.1).

Thoughts: Assuming he’s on the Opening Day roster, Solano will be one of the oldest position players to start the season with the Mariners since President of Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto took the helm after the 2015 season. Only soon-to-be Hall of Famer Ichiro Suzuki (2018 and 2019) and Carlos Ruiz (2017) were older than Solano will be in March.

Considering his advanced age, using Solano in a platoon with left-handed hitting Luke Raley at first base is a possible approach. Then again, Solano could also spend time at third base, even if Raley was in the lineup at first base or in the outfield against a right-hander. There’s another positive element to the Solano signing. It doesn’t prevent a reunion with Turner, currently a free agent, who would also be in the mix at first base and designated hitter.

To me, adding Solano is a solid, low-risk move. The Mariners get a player with a knack for reaching base and being capable of playing at multiple positions of need. If his performance were to unexpectedly take a nosedive, the relatively inexpensive short-term commitment to the Columbian should be easy to move on from.

Understandably, Mariners fans want the team to add names that are more prominent than Solano’s to the major league roster. Maybe those moves are coming soon. Maybe they’re not. Either way, the Solano signing is a good one for Seattle.

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