Good team gets better: Mariners add Brendan Donovan

Some late analysis on the end of an offseason-long saga.

Jerry Dipoto will tell you what he’s going to do. He’ll tell you a lot of things, actually, with varying degrees of specificity.

There are certain times, though, when he speaks in a certain way, that you know something is about to go down. Saturday at FanFest was one of those times.

Vintage Jer.

Right off the top of his appearance on a live edition of the Hot Stove Show, when asked only about his thoughts as spring training approaches, this was part of his answer.

…there's one more move that we feel like is in us and that we want to make. And we've been grinding hard for the last, you know, handful of days to see if we can bring it through.

In his second question, only on the differences he saw from the end of last year to the beginning of this one, he squeezed this gem in.

I do hope that there's one more player coming along for the ride that might not be in a Mariner uniform just yet.

Ken Rosenthal has a fun story in The Athletic on where Dipoto and Justin Hollander were when the trade was finally consummated but I can tell you with about 97 percent confidence this deal was most of the way home when Dipoto gave that interview on Saturday.

He knew what he had and what he has is a good move for a good team.

IN: 2B/3B/OF Brendan Donovan,

OUT: 3B Ben Williamson (to Tampa Bay); SHP Jurrangelo Cijntje (#7 Mariners prospect per FanGraphs); OF Tai Peete (#12 prospect); Competitive Balance Round B pick (No. 68 overall)

Let’s walk through a few things.

The player

On morning of the day the trade was made, FanGraphs released their first playoff odds for the 2026 season. Nobody in the American League had a better chance of playing October baseball.

Surprise, surprise—they still don’t.

We talked about in the post on free agency and the same is true here: every single win the Mariners can tack on to their already-strong projected total matters so much.

A win in April is the same as a win in September but Mariners fans are well aware the 91st win is worth a lot more than the 87th.

Brendan Donovan may not be a true star, but he adds wins and he adds talent—and the Mariners will never have enough of either.

By now, you probably already have a strong sense for the player so I won’t dive super deep. FanGraphs has a great writeup on the trade, Baseball Prospectus as well.

I always go to Luke Arkins at the Mariners Consigliere for a good statistical primer on moves like this. He notes, among other things, Donovan’s consistency.

2025: .287 AVG, .353 OBP, .422 SLG, 119 wRC+
Career: .282 AVG, .361 OBP, .411 SLG, 119 wRC+

He also goes on to give some perspective on where those numbers rank across baseball over the last four seasons (quite well) and the company around him (same).

I want to do something similar, but with Mariners. Who’s this guy like, from players we’re familiar with?

We’re looking for, in the relatively modern era of Mariners baseball (2010-on), guys who run a solid average for the modern game, get on base like mad but don’t really slug like crazy. Since players change as they move through their careers, we’ll compare Donovan’s career line to single seasons from M’s.

Here’s some names that pop out. We’ll bring Donovan’s career line down here for context.

• Brendan Donovan, Career: .282 AVG, .361 OBP, .411 SLG, 119 wRC+, 9.1% BB%, 13.5% K%, .129 ISO

• Jean Segura, 2017: .300 AVG, .349 OBP, .427 SLG, 111 wRC+, 6.0% BB%, 14.7% K%, .128 ISO

• Ty France, 2021: .291 AVG, .368 OBP, .445 SLG, 129 wRC+, 7.1% BB%, 16.3% K%, .154 ISO

• Kyle Seager, 2013: .260 AVG, .338 OBP, .426 SLG, 116 wRC+, 9.8% BB%, 17.6% K%, .166 ISO

• Seth Smith, 2016: .249 AVG, .342 OBP, .415 SLG, 111 wRC+, 11.0% BB%, 20.3% K%, .167 ISO

• J.P. Crawford, 2023: .266 AVG, .380 OBP, .438 SLG, 136 wRC+, 14.7% BB%, 19.6% K%, .172 ISO

There are no real perfect matches but we can start to paint a picture. Jean Segura’s 2017 campaign is the closest, particularly as you combine a high OBP with a relatively modest ISO. But as you’ll remember, it wasn’t like the Hitting Machine was swinging a pool noodle.

I don’t know about you, but I’d love 2017 Jean Segura on the 2026 Mariners. Now imagine he swung lefty, struck out less and could play second, third and a little corner outfield at a roughly average rate.

That will play.

As such, keeping Donovan on the field will be all the more important.

I hate to bring it up because it also alluded me until I read it in Luke’s piece but Donovan did finish last year on the Injured List, undergoing sports hernia surgery at the beginning of the offseason.

It’s an injury Mitch Haniger dealt with around multiple other ailments and, before him, Robinson Canó during the pre-2016 offseason.

Canó, 33, produced his best season in a Mariners uniform that year. Whether or not that was without a little extra help in recovery, who’s to say?

Overall, Donovan’s the type of vet this team needs. He’s a high-floor player with two seasons of control whose offensive value comes in ways that continue to diversify a Mariners lineup that’s shifted away from being purely all or nothing.

Imagine facing Donovan in a high-leverage spot late with a man on and Julio and Cal lurking.

Tough sledding.

The cost

It does not matter. Mostly. The Mariners’ window is now and they needed to get better so they did.

Even so, they did well.

I did find it humorous that, as we all anxiously waited to see the cost, Bob Nightengale was the first to have any part of it—describing the Rays stepping in to snag Ben Williams, presumptive M’s Opening Day third baseman, as “a minor role” in the trade.

Even so, Ben Williamson isn’t nothing. I’m glad he’s not the 2026 Opening Day third baseman but you just never know.

This may be a bad comp—and I had someone I respect say as much—but I look at Ben Williamson as an Evan White-type. Well, very roughly.

He’s a defense-first player at a bat-first position and, while he can hit the ball hard, he does not slug at the Major League level. He doesn’t walk, either.

Williamson, like White a half-decade ago, could be unlocked by a smart team capable of turning those high exit velos into actual production. There was a time when that thought kept White in a Mariners uniform instead of being traded to a team like the Rays.

Now, with Donovan in the fold and multiple other young infielders ready for reps, Williamson is on his way to Tampa.

On Tai Peete—who will join Jurrangelo Cijntje as the only first rounders in the Jerry Dipoto era to not debut with the team—I liked the way Ben Clemens put it at FanGraphs:

Peete is the sort of guy who gets moved to rebuilders from contenders: tooled up, inconsistent, and probably in need a lot of playing time to figure out what’s there.

Finally, you have the #68 overall pick in the draft. Notable players taken in this general vicinity: Ryan Sloan, #55; Ben Williamson, #57; Tyler Locklear, #58; Brandon Williamson, #59; Connor Phillips, #64; Isaiah Campbell, #76; Cal Raleigh, #90.

It’s not nothing. The Mariners have done as well as anyone at turning draft picks into Major League value and, when you largely abandon the free agent market, some of that’s going to have to come in the way of trade.

Basically, the big number here is three. None of these three is likely to be an All-Star on their own but it’s three lottery tickets that could hit and burn you.

As long and Donovan is what the Mariners expect him to be, it shouldn’t matter.

The outlook

I’ve mentioned it throughout this post and the life of this blog—the Mariners need to, above all else, add talent. It matters little where it goes, within reason, and it’s all the better that Donovan is the type who can fit in many places.

If a guy like Arozarena is a little worn down, Donovan can give him a DH day. If the Mariners just want an everyday second baseman because Colt Emerson is officially Ready to Rock on Opening Day, then they’re set.

With that, let’s go to the lineups, or how I’d do them. We’re going to do a little manifestation and pretend Emerson sets Peoria ablaze a la Julio in 2022.

vs. RHP

1. Brendan Donovan - 2B

2. Julio Rodríguez - CF

3. Cal Raleigh - C

4. Josh Naylor - 1B

5. Randy Arozarena - LF

6. Dominic Canzone - DH

7. Luke Raley - RF

8. J.P. Crawford - SS

9. Colt Emerson - 3B

vs. LHP

1. Rob Refsnyder - DH

2. Julio Rodriguez - CF

3. Cal Raleigh - C

4. Randy Arozarena - LF

5. Josh Naylor - 1B

6. Victor Robles - RF

7. Brendan Donovan - 2B

8. J.P. Crawford - SS

9. Colt Emerson - 3B

The bottom of that vs. LHP lineup needs some help. If Ryan Bliss can pick up some of those ABs, pushing Donovan over to third and Emerson occasionally out of the lineup, that’d be useful.

If there was a player out there on the level of prime Dylan Moore, that’d be ideal but I’d be surprised if a meaningful bench upgrade is coming.

Save us, Michael Arroyo?

No matter what, even if this roster still has holes that could use calking, Donovan does that to another in a significant way.

Prior to the trade, the Mariners were counting on three players in 2026 who, at different points in the 2025 season, played their way out of the lineup: Ben Williamson before the trade deadline, Cole Young a little after that and Dominic Canzone in the ALCS.

Now they’re only counting, to some degree, on two of them. Could be one less in the case of Young.

I want to go back to Clemens at FanGraphs one more time.

Here’s a good way to put this trade:

[The 2025 Mariners] handed 684 plate appearances to the combination of Williamson, Dylan Moore, and Donovan Solano last year, and got an 80 wRC+ and meh defense in the aggregate for their trouble. That’s a Donovan-sized hole that would add something like three wins if filled with the genuine article.

There’s no guarantee the Mariners are getting the “genuine article", as we know all too well (hello, Kolton Wong), but if they do—they’re as good as anyone in the American League.

Now, can they be better than everyone in the American League?

We’ll see.

Go M’s.