mariners_150Seattle Mariners

It is no secret that Seattle is in desperate need of outfield reinforcements and, more importantly, speed. In 2016, the Mariners ranked 24th in baseball (56) in the stolen bases department.

One of the reasons they came up short of an extremely realistic second wild card spot was their inability to consistently manufacture runs. In other words, there was a heavy reliance on the home run — a category in which they ranked third in the league (223).

Should the Mariners acquire Ellsbury from the Yankees, they would need to let him loose and instill the concept of running on the first pitch. If that were to be the case, the speedy center fielder could nearly match the club’s total from last year.

With Seth Smith hitting free agency, two of their three outfield slots — if you mark Nelson Cruz down as a DH — are up for grabs.

Given that Robinson Cano is currently locked up in a 10-year contact, the M’s are not unfamiliar with extremely large deals. Four years of Ellsbury at a $21 million clip — the Yankees would likely have to cover more than half — would be a cakewalk.