Dipoto acknowledged as much when we admitted that the Mariners were still going to need to sign several relief arms, and mentioned that the closer for the upcoming season likely wasn’t on the roster yet. He also reiterated his interest in finding a veteran infielder who can play shortstop as to not rush J.P. Crawford until he was absolutely ready.
On this constant stance from Jerry Dipoto, we have taken a look at a rather thin free agent market for shortstops. We have already talked about Freddy Galvis (read here) and Jose Iglesias (read here), but perhaps the real answer is a name from the past.