Mariners Moose Tracks, 11/5/23: Luis Torrens, Mark Canha, and New Free Agents

Good morning, foLLks, and happy Sunday! With Monday being the deadline for teams and players to decide whether to exercise their contract options, a new wave of free agents will be hitting the market over the next couple of days, and some notable names have already made themselves available. More on them in a bit.

In Mariners news:

• Where we droppin’, boys?

• There goes my hero / Watch him as he goes

Around the league:

• The first player-for-player trade of the fresh offseason was made, with the Brewers sending Mark Canha over to the Tigers in exchange for Double-A righty reliever Blake Holub.
• The Reds declined the club option on Joey Votto’s contract, making the 40-year-old a free agent for the first time in his career. C. Trent Rosecrans has more details at The Athletic ($), and in true Joey Votto fashion, there are no hard feelings on his end.

• Lefty Eduardo Rodríguez opted out of his current contract with the Tigers, leaving three years and $49 million on the table. Given that he has been vocal about wanting to stay in Detroit - to the point where he vetoed a deadline swap to the Dodgers this past season - he could be a candidate to re-sign on a new deal.
• Astros reliever and Mariners villain Hector Neris declined his player option and will test free agency.
• The Padres declined their multiyear club option on righty Michael Wacha, which would have kept him in San Diego through 2025 for a total of $32 million. Instead, he will become another attractive free agent option for starting pitching.
• After a dismal season at the plate and in the field, the White Sox unsurprisingly declined their team option on longtime shortstop Tim Anderson. Anderson’s 60 wRC+ in 2023 was the lowest among all qualified Major League hitters, but he’s just a year removed from delivering solid production, and will seek a bounceback deal.
• Righty Marcus Stroman exercised his opt-out clause and will hit free agency one year before the three-year, $71 million contract he signed with the Cubs in the 2021-22 offseason was set to expire.

Connor’s picks:

• Big fan of this recurring bit Kenzi’s had going for a while.

• “Go to Goodwill, that’s where the heat is!” The heat in question:

• For fans of Immaculate Grid and Pokémon, PokéDoku is the daily game for you! New puzzles drop at 9pm Pacific time.