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The help teams seek is out there

| February 3, 2018 12:00 AM

They call Major League Baseball the hot stove league for a reason.

If this offseason is any indication, they might want to find an electrician.

WITH UNDER two weeks until pitchers and catchers report to spring training in the league, a handful of big free agents remain unemployed.

Think back to the start of the offseason, when the rumors circulated around where Yu Darvish, Jake Arrieta and Eric Hosmer might be headed and just who was going to give them a big contract to make their team relevant again. Boston has been rumored to be courting J.D. Martinez to compete with the New York Yankees, who might have made the biggest splash of the offseason in dealing for Giancarlo Stanton.

The rest of the league, they’re still dipping their toes in the kiddie pool it seems.

Todd Frazier, Carlos Gonzalez and Jose Bautista are also still looking for work.

As of Friday afternoon, 117 players were listed as free agents looking for a new team, something that might happen every year, but it doesn’t seem like this often.

Darvish, Arrieta, Martinez and Hosmer will be with someone soon.

Wherever that might be is still unknown.

While it isn’t out of the question that the Mariners might still be looking to add another pitcher, don’t count on it being either Darvish or Arrieta.

Seattle has an overflow of starting pitching with guys like Felix Hernandez, James Paxton and Mike Leake almost certain to fill out the rotation.

EVEN WITH the addition of Dee Gordon, who was a second baseman in Miami to center field, it remains to be seen if the Mariners have done enough to compete for a postseason berth.

Sure, the talent is in the right places for the team, which has been close in recent years to getting back to the postseason.

But close doesn’t really count that much.

Barring a collapse, the Houston Astros will run away with the American League West championship once again this year. An American League and World Series title might not be far behind, but a lot can happen between now and then.

Just where Seattle fits into the picture is a little blurry as well.

Outside of the addition of Gordon and a few relievers, they’re bringing back much of the same roster that was on the team last year.

Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager and Nelson Cruz, they’ll be back again.

It’s going to take a lot more than just those three to compete this year, especially with Houston on the schedule 18 times.

Everyone starts chasing the Astros starting real soon.

If anyone wants to catch them, now might be the time to make a move before someone else does.

Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at jelliott@cdapress.com. Follow him on Twitter @JECdAPress.