TJ Cotterill

The News Tribune

If outfielder Denard Span is going to be back with the Seattle Mariners next season, his chances became much more slim on Tuesday when the club declined the $12 million team option for 2019.

So Span will be a free agent after batting .272 with a .329 on-base percentage in 94 games with the Mariners after he was acquired in a late-May trade from the Tampa Bay Rays.

He was a bright spot on a sluggish Mariners offense for much of the second half, but the price tag was just too high. Seattle would have had to pay him $12 million to return next season, when Span would be 35 years old.

His highlight moment of the season was probably at Safeco Field against the Boston Red Sox on June 15 when he hit a go-ahead, pinch-hit two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning to cap the Mariners’ rally from a three-run deficit.

“He did a wonderful job for us, and, more important, one of the best people I’ve come across in the game,” Mariners general manager Jerry Dipoto said at his end-of-season press conference. “So prepared, so consistent in what he does, and he really made our lineup work.

“Some of the guys hitting free agency — Denard Span, Nelson Cruz — the quality of the people exceeds the quality of the player, and they’re really good players.”

Span exceeded expectations in Seattle. He was seen by some as a throw-in when the Mariners acquired Span and right-hander Alex Colome from the Tampa Bay Rays. Span was the Ray’s highest-paid player at the time with a $12.5 million contract.

The Mariners also received $4.75 million from the Rays in the deal.

Span’s batting average with the Mariners only trailed that of Robinson Cano (.317), Jean Segura (.292), Mitch Haniger (.287) and Ben Gamel (.278) from May 28, Span’s first game in Seattle. Span added a veteran presence and pop in his bat with 15 more extra-base hits than Gamel.

“I thought Denard Span, Nelson Cruz and Mitch Haniger, at a time when our lineup was really spiraling, those three guys generally remained so consistent and helped,” Dipoto said.” The runs we were able to score generally happened because of what they were doing night in and night out.”

That leave a hole in left field, but the Mariners are right back where they began the 2018 season, when Gamel and Guillermo Heredia were their projected platoon in left.

The question will be whether they continue to trust that mix will develop and whether Dee Gordon is still their center fielder or if they liked too much of what they saw of him at second base — and whether Robinson Cano should continue to play at first base and some designated hitter.

Of course, that hinges on whether they bring back Nelson Cruz, who officially became a free agent when the Red Sox finished off the Dodgers in the World Series on Sunday.