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And Price is among the best 4 possibly available, probably best 2. I agree that the 4+ to make 3 at the back end of the rotation (Walker, Paxton, Ramirez, Maurer, a few realistic dark Horse candidates) isn't very certain. The possibility that all 4 of those are guys you'd want in the rotation at the end of spring does exist. The possibility that we'd be happy with our #4 hitter coming out of spring without an added bat doesn't seem possible. We're not in position that we need an ace where we are in position that we need a cleanup hitter.
The Athletics had Cespedes hitting 289/.356/.469/.825 in 427 PA at cleanup. The Rays had Longoria with 231 PA of .282/.359/.480/.840 at #4 while basically platooning their top 7 hitters in that spot. Maybe it was hot hand/matchups. The Royals had Butler only hit 283/.360/.391/.751 in 408 PA.
The 2013 mariners had 487 PA of Kendrys going .280/.333/.460/.793, 43 PA of Raul at .317/.349/.707/1.056 and 161 PA of Morse going .207/.255/.433/.688. That's 691 PA at #4 that are all gone. If they don't replace that first the offense will struggle to be 98 next year.
Also none of those teams equal the income of the Mariners. I'm not saying that's any reason not to learn from what they've done. The Mariners should be able to add a couple bats to propel their offense to above average AND pick up a SP like Price.
I like Price but the possibility he's not as much of an upgrade as one of the top bats available would be seems pretty good. I'm happy to think of Price and a couple legitimate bats being added. Just not instead of.