With the news that IF Jack Hannahan will be unavailable to start the year, the Mariners’ bench situation has been thrown into a mild disarray.  Hannahan was being counted on to back up all four infield positions, and was going to be particularly needed at shortstop, where starter Jack Wilson has never really been a shining beacon of health.

So what’s to be done?

In-house options include Matt Tuiasasopo (who we looked at for a similar role a couple months ago) and Josh Wilson.  Wilson’s a decent defender all around the diamond (and can throw an inning of relief here and there to boot), but is bat is simply awful.   Tui has a decent and developing bat, but his defense is far from stellar, especially at short.  As hard as it could be to imagine, he’d probably be worse than Yuniesky Betancourt there.  You could theoretically throw Chris Woodward into that mix, but things would probably have to get pretty dire for the Mariners to turn to him at this point.

With these decidedly un-exciting internal choices, who else might the organization turn to?

Dave Cameron at USS Mariner has suggested Jayson Nix, lately of the Chicago White Sox.  He had been looked at as a second base stopgap option for both the White Sox and the Colorado Rockies the last few years, but never really panned out in that role.  Both teams ultimately used him as a super-sub, much like the Mariners used Hannahan last year, and he fared well in the role.  Nix, who turns 27 this season, is not a huge whiz defensively (although he does seem to be above-average at 2B), but his bat profiles similarly to Hannahan’s, only coming from the right side of the plate instead of the left.  That he can also fill in in the outfield from time to time would only serve to help the team’s depth off an already-limited bench.  With him seeming to be on the verge of losing his spot on the White Sox roster to Brent Lillibridge, it probably wouldn’t cost a ton to acquire him.

Other external options are… well, there’s not really that many.  The Mariners could try to trade for Reid Brignac or Willy Aybar of Tampa Bay, but they’d cost a fair amount to pry away from the Rays.  If either could be had for a reasonable cost, the Mariners should jump at the opportunity.  Aybar, a 27-year old switch-hitter, has thrived as the Rays’ utility man the past couple of years and combines a fairly decent bat with slightly better-than-average defense.  Brignac, 24 and a shortstop by trade, brings a left-handed stick to the middle infield as well as defense that while only average, profiles well at any infield position.  Both would be under team control for several more years as well, but that would only serve to drive up their cost to acquire.

The rest of the utility options around the league are hardly endearing.  They’re either too expensive, or are hardly different than the options we already have.  Nix is, in the end, the most realistic option that seems to be available outside of Tui or Josh Wilson.  This injury definitely throws things out of whack to start the year in Seattle.