If there is one thing we can say about new Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, it’s that he has a vision, and he’s not wasting any time turning that vision into a reality.

Fresh off completing his fourth trade of the offseason – acquiring shortstop Luis Sardinas from the Milwaukee Brewers for minor league outfielder Ramon Flores – and sixth overall transaction since the start to free agency on November 2^nd, rumors of a possible Mariners-Marlins deal involving outfielder Marcell Ozuna heading to the Mariners in exchange for one of their young starting pitchers – Taijuan Walker, James Paxton, Roenis Elias or Nathan Karns – is lighting up the hot stove.

Now, we here at Mission Mariner don’t need to go into great detail about our thoughts of an Ozuna acquisition. We championed that idea over a year ago, and then again at last year’s trade deadline.  So it goes without saying that the idea of Ozuna patrolling the outfield is a strongly welcomed one, even if it means parting with Walker.   And before people take to their pitchforks over the thought of trading away Walker, let me just say that yes, Walker is a talent.  And, yes, Walker might be the next coming of Felix Hernandez.  But Ozuna is also a talent, and may be the next Carlos Gomez.  And when it comes to choosing between a future Felix Hernandez or a future Carlos Gomez, one is better off acquiring the player that will be playing every day rather than the player who will play just once every five days.

That said, should an Ozuna deal go down, it would highlight an incredible first month of roster-makeover activity from Dipoto.  It would punctuate a divergence from former GM Jack Zduriencik’s deliberate “wait out the market” approach.  Dipoto’s more aggressive “know what you want and go get it” style has already resulted in the acquisition of nine new players, at least seven of whom figure to be on the 25-man roster.  So far, Dipoto is this year’s A.J. Preller, but with a bit more restraint and pragmatism.  Consider:

• November 5 – Traded Danny Farquhar, Brad Miller and Logan Morrison  to the Tampa Bay Rays for Nate Karns, C.J. Riefenhauser and minor league Boog Powell.
• November 11 – Signed Franklin Gutierrez as a free agent.
• November 12 – Traded minor leaguers Enyel De Los Santos and Nelson Ward to the San Diego Padres for Joaquin Benoit.
• November 16 – Traded James Jonesand Tom Wilhelmsen  to the Texas Rangers for Anthony Bass and Leonys Martin.
• November 23 – Signed Chris Iannetta as a free agent.

In contrast, it was expected for Zduriencik not to get into the offseason game until the December Winter meetings or thereafter.   While this usually had no repercussion if one was targeting a blue chip free agent, it often meant that many of the second and third tier free agents – players often in the Mariners’ targeted price range – would be off the board by then.  This often resulted in ill-advised trades (see the Pineda deal), or signing low risk players who hopefully could provide high rewards (see Jack Cust).

Below is a list of Zduriencik’s first offseason transactions in each of his seven years as GM:

• December 11, 2008: Traded Sean Green, J.J. Putz, Jeremy Reed to the New York Mets and Luis Valbuena to the Cleveland Indians for Mike Carp, Ezequiel Carrera, Endy Chavez, Maikel Cleto, Aaron Heilman, and Jason Vargas from the Mets, and Franklin Gutierrez from the Indians.
• December 8, 2009: Signed Chone Figgins as a free agent.
• December 10, 2010: Signed Jack Cust as a free agent.
• January 23, 2012: Traded Jose Campos and Michael Pineda to the New York Yankees for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi.
• December 19, 2012: Traded Jason Vargas to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for Kendrys Morales.
• December 5, 2013: Signed Willie Bloomquistas a free agent.
• December 3, 2014: Traded Michael Saunders to the Toronto Blue Jays for A.J. Happ.

Of course, not all the deals were bad.  Kendrys Morales proved to be a productive hitter, and J.A. Happ provided solid innings as a middle of the rotation arm. The rest? A mixed bag mostly of disappointing returns.

More to the point, however, is the timetable of initial deals in contrast to what we are seeing now with Dipoto.

Zduriencik’s earliest notable offseason deal happened last season with the December 3^rd trade of Michael Saunders, just over one month later than Dipoto’s first deal this offseason.  In 2012, it wasn’t until January 23^rd – roughly two and one half months later than this year’s first transaction – when Zduriencik made his first notable offseason deal.

So what does all of this mean?  Well, for one, its clear Dipoto has a plan and he is quickly acting upon it.  Zduriencik might have had a plan as well, but, for whatever reason, he did not have the same urgency to put it into motion.  More importantly, though, by getting a jump on the offseason, Dipoto is getting the players he wants.  Conversely, it appeared most often that Zduriencik acquired players after most had already been picked through by the rest of baseball.  This seemingly was the result of Zduriencik choosing to wait out the market and then target players left over who could be signed at a lesser cost.

For seven years, that strategy never reaped much success.

Time will only tell if Dipoto’s “fast and furious” manner will provide the success he is looking for, and the results fans are expecting.  But whatever the outcome, Dipoto’s success or failure will rest with the players he wanted, not with players he didn’t.

And that, if anything, should be a welcomed change.