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One possible advantage to the Ms now being considered a contender is that a guy like Sanchez might consider a minor league deal with invite and opt-out, knowing he may have a very good chance of being on a championship squad for at least part of the year. If by mid-June it doesn't look like the Ms are contending, or that he will get a chance with the MLB club, he tries elsewhere. But he looks like another draw on the Chris-Young-as-RH-hitter draw, similar to Hart, Gillespie, or Denorfia last year. And having him at Tacoma if/when Morrison goes down looks like a dandy idea; and if Lloyd can get along with a 7-man (or even 6-man) bullpen, he'd obviously be a great platoon partner for Morrison.
Then again, I'd like to see them try Gutierrez the same way and I don't know what the tolerance is for split contract NRI/June opt-out contracts, let alone how many benchies the Ms will carry. Would they sign Endy, Guti, and Gaby (as Rick Rizz might say) and put them all in Tacoma, even if that meant guys that are on the verge of AAA start in Jackson? And does Sanchez in particular work against the rehabilitation of Montero and Choi as future contributors? Might be a tough call. But all three are decent "stop-loss" back-ups - guys who started (or would have started) for the Ms in the recent past.
I'm wondering if they're also trying to get Beimel to come onboard the same way, and that's a bit of a holdup there. An MLB contract is certainly better than a NRI/opt-out/split one, and Beimel certainly can feel he earned the respect, but (following the Dubai scene) there are Ferraris and Lamborghinis mixed in with some DeTomasos, DeLoreans, and Pontiac Solstices on their way up, so that assuring him a spot is probably not the way to go; if you can't drive your Ferrari 456 every day, maybe you need to look at a cheaper used 308 (Rollins, Olmos). But it would be nice to have the assured stability of a guy like him available for when one of the young arms gets the yips or something.