Roster of the Month: Mariners Trades and Signings Team
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Every time a child says “I don’t believe in fairies,” there is a a little fairy somewhere that falls down dead (and Jerry Dipoto trades a Mariner).
-J.M. Barrie, “Peter Pan”
Oh, what an offseason it has been in Seattle! Jerry Dipoto, baseball’s most restless GM, is attempting an accelerated rebuild. He’s moved enough talent this winter to fill a whole roster, but we’ll get to that shortly. He completed a trade from the hospital!
There have been blockbusters involving James Paxton, Robinson Cano, Edwin Diaz, and other studs. Carlos Santana was a Mariner for less than two weeks in December. They’ve had a few big signings as well, including Yusei Kikuchi from Japan.
There’s just one simple rule for this roster. All players signed, claimed, or traded to or away from Seattle in the 2018-19 offseason are eligible. Here we go!
Lineup
- CF Mallex Smith: On January 11, 2017, Smith was a Mariner for less than 24 hours, having been traded there from Atlanta and then flipped to Tampa Bay. Now, he’s going to stick around for a while, headlining the return for Mike Zunino.
- SS Jean Segura: Segura was an All-Star for the Mariners last year, but now he’s back in the NL with the Phillies.
- 2B Robinson Cano: Halfway through his 10
year , $240 million deal, Cano moves back to New York. In five years with the Mariners, he hit .296/.353/.472. - DH Edwin Encarnacion: In a crazy three-team deal involving Cleveland and Tampa Bay, Encarnacion brings his 380 career home runs to Seattle. He averaged 38 bombs per season over the last seven years.
- C Omar Narvaez: On this roster, the left-handed hitting Narvaez (incoming) would likely platoon with the right-handed hitting (outgoing) Mike Zunino. For those out of the know, like our editor, Omar hit .297/.371/.466 against
right handers last year. - RF Domingo Santana: Santana slumped from
an .875 OPS in 2017 to a .740 in 2018. Seattle will try to resurrect his bat after acquiring him from Milwaukee… - LF Ben Gamel: …in exchange for Gamel, who posted a .358 OBP as a fourth outfielder.
- 1B Carlos Santana: Santana has a right to complain after two trades in ten days- just not while Mallex Smith is in earshot. Regardless, he’s back in Cleveland where his career began.
- 3B Tim Beckham: Dipoto signed Beckham as a free agent to play shortstop… probably. The offseason isn’t over, and clearly, anything could happen with this roster.
Bench
- OF Jay Bruce: Every rebuilding team needs a poor defensive corner outfielder coming off a sub-.700 OPS season. Bruce’s contract helped offset the cost of Cano’s salary for the Mets.
- 3B Kaleb Cowart: The former top prospect for the Angels never really hit in the big leagues. Seattle claimed him
of waivers in December, then lost him on waivers to Detroit in January. - UI J.P. Crawford: Odds are, Crawford takes Beckham’s starting job at some point. He was the big return in the Segura deal, ranked as high as the #4 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus in both 2016 and 2017.
- OF Guillermo Heredia: Headed to the Rays in the Mallex Smith deal, Heredia will back up Kevin Kiermaier now.
- C Mike Zunino: Has Zunino been the best catcher in Mariners history? That’s kind of pathetic for a 43-year-old franchise, but his biggest competition is Dan Wilson, or maybe Dave Valle. Oh well, it’s all over now. Narvaez will try to do better.
Rotation
- LHP James Paxton: In each of the past four seasons, Paxton has increased both his innings pitched and his K%. That’s a trend the Yankees will hope to continue. 60% of this rotation comes from this trade.
- LHP Yusei Kikuchi: This year’s biggest Japanese import signed with Seattle for at least three years and $43 million. Kikuchi is now their de facto ace.
- LHP Justus Sheffield: Sheffield headlined the return for Paxton. He was named the #50 overall prospect in baseball this year by Baseball Prospectus, and he could crack the Opening Day rotation.
- RHP Erik Swanson: Swanson may have only been a sidekick to Sheffield in the Paxton trade, but he’s likely to throw innings for Seattle in some capacity this year.
- RHP Juan Nicasio: Nicasio was a sidepiece in the Segura-Crawford deal. He hasn’t started since 2016, but maybe he can be an Opener or something. (So we’re just capitalizing “Opener” for some reason? The baseball community seems to have silently assented to this. Can we also agree on “Ace” as has long been the OTBB editorial standard?)
Bullpen
- RHP Alex Colome: The Mariners seem to do a lot of business with the Rays. Colome came to Seattle last May to serve as their setup man. Now, he’s off to the White Sox in exchange for Narvaez.
- RHP Edwin Diaz: 1.61 FIP, 44.3 K%, 57 saves (if you’re into that sort of thing). Diaz is one of the best relievers in baseball, full stop. Losing him to the Mets has to hurt, especially with four years of team control remaining.
- RHP Cory Gearrin: Despite two midseason trades, Gearrin pitched pretty well in 2018 for the Giants, Rangers, and A’s. He linked up with Seattle on a one year deal for the coming season.
- LHP James Pazos: With 103.2 IP over the last two seasons, Pazos has been Seattle’s most reliable lefty reliever. He’ll serve a similar purpose in Philadelphia after his inclusion in the Segura trade.
- RHP Hunter Strickland: After signing as a free agent, the former Giant will get the first shot at Seattle’s closer job.
- RHP Anthony Swarzak: Swarzak will earn $8.5 million this year after recording a 6.15 ERA in 2018. He was included in the Cano deal for the same reason as Bruce.
-Daniel R. Epstein
