Mariners Acquire Craig Wilson

Wasn't Wilson on the block last year but the Bucs were asking for a lot for him?

NOTHING goes that team's way.

Craiggers wasn't on the team last year. He was traded in.... I wanna say '06 for Shawn Chacon. The Yanks didn't resign him, then he signed a minor league deal with the White Sox, then Reds I think. Then the Buccos resigned him this year. Like anyone actually cares to know that about Craig Wilson. I'll stop typing now.

padre23, how do you BLATANTLY misread this THREE sentence post by Tim?! I'm not big on calling people out, but I can only assume that most of the fools on here do what you did, but your comments guarantee you didn't do anythign but respond after GLANCING at the article... Most people on here are so quick to comment that they don't even read what was written before them, whether by MLBTR or other bloggers... It was for a PTBNL, which means $100,000 if he sucks and maybe Travis Chick if he doesn't.

As for the deal, I like it... This totally signals a move of Kenji Johjima (hopefully) or Jaime Burke (satisfactory).

The reality is that LaHair is a good left-handed hitting first baseman and they probably feel as though he'll do better against righties once he gets called up... This is referred to as setting him up for success... They may feel that splitting time at first base this year with Wilson will help elevate his stats to make him appear more competent at the plate and to build confidence in his ability to play MLB baseball.

Wilson being on the team means that he can be the emergency third catcher as that's the position he played coming up through the minors, he also has the arm to play right field, and can play 1B in short spurts against lefties... I think this was about building a strong bench for next year if he works out this season.

With Wilson you can move one of the backup catchers to Clement, release Vidro and from the flexibility that Wilson offers, they can bring up the most deserving player in the minors to fill a hole. I think this allows them to bring up Balentien after the All-Star break if he's not involved in a trade for a player like Holliday or Sizemore... Why would the Mariners acquire these guys?! For one it would show they want to build quickly and maybe this appeals to Bedard and he re-signs in the offseason as I don't see him being moved before the deadline. The other thing it does is give them more wins as a 75 win team is a lot easier to get players to play on then a 60 win team and you get a chance to let the guys gel this year and come out next season knowing their roles and what to expect!

I'd like to see Ichiro get traded to Boston, they could play J.D. Drew in centerfield and that means we could get Ellsbury, Lester, and Lowrie for Ichiro, Silva, Burke(backup now), Betancourt, Adam Moore(catcher of the future), and Arthur Rhodes. They would be able to trade Lugo for some prospects to reload the team for a couple years from now, but these veterans would help them through 2010 and Betancourt could become the SS of the future for Boston. Maybe this opens up LA as a possible destination for Lugo with Furcal becoming a FA after this season and their need for a full-time SS.

Next trade would be to move a healthy J.J. Putz, along with Wladimir Balentien, Kenji Johjima, Nathan Adcock, and Andrew Baldwin for Grady Sizemore, Kelly Shoppach, and Edward Mujica.

Ibanez to the Braves for Brent Lillibridge. Letting Lillibridge and Lowrie man the SS position.

Then trade to acquire Holliday and convert him to a 1B where he offers the most value to this team... They said two top prospects and a veteran would be desired, so maybe that could be Carlos Triunfel (he has huge upside, but I don't think he'll ever reach those expectations, so best to get value for him now), Michael Pineda(a highly sought after minor league arm), Mark Lowe, and Rob Johnson(catcher of the future ??).

Final trade: Jarrod Washburn, Daniel Carroll(on pace to steal 80+ SB in 1st full minor league season, while hitting well over .300), Matt Mangini, and Travis Scott (lef-handed hitting C with huge upside) for Brandon Phillips, Ryan Hannigan, and Craig Tatum.

The new team...

LINEUP

Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Jose Lopez 2B
Brandon Phillips SS
Grady Sizemore CF
Matt Holliday 1B
Adrian Beltre 3B
Jeff Clement C
Jose Vidro DH (replace in offseason)
Jeremy Reed RF

BENCH

Kelly Shoppach C
Craig Wilson C/1B/OF
Willie Bloomquist UTL
Brent Lillibridge UTL

STARTERS

Erik Bedard
Felix Hernandez
Jon Lester
RA Dickey
Ryan Rowland-Smith

BULLPEN

Brandon Morrow - closer
Miguel Batista - setup
Cesar Jimenez - setup
Sean Green - middle relief
Edward Mujica - middle relief
Eric O'Flaherty - lefty specialist
Roy Corcoran - long relief

Baseball Guru, the Indians would never trade Sizemore so get your head out of the gutter. He knows the FO will be offering him a payday next year or the year after to secure him in Cleveland until his mid 30's.

Shoppach I could see moving, along with Mujica but dream big on Sizemore.

Like there is anyway in hell the Red Sox would trade for Ichiro. I'm not sure if the Red Sox would ever make that trade. No point of getting rid all of that young talent for a lot of the mediocrity that the Mariners would offer back there. I could maybe see Ichiro and Rhodes for Lowrie and Ellisbury. Something like that. That Sizemore deal seems possible though.

First off, the Indians are bringing in LaPorta, and Balentien is 3 years younger than Sizemore with similar upside... The benefit is that they can move Martinez to 1B or DH, put Kenji behind the plate considering that I don't think Martinez calls a very good game and Joh has got a rough shake here in Seattle by the pitching staff... As for Putz, he was the best closer in the AL last year and I'd have a hard time seeing the Indians not consider that to add Johjima and Putz would be worth the temporary downgrade in their outfield and both players are signed long-term. As bad as Joh's contract is, it's still only half of what Posada is making and he's 4-5 years younger!

I lived in the Toledo area and maybe it's different the last season or so, but before that V-Mart was questionable at best behind the dish... If the Indians could get a guy (Balentien), who in some circles is considered to be better than Adam Jones, and I might add was the most desired prospect outside of Jay Bruce this last off-season, they would definitely pull the trigger if it meant filling two other major holes and stocking the minors. Also he has three years of league minimum ahead of him allowing them to be able to focus their millions on other top players through free agency and securing Peralta, Martinez, Lee, Westbrook, etc., long term...

As for Adcock, he's predicted to top out around 93-94 mph and is considered to be one of the four best pitching prospects in our system that are all part of the single A rotation... The other three are Aumont, Ramirez, and Pineda. Baldwin is more like a Kam Mickolio type as he projects as a back of the rotation(#4)/setup guy in the majors, so it's not all that different than what the Orioles got for Bedard, only it would be more fair because the Indians would be giving fair value... Sizemore and Bedard are worth about the same in today's market and everyone feels that Bedard could have been had for Jones, Sherrill, Tillman, and Mickolio. So we'll use that formula... Balentien is equal or greater than Jones, Sherrill is less than Putz, Tillman is a little better than Adcock, and Baldwin is better than Mickolio... So for the difference of Putz to Sherrill and Balwin to Mickolio, you through in Edward Mujica. Johjima and Shoppach swap teams as Johjima is a better catcher and Shoppach has a better salary for a team to take on, so it's a wash, but the Mariners would probably pay 12MM of the remaining 24MM on Kenji's extension... So 4MM a season for Joh is a pretty good deal, especially with his game calling and defensive prowess...

rdccdr801,

Here's why they would make that trade:

One, Ichiro comes with a lucrative Japanese contract that pays about 100-130MM over the next 5 seasons for the games to be broadcast back in Japan. That's extra income for the team that pays for Ichiro's contact... From what I understand the 30MM difference is based on team success, for a team like Boston, it would be very beneficial and allow for them to spend a little more freely to keep Manny, re-sign Ortiz, keep Beckett, sign their up and coming stars, etc.

Two, Ichiro is still the best leadoff hitter in baseball and would be amazing in front of the Red Sox lineup, he doesn't get much to swing at with only Beltre and Ibanez behind him and he;'s getting to a point in his career where he needs to be a co-star, not a franchise player...

Three, his defense is better than anyone else you have in the outfield and would automatically save runs for your pitchers and with the weird dimensions of right field, he may be the best guy to cover that area properly out of all the right-fielders in baseball.

As for Burke, he's hands and feet better than Cash behind the plate and would allow Varitek to DH occasionally when he needs to get out from behind the plate... Burke has a great arm, hits for average, and almost never strikes out...

Adam Moore is our most promising catching prospect not named Clement, I wouldn't give up Clement and I hope to God that the Mariners feel that way, but Moore is still better than almost any catching prospect in the minors, all teams considered! He hit 22 homeruns with 102 RBIs in only 115 games last season, he just turned 24 two months ago, and has all the tools to be a great catcher defensively, that's definitely worth a top prospect in your organization! Think Varitek only with more power, better hitting, more plate discipline, and better defense... That's what he maps out at... He's already ahead of Clement's progression and should be at AAA by the end of the season... He would already be there if it wasn't for the log jam of upper level talent that has blocked his movement up the system!

Rhodes is still one of the best lefties in baseball coming out of the pen, he can still throw 92-94 mph and he says he feels better than he has in the last 10 years, meaning he shouldn't be going down on the DL.

Betancourt has huge upside and is worth Lowrie straight up and he hits in the clutch, but he's not a good fit for the Mariners because they aren't very patient as a whole and with the Red Sox being good at working the counts, they can afford to have Betancourt swinging more freely at the bottom of the order!

As for Silva, he's figured out that the last few starts he's been gripping his sinker too tightly and that's why he dominated the A's and the Padres during his last two starts... He's really pitched well for most of the season and it's been a couple bad starts that have killed his numbers... I watched Horacio Ramirez and Jeff Weaver last year, I know what bad looks like and Silva isn't that... He's not a project pitcher where you have to re-work his mechanics, he just needs a streak of luck, like the guy that hits a 110 mph bullet right at the infielder 4 times in a row and while he hit the ball as hard as you can, it's still 0 for 4 in the books... That's Silva to a "T" this season!! Trust me in your rotation with him not worried about run support, he'd drop down to a mid 3.00/low 4.00 ERA level. Trust me if you knew baseball, not pretended like you do, then you would know that the Red Sox would be diving to make this deal... I want change and I'm willing to pay a little extra to get the pieces that I want to build the puzzle right, which is the way any good GM thinks... There's no point in having 5 catchers who could play in the majors, if you are only going to carry two on the roster!! I mean depth beyond what can help your team this year, next year, and maybe the year after is pointless! These are strong moves... Do the research and you'll know this...