As the Mariners' offense continues to struggle, they're likely looking to make deals with teams that have rapidly fallen out of contention, writes Larry Stone of The Seattle Times. Stone writes that the teams falling into that category are the Royals, Indians, Astros, and Orioles.
Kansas City's Jose Guillen has been mentioned as a possibility for the M's, though as of yesterday they have reportedly yet to make a formal inquiry. Lance Berkman of the Astros has been mentioned as a fit for Seattle, though Stone points to his health, salary, and poor performance this season as reasons why Jack Zduriencik would want to steer clear of him.
Stone suggests that Baltimore could offer up Luke Scott or Garrett Atkins, though they have been struggling mightily. On the flipside, Ty Wigginton and Miguel Tejada are in the final years of their respective deals and could be available at some point, though they have been hitting well for an O's team that desperately needs offense.
Austin Kearns and ex-Mariner Russell Branyan could be pried away from the Indians (especially Branyan), but Stone says to "forget about" Cleveland dealing Grady Sizemore. Moving the reasonably-priced star outfielder would be a PR nightmare for a club that has made of a habit of losing their marquee players in recent years.
Stone also says to keep an eye on Hank Blalock, who is hitting quite well in the International League and has an out-clause in his deal with the Rays. However, the M's passed on the two-time All-Star this winter.
Also hampering Seattle is that GMs from around baseball seem unwilling to make trades at this point in the season.
What other sluggers could you see the Mariners inquiring on? Will they be able to talk a GM into making a significant trade with them at this juncture?
Markakis and Wieters have contributed some too. But honestly as an O’s fan, I doubt SEA would even want Scott since he is so hot and cold, and Atkins is worthless. Wiggy is a good question. He is on fire now, but can he honestly keep that up all year? I doubt it. The Mariners are better off finding another team to trade with.
The Mariners can have Bill Hall back.
Hall has had 51 PA so far. Sample size.
Check out what he’s done for the past 2-3 years in Milwaukee and Seattle and you’ll see that it’s a pretty accurate sample size.
Add Yunel Escobar to this list, I bet he gets traded this season especially if the Braves keep free falling. He’d get the Braves a very nice return.
cant see management doing that. it’s looking more and more possible that chipper will retire after this season (he said he would if he has another bad year… plus bobby’s retiring and he hinted at wanting to retire at the same time as him), which means they’d have $14 mill coming off the books just from chipper and a pretty good core of young players on the club to build around. this is a team that needs to keep building. i really think once chipper retires and we have a consistent, every day presence in the lineup (and terry pendleton is gone) then the team will finally start to play better. but with yunel, prado, mccann, hanson, jair, and heyward on one team, it’d be smarter for the braves to continue to build. they just cant afford any more contracts like lowe or kawakami.
I think the Mariners need upgrades at C and LF. My best guesses are Pierzynki at Catcher and DeJesus in LF.
Pierzynski*
Pierzynski, really? He of the .255 wOBA and the line of .209/.273/.308? The guy who’s been an above average hitter once in his career and said season was seven years ago? The M’s need a better catcher, sure (though I’d like to continue starting Moore to see if he can finally break through), but Pierzynski is not the answer. He’s old, struggling (albeit he’s been unlucky) and can’t talk a walk.
He had to know power would be a problem from the get go. How he didn’t make a move for Cust is beyond me. We all knew Griffey, Garko, and Sweeney were done. Bradley sucking like he has is a mild surprise but his temperament is not. He needs to make some moves for some decent power players such as Cust, Scott, Willingham, etc. I think Guillen would be a waste in Seattle regardless of his previous ties there. And DeJesus is another light hitting OF which they dont need any more of. I think a trade with a team looking for MI help would be good and might allow them to move on from Lopez and getting a player like Jorge Cantu or maybe even Matt Gamel from MIL could be beneficial since he is now blocked by McGehee at 3B and showed little in his ML tryout last year.
Barry Bonds anyone?
I think its safe to say at this point nobody wants to touch him with a 100 foot pole.
Adam Dunn should be the Mariners’ DH by season’s end. They need a legit power threat, they can take on his salary, and it’s unreasonable to expect the Nationals to continue their early success. Unfortunately, that would mean they’d have to make a move with Griffey, which is a PR nightmare in that city.
Maybe they can stash Dunn at 1B if his defense continues to be tolerable, or maybe they can go all out and be the team that acquires Adrian Gonzalez (assuming the Pads falter over the coming months, though they’re likely more legit than Washington).
I’d be down with this.
What kind of package could they offer to SD to convince them to trade Gonzalez?
The M’s cannot get Gonzales. We don’t have the pieces for it and I wish people would just drop it.
That’s what I thought.
No pieces to trade? How about,Dustin Ackley?Carlos Triunfel?,Michael Pineda?,Josh Fields?,
Is that you, Bill Bavasi?
Ackley cannot be traded until Aug. They can have Triunfel and Fields, but Pineda is on track for a spot in the starting for as soon as 2011. If Seattle holds onto Pineda, which they should, there is no hope of getting A-Gon. Its not going to happen, plain and simple.
Dye, Berkman, Scott are familiar but unlikely. Jack Z has a good relationship with Boston and milwaukee, so i’d think Lowell and Hart are possible; one would be rather inexpensive, the other cost prohibitive (exchange in talent). But there’s another team that is listing more than those two that wasn’t mentioned. Expect a play for Nady or even Fukodome…
Whoever says the M’s have nothing after Felix and Lee haven’t been watching the games. Fister and Vargas have arguably been the best pitchers on the staff. Both guys have been lights out and consistent the first month. They will probably come down to Earth a bit but coming down from out-of-this-world-great is a given for most players. Felix has had two miscues already and Lee only has a few starts under his belt. RRS and Snell have been awful but Snell is out while RRS should improve. Add Bedard slated to be back around the 1st and the rotation is fine.
The pitching is NOT the problem this year… at all. I think thats the only reason why people are even saying the M’s should bolster the offense. If the pitching was any less than its been, they would be clamoring for the Mariners to sell.
I think Berkman is the best rumored option out there for Seattle. Big question is what would the Astros want. That is a sticky situation much like the Sizemore problem. Both guys are proven superstars that are playing horribly. Both guys are also getting a big paycheck (Berkman moreso of course). But the Astros/Indians can’t just dump them for middling prospects because of the local backlash they would get.
My guess. The Mariners don’t get too far in talks for either Berkman or Sizemore. I actually would love if Seattle could pry away Grady. He’s a hometown guy that Seattle fans would love to snag.
I still don’t understand why the M’s don’t just sign Dye and give him what he want’s as long as it’s 3 or under that way they don’t have to give up any prospects. All of the players available are just as hit or miss as Dye would be. Any one of the players available is going to have a ton of pressure on their shoulders going to Seattle to carry a light hitting lineup and I don’t think there is anyone available that can actually carry a team which is what Seattle needs, outside Agonz there just really isn’t much and he’s going nowhere for the time being. If the White Sox go into a complete free fall I think Konerko would be an interesting fit for Seattle.
The Mariners have a solution at LF: it’s Michael Saunders vs. righties and Bradley vs. lefties with Langerhans also getting at-bats.
I don’t see how they can reasonably fix their DH situation with Griffey and Sweeney both on the roster. Bradley could DH with Saunders or Langerhans at left field.
My prediction: the M’s regress to the mean and play above-.500 baseball for the month of May.
“Kansas City’s Jose Guillen has been mentioned as a possibility”
Guillen and Bradley on the same team,that should work well,LOL.
Fukudome from the Cubs would look great in Seattle. My guess is that the Cubs would pay 50-75% of his salary for this year and next and require no more than a very low-level prospect in return. The move would allow the Cubs to put Tyler Colvin in the lineup full-time, and give the M’s a quality player for next to nothing.
I think that’s a possibility down the line if the Cubs keep losing. They’ve been eager to get Colvin some playing time but the other 3 outfielders are performing very well. Fukudome’s fate doesn’t depend solely on Tyler Colvin, however. It also depends on Starlin Castro and his ability to fill in at the #2 slot, where Fukudome has done very well this year. If the Cubs feel that both Colvin and Castro are ready for full-time gigs at important slots in the lineup, then it could make Fukudome the odd man out. But, of course, the Cubs won’t do that at any rate until they feel they are truly out of the race this year.
I also think that Fukudome fits in perfectly with what Seattle is trying to do. He walks a lot and plays great defense. That would all them to move Bradley to DH and also move him one step closer out the door if his behavioral problems continue.
One thing I don’t agree with, though. If the Cubs pay 75% of the salary, they will get something more than a “very low level prospect” in return.
My thinking is that the Cubs are going to pay Fukudome either way. With Colvin making the minimum, and the Cubs saddled with bad contracts for Zambrano and Soriano, any salary relief the new owners can get will be a win. If they allow Derrek Lee to walk at the end of the year as expected, and if by some miracle Aramis Ramirez opts out of his deal, along with Lilly’s expiring contract, suddenly the Ricketts have more salary flexibility for 2011.
All true, but if they’re going to pay 75% of the salary, the Mariners won’t be the only team interested in Fukudome. At that price, there will probably be a few teams wanting an excellent defensive outfielder with very good OBP skills, the Cubs won’t have to settle for whatever low level prospect Seattle wants to foist on them. They can take a better deal, whether it’s a low level prospect but with the Cubs assuming a significantly smaller part of the contract, take on an ML player with a lesser contract, or get a better prospect. My guess is their preference is one of the first two options.
Lots of bad options out there for Seattle. Compounded by poor decisions made by this current front office, but mostly the prior one.
Pitching is good, but long term the team has probably zero chance of re-signing Lee. We’ll see how the young pitchers play out for the rest of the season, but Seattle really hasn’t produced any noteworthy pitchers from their system outside of Felix.
Adam Jones trade obviously still a problem. Ichiro extension was a mistake for this team as well, in light of how the Bedard trade failed so horribly and the way that one semi-successful season they had about 2-3 seasons ago convinced ownership the team was closer than it is.
Figgins contract I don’t really like either. It’s okay, but I’m not crazy about it and he’s already 32. Griffey is done and so is Sweeney. Surprised the Mariners brought them aboard for 2010.
I don’t really like the Mariners at all — not their roster, or their system, or the thought process they had coming into this season. I think if other teams in their division screw up in the next few years, or if SEA gets some real prizes in FA, then the Mariners can turn it around sort of quickly. Otherwise I think they’ve got some stupid contracts and a bad system.
the mariners don’t like you either stupid!!!!!!!!!!1
Maybe they should check out the AAA ranks right now and see if they can find a sleeper AAAA player like Nelson Cruz and Garrett Jones were. Just throwing this out there, but maybe a guy like Shelly Duncan could provide them with some power that they need.
What about:
Daniel Murphy, Chris Carter, Chris Coste, Gary Mathews Jr., Frank Catalanotto, or Omir Santos from the New York Mets?
There are rumblings that Cat and GMJ may be gone soon…
and Murphy and Carter are the two obvious call-up replacements… could any of these guys draw interest?
Murphy… maybe. Santos… small chance. The rest are middling talents at their best, and they’re not even performing their best. None of them really seem like the type of upgrade that Seattle needs.
It’s Michael Saunders. Seriously. He hit his first major league home run yesterday.
withpower you need to shut the hell up!!!!!!!!
31 games of 162 and the seasons already over huh? Zdurienciks’ a total retard should’ve kept ol’ Bill Bavasi right? God people it’s a lame division that no team will run away with because they all have some major flaws.
Zduriencik is a smart man. But if anything has been proven in his experiment it’s that defense+pitching means nothing without offense.
As far as the pitching goes; Felix and Lee are great, Bedard will be back in about a month and Fister(1.71ERA through 42IP) and Vargas(3.00ERA through 39IP) have been fun to watch.
You are right. He did not do enough to bolster the offense. He choose to rely too heavily on Bradley being the Bradley of 2008, and he thought his aging DH platoon still had something left. Bad decisions there.
However, overall he’s made a ton of great moves. Gutierrez and Vargas for a broken down JJ Putz and change. Lee for three marginal prospects. Aardsma for a bag of balls. Branyan was a great signing last year for pennies.
I don’t get the knock on Figgins and Wilson. Are we going to write off Figgins because of one bad month. He has a pretty good track record of success. Wilson is a mediocre SS, and there was little on the market, unless you knew Alex Gonzalez was going to emerge from nowhere and become a power hitter. There is nothing wrong with the Figgins and Wilson deals.
The issue is the DH position, LF, and 1B. Instead of spending some more money to support the pitching and defense, the M’s tightened up the pocketbook and tried to go cheap. Instead of signing Vlad Guerrero for DH for 6 million, they went with a cheap DH platoon between two washed up players. Instead of signing or trading for 1B with pop, they went cheap and defense with Kotchman, while hoping he would finally put things together with the bat.
They also put too much pressure on Bradley to be the Bradley of 2008. They designed the team in a way that required Bradley to OPS like .900 for them to be able to score runs.
This pains me … to have to defend Seattle is really torture. Ranks right up there with defending the Yanks or Red Sox. That said, your post is really not true …
1. Can’t fault the M’s starting rotation. To date they have exceeded expectations. My guess is that over time they will fall back down to earth (no way Fister and Vargas continue to pitch this well). Bedard could help – but he’s a total wildcard. All in all the M’s pitching is probably a little better now than what you can expect going forward.
2. Their offense will get better. Not by much, but it will improve. Figgins was NOT a mistake – at least in 2010. Age may catch up to him in years 3 and 4 of the contract but he is still a solid player when healthy. Honestly, their offense is just in a major slump. Similar to what is happening in Anaheim. They will never be good offensively, but they aren’t this bad either.
3. I do agree that the team really made a mistake at DH, LF, and 1B. Kotchman is OK at 1B (just barely OK though) … but there is no excuse for LF or DH. Two of the easiest positions to fill. Sure they counted on Bradley taking one of those spots. But even that is severely flawed. Bradley cannot be counted on. Period. End of story. Letting Branyan walk was a big mistake (despite how poorly he has played thus far).
If the M’s can land a guy like Berkman … and get him for cheap talent wise (salary relief for the Astros) they absolutely should. He’s the kind of guy that can carry a team. The other players mentioned can help – but Berkman can be elite. If Berkman isn’t available then I would look at Luke Scott. With his poor play, coupled with the O’s poor play, he could also be had for salary relief. He’s probably a decent non-tender candidate after this season as a 3rd year arb guy. The other names are just a big crapshoot. Not one of them can be counted on to provide offense.
Get the M’s Berkman, get Bradley back healthy and productive, and get Bedard into the rotation then the M’s might be in shape to win 85 games. As they are built now, you are looking at a 75 win team.