Some baseball people believe the Mariners are willing to trade closer Brandon League, according to Jon Paul Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com, and sources say several teams have reached out to Seattle to express interest.
The Dodgers checked in on League during the Winter Meetings, according to the report, although their interest is not believed to be serious at this point.
The Mariners' decision to trade League may be held up by their possible negotiations with Prince Fielder, according to the report, as it could be hard to sell Fielder that they're serious about building a contender while simultaneously trading away a useful veteran coming off his best season.
League, 28, is a projected free agent after the 2012 season. He's eligible for arbitration for the fourth (he's a Super Two) and final time this offseason and is in line to make $4.2MM through that process, according to MLBTR's projected arbitration salaries. He has been a possible trade candidate since popping up in rumors prior to last season's non-waiver trade deadline, although Mariners GM Jack Zduriencik said earlier this offseason that a trade was "not likely at all."
Thanks for clarifying.
If this headline had said just “League May Be Available; Teams Interested”, I would have worried that the Yankees were interested in buying the entire National League.
I was just thinking “Boy, sure hope Brandon League doesn’t see this”…the headline makes it seem shocking that teams actually ARE interested in him.
The only real tradeable player we have
Hopefully the Red Sox are one of the teams interested.
Absolutely! They tried to get him last July. I’ve always been a League fan since he was w/ TOR. Although I think I’d prefer Bailey from the A’s if given the choice.
Good, because the O’s did pretty well against him.
The O’s can trade for Bailey.
I can see the Sox being in on this; especially if they are serious about Bard moving to the rotation and they aren’t comfortable just handing the closer’s role over to Melancon.
Lets just pick up 4 or 5 good relievers that are good but not good enough to close. Not
Bring him back to Toronto!! I hated to see him leave, I’m a big fan
i hated him in toronto.
He would be a better option for the rangers than Bailey and it would take less to actually get him too.
I was impressed with League this year against the Rangers in our ballpark, but the years prior to that we’ve beat him up. I’d like to see more of this new League before I would want him here.
Edit: My apologies lol. League has actually done better than Bailey in Arlington. But Bailey has owned the Angels, where as League has been aweful against them. I think that has some pull. I do agree though that I want nothing to do with Beane and the A’s.
First Aardsma, then League? You think closers grow on trees? You wonder why the M’s never win. Just saying.
A team averaging 98 losses the last two years doesn’t need an all-star closer or a Cy Young winning ace. They need like 5-6 bats RIGHT NOW.
Well generally you do need an ace and closer…in addition to the 5-6 bats.
If League is available, it could mean that the Mariners dont feel confident in adding Prince, and might move from a win now team that doesn’t win enough to a win in the future team..
Mariners have some good young talent on the field, and coming up in the minors.. but for the next 2-3 years with the Rangers and Angels fully loaded, they don’t have much of a chance.
Yeah, I agree. Prince alone won’t push the Mariners to competing with the Angels/Rangers territory.
You have the Rangers and the Angels on a top tier (the Angels slightly higher), and then the A’s/M’s/Astros splitting up 3-5 in some order for at least the next 2 years or whatnot. It’s the reality of the ALW.
The Angels slightly higher? I’m sorry, I didn’t realize they were the back-to-back AL champs.
No…they aren’t the back to back champs. They are the contenders that just SIGNED a major SP from the back to back champs and the best hitter from the WS champion team and baseball in general. No one is saying they’re the next WS champs but they are going to give the Rangers a serious challenge to the AL West.
I don’t have any problem with people saying that it will be a tight race, but nobody should crown them in the West. It’s December.
Yeah, but the Angels also just added Pujols, who’s like a top 5 player in MLB, in addition to CJ Wilson. Darvish probably makes up for Wilson, but I’d put the Angels slightly above the Rangers on basis of Pujols alone.
Isn’t David Aardsma the perfect example of closers growing on trees? Considering he was picked off the scrap heap, became an awesome closer, and then flamed out the following year.
Consistent Closers don’t grow on trees. There’s no guarantee that Brandon League will be a consistent closer. The premium price for a closer will cause opposing teams to trade a lot for them. This is why we need to trade him because other teams will be willing to overspend on a closer.
Morrow for Brandon League and Johermyn Chávez. Get er Done!
The Mariners are a shambles. No offensive talent whatsover; a GM who doesn’t know how to aquire it; 98 loss average the last two years, yet we have an all-star closer and a Cy Young winning ace on our pitching staff. Common Sense would dictate that you deal those assets to get players, however, the words “Mariners” and “Common Sense” are seldom used together.
Prince Fielder, Ryan Braun, Rickie Weeks, Ben Sheets-those are just 1st rounders. Now Dustin Ackley, Michael Pineda -Obviously Jack Zduriencik doesn’t know talent when he sees it
Pineda was here years before Z.
Fine, James Paxton, Danny Hultzen, Taijuan Walker, Jose Campos, Nick Franklin
It’s far more likely that someone like Walker, Paxton, Hultzen or Campos get dealt before the face of the franchise. Even then, it’s not really necessary to trade them.
It seems like the Mariners lack the proven talent at MLB level. Looking at the roster and seeing all of the potential talent seems good..although unfortunately many of those potentials never actually pan out. Smoak, Liddi and Carp all put up good power numbers in AAA but will just have to get more at-bats to see if they can make it translate. Like many of us baseball fans we have been impressed with Pineda but from what I’ve seen of Beavan and Ruffin they could also be really good young arms for the club. What do Mariner fans who watch these guys day in and day out think of the young talent on the team?
J. Smoak (24)
M. Liddi (22)
M. Carp (25)
D. Ackley (23)
M. Pineda (22)
B. Beavan (22)
C. Ruffin (22)
League has nasty stuff, he goes to the Sox, Cards, Marlins, or Nats.
Personally, I don’t want the Mariner to pursue Fielder. Few NL bats convert to AL pitching. I suspect carrying all that weight, that Prince will fizzle out like his dad, Cecil did. I also believe that the Angels and others will be surprised at the decrease of productivity from Pujols after a year.
1. The Mariners have to wait to get rid of Ishiro’s $18M/yr. (he’s not worth the money, but somehow the Mariners in the ancient tradition of the Japanese, have got to figure out a way of “not losing face” for all concerned.)
2. Solve the $18M – 2 year Figgins disaster.
3. Give more time for the young kids to develop.
I think 2012 will be another lousy season (3rd place if lucky), but why waste another $18M+/season long term contract some temporary slugger.
2013 Houston joins the West. The Mariners will know just how productive the kids can be, and will most likely be rid of $27-36M of dead weight.
You could argue that the NL’s pitching is better than the AL’s. Why would he struggle coming over to the AL? A-Gon sure didn’t.
I would say the one of the ways he might struggle would not be because he would have problems adjusting to the AL pitching but more so because if he played on the M’s he would lack the line-up protection to keep most the league from pitching around him.
Just do something ,Z. Standing pat is boring.
Bold prediction for someone so inconsistent.
I sure hope you’re right, I keep looking back at that 17 K night and hope he can finally even out instead of the ups and downs
Please stop posting in caps. It hurts my eyes.
That 97mph sinker is ridiculous. I’d love to see him in Ranger colors – I don’t care who we have in the bullpen.
We’ll see.
Get better eyes.
As if the Cliff Lee (non)deal didn’t make it clear enough: They do not want the Yankees over-hyped junk.
How’d that Cliff Lee trade work out you for ya?
ummm….seeing as how the deal would’ve happened had Adams not been injured says otherwise.
Let me guess……the Yanks prospects are overhyped by Baseball America, John Sickles, etc but the M’s prospects are what…………accurately regarded and bonafide studs, right?
Justin Smoak, Blake Beavan and John Jaso … thank you very much.
as an impartial fan to these clubs i have to say
Montero > texas package
Yeah, bascially we got nothing for him.
Jaso wasn’t included in that deal.
Smoak + Beavan + Lueke = 1.5 WAR
Nova + Montero alone = 3.3 WAR….you’re welcome.
Marrow reminds me of AJ.
We need to see whether Jesus Montero will be a significant contributor at the MLB level. Montero put up solid, if unspectacular, numbers at Triple A last season before his impressive 18-game MLB call-up.
But Montero’s MLB sample is too small to draw any conclusions. Compare Montero’s 18-game line with the line posted by another player in his first 20 MLB games of 2011:
Montero 18 G, .328/.406/.590/.996
Player B 20 G, .303/.413/.576/.988
Player B is Justin Smoak (who, granted, is three years older than Montero).
We can make a better assessment in two years.
The Mariners traded Josh Lueke for John Jaso.
And the Yankees never offered Ivan Nova … the offered pitcher was Zach McAllister, who posted a 6.11 ERA in four starts last season.
De nada.
Not sure how you can call a 28 year old reliever who throws 98 mph “overrated”
Prince Fielder is overrated.
Prince Fielder is overrated.
League has two of the best pitches in baseball with his hard sinker and the splitter.
He had a knoblach moment last year in a four game stretch. Before that and moreso after that he was right there with the best. He was dominant in 09 then forgot to throw the spiltter in 10. He didn’t forget how to throw it, he just forgot to throw it.
He remembered in the second half last year and he was amazing.
Closers are over rated and over paid. That’s why a player with dominating potentional making less than 5 per has value.
Hahaha.
Just because you can throw 98 doesn’t mean you’re great.
Just because you can throw 98 doesn’t mean you’re great.
I do feel bad for the M’s that Smaok hasn’t turned it on. He’s got great potential. I don’t like it when a team trades players and those players don’t pan out…it gives the team a bad image.