Yesterday, Mariners General Manager Jack Zduriencik told reporters, including MLBTR's Mark Polishuk, that while he liked what John Jaso brought to the table for the team, it was worth parting with him in order to acquire an impact hitter like Michael Morse. Morse will now join Kendrys Morales, Jason Bay, and Raul Ibanez in the middle of Seattle's lineup for 2013 but Jack Z says that he isn't done yet. Seattle would still like to add veteran depth at catcher in support of Jesus Montero. Here's today's news out of the American League West..
- Before acquiring Morse and before Justin Upton vetoed the deal that never was, the Mariners had serious talks about getting Jason Kubel, tweets Buster Olney of ESPN.com. The D'Backs are said to be seeking young pitching in return for the outfielder and recently had talks with the Orioles about him.
- Jim Bowden of ESPN.com (Insider sub. req'd) looked at the five outfielders most likely to be traded this season, including Chris Young and Coco Crisp of the A's and the Angels' Vernon Wells. If manager Bob Melvin is committed to Crisp, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Young is shipped to the first team that loses its starting center fielder to injury. And for his part, Crisp has said that he wouldn't mind a trade to a contender.
- In conversations with several agents and executives about young stars who might agree to contract extensions in the near future, the Angels' Mike Trout and the Mariners' Felix Hernandez came up fairly often, writes MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince. "If I'm [the Angels]," said one exec of Trout, "I'm already talking about a crazy long deal. I don't think anybody knows what his ceiling is. You could be looking at the greatest modern player in the game."
