While the Mariners remain in the market for a backup catcher and perhaps a right-handed reliever, GM Jack Zduriencik makes a move for a significant name between now and the non-waiver trade deadline seem unlikely. Via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, Zduriencik said the team’s acquisition of Mark Trumbo may be its most notable move:
“We did the Mark Trumbo thing. We tried to jump the market and make a deal at the time that we thought could bring in, what we considered, a pretty good power bat for our lineup, to help augment what we already have. I think anything else will probably be moves within the organization. There’s always the possibility something could happen, but you’re not really counting on it.”
The Mariners have aggressively attempted to remedy what has a perennially disappointing offense through both free agency and trades over the past two seasons, but to little avail. Both Robinson Cano and Nelson Cruz were signed to significant free agent contracts, while on the trade market, Zduriencik has acquired Trumbo, Austin Jackson, Seth Smith and the since-designated-for-assignment Justin Ruggiano. While Cano was excellent in his first season with Seattle and Cruz is hitting quite well in 2015, the moves, as a whole, have done little to help the Mariners overcome their run-suppressing home environment. And as Divish notes, the decision to part with Welington Castillo in the Trumbo trade is presently haunting the Mariners. Castillo’s bat looks revitalized with Arizona — .289/.366/.533 in 101 PAs — while the Mariners continue to receive little offensive production behind the plate. (Of course, Arizona’s hitter-friendly environment must be considered as well.)
Divish goes on to write that a hot start to the second half could lead Zduriencik to seek ownership approval to make further additions, though current asking prices are beyond what the Mariners have to offer in prospect collateral. Furthermore, continued struggles could lead to the sale of impending free agents such as Hisashi Iwakuma, J.A. Happ and Jackson. Such a fade could also bring into question Zduriencik’s future with the club, Divish notes, as expectations entering the season were high.
One encouraging note for the Mariners and their fans should be the relative ease of their second-half schedule. As ESPN’s Buster Olney noted earlier today in ranking the strength of clubs’ remaining schedules, the Mariners are currently slated to play just 22 of their final 73 games against clubs that carried a record of .500 or better into the All-Star break. The bad news for Seattle, though, is that many of those games will come in the next two weeks. The Mariners took a tough 4-3 loss at Yankee Stadium last night, and after two more games there, they’ll head to Detroit for four games before hosting the Blue Jays for three. The only games they’ll play against a sub-.500 team prior to the trade deadline will be when they host the D-Backs from July 27-29. From there, they head to Minnesota for a four-game set.
So stand pat and do nothing when you’re 8 games under .500? Great strategy.
If I’m at the top, I’m not letting Zduriencik trade any talent away at this deadline Zduriencik and McCheese are likely gone before this season is over. What I can’t understand is why it hasn’t happened already.
If the M’s are interested in creating fan interest, hire Joey Cora and Raul Ibanez as manager and bench coach and Jay Buhner as Kangaroo Supreme Court Judge. The nostalgia will bring fans back until next year when this team can bring in a real GM and manager to right the ship.
Jack Z with his low OBP guys who get RBI. Completely not understanding how getting on base helps get those guys get RBI’s. Surprised he didn’t take a flier out on Ryan Howard before Mark Trumbo.
Seattle is probably the worst managed organization in the AL. Only the Indians come close. When you make a gross blunder like Cano it is time to just suck it up and try and pray you have enough in the minors to help you. Seattle is so bad that this thread will likely have only five or six comments. Nelson Cruz basically dropped out of the sky into their lap because other dizzy teams like the Indians and Red Sox were too busy making other blunders.
Red Sox are poorly run. Tigers are going to be in this discussion in about 2 years
I think the Indians problem is the relutance of the ownership to invest in the team (possibly because the Cleveland Area can’t afford it). But i think the imediate management (Shapiro, Antonetti) has done a pretty nice work singing prospects and building a (pretense) competitive team with such a low budget. The franchise hasn’t been lucky this year. Mariners mangement is indeed terrible. Mariners and Red Sox management indeed made many blunders recently…
I think the Tigers problem is exactly the opposite of the Indian’s one. The Franchise has a great ownership that are very interested in the franchise sucess. But i think Drombowski, despite being a decent GM, tends to have more focus in make “show-off” deals, than in solve the team specific problems.
I don’t think anyone could have realistically predicted Cano going south so fast, and it’s only half a season. For the last five years with the Yankees he was a machine. OPS+of 141/133/148/147/142, and bWAR of 4.5/8.1/5.7/8.4/7.8. Seattle overpaid for a player still at his peak, but it’s unreasonable to expect them to have anticipated 2015. Cano still ha good years left. Just not eight more.
Navarro for happ!
I hope they do fail to make any other additional moves.
Who would want this front office making franchise-altering deals? The Trumbo trade didn’t exactly fix all this team’s ills. As an M’s fan, I don’t trust Jack Z to make sound decisions that are in the clubs long-term best interest. They aren’t going to contend this year, and Jack has proven to be one of the worst GMs in baseball. The M’s should fire him now.
The M’s should just find a warm body to take over at catcher for the next 2.5 months, let Zunino get sorted out in AAA, and start looking for a new front office. A new GM should be the next big transaction.
No kidding. The M’s could have promoted Montero to do what Trumbo is doing and they would still have Reinheimer and Guerrero in the minors. Zduriencik can’t be trusted to make another deal. That being the case??? Yes, he should have been gone already.
When you hear theres nothing going on. There’s something going on. Its a pretty Simple Fix really. We’ve seen the Phillies whispers. They are the Logical Choice as they have a couple guys we could really use. Revere-Ruiz would look nice in this lineup. Just depends on what we would have to give up to get them.
This team is going nowhere. Well, at least not to the post season. Don’t give up any talent to any org to try and make a run this year. The M’s should be selling Happ, Jackson, Trumbo and LoMo for the best deal possible. Even if it’s for nothing. Those guys aren’t the future of this org.