The Mariners nearly acquired Reds shortstop Zack Cozart prior to the non-waiver trade deadline, and their interest in the veteran infielder has persisted into the offseason, reports Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Dutton has previously reported that back on Aug. 1, the Mariners and Reds were in talks that would’ve sent Cozart and a minor leaguer to Seattle in exchange for minor league left-hander Luiz Gohara and another prospect, but the deal never materialized, as Dutton suggested that Cincinnati simply ran out of time to complete the deal after dedicating so much effort to completing its Jay Bruce trade with the Mets.
Seattle still holds interest in Cozart, according to Dutton, but the team seemingly considers a shortstop upgrade more of a luxury than a necessity. “We don’t need a shortstop,” one Seattle exec told Dutton. “We have [Ketel] Marte, and we think he’s going to be fine in the long term. Now could he benefit from some additional development time in the minors? Yes. We did that with [Mike] Zunino, and we think that really helped him. But it’s not the same. Zunino absolutely needed that development time. With Marte, we think it would be beneficial, but it’s not a must.”
If the Mariners do feel that Marte would benefit from additional time in the minors, then Cozart, on paper anyway, would seemingly be an excellent stopgap. The 31-year-old is somewhat OBP-challenged (.309 OBP over the past two seasons) but is one of the game’s premier defenders at shortstop and has demonstrated considerably improved power numbers in the past two seasons as well. Cozart hit 15 homers as a rookie in 2012 but saw that number dip to 12 in 2013 and just four in 2014. He belted nine long balls in just 53 games in 2015, though (his season was cut short by a knee injury), and connected on a career-best 16 homers last year despite playing in just 121 games.
The abbreviated nature of those past two seasons illustrates a potential area of concern when it comes to Cozart: his durability. Cozart suffered a torn ACL and LCL that ended his 2015 season in mid-June, and on multiple occasions in 2016 he missed a handful of games due to knee problems that didn’t necessitate a trip to the disabled list. However, his season did ultimately come to an end in September when his right knee forced him to the disabled list. Cozart’s final game of the year came on Sept. 10.
As for Marte, the 23-year-old looked to have solidified his place in the Mariners’ lineup with a terrific rookie season (2015) during which he slashed .283/.351/.402, but his offensive production cratered in 2016. In 466 plate appearances for Seattle this past year, Marte hit just .259/.287/.323 and saw his walk rate plummet from 9.7 percent to 3.9 percent. On top of that, he drew negative marks for his defense at shortstop. Marte debuted as a 21-year-old and played the entire 2016 season at the age of 22, so recommending some additional minor league time would hardly mean the organization has given up on him.
Even if the Mariners aren’t the team to ultimately acquire Cozart, it does seem like there’s a solid chance he’ll be moved this offseason. Cincinnati general manager Dick Williams said at last week’s GM Meetings that a Cozart trade was “something we’d have to consider” if it could put the club in a better position for the 2018 and 2019 seasons. And the Reds have a pair of intriguing middle-infield prospects in Jose Peraza and Dilson Herrera that the team would like to work into the lineup in 2017, which should lead to plenty of chatter about both Cozart and second baseman Brandon Phillips as the winter progresses.
Wouldn’t hurt for the Mariners to acquire Cozart and give Marte even just the opening 2-3 months to develop at Triple A and then flip Cozart to a team in need at the deadline.
The M’s won’t be selling off pieces at the deadline
It would maybe take a Walker plus O’Neil to get it done… not really. I’m thinking Tony Zych and a couple other minor league pitchers, if it takes any more than that I don’t want to see this trade happen.
they had a deal in place in summer, for 2 minor league prospects, highly doubt theyd give up Zych or any other MLB pitcher
Luiz Gohara was the prospect and all mariners fans would rather have him than Zych, or I think they would rather have him. Zych is a good reliever(now with an injury history) while Gohara is a starter with a upper 90s fastball, just look at Goharas stats from this year and then Zych and tell me which one you’d rather have.
highly doubt they’d give up their #2 prospect and an (hopefully) up and coming, former top prospect, pitcher for one year of good but not great, just-got-injured, ss.
I think you should read the whole comment before replying.
Gohara is a 20 year old lottery ticket in A ball with upside, but such guys often flame out. There’s plenty to like, but also plenty of risk. Gohara’s numbers were impressive, but just remember he was facing low-A hitters. The year before he really struggled with control in short season A ball.
I’d never heard of Zych before, but if the Reds feel confident in his being past his injury problems I could see the Reds being interested in him as an upgrade to their abysmal bullpen. He’s got a power arm, gets ground balls, and strikes out guys at high rate. He has plenty of years of service time remaining.
Which one I’d rather have? Gohara is ranked higher, but Zych only needs to stay healthy to carve out a successful MLB career. Gohara has a much higher ceiling, but needs to do a lot more to get there. I’d rather have Gohara, but Zych seems like a safer bet who more appropriate fits the Reds’ immediate goals of contending in 2018… when Gohara may be in AA.
I hope a deal gets worked out, Jose Peraza should be the Reds’ starting shortstop.
While you are at, why don’t you wishfully ask for Cano and Seager in the package. Fans have a tendency to overvalue their players, thinking they can ask for the best players on other teams to get others. That being said, Zych is a fair player to give up plus a couple of other players. Remember, Cosart is 31 and while he still has productivity the question is, do the Mariners get more productivity for a longer period with the prospects they would give up to get him. Gohara might be too much to give up.
I am worried they will give up Gohara. A young power lefty.
But I guess they are the scouting department for a reason. YOLO
sure i’d rather have Gohara, but still i don’t think i’ll give up Zych to get Cozart, plenty of other farmhands that could get the job done.
I don’t think 1 year of Cozart is worth the upside of Gohara unless he was the key to the playoffs. I think Cozarts cheap price has as much to do with it as anything.
Sometime I think this GM thinks his back up players should cost as much as a high teir starter. Is Chris Taylor and Shawn O’malley still part of the MARINERS ORGANIZATION and Benji Gonzalez out of Jackson Generals can get a hard look in Tacoma and maybe make a run. I think Taylor is best choice to fill that spot because he can also play outfield. Di Pieto, change is not always a good thing, just look at the Cleverly for Trumbo trade, another bad trade for a back up when we had better in the system and still do.
Taylor is long gone O’Malley can fill in at SS and do a pretty good job. I have said before trading Gohara is a bad idea. Trading a future possible star for a partial year fill in is crazy. I don’t think I would even give up Zych for him. We can’t keep dismantling our BP then trying to replace the players. I also still don’t think Cozart is that big of an upgrade of Marte.
He has errors but he was also still in his 1st full season of MLB baseball. He will grow and be better he has the tools he just needs to concentrate more. Dipoto needs to fix the OF first since it looks like he fixed 1st and has the bat off the bench in Smith. He also needs to find a LH RP since he keeps trading ours away.
Jon Jay makes sense on a 1 year deal with options for 18 and 19 and higher pay.
Why are the M’s so obsessed with Cozart? Did someone in the Mariners leadership draft him or scout him, or is he the owners nephew or something? I admittedly don’t know much about the Reds but I don’t understand why I have heard so many Mariners/Cozart rumors but it doesn’t seem like other teams are clamoring for the guy.
I do not think our GM really has a plan and is making deals off the cuff. Sometimes I think weekend GM’s(people who are not getting paid like us) have better ideas, we just don’t have access to all the info he does.