The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired left-hander Dillon Overton from the Athletics in exchange for minor league catcher Jason Goldstein. To make room on the 40-man roster, Seattle designated catcher Jesus Sucre for assignment. Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune first reported that Overton could be on the way to Seattle (on Twitter). The A’s had just designated Overton for assignment earlier this week when they signed veteran infielder Adam Rosales to a one-year deal.
Oakland’s second-round pick in 2013, the 25-year-old Overton made his Major League debut in 2016 but struggled to an ERA of 11.47 in 24 1/3 innings. He did have a solid campaign in Triple-A Nashville last season, however, racking up 125 1/3 innings of 3.29 ERA ball. Overton also averaged 7.7 K/9 against 2.2 BB/9 to go along with a 34.9 percent ground-ball rate in his time at Triple-A.
As recently as the 2015-16 offseason, Baseball America ranked Overton as the Athletics’ No. 8 prospect, though their assessment noted that Overton’s success would be determined by how much velocity he could regain following 2013 Tommy John surgery. Overton worked in the mid-90s in college but was in the upper 80s following his operation. The velocity seemingly never returned, as he averaged just 88.3 mph on his heater last year.
Overton has performed well at every minor league stop, though, and he has minor league options remaining, meaning the Mariners can send him back to Triple-A for further refinement. The Mariners’ rotation is full with Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma, James Paxton, Drew Smyly and Yovani Gallardo all occupying spots. Left-hander Ariel Miranda is also on hand as an option in the case of injury, though he’s probably ticketed for long relief work to open the season.
Goldstein, 22, was the Mariners’ ninth-round pick just last summer. The Illinois native opened his pro career with Seattle’s affiliate in the Rookie-level Arizona League and finished out the year in short-season Class-A. Goldstein had just 68 total plate appearances in his brief time, hitting .279/.328/.311 in that time. He also threw out seven of the 14 runners that attempted to steal against him. Heading into the draft, Baseball America noted that he had limited power but handles a pitching staff well. Goldstein is no stranger to catching high-caliber arms, as he was the battery mate of 2015 first-rounder Tyler Jay (Twins) and 2016 first-rounder Cody Sedlock (Orioles) in college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Sucre, 28, was out of options and looked to be a long shot to make the Mariners’ roster with both Mike Zunino and Carlos Ruiz ahead of him on the depth chart. (Seattle also claimed catcher Tuffy Gosewisch off waivers from Atlanta earlier today.) Sucre has excelled at throwing out baserunners in his career (35 percent) and typically receives average to above-average marks for his pitch-framing skills. However, he’s yet to produce at the plate in parts of four seasons in the Majors, batting .209/.246/.276 in 264 PAs.
a young starter for a catcher in A ball ..way to go Jerry!
Clearly you’ve never seen Overton and his 87 MPH BP fastball.
you are correct never saw him pitch…just read his bio on mlb.com pipline
It ain’t pretty. He’s lost a lot of velo and sits around 87. He’s given up an ungodly amount of homers. Unless he suddenly turns into Tom Glavine, he’s nothing more than AAAA filler.
His only hope is to turn into a LOOGY at this point.
NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! WE ARE LOSING THE BEST PLAYER ON OUR TEAM!!!!!! I actually thought Sucre was ok but it seems like the management has somthing against him because he hit like Babe Ruth in his extremely small sample size. I’m still 100% sure that we would made the playoffs if Sucre haddnt got hit when he was up against the A’s in the bottom of the ninth because he would have hit a dinger and it would have caused Toronto and Baltimore to lose. I hope Sucre can get a job somewhere.
I wouldnt be all that surprised if Oakland picks up Sucre and gets two catchers, in theory, for Overton. Id imagine Vogt will get some DH at bats and maybe some time at first, and Phegley isnt the type of player to prohibit an addition to the club. I think Oakland could use a Vogt/Sucre platoon and find at bats as needed between DH and 1B to keep everyone happy.
Jerry’s a madman! Has he hit Preller’s total of moves from a couple years ago yet?
I don’t have proof but based on the sheer number of “tiny” moves, I’m sure he’s made more. 8 players remain from the roster he inherited, he’s made multiple trades in the same day 3 times I believe, and he’s pretty much traded or DFA’d all the organizational filler for players of his own preference. Massive turnover at both the MLB level and minor leagues.
Heard that Dipoto has been involved in 25% off all trades made in the MLB since he has been the M’s GM.
Beane gets fleeced once again
Not on this one! Not that it matters. But if I was Jerry I wouldn’t of traded a bucket of new baseball let alone used ones!
Beane is no longer the GM. Second the A’s lack catching depth in the minors.. Overton looks more like a future reliever than a starter.. Only time will tell who got the better of the trade.
Hey Arc ya Beane is not but he still runs the show!
The way the offseason has gone Beane is nowhere to be seen. Usually he makes a bunch of trades but this year just small trades for 40 man protection.
Very true! No need to make big ones at this point. We are going know where next year but could possibly surprise some! The big one he might make during the season is Hudson if he can regain he’s old form we could a very nice package for him? Next year I think it’s going to be a very big year evaluating are younger guys! And another big thing is are stadium issue I hope they go water front by Jack London Square. If not and the Raiders leave for Vegas they just might build a new stadium right where they are at but I think they will finally get that done this year cause MLB is up there ass finally!!
Anybody know how often young pitchers lose velocity following Tommy John? My understanding was that it was rare.
Some guys will gain a little velo post TJS. The fact that Overton has lost a good 5-6 MPH off his FB is concerning.
Exactly, for whatever reason the A’s decided that his recovery time was supposed to be exact and chose to ignore that sometimes it takes years to come back to full strength.
Just another dumb move from a rudderless team. Beane went from Moneyball genius to a bottom 10 GM.
Yet he’s not a GM. Interesting.
Just because he’s not called the gm does not mean he doesn’t make the decisions.
How many World Series Championships did his Moneyball tactics win again?
Sucre is sugar in French. Sweet Jesus, his name is Jesus Sugar!
The sweetest name in Baseball besides Coco Crisp!
Overton is toast. 87 mph fastballs just don’t work in the MLB
Jamie Moyer begs to differ
Lefties can always get by with less velocity. And it took Moyer years to get good.
See Greg Maddux, Mark Buehrle, Kyle Hendricks…
This trade is the equivalent of giving someone $10 for a $10 lottery ticket
Overton is probably going to log some innings for the M’s- and could be pretty valuable (as $10 can potentially be). Bottom line, you know what youre getting.
Goldstein could turn into a solid back up catcher but you dont have any idea what hes gonna turn into.
Dont try to compare who got the better deal now.
Oakland won because they got more than the waiver claim fee for a guy who they didnt have room for on the roster
Seattle won because they got a kid who could potentially turn into a 4th starter for an A ball Catcher.
In time, sure, maybe we can compare it but stop grasping at straws.
More like giving someone $2 for a $10 lottery ticket.
You can see the writing on the wall about Jesus Secure after they got Carlos Ruiz it was a given that, he was going to get DFA it just happen that it was sooner than later as was going around that it would have been in ST that he would have been DFA, so they can try to sneak him through waivers..