The Mariners have struck yet another two-deal day, as Seattle has announced the acquisition of lefty Drew Smyly from the Rays. Tampa Bay will pick up center fielder Mallex Smith — who was just added by Seattle in a trade with the Braves — along with minor league infielder Carlos Vargas and minor league lefty Ryan Yarbrough.
This move represents a continuation of an immensely active offseason for the Jerry Dipoto-led Mariners front office. The club will surely install Smyly in its rotation, hoping that the 27-year-old southpaw can regain the form that he showed prior to a disappointing 2016 campaign. He’ll slot in alongside fellow newcomer Yovani Gallardo — acquired last week in a straight-up swap that sent Seth Smith to Baltimore — and holdovers Felix Hernandez, Hisashi Iwakuma and James Paxton.
Despite carrying an ugly 4.88 ERA in 2016, Smyly did post career highs in both starts (30) and innings (175 1/3). And he managed to post a solid 8.6 K/9 against 2.5 BB/9, though his groundball rate sat at just 31.3% and he allowed 1.6 home runs per nine innings. If he can tamp down the long balls and remain healthy, perhaps there’s reason to think that Smyly will return to being a solid mid-rotation piece for Seattle, particularly given the excellent defensive trio that figures to roam the outfield at Safeco Field. Leonys Martin will return in center field and be flanked by trade acquisitions Jarrod Dyson and Mitch Haniger to to provide a strong defensive unit. Another pair of strong defenders, Ben Gamel and Guillermo Heredia, are also present beyond that presumptive starting trio.
[Related: Updated Mariners Depth Chart and Mariners Payroll Info]
The M’s will only control Smyly for two years, as the second-time arb-eligible hurler is set to reach the open market after the 2018 campaign. MLBTR and contributor Matt Swartz project him to earn $6.9MM via arbitration for the coming season — his second trip through the arb process as a Super Two player.
Dipoto tells Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (Twitter link) that he “probably spent more time through the course of the offseason trying to acquire Drew Smyly than any other player.” Clearly, then, the M’s had targeted the lefty all along, though it took another deal to get the assets needed to make it happen.
When Seattle picked up Smith earlier today (along with Shae Simmons) in a trade that cost the team prospects Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows, it obviously did so with intentions to flip Smith. He was evidently targeted by the Rays, despite the continued presence of Kevin Kiermaier in center and the recent signing of Colby Rasmus.
It’s certainly plausible to imagine those players co-existing on the MLB roster, though the presence of Steven Souza, Corey Dickerson, and others could complicate maters. Alternatively, Smith might simply start the year in Triple-A, unless the Rays find yet another deal that shifts some assets.
[Related: Updated Tampa Bay Rays Depth Chart and Rays Payroll Info]
Smith is primarily valued for his defense and baserunning, though he has put up strong numbers at the plate during much of his minor-league career. He’s most valuable playing up the middle but could also presumably function in a corner spot while occasionally spelling Kiermaier in center. Though Smith is generally regarded as a strong defender, Kiermaier is one of the game’s premier defenders in center field and doesn’t figure to be displaced anytime soon.
In making this deal, Tampa Bay is acquiring at least five years of Smith’s services. The 23-year-old (24 in May) logged exactly one year of service time in the Majors last year. Another full year would put him on track to be arbitration-eligible following the 2019 season and eligible for free agency following the completion of the 2021 campaign, although if he spends even three to four weeks in the minors to open the season, Tampa Bay would gain another year of club control (while also putting Smith on track for Super Two status).
Smith’s big league debut last year was born out of necessity, as he was called up to the Majors when Ender Inciarte hit the disabled list early in the year. Smith didn’t hit much early on, but the Braves liked his speed and glovework enough to keep him around even when Inciarte returned. A fractured thumb would ultimately cost Smith roughly three months of the season. He batted a lackluster .238/.316/.365 in 215 plate appearances on the season as a whole, though he’d rebounded from a poor start to hit .272/.338/.440 in 43 games from late April until the time of his injury in mid-June. Paired with his 80-grade speed, that type of production would likely elate the Rays, though his defensive prowess would allow Smith to deliver value even if he can’t replicate that output over the course of a full season.
Yarbrough, who turned 25 on New Year’s Eve, rated as the Mariners’ No. 11 prospect per MLB.com, and Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper tweets that he’d have placed 12th on BA’s soon-to-be-released list of the Mariners’ top 30 prospects. Per Jonathan Mayo and Jim Callis of MLB.com, Yarbrough’s fastball sits 91-93 mph and scrapes the mid-90s at times, and he also has an above-average changeup. The MLB.com duo praises Yarbrough’s “oustanding” command and strong ground-ball tendencies, adding that improvement on his breaking ball could ultimately make him a mid-rotation starter. If not, he projects as a quality lefty relief piece due to his fastball, slider and command.
Vargas is still just 17 years of age — he’ll turn 18 in March — and ranked as one of the top available international prospects on the market a couple of years ago. Cooper tweets that he was set to rank 26th on Seattle’s forthcoming top 30 prospect list, and there’s reason to believe he could carry even more upside than that most ranking would suggest. Fangraphs’ Eric Longenhagen, for instance, tweets that there’s “sneaky” value in Vargas, whom he tabs as eventual third baseman with “big pull power projection” and a good approach.
In writing about Vargas last spring, BA’s Ben Badler noted that he has too many moving parts in his swing but has displayed a strong baseball IQ and an impressive ability to make adjustments at the behest of the Mariners’ staff. Badler also credited Vargas with above-average raw power, an ability to hit the ball the opposite way, and an above-average arm with a quick release. In 62 games/256 plate appearances in the Dominican Summer League last year, Vargas batted .242/.344/.391 with seven homers, 11 doubles and nearly as many walks (32) as strikeouts (35).
This was my dream scenario. Sweet.
Mallex will steal 70 bases someday. You heard it here first folks
Very possible that you are correct and Mallex does still ;70 bases one day. Going to the majors last season was a big step and he didn’t really get the time in AAA that was originally planned because of Inciarte’s injury the first weekend of the season (which consequently caused Inciarte’s terrible start to the year when he had to adjust returning). If anyone watched much of Mallex’s play during the year you’d noticed that at the beginning of his call up, he made a lot of mistakes simply getting used to the skill level of the competition. By that I mean that all through the minors (up to that point) Mallex was used to his blazing speed giving him a huge advantage but when he got to the majors the defense recovered from bobbles quicker, made more accurate and harder throws, dug balls out of the dirt better etc. That caused him to get out on a bunch of bang bang type plays when he first got to the majors. Mallex also was a victim of the slow motion camera quite a few times on his slides as well since he’d touch the bag only to be nabbed on the replay. As his time in the bigs progressed however Mallex made adjustments and quit making quite so many mistakes. Then when he was playing his best, the kid got hurt. I think that eventually he will make an above average player, others don’t see it that way. Only time will tell.
/book
Wow u know your stuff on former Padre
If he really steals 70 bases in one day, that will be quite a “feet”.
lol
I like Mallex Smith a lot. I think he’s going to be a very solid player and soon.
Doubt it, doubt he even gets over 50.
I like Smyly. I’m not sure why the Rays wanted Smith.
Have you looked up any of his stats? You’ll see why.
Smith looks like a one-tool guy along the lines of a Billy Hamilton. I guess we’ll just have to see if he gets on base enough to utilize that tool, as he had just a .339 OBP in AAA in 2015 and .316 with the Braves last year.
Which stats are you talking about? The .238 BA, .316 OBP, .365 SLG, or the 16 SB- 8 CS? His minor league career was very similar to Billy Hamilton except that he isn’t anywhere near as fast as Hamilton. Hamilton has turned into a low BA, low OBP guy that will steal 50+
“Hamilton has turned into a low BA, low OBP guy that will steal 50+”
It might be slightly early to slap that on him. I think every GM should be targeting him if he is cheap. I see nothing but continued development
Even with his stats Mallex Smith has no place on the Rays as long as Kevin Kiermaier is in town.
Here’s to hoping Kiermaier is traded…to the A’s. Please?
Keep dreamin’
Why would the A’s want him? He’s a premier defender that isn’t play all over the diamond…
That’s a thing of the past. The future says you don’t have to have power to play a corner as long as you can play stellar defense and run the bases well. See Jason Heyward. Yes JHey has power, but he’s still seen as useful even when his power disappears. So Mallex will likely play a corner for Tampa and prove you wrong.
Mallex has a little pop unlike Hamilton. Smith was comped to Marquis Grissom quite a bit. He’ll be a good ball player for Tampa.
Shorter move for Mallex now.
The new #NewYorkBankies
Terrible deal for Mariners. Gave up their #1 prospect and 3 other promising guys for someone coming off a really bad year.
The Mariners’ number one prospect is Kyle Lewis or Tyler O’Neill.
Agreed. I don’t understand why people keep referring to Gohara as that. He’s more like our 4 or 5 (Drew Jackson and Nick Neidert)
I read that he was #6
BA rated him the M’s #3 prospect and according to the chat, he was notably higher than #4.
#1, plus 3 others? Did you read the article? It was smyly for smith, Vargas and Yarborough. None of smith nor Vargas nor Yarborough (#13) are in seattle’s top 10.
Looks like a great deal for Seattle. Got a controllable left handed starter for the back end of their rotation w/o giving anything close to any of their top prospects
Well they got Mallex for Gohara and 1 other, and the traded Mallex plus two others for Smyly. So what he is saying is it was basically Gohara, Thomas Burrows, Ryan Yarbrough, and Cesar Vargas for Drew Smyly.
Well put.. thank you
Keep in mind smylys stats look worse because he plays on a terrible offensive team, trust me i know
FIP is based on what Smyly is able to do and it doesn’t look good so…
You will be surprised
Interesting to see what Smyly will do.
Missed most of 2015, came back looking good at the end of that year. 2016 might have tried to do too much. Big innings spike. Smart move by Rays. Looked strong at the end of 2016 after a poor summer so the Mariners might get their value still. No shame in betting on a lefty to get better with age.
Gohora’s rank in a weak system doesn’t mean quite as much. The bottom line? He’s a couple of years out and the M’s are now loaded to compete in the AL West. You have to make that deal any day of the week and twice on Sundays.
Well done dipoto
Now that’s what I’m talking about. Great day Dipoto!
A great day is getting a mediocre player for some possibly good to decent prospects? Maybe I have different ideas about what a good day is for the Mariners.
Smyly is solid. Nice get for the M’s. If they end up with too many starters, he can be moved back to the pen, where he excelled with the Tigers.
That’s who they were always going for. Smyly will be a decent replacement for Walker.
at this rate they’re going to have to scrap their minor league games
That’s what the Indy leagues are for, filling the end of rosters and occasionally finding someone worthwhile
Great another fast pesty hitter on the rays
except he can’t hit
i’d rather have gohara and burrows than mallex
Same… Gohara was in my top 150 personal Prospects list…
That was quick
Rays fire-sale coming? Braves probably gonna land Archer soon
Not at all. Rays had a surplus of starting pitching, they wanna contend this year.
Could have Honeywell come up if they don’t move Andriese back to the rotation.
I hate to break it to you you’re not going to content no matter what, too much power in that division in Boston has too much pitching for them to be a threat
Sorry for the sloppy post….in short the Rays are more than one or two players away
Red sox are not that good
Price always screws up, trust a rays fan
The rays could put up a good fighting chance for play offs,
They surprise me
kc38:
“Wolf cards”?
I drew a Wolf Card playing the Little Red Riding Hood and Three Little Pigs card games. My grandson still beat me.
Let’s see, Porcello was 5-0 with a 3.07 ERA and 46:5 K:BB in 41 innings against the Rays. How was that the Rays “obliterating” him? Pomeranz also pitched well against them, and Price’s 4.15 ERA wasn’t awful.
Not to mention their new acquisition, Chris Sale.
In his 2 games against the Rays last year, his stat line looked like:
16 IP, 10 hits, 3 earned runs, 0 BB’s, 16 K’s
That includes a 2 hit shutout. Small sample size for sure, but I wouldn’t be too confident as a Rays fan… Chris Sale is that good.
Boston is good, but Boston was good last year. Every non-Boston team in the division has question marks though, and if Toronto and Baltimore take steps back and the Yankees rookies have some growing pains a Wild Card wouldn’t be completely out of reach for the Rays, Besides, there’s no reason they can’t try to contend, see where they are in August, and sell at the deadline if things aren’t going well
If anyone cared to pay attention and read you could see I said except sale. And I’m not sure how over a 4 ERA isn’t awful. Your $217 million dollar man has over a 4 ERA and that’s not awful? I’m not sure what your standards are. Ok and maybe didn’t obliterate porcello the “cy young” which is a joke all in its own but he was hit and miss against us. We are better than you think. We don’t need to spend big money to compete
Where? AAA
Contend with playing inside another season in maybe the most beautiful outdoor location in america. A LOT would have to go right and wrong in the AL for them.
Archer’s contract could survive 4 fire sales.
Make way for Ronald Acuna.
If the Rays were fire sale-ing and about to trade Archer to the braves, why wouldn’t they just get mallex in that package?
This actually means a Rays fire sale ISN’T coming, and Archer most likely isn’t going anywhere. Rays had six starters and planned on dealing one, and the front office said early in the offseason that the course for the offseason would be set by which starter they trade. Trading Archer or Odorizzi would have signaled a mini-rebuild, trading Smyly means they want to try contend the next few seasons
Another horrible trade for Dipoto.
Glad you’re not our GM. This is a great get for JD and the M’s.
WHAT LMAO a great get he says lol. You gave up the minor league pitcher of the year for AA last year. For two years of not cheap control for someone with an almost 5 era who can’t stop serving home runs on a silver platter
watch him be seattles new ace
Gallardo? Yeah…no.
It’s not like Gohara is the second coming of Kershaw. You’re talking the best minor league pitcher in a very, very shallow minor league system. The M’s are built to win now and I like trading from the minors to get proven MLB talent. They aren’t asking Smyly (or Gallardo for that matter) to be an Ace. Just be a 4 or 5 starter. These are the kinds of moves that former GMs for the Mariners wouldn’t make and that stagnant approach contributed significantly to keeping them out of the playoffs for so long. You’ve got to give Jerry Dipoto credit here. He was very clear about his to-do list this offseason and the Mariners major league team is better (on paper at least) than they were at the end of the season. He did everything he said he was going to do. Now, if they’d get one more OF hitter I’d feel better about their chances in 2017 but as a lifelong M’s fan, this was a great move. Not to mention, the most overlooked move of today might be snagging Simmons in the deal with Atlanta. That’s a sold arm for the back of the bullpen.
DiPoto made the Mariners a lot better on paper and didnt have to completely gut the system to do it.
You’re exactly who Id love to deal with…take something to its extreme. Despite that ridiculous era Smyly had some value even last year….and now he goes to a team and field built perfectly for him.
Smyly not gallardo
Exactly.
I’m ok with the move. He has upside to be a solid #3 starter other than a rough 2016. Career sub 4 ERA. Kept top 2 prospects.
He’s out of upside. His number are consistently bad. No upside. It’s not taking it to an extreme it’s a fact. And with right handed bads in that division good luck. Look at his lefty right splits and you’ll crap yourself. He’s terrible against righties. Can’t wait to see springer, beltre, correa, altuve, pujols, trout, Beltran, lucroy and Bregman tee off. Then let’s see how great of a deal this was. Because Karns was the same type of pitcher, fly ball coming off a good season with the Rays even and failed miserably. But I’m glad you blind mariners fans are so excited for him. I’m excited he’s gone
4.88 ERA with a 31.3% ground ball rate and gives up the long ball. Dipoto likes to overpay for everything.
That was last years numbers, and a down year for him. Look a little deeper.
His game to game stats and stretches were nice…he paid out for me in a points league.
You must be an Angels fan, still mad that we have Dipoto!
No lol just a Rays fan who has watched smyly for two years.
The Twins and Dodgers need to have an intervention with Jerry DiPoto.
lol your right
Yesssssssssss!!!!!!!!
Mariners are headed to the WS
U hi
The Red Sox are
And there’s still over a month until spring training.
They may not win the AL West, calm down.
I think so too, but we need 1 more OF piece … either McCutchen or Bautista, which would put our 2017 payroll in the $151-152m range if they could pull off a McCutchen trade. Though I’d prefer McCutchen, at this point running Bautista in the corner for the first 7 innings would even put are Team WAR value close to Cleveland’s and BoSox’s Team WAR value!
Currently we have the best Defensive OF in all MLB, and Dipoto fixed a serious hold this offseason for SS with Segura, and even Ruiz as our backup C is a huge improvement.
There’s a great chance that both Gallardo & Smyly both obtain a 2 WAR in 2017, and possibly more, but if they just give us each 2 WAR ea I’d be happy!
Thank you Jesus. now we have a reliable rotation
Window is closing on the Mariners. Cruz and Cano can’t be expected to put up the numbers they have been. Seattle is in win now mode and these deals today shored up their last two holes (a starter and a reliever).
dipoto is great, makes this boring offseason entertaining! was hoping he’d flip Mallex over to my blue jays. good deal from both teams in my opinion.
I was hoping the Cardinals would trade Wacha for Smith.
Are you saying that as a Braves or Cardinals fan? Because there’s no way STL would’ve sold that low on Wacha
It’s nice to have 5 major league starters with some balance, but not one of them is without question marks, That being said, a very good lineup, a good defensive team and a good bullpen with Felix-Paxton-Kuma-Smyly-Gallardo looks fine to me going forward. Little nervous, but honestly we’re better positioned than most with a potential AAA rotation also should some things go south. Whomever comes out of April May looking the best out of Miranda-Heston-Whalen-Moore-Povse will certainly earn a shot. Go M’s.
Wow Dipoto looks like a genius now after getting Segura for Walker and filling in Walkers spot with a good guy like Smyly. Not that he’s an ace, but a good improvement.
No. walker has so much more potential and is muchhhh younger and cheaper and will be better than smyly. Terrible trade.
Seattle needs to win in 2017 and made moves accordingly. The sum of the Mariner deals (Gallardo, Smily, Simmons, Segura, Dyson, et al) will help them more this season than an under preforming Walker and any of the prospects they gave up will.
Walker is better than Smyley sure, but Segeura is waaay better than Marte.
Smyly is way better than Walker in 2017 if not for the future
You people don’t get it because you didn’t have to watch smyly every 5th day. You’ll understand some day his future isn’t any brighter than it is right now. He has over a 4 1/2 ERA. He’s done people. Walker has loads of potential. Smyly is exactly like the guy we gave you before in Nate Karns. They are mediocre at best pitchers. And you overpaid for him. So thank you
You obviously have a very short memory, but during his time with the Rays Smyly was a league average pitcher. He had a 100 ERA-, 101 FIP- and 99 xFIP-. He had good SO(8.86/9) and BB(2.44/9), but was a flyball pitcher that got dinged up by the HR. If he can throw another 175 IP, with that ball park and OF defense, he should bring value to the M’s rotation. My bigger concern with him is his health, but if Dipoto and the M’s medical staff are confident he is healthy, he will be a good addition to a team that is ready to compete now.
Smiley and Segura for Walker essentially? I’ll take that deal.
This.
If the season started today, Mariners or Astros?
Just in that order…For AL West 2nd and 3rd place finish, unless OAK can pull up their big boy pants.
Mariners now have a shot at a wild card spot.
Wow…Mariners now have a shot at a wild card spot.
Still the Rangers
The Rangers have just too many holes. The rotation drops off Hamels Darvish, they have some questions in the OF, and they have an extremely lackluster farm now. So I’d say no.
Astros but not by much. Segura has to perform some what like 2016, Cano and Cruz can’t suddenly start feeling the effects of age, and Felix Paxton must stay healthy. The Astros just need a lot of health on the pitching staff and another 2 type.
Astros
What, no love for the Angels?
With a few breaks, they could compete for 3rd in the AL West.
Seattle also has a kid that they think will make the BP from AA out of ST this year. He is along the lines of Diaz. Has 2 pitches and throws over 100. I forget his name and can’t find the article in their site anymore. I don’t think they are concerned about the BP as they were about SP which when Dipoto traded for a SP it seemed like he traded another away right after. Makes you wonder if he will do it again.
Assuming you’re talking about Thyago Vieira, who is in high-A.
Kind of puzzled why the Mariners were willing to give up so much for Smyly. Did show a lot of promise when with the Tigers, and like a lot of fans, were disappointed when he was traded for David Price. But his time in Tampa has been anything but smooth. Showed flashes of promise but oft injured during his tenure. Last year, healthy enough to log 30 starts but was less than effective, logging a 4.88 ERA, FIP of4.49. Plus, he has only two more seasons before he can hit the open market.
Two teams developing their own pitching, to an extent.
How unfortunate for Mallex. He opens the day with one organization where he’s blocked in center and (assuming the Rays don’t trade him today) ends the day in yet another organization where he’s blocked in center.
Don’t forget that middle part of the day when he was briefly on a third team where he was also blocked in center.
Yes, let’s hope he doesn’t get flipped to Anaheim!
At least he didn’t fly to Seattle right away. Much shorter move to Tampa.
So is this Wade Miley 2.0?
Oh no… Smyly>Miley
I’ve seen moves like these before…
Did Mallex at least get a hat for his time with the Mariners?
Productive offseason in Seattle.
Trade Walker for Segura so Segura can be every day SS. Segura was not a great defensive player last year, and he played 137 games at 2nd base. But assuming the bat plays in ’17 the way it did in ’16, you probably added 3-4 wins there.
Smyly isn’t cost controlled like Walker, but if healthy, he’s probably the better pitcher next year (although long term I still like Walker better. That if healthy clause can be an issue with Smyly). So let’s call that 1-2 wins.
Dyson should be a nice everyday compliment to Martin, and Seattle could have the best defensive outfield in the game. Maybe another 2-3 wins added.
The only pick-up I dislike is Gallardo. He just isn’t good anymore.
I agree with most of this, however, I’m fine with the Gallardo trade considering what we gave up. Seth Smith is not a good defensive outfielder and he isn’t that great of a hitter. Yes, he saw a lot of pitches but I’d much rather have Gallardo’s upside than a safe Seth Smith. With the right clubhouse (teammates and coaches) YG is going to be just what we need as a 5th starter. The pressure to win as a 5 is much different than it was for him last year.
While Seth Smith offers abilities with the bat it seems like Dipoto is trying to form solid defense in the outfield, compared to last year with Cruz and Smith out there. Given the surplus of outfield options Seattle has at least they got something for Smith. You could do a lot worse than having Gallardo as your #5 starter. You figure Felix, Iwakuma, Smyly, Paxton, Gallardo.
He’s only a year removed from a 4.00 fip, 4.31 xfip 2.4 WAR season with the Rangers. And you figure moving to safeco offers decent hope those numbers with Baltimore decrease. Moving from the AL East to the AL West certainly has its benefits.
Thank you Seattle for adding some life into what has been a very boring off season since the Chris Sale trade! They’ve done what? 4 trades in like a week?
You will love Mallex, great person, athlete, and baseball player!
I think both
I love Jerry DiPoto. He runs real MLB teams the way I play MLB The Show on Franchise Mode.
At what point do we start calling DiPoto Billy Beane Jr.?
This team is a split image of the WS Royals with Defense and Speed now, except our overall team OBP is a lot higher & we were 3rd in HRs in 2016. We lost some HR power in Smith/Gutz combo, but we got it back with Segura & Valencia & Volgerbach.
This team is going to be a huge threat this year. Last year was a Blast to watch them, but this year is even better from my perspective!
This trade makes sense for the mariners… they get a young controllable pitcher who has a high ceiling and he is left handed. He fits well with the team and will do well at safeco.
They traded a great young arm and another good young outfieilder but the Mariners window is 2 to 3 years max with Cano and Cruz getting up there. They are in win now mode. Luiz was far enough away from the big leagues to justify trading him , and Mallex doesnt have a spot in seattle. They have ben gamel , and just traded for dyson and got Haniger who they are super high on. You gotta believe in what youre doing and dipoto definitely does.
We will see how this plays out , but smyly as your 4 is pretty solid
Smyly does not have a high ceiling people. He’s not just breaking in and super young. He’s pretty much is who he is. The only thing that could bring his era from 5 to maybe 4 is safeco. But the bombs hit off him im not sure it’ll matter
The only thing that really complicates maters to me is when they put that green crap on them. Salt, butter, bacon, cheese, and a lot of black pepper please…
People on here are saying the Mariners are pretty much penciled into the World Series this year because they got Smyly, Segura, Dyson, and Gallardo? I think they forgot how tough the American League is and the Mariners aren’t even the best team in their own division, they are still behind the Rangers and Astros. The Mariners still won’t make the playoffs again this year, so maybe Dipoto can make about 50 more trades next offseason to try and have a competitive team.
They arent penciled into the world series… no team is penciled in to the world series its a long season.
But you cant deny that the roster needed to be turned over.. Jack Zurendcik left the roster in shambles and bill bavasi did worse before him. Its only been a year and he has put a competitive team on the field that has the CHANCE to contend. I wouldnt say they are behind the astros either. The Astros get all this hype , they didnt answer it last year. Texas is the best team in the division. But all of the teams in the west have question marks. The Ms have a legit chance at the Wildcard and a decent chance to have a say in the division if they perform consistently
So the Astros are going to be bad in 2017 because they didn’t live up to expectations in 2016? Sound logic. In 2014 the nats were good, in 2015 they were not, in 2016 they were again. What a teams record was the previous year isn’t a great method to look at how they will be the next year.
For example, a team like texas, had a much better record than they should have because they won an unsustainably high number of close games.
Its debatable since rangers lost a bit of players, astros are a bit better but theres always a good chance
I so wanted my Tigers to trade for Mallex. He gets dealt twice in one day and both times my Tigers fail to get them. They will regret this. He will become a very good major league player and just what the Tigers needed…. a speedy left handed hitter, who can play all 3 outfield positions.
Tampa Bay seems to be collecting CF’s. Time for Avila to make some phone calls. Keimeier would look nice in Detroit and I wouldn’t mind Smith, either. Perhaps they might have some interest in JD Martinez to bat cleanup, or a Wilson for the bullpen.
I promise you KK is about untouchable as you can get
I wonder if Jerry Dipoto geta paid commission from MLBTR for every trade he makes, cuz he should lol
DiPoto is more active than a GM in a video game
I hope Mallex goes into the HOF as a mariner one day
Mallex has rave reviews on his defense
This could have ended up a good day for the White Sox. This could possibly tip Houstons hand on Quintana. I think if I were Pittsburgh Id try to tie up the Sox office phones.
Hmm sounds familiar everyone penciling in the M’s to win the division… the roster looks good on paper but will most likely underachieve again. And eventually get Dipoto fired after all these trades don’t pan out. You can’t expect you to just get a group of new guys and think the chemistry is going to be good enough to win a lot of games let alone the division just cause they should ON PAPER… that’s the reason to the Rangers and Astros have consistent success in the West they have a tight knit core of players not a new team every year like the rest of the division..
Hold the boat on the continued success in Houston….they were just ok last year. I havent called the Ms division champs….but ill say that DiPoto has tried to build an actual team and NOT just thrown players together. He had a highly fly ball prone rotation in a fairly big park….brought in Dyson and they have others who can go chase with the best. Now they add Smyly who’s m.o. plays right into their strength. NONE of the west teams are a lock….and I wouldnt say any of them have a long stretch of unbroken success.
Seattle has had a better record than Houston in 3 of the past 4 seasons, including being better last season. I think Houston is still probably the team to beat in that division, but it’s hardly a lock and Seattle is right up there with them.
I have to say…i like what Seattle has done this offseason….this is all on paper…i get that….but i feel as a whole….The M’s have built a fairly balanced team….Time will tell
I like what Seattle has done this off season. Dipoto has given this team a CHANCE to go to the post season.. A lot of things have to go their way, though. Hernandez, ,Gallardo and Smyly have to stay healthy and reverse their current downward trends. Iwakuma must stay healthy and Paxton has to continue to improve. Most of all the projections have to be wrong about the infield core and Cruz. They need, at least, one more good year out of all of them without injuries. The bull pen? Who knows. But he’s given them a chance to win.
The West may just be a season long battle. Any of the top 3 or 4 teams could be 1st pr 4th depending of health, regression and luck.That’s nothing new.
Will be a fun season to watch.
Thanks Hart for giving up on Smith so quickly. What happens when Kemp goes down early this year or Nick still can’t hit HR’s????
Ariel Miranda is potentially better than Drew Smyly and has not even been given a chance….10 games started 5w-2L and a 3.54 era, hardly shabby. Smyly is reasonably decent I suppose.
I see it as Mariners trading potential for a more sure thing, Smyly. On one hand, it’s risky to trade prospects that look as appealing as Gohara, Yarbrough, Vargas, and Smith (ask A.J. Preller, and not just on Smith). On the other, it can be too precious to over value prospect status. Be fun seeing how these young guys look in a few years.
Thats reasonable…but the Reds balked at Gohara’s shoulder in the deal for Cozart, and it fell apart. M’s haven’t dealt any major prospects, and its a fairly weak system. Rays and Braves take the gambles they need to take and Mariners try and work with a mlb roster that has potential for the post season. This is just how deals should be done. DiPoto is giving his team a chance to win…which is the overall goal. Sometimes I think we miss that point…that its not just about overvaluing prospects…but dealing to win.
And winning can sometimes mean holding on to prospects you think can help you win, It’s one of the hardest decisions a front office has to make. They don’t get enough credit for the degree of difficulty in evaluating such young men.
Very tough…this also isn’t necessarily DiPotos organization yet. He’s had one draft. But the odds on most prospects arent great….especially that they’ll EVER be the players they are dealt for. Prospects are tiered just like the draft. The difference in a 1st and 5th rounder talent wise is far wider that 5th and 10th…take a few years ago when everyone thought KC was crazy for trading Wil Myers for James Shields….Wil Myers still hasnt really shown anything special….he was solid on the surface in 2016…but the underlying numbers weren’t great. If the Mariners had a vaunted system that’d be one thing…Gohara wouldn’t be that highly ranked in most others.
Love these GMs that come in and somehow equate a high number of personnel moves with immediate improvement. Maybe it works for the Ms but feels like the Padres approach from a couple years ago. It takes time to build a team and the most reliable way is to draft and develop rather than picking up other’s scraps and trying to cobble something together.