The Mariners announced that they’ve traded catching prospect David Banuelos to the Twins in exchange for international bonus money. Minnesota has also announced the deal, revealing that they’re sending $1MM of their $3.245MM pool to Seattle in the deal.
For the Mariners, the money added in tonight’s deal will allow them to pad their offer to Shohei Ohtani. Seattle’s international pool now sits at $2.5575MM, which still leaves them shy of the Rangers’ leading pool of $3.535MM but nonetheless allows them to sweeten their offer. Money, of course, isn’t thought to be the deciding factor when it comes to choosing a landing spot for Ohtani, but those of the seven finalists that are allowed to offer him more than $300K unsurprisingly appear to be putting forth their best effort to maximize their spending capacity. The Angels, for instance, are also set to reel in $1MM in bonus money from the Twins in a trade of their own.
The Twins will pick up a prospect that ranked 10th in a weak Mariners farm system, per MLB.com’s organizational rankings. Banuelos, 21, will give the Twins an intriguing prospect at what had been a relatively thin position in the organization. Seattle selected him in the fifth round of the 2017 draft out of Cal State Long Beach, and he went on to bat .236/.331/.394 with four homers and eight doubles in in short-season Class-A this summer. Banuelos, who threw out 38 percent of would-be base thieves, draws praise from MLB.com’s Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo for his plus arm behind the plate and strong plate discipline/on-base skills.
Shohei
They will not get the Sho Hey Kid.
Ichiro told him to go to Seattle the fans will love you and you will love the city. I am not going to guarantee he is coming here. This is a good sign though shows we still are in it
Because no other fan base will love him and without Ichiro telling him that he’d never consider Seattle.
That’s a large chunk of change for a weak prospect.
Wouldn’t say he’s weak, he’s the M’s #10 prospect on mlb.com. Really good defensive catcher.
Hes going to make tens of million a year in endorsements from Japan alone, because of his exposure in the MLB. This is why money has zero influence. Even the 3-4 million bonus isn’t enough to make a long term difference. He s not some south American kid who is going to sign away his future for a few extra up front dollars. I still cant see him going to the AL.
Why would he want to go to the inferior conference, the NL?
Because the NL is real baseball thats why
Jerry’s gettin his daily fix………
Nope. One could argue the other Jerry trades either didn’t make sense, lacked focus, or just plain random, but this one was made with someone in mind.
I can’t fault Jerry for this one. Actually respect him more for going all in, and going for it.
I guess you could say he gets “rave reviews” for his defense
I’m happy with the move, give up nothing really for a top ten prospect. This Ohtani stuff seems to be paying off for the twins.