Mike Leake’s name surfaced in trade rumblings surrounding the Mariners and Padres yesterday, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweets today that Seattle has approached Leake about the possibility of waiving his no-trade protection. The club has not yet taken that step with shortstop Jean Segura, however. It’s not known whether Leake has made a decision on the matter, but if he does approve a deal, he’ll quickly become among the game’s likeliest trade candidates. The Mariners are taking a step back and “reimagining” their roster while also paring back the payroll, and although the Cardinals are on the hook for a notable portion of Leake’s salary, the Mariners still owe him $27MM over the next two seasons. Leake already waived a no-trade clause once to approve a deal to Seattle, and speculatively speaking, perhaps he’d welcome a move to the Padres as a San Diego native. Importantly, though, Rosenthal notes that Leake is “mulling other potential options,” so it seems other destinations could be in the discussion phase.
As for Segura, the 28-year-old (29 in March) has batted .302/.341/.425 through 1198 plate appearances as a Mariner and has another four years and $58MM remaining on his contract. Like Leake, he can block a trade to any team.
A bit more on the Mariners…
- The Mariners announced that they’ve hired Jared Sandberg away from the Rays as their new Major League field coordinator. In his new role, Sandberg, who’d managed the Rays’ Triple-A affiliate for the past four seasons, will be a part of manager Scott Servais’ staff. “Jared brings a lot of experience in building relationships with young players, having managed successful teams in Durham,” said GM Jerry Dipoto. “He has a demonstrated track record of using a wide expanse of tools, from data analytics to sports psychology to traditional baseball education, and allowing each of those things to affect his decision-making. We think he is going to impact our staff in the ability to create order, deliver messages and convey plans, both among our staff and our players.” He’s managed at five different levels in the Rays’ system since retiring as a player back in 2007.
- Seattle also announced that 2018 bullpen coach Brian De Lunas has been promoted to director of pitching development and strategies. Jim Brower, an assistant coach in ’18, will be the team’s new bullpen coach in 2019. Meanwhile, former Rangers pitching prospect Cody Buckel, is moving up from a role as an organizational pitching coach to the role of pitching strategist. Dipoto explained in a press release that De Lunas “will work with pitchers, pitching coaches and analysts both in Seattle and throughout our Player Development system” in an effort to “optimize development and performance.” He’ll also weigh in on pitching evaluations and acquisitions. Buckel will assist him in all of those facets while focusing on using technology to further the team’s development processes.
All that fancy new analytics stuff and high performance focus is fairly useless if you deal all your good players. You can’t polish a turd.
They didn’t win with all those good players.
Seattle has not been to the postseason since 2001 but the Mariners have a cumulative winning record over the past three seasons. In fact, the M’s have the fifth-best aggregate record in the American League over that three-year span.
What’s the point? If they are spending all that money to miss October. They have the option to do a quick rebuild now with valuable players. This isn’t like San Fran where most of them have aged
Fifth best aggregate record likely gets you on the road in a wild card game. No one is saying they will give Segura away but injuries aside, they are not expected to compete with Houston any time soon. With the A’s and Angels probably getting better, they should look to build s team ready to win it all in 2020. With Cruz and now Paxton gone and others to follow, they should do a full rebuild. In today’s game you won’t win being partially pregnant.
The Ms have miscalculated and come up with over .500 teams that arent quite good enough for the playoffs. To me that’s disheartening to fans in a way worse than even tanking would be. Smart and even average fans can grasp what Chicago and Houston accomplished. DiPoto keeps trading out average pieces.
“Smart and even average fans”… The arrogance in this statement…. Seriously.
It may be “correct” for a team to do a tear down and full rebuild. I won’t argue that, but, a team could easily wind up being what the Mariners are now….
I don’t think a fan is stupid or below average for being unhappy watching a losing baseball team… Everyone wants a championship, but on average it takes 30 years. And that’s assuming parity…
You could argue the “smart” fans are the ones who want meaningful baseball at least 5 months a year.
Aircool….I’m saying that fans get sick of winning 85 games about as much at they get sick of winning 75. Being perpetually just ok isnt getting it done and that’s the Seattle MO.
I wasnt trying to make some arrogant statement…only saying that the fan bases now understand what a team is trying to do if they sell off most of the team. You just went all hostile on what’s getting lost due to printed word.
I’m saying that Seattle IS alienating the fan base by these attempts at 87 wins. They have Houston and Oakland very clearly ahead of them. They trade sideways and keep that up. They hedge bets on bad odds. They got old and without a system of any depth. It’s like they were holding onto a World Series champ for too long. I honestly think this Mariner team overplayed expectation. This isnt the Angels where they will toss money at stuff. It’s a highly managed attempt to just not suck…that’s all….and how is the fan base not discontent missing the playoffs and finishing a few games over .500?
I’m sorry….but I’ll stand by my statement that ANY fan that really cares about the team will understand a rebuild in light of what other teams have done. You make it into more than I was trying to say.
How does it on average take 30 years? Were not even talking same organizations over time. Marlins have won twice…..no team is connected to another. I’m talking the way the Mariners are operating as of now. Each baseball season is an entity into itself. You want to make a point by trying to assume something about my statement…and then go on and kind of make the same point.
Sorry….but I see team comment sections and it’s the ridiculous casual fans that show up an complain that the Mariners shouldnt resign Cano next season….or “we need to buy Mookie Betts”. They have no concept of how baseball is even won…and they are bandwagon blowhards. They complain to complain
Next year the Seattle Mariners will pay roughly $2.565 million to Mitch Haniger, Edwin Diaz, Marco Gonzales and Mallex Smith, who this year combined for 15.1 fWAR, valued at $120.6 million.
Let that sink in:. $2.565 million for four players who posted $120.6 million in value this year. And the Mariners retain a combined 17 years of team control.
Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto traded for three of those four players (and for Jean Segura and Mike Leake as well).
Well said Jerry
“let that sink in…these 4 players will make the team a contender” – said an absolute moron
“He did not say that.” – Says the person who actually read the post.
Please get over yourself. He’s pointing out that Dipoto has put together a great core of cheap, controllable talent. He’s made mistakes also but those four moves are to be lauded. Granted you can look to most teams now days and find young, cheap, controllable talent.
Let this sink in… so far Trader Jerry has traded Gohara, Burrows, Zunino, Yarbrough, Vargas, and lottery tickets for Smith and lottery tickets.
Or Mike Zunino and lottery tickets for Mallex Smith and lottery tickets.
Seattle has exploited a market inefficiency by trading overvalued prospects for undervalued post-prospects with years of team control.
A single lottery ticket can pay a big return but that does make lottery tickets wise investments.
I doubt the Mariners will achieve the postseason in 2019 (and I was not optimistic even before the trades of Zunino and James Paxton). Nevertheless the M’s could field a competitive team that provides entertainment value while remaining financially viable.
What? Haniger and Gonzales aren’t “lottery tickets.” They are honest to goodness good players on the rise
Mitch Haniger and Marco Gonzales are among the referenced “post-prospects with years of team control” acquired by Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto.
Dipoto traded away prospects who were no more than lottery tickets.
“You can’t polish a turd.”
Actually you can. They proved it on Myth Busters.
Was hoping Yanks would get Segura as stopgap until Didi cane back – don’t need another 300 million dollar contract
No one does. I think even 200mil is ridiculous. Segura apparently has an attitude problem, but I think brining in Sandburg to work as a sort of go-between should help with relationships in the clubhouse. His role I assume is sort of a non-player clubhouse leader, or so his job description suggests.
As for all the other analytical hirings it may be that the m’s are looking to make due with our crap farm system and hope to turn it into an analytical gem… is that likely? No. Worth a shot? Sure. It’s like if you don’t ask the question will you won’t get an answer.
I think Leake is a good innings eater and anyone would be happy to have him. His yield won’t be great for prospects due to his salary.
Ok wait a minute you weren’t there during the issue he had with Gordon. Now I’m going to cut him a break he is a young man that has gone through a lot. Been traded how many years in a row the last year with Milwaukee he and his wife had a sick newborn that ended up passing away during the season and tried to deal with that all along trying to play. He was professional about but yet he is still human he might have just been having a bad day. I would love to have him back in Milwaukee and he is a better man then Manny could ever be. I’m not going off on anyone just letting you know there might be more going on in his life then anyone knows and i could be wrong too who knows
I said “apparently has an attitude problem.” And no I wasn’t in the clubhouse during the altercation, and I fail to see your point about that b/c neither were you. Also Segura’s newborn child did not pass this summer, but that happened several years ago. He and his wife did have a child this summer who is doing just fine. Segura is a grown man, Machado is a child, but there’s no denying his talent.
Apparently has an attitude problem? Dude, just stop.
Hey wasn’t trying to pick you off or say anything bad about you I was just making a point and sorry if I took it wrong have a Happy Thanksgiving
tsolid that’s coming from reporters that are consistently around the team… I don’t know what you’re getting at? Stubby you didn’t offend me, I just figured I’d get some facts out there to you that’s all. Happy Thanksgiving :)
You know my wife says that a lot to me lol. Starting to think she has a point when she says she doesn’t get me
From what I understood, Jean Segura was trying to hold his half-assing PED using millionaire teammates accountable, and was roughed up for it. While I may have mis-heard, if true, give me nine of that guy and I’ll root for that team any day…
Only that imbecile Dipoto would try the “we aren’t rebuilding but we are open to trading everyone” method. Gross…..
For the right deal why shouldn’t a team be open to trading their players for the right package? Some people should really stick to sports talk radio
Dipoto at least keeps it interesting and his fans tuned in so I guess that’s good
Why can’t he just come right out and say they’re rebuilding? That’s what bothers me about what Dipoto said. Admit it. You’re rebuilding. Other teams have done and admitted it. The Detroit Tigers management admitted they’re rebuilding. Why can’t the Mariners admit it? Do they think they’re fooling the fans?
Eric Hosmer for Robinson Cano Kyle Seager or Mike Leake as the main pieces
Leakes contract off the books after 2020
Seagers after 2021
Padres put cano at 1st mariners clear boat load of salary. Make it work somehow but padres should try as hard as possible to get out from under the hosmer deal. Seattle can least DH/1B him
Hosmer isn’t going anywhere. What would have been the point to give him a franchise record contract and trade him 11 months later? Makes no sense.
You may have noticed that not much that Waiting says makes sense.
Thanks for stopping by and contributing nothing of value to the conversation padfather. Much appreciated. Please make sure to embrace your family and friends this thanksgiving season by offering nothing of value to their lives as well.
That’s the single most dickish comment I’ve read here in more than a decade.
What an ignorant thing to say about another person’s family. :0( Congratulations.
Truly this guys name should be..Waiting for the hardest part
Same thing preller did with shields. Get out from under it soon as you can.
Getting rid of Hosmer would speak to Fowler’s impulse (right or wrong, usually wrong). They’re basically doing the same with Myers. We signed him to the extension in Jan. 2017 with the plan on him becoming a franchise cornerstone, and now apparently he’s on the block after just two seasons.
I’m not saying you’re wrong in that it makes no sense to trade Hosmer/Myers – what I am saying is that the ownership appears to lack foresight and gets impatient, which doesn’t help establish a long-term plan to win.
I wish the Brewers would trade for Myers and put him at first then capitalize on Aguilar high trade value
Eric Hosmer is owed: 21 mill the next 4 years- 2019 2020 2021 and 2022. Then a player opt in for 3 years 13 mill per year for 2023 2024 and 2025.
Cano is owed 24 mill a season until 2023.
Padres would get out from hosmer opting in for 2 more years by taking on cano in a swap.
Preferably it would be hosmer and cash for seager and Leake.
But id take a hosmer cano deal.
Why would any team take on a 36-year-old steroid user that is owed $120 million and can no longer play 2B or maybe even 1B? That is plain old stupid. Preller didn’t get his job by being stupid and he sure didn’t get into Cornell by being stupid. You, on the other hand, are pretty consistent in that regard.
Like I said, that guy NEVER says anything that makes sense.
Same reason they took on an 8 year 144 mill 1B who has no power. Declined pretty badly last year. And is a butcher at 1st already.
Don’t tell me you think hosmer is actually good. And 120 mill for a guy who proved he can at least hit vs 124 mill for a guy who can’t do anything- cant hit cant play defense cant offer offense that justifies his position.
Gonna be great watching hosmer as a padre until 2025. Gonna be SO awesome paying him 124 mill to:
Suck at 1st defensively- negative double digits defensive rating nice!
Suck at power- .398 slg .145 iso NICE
And suck at being a hitter- 5% below league average.
Man future sure is bright. I can see how you all think hosmer is worth keeping around compared to cano
Who in limited abs still posted a 36% above league average production at the plate. Walked as much as hosmer at 9% but is less- 21 for hosmer 13 for cano. And had 20 points higher iso.
Idk why anyone would want a better hitter if we are paying 20 mill for 1B and neither is good at defense.
Preller is gonna lose his job if he hands out another stupid contract like Shields, Hosmer, Myers. He was stupid enough to do those contracts. He will also lose his job if he trades away valuable assets , Turner and Grandal come to mind, if he decides to pull the trigger for Thor or Suarez and neither live up to the hype.
Waiting, simply put you don’t try to get out of a bad contract by taking on an even worse one. The Padres allegedly have the best farm system. A better solution might be to package excess but still deemed top shelf young talent with Hosmer to a team that can handle the finances (expect the Padres to still eat some salary), has a 1B need and is better equipped to win now. I’m not going to project teams but that is a plausible option going into the winter meetings. You still might not find any takers unless you pay down his salary to a cost that it makes more sense to keep him and hope for the best.
But if he does nothing, his job should be gone so why not double down on a talent like Thor? Given his injury history I don’t expect the cost to me much more than Paxton despite the NY public rant. No team should be stupid enough to give up multiple can’t miss players. One hot shot youngster plus other nice pieces should be enough. The Mets will try to get substantially more and perhaps will in July if he stays healthy but to trade for him now, you have to expect at least 6 weeks on the DL and hope they happen early in the season.
Shields turned into Tatis Jr.
The best prospect the Padres have had since TG.
He may not always make great decisions but he makes many more good ones than most….as evidenced by taking all those “stars” he acquired back in 2015 and turning them into the best Farm system possibly in history.
Best farm system in history?
HAHAHA
Padres history sure, it is a stretch for all time history
“Shields turned into Tatis”
Something something about a blind squirrel and a nut
First of all I said “possibly”….Second of all after this next Draft and one more season for the low level prospects you may just understand.
8 top 100 and once Mejia/Tatis/Urias are no longer eligible the Padres will still have the #1 system.
Because it’s about the “next” five years for the Padres….not the last.
You seriously think Cano will be more valuable “to the Padres” in 2020-2022 than Hosmer?
If not….then what’s the point of that trade?
Padres history? Okay I can buy that.
All time? Nope not even close, you have a better shot at winning the WS next year than the best farm system ever.
Hell the recent Astros system blows the Padres away… and those 90’s Yankees and early 80’s Mets systems were insane and we can go back to other Yankees and Dodgers systems.
Padres have a nice group but not anywhere close to the best and not even the best in recent history.
I will say it is hard to compare current and past farm systems because of hindsight bias on how players end up performing.
Robinson Cano posted a UZR/150 of 9.3 with 4 Defensive Runs Saved in only 561.1 innings at second base this year while posting 2.9 fWAR, valued at $23.6 million, in only 80 games:
link to fangraphs.com
Your judging the Astros system on the major leaguers they became…..how can you say the Padres system isn’t better until they actual advance for comparison?
As Friarfaithful pointed out….you are biased based on the Astros recent success.
Can’t compare them on that basis for 3-4 more years or so.
Plus as I said…..the Padres have the 6th pick this year…..the system isn’t done being assembled yet.
BTW….I seriously don’t recall,did the Astros have 5 in the top 35 and 8 in the top 92?
Adding in who they pick in June they will have “9” in the top 100.
Like how you got on your alternative accounts and liked your posts. Good job.
Whatever helps you sleep at night buddy.
Counting down votes instead of sheep tonight? Lol I kid.
No way the padres trade Hosmer. He has his down years then bounces back to career norm numbers. Wil Myers would be traded first and why the heck would anyone take back Cano in a deal..
Well, if his Padres contract is anything like his career norms you’re gonna get 4 good years and 4 pretty terrible years
Since coming into the league in 2011 here is his WAR
1.0, -1.4, 3.1, -0.2, 3.5, 0.2, 4.1, -0.1
So hey he’s due an awesome year next year and then gonna give them some terrible years in 2020, 2022, and 2024.
Also, i seriously do not know how Hosmer got the reputation of being good at 1B defensively winning 2 GGs. It still baffles me to this day.
Another commenter (Waiting) who I just use as an automatic downvote. That might be the single worst comment i’ve ever seen on here. Congratulations, you loser.
Same guy saying the Giants should be trading away Belt and Crawford and signing Josh Harrison and Brian Dozier. Nothing he says makes sense, just wants to be known.
The self proclaimed mlb troll talking about attention now THATS adorable.
We can’t give you the love and affection and attention mommy and daddy never did 1600. Sorry. Wish we could but we cant and trolling your heart out isnt gonna fix that man. Sorry. If you need to resolve any issues I can try to help find you a therapist or something.
“the self proclaimed mlb troll” I only troll Slevin, Xabial, and other moronic Yankee commenters. If you see the other threads I do talk seriously.
Trade them yes sign old guys in their place no – go young Giants
I feel like you two are the same troll.
I ironically troll, I think waiting trolls unironically. And I mainly just troll Yankee threads. Waiting comments on everything.
Trade Segura to the Brewers for Corey Ray.
I thought Xabial had an army… but holy crap this Waitings the Hardest Part guy is a dictator when it comes to upvoting and downvoting
You’re the one troll nobody is gonna give sympathy to.
That Hosmer deal is vector to become the worst contract in MLB history. The Hayward deal is up there but he still provides defense and baserunning at above average levels so he’s not a complete hole in the lineup. Hosmer’s d sucks, bat sucks, and running sucks. Plus the Hosmer deal came in the new era where 1B can be filled from a deep field of bat first bargain price free agents.
Nope. Worst contract in MLB history is always going to be Bonilla. Sutter is up there. Cano too.
But, yeah, Hosmer is bad. As a Padres fan, I didn’t quite realize how bad but, man….I am most disappointed by the fielding. I knew he couldn’t hit, but I’m honestly stunned at how bad his defense was this year.
Robinson Cano has posted 20.7 fWAR. valued at $163.7 million, in the first five years of his 10-year, $240 million contract with Seattle.
Steamer projects Cano to again earn his $24 million annual salary with 3.0 WAR in 2019 after Cano posted 2.9 fWAR, valued at $23.6 million, in only 80 games this year.
The contract has been good so far but its tail end will depend on whether Cano ages like a David Ortiz or an Edgar Martinez.
Well technically didn’t both of them end with a good season hitting over .300? They both aged pretty well.
The Mariners will be satisfied if Robinson Cano ages like either David Ortiz or Edgar Martinez.
Ryan Howard might have been a better choice to use than Edgar Martinez.
Not even close.
How can you not mention Chris Davis? Easily the worst imo. Hosmer is one year in. Heyward has managed to still provide gold glove defense in RF and the occasional hot streak. Bonilla, Sutton, and Cano all at least had positive contributions to the team. Davis is just a massive dead weight that actively makes the Orioles a worse team and will likely keep them that way until his contract is up.
I don’t know man. The Pujols, Cabrera, and Chris Davis contracts are going to be hard to beat. You can throw the Ellsbury Choo and Prince Fielder into the mix as being worse than Hosmer. Yes, it is a bad contract and it’s doubtful he will come anywhere close to living up to it. But, there are many other bad deals that dwarf the Hosmer contract.
How much is Leake really worth by himself? Right now he is projected for 1.5 WAR by Steamer. Assuming he was worth 3 WAR across two seasons and 9 million/WAR estimate from Fangraphs, Leake does not provide surplus value. So I think maybe worth Austin Allen and Luis Perdomo?
With a player like Leake you can’t really establish his value with WAR. It’s the exact problem many had when trying to project the contract he would get through free agency. He is only 31, signed for his final couple of prime years. He stays off the DL for the most part and is a solid #4 pitcher. Mike Leake will never be a superstar but knowing you can count on a quality start and decent innings out of your #4 spot in the rotation will always be seen as a plus. Just not at $18+ million a year. Get that down to about half that and you will get a quality prospect for him.
So what sort of prospect would you propose?
Mike Leake has only neutral value if one accepts the Steamer projection of 1.5 WAR in 2019 (if followed by the same in 2020).
The Steamer projection slices Leake’s per-start production in half from the 3.6 fWAR the righthander has posted in 36 starts with Seattle.
Not to be the armchair GM guy but if you trade any appreciating asset for depreciating ones, eventually that’s got to catch up with you. Especially when you’re drafting and PD is horrid and you don’t ever add in FA.