Mariners outfielder Mallex Smith and right-handers Bryan Shaw and Jimmy Yacabonis have elected free agency, Greg Johns of MLB.com tweets. The Mariners outrighted all three players in September.
Seattle had high hopes for Smith when it acquired him from Tampa Bay before 2019 in a deal that also involved catcher Mike Zunino, among others. The Mariners seemed right to be bullish on Smith, who was coming off a 3.5-fWAR, 40-steal season at the time. Smith has continued as a stolen base threat since then (he swiped 40 bags in 2019), but the 27-year-old has otherwise struggled. He finished his M’s tenure with 613 plate appearances of .220/.290/.323 hitting and six home runs.
It was also an awful 2020 for Shaw, continuing a downward trend for the once-effective Cleveland reliever. After a woeful two-year stint in Colorado, Shaw joined the Mariners on a big league contract in July, but the deal didn’t work out for either side. The 32-year-old wound up tossing six frames, yielding 12 earned runs on 13 hits and issuing six walks in Seattle.
Yacabonis joined the Mariners in a minor trade with the Padres in August, but he also didn’t establish himself in the M’s bullpen. The 28-year-old gave up one earned runs on two hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings.
YACABONIS!
I have no doubt Mallex Smith finds a big league contract next season
Should be plenty of interest in Mallex Smith with all 30 teams willing to offer a minors deal. All he needs is one or two teams to offer a big league job.
Shaw needs to retire he has been brutal last 3 years.
Mallex Smith is one of the worst players I’ve ever seen. Can’t hit, can’t catch routine fly balls, is a terrible baserunner, can’t take a walk. Good riddance
Apt description.
Ditto on Mallex. He was interviewed early on in his Mariner career by local sports radio and stated that he wore number 0 because that’s how much he cared about what the fans or anybody else thought of him. His play in the field, reminiscent of an average Babe Ruth League outfielder, was inexplicable. Won’t miss him for a nanosecond.
Adding .70 over batting ave. may not be great but is hardly can’t take a walk. If he hits .280 with a .350 oba, that would be considered good.
Ah, Mallex, we hardly knew ye.
Smith will end up back in Tampa Bay.
I could see Cleveland going after him in place of delino
If Terrance Gore can find his way on a playoff roster (seemingly every season) why can’t Smith? At least Smith has shown to be capable with the bat in the past. Might not be as fast, but Smith is still fast and can steal a base. 78% stolen base rate compared to 82% for Gore.
You have to be able to get on base to be able to steal bases….
Not true. Pinch runners do not. That may be all he is good for
Back in TB and, … find success.
At the time of the Zunino-Smith trade, I said that “I would rather have Zunino.” When the Mariners first acquired Smith from the Braves (before flipping him to Tampa Bay, I said “I would rather have Gohara.” I will give myself a 1.5 score out of two because even though Gohara didn’t pan out, Smith was still brutal.
Gohara, I haven’t heard that name in awhile. I wonder how he feels about the Braves being one game away from the World Series and he’s 24 and not on a team.
He was the first of the Braves new crop of pitching prospects to come up in 17. When I first saw him pitch I was like, holy cow, this guy could be our CC. Big lefty, threw mid 90s with a good breaking pitch and had good control. Then he came to camp out of shape in 18, got hurt, and it was downhill for there.
Me thinks that GMDM will hold up the clock on both Kyle Isbel & K. Lee & sign M. Smith to a one year deal to platoon with Bubba in CF which doesn’t excite me but I got this sneaking suspicion….
Yacabonis is really the only guy here worthy of a flyer. I’m sure Smith will have his choice of minor league deals, but he will struggle to find a guaranteed deal much over $1M. Shaw is completely shot. His best chance is to go to the Independent League and try to find his stuff there.