The Mariners announced that they and first baseman/outfielder Sam Travis have agreed to a minor league contract. Travis was previously with the Rangers, who acquired him from the Red Sox in January.
Travis was a second-round pick in 2014 who was once regarded as a high-end prospect. He was quite productive in Boston’s minor league system through 2017, but success in the majors has been hard to come by so far. The 27-year-old hit a subpar .230/.288/.371 with seven home runs in 278 plate appearances as a member of the Red Sox from 2017-19. He didn’t appear in the majors last season.
Travis will now join a team that has a set first baseman in Evan White. While White didn’t hit much in 2020, the Mariners signed him to a six-year, $24MM contract before then, and he went on to win a Gold Glove Award as a rookie. Travis has also seen some action in the corner outfield, though, so he could factor in there for the Mariners if he earns a roster spot.
love sam travis wish he was still with the sox
One of the greatest spring training hitters of all time
Another high rated prospect drifting into milb-free agent obscurity.
I always thought he was a bit overrated as a prospect honestly. His bat just never really impressed me much.
Of course he was, he was a bosox prospect
Yaaaaawn!
Makes sense for the Mariners I suppose, but why would Travis sin with the M’s? White isn’t going anywhere and the M’s have a large supply of better outfielders. Couldn’t Travis find a place with a better chance of playing?
Maybe if Evan White ends up needing a month in AAA or gets hurt he could start 20-30 games at first if he’s hitting.
Organizational filler. They’ll either have France, Moore, or a veteran major-leaguer cover first if White needs more time (and he probably does).
Stevil – exactly! Organizational filler! Sam Travis has never hit well enough to stick in the mlb, but someone needs to play 1B and corner outfield in AAA (and pray he is not needed in the mlb). Half or more of the roster at most AAA teams is organizational filler. On a rare occasion someone finds the swing or the right pitching coach to unlock the potential, but that usually does not happen to 27 years olds like Travis.
He does not walk much either….low OBP….
If you are going to sin (sic) with anyone, why not sin in Seattle.
Perhaps the Mariners’ true target is non-tendered leftfielder Kyle Schwarber, who was Sam Travis’ college teammate at Indiana University:
https://www.baseball-reference.com/draft/?key_school=17a57ad2&exact=1&query_type=key_school
.. or not.
Why would Seattle want Schwarber unless as a DH. Not sure how much he would cost but I think they go with France Moore Seager etc as DH this season.
He won’t play in front of Lewis which will be moved there with Kelenic taking CF or maybe RF depending on Haniger. I really see little need for Seattle to get him. They tried a Schwarber look a like in Vogelbach and he had a good couple months went to an AS game and is now gone.
Kyle Schwarber could provide a bridge in left field until Seattle’s touted outfield prospects are ready. His lefthanded bat could complement outfielders Kyle Lewis and Mitch Haniger in the Mariners righty-heavy lineup.
Schwarber’s defensive deficiencies are overblown:
https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=lf&stats=fld&lg=all&qual=y&type=1&season=2020&month=0&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2017-01-01&enddate=2020-12-31&sort=25,d
Jarred Kelenic is highly unlikely to be on Seattle’s Opening Day roster.
Muskie, exactly. Haniger is no guarantee with his recent injuries. Kelenic will be down at least a month and still need a #4 while having room at DH.
muskie73, that could be a possibility. I wouldn’t expect a move like that by Dipoto until well after the Rule 5.
Sam Travis, yet another failed high draft pick by the Red Sox. I’m really hoping that Chaim Bloom is a better talent evaluator than the previous regimes were. You see so many of the better teams (LAD, Braves, Rays, etc..) churn out prospect after prospect but Boston has really done poorly with this as of late. They certainly hit on Mookie Betts 8+ years ago and have done pretty well in the IFA market (Devers, Bogarts, Vasquez), but they really don’t have much above average talent on their roster that came directly from the draft. We were hoping that Benintendi would be an all-star selection but he keeps regressing. Maybe the next crop will show something (Casas, Duran, Dalbec, Houck) but Chaim really needs to hit on some draft picks and create a pipeline of talent to help supplement the big league club every year. It’s been proven that you cannot maintain success in MLB with just FA signings and trades. You have to inject cheap, talented youth into your team every year in order to build a perennial contender. Bloom had a great track record of this in Tampa; hopefully he brings in the right scouts to help him do the same here in Boston.
Do you know how to separate paragraphs with the “enter” button?
Sounds like dipoto trying to add to the bench or find another Dylan moore style breakout candidate. otherwise a pretty underwhelming move from Jerry, Im still waiting on the bullpen moves….
It’s a minor-league deal for a player that doesn’t require a roster spot.
Every team in baseball makes these kinds of moves. The free agent market was more or less on hold until the non-tender deadline passed.
Leave it to the Mariners to sign a guy who couldn’t crack a 60 man roster for their major league club.
Leave it to an oblivious fan to assume a deal like this actually means something.
You commented 3 times on a move that means nothing (in your own words). Yet you dutifully defended Dipoto while being a total jerk for no reason whatsoever.
If he would have said, “leave it to the Mariners to make a move that doesn’t actually mean anything”, you would’ve told them how important organizational filler is. It’s just what you do.
Leave it to the generic Mariners ‘fan’ to not read and understand this is a minor league signing for depth.
Red Sox first baseman without power. Carlos Quintana II