The December 2018 trade that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to the Mets was a transformational moment in Mariners history, as it allowed Seattle to both escape a major salary commitment to Cano and also re-stock its farm system with some prime minor league talent in Jarred Kelenic and Justin Dunn. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto recently discussed the trade with The Athletic’s Corey Brock, looking back at how talks with the Mets developed, and how concurrent discussions with the Phillies about a Diaz trade helped make the Mets even more aggressive about swinging a deal to one-up their NL East rival.
More from around the AL West…
- An MRI revealed hip inflammation for Athletics righty Mike Fiers, and manager Bob Melvin told Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle (Twitter links) that Fiers will receive an injection and be rested for a couple of days. Fiers making the Opening Day roster is “a little bit of a long shot” for now, Melvin said. The manager said yesterday that A.J. Puk or Daulton Jefferies are candidates to fill in for Fiers if an IL trip is required, with Puk the favorite if he is able to get enough innings under his belt during Spring Training.
- Jo Adell is day-to-day with a knee contusion and will work out today, according to Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group (via Twitter). Adell had to leave Saturday’s game after a collision with the outfield wall, but the star Angels prospect doesn’t appear to have suffered any major injury setback.
- Top Astros pitching prospect Forrest Whitley will miss the 2021 season due to Tommy John surgery, but he won’t be moved from the 40-man roster to the 60-day injured list due to a roster rule, as The Athletic’s Jake Kaplan explains. Because Whitley doesn’t have any MLB service time and because he was optioned to the minors before March 16, the Astros can simply place him on the minor league IL. This means Houston will have to use a 40-man roster spot on Whitley all season, but the Astros are unlikely to burn a season of Whitley’s service time by moving him from the 40-man to the 60-day Major League injured list.
I’m sure they thought signing Cano was also a transformational moment.
Fortunately for them, they found someone willing to take their mistake off the hands
‘They’ were a completely different regime when Cano was signed.
Different regime as in very BAD one!
Transformational from an average team to a bad team saddled with a huge contract for a PED looser. who should be banned for life for cheating!
The curse of the cheaters begins
Yeah, guess it takes a few years for the curse to kick in huh?
There hasn’t been a season with fans since the ill gotten findings. Curse started this spring. Enjoy what’s about to come.
Also, the hot take “but, but, but, but, they did it too” is irrelevant. Worry about your own trash team and just be like “yea, we systematically cheated and got caught.” Stop being weak and just acknowledge it.
Hail BKBKBKBKBKBKBKBK, the karmic interpreter. Tell us please when will the Covid pandemic end, and what did we do as a world to deserve it.
“What did we do as a world to deserve it.”
I mean, where to begin? The environment. All the wars. Slavery. Genocide. That Zach Snyder cut of the Justice League movie.
I could go on.
Baseballpun
No, I’m looking for more specifics. This isn’t the first time I’ve come across someone claiming omniscience in this realm, but I want to take this amazing opportunity to get real answers.
If I had to pick one specific thing it would be the Zach Snyder Batman v Superman movie.
BKBKBKBK –
What do injuries have to do with fans in the stands? Lighten up, Francis! Good god man!
I think you misunderstood him. He was saying that the fans haven’t been supporting the team since they got caught cheating. I didn’t see him mention the pandemic at all. It does suck but hopefully they finally have their arms around it. I do know that they had a few open appointments today for the vaccine here but because of our age we couldn’t take them. I guess they would rather throw time sensitive vaccines that go bad easily in the trash rather than allow anyone who isn’t a senior to get one yet. Things will get better though. I read earlier today that 100 million vaccines have been administered and if you had that with all of the people that caught Covid and got better we should be coming out of this mess in the next couple of months.
The curse begins when the fans can torture the astro players, its in the god rules. Also pandemic ends in August mostly and it was because SOME OF YOU (clearly not all of you because this is a message board) had premarital relations.
BKBK HAS SPOKENNNNN!!!!! (thunder noises and such)
How many screen names does it take to reach this level of wisdom?
Lol, you had me with the Zach Synder
comment.
If you want real specifics,I’d say it’s people who say, “I not religious, but I’m very spiritual.”
Jesus, let that stuff go. Houston paid for it like Atlanta, Boston, and other clubs have cheated the “system”.
Sure we’ll let it go when they apologize, take down the flag & give back the rings.
Umm…the owners pay for the team’s championship rings. Not MLB and certainly not you.
Besides, they wouldn’t even be the first cheaters in line. One would be hard-pressed to find a team that hasn’t cheated in the past few decades to win (although I’d like to believe the Nats won it cleanly…)
Mmmm, that’s some good kool aid, have another cup.
“but but but everyone cheats I think.”
Did Fiers give back his rong and playoff money? I guess he didn’t feel that guilty after all. I guarantee you he won’t pitch in front of a Minute Maid Park crowd.
Why isn’t anybody whining about the Black Sox anymore? They cheated even worse!
@astrosfansince1974
No irony in your typo.
@KCJ- listen this asterisks thing will blow over too, just give it another 100yrs or so.
Hey, A’sfan! The Kim thread hasn’t been nearly as active without your presence lol.
Boston has been punished for all of the titles Artificially Big Papi and Manroid Ramirez won?
Or are we talking about the title they won the year of the Apple watch?
Hard to keep track of all of Boston’s cheating across the multiple sports.
Boston certainly has an * or two next to their titles. Sadly, the angels probably do too. But I think what Houston (and possibly Boston) did with straight stealing signs is next level. Altuve wearing a radio (allegedly) is next level. I’m gonna boo the hell out of them for the few years.
Active didn’t even want the trash can used when he batted. Why would he wear a buzzer? The “evidence” against him is circumstantial.
@millvillemeteor allegedly according to someone pretending to be Carlos Beltran’s cousin lol.
That rumor was literally started by some random Twitter account that also accused Torres of it the night before. There’s actual proof of the trash cans, none of buzzers/radios. It’s wishful thinking
Well first of all, who the hell is “active”?
“Boston has been punished for all titles they won” Lol, how do and go …..
Spellcheck vs Altuve.
@bkbk I guess w/ all the Yankee injuries since like 2017 their curse started a while ago.
Brodie Van Wagenen: Seattle’s White Knight
It’s amazing how wrong things can go when you hire a player agent with no front office experience to be your GM…who could have seen it coming? Wasn’t it also Brodie that hired Mickey Callaway?
@KCJ
Alderson hired Callaway.
The verdict on the Lindor trade which Alderson orchestrated, remains to be seen.
Brodie’s mistake was including Kelenic. He didn’t operate in a vaccum having had experienced former GM’s as top lieutenants when that trade was made.
I think what didn’t help was not really having money to play on the FA Market. The next best thing is trading players. I think I was more shocked with how much salary the Mets took on in the deal. That was most surprising to me.
LongTimeFan1 –
Thanks for the info…..wasn’t sure about who hired Callaway
Brodie did act in a vacuum as the vacuum was in his head.
He proved by all of his moves that he favored former clients at the expense of the Mets
PED Cano (BVM who assured all of us that Cano was innocent)
Wacha Mole
Rick Poor Fellow
etc.
On top of that other bad moves such as Familiar, Second-B-Chances, etc.
Kelenic OH BOY Kelenic that will haunt for years to come.
His only credit JD Davis who is serviceable at best was suggested by another person in the Mets front office.
Brodie made a business decision to clean up a mess he made as an agent with Seattle while acting as a GM for the Mets to selfishly improve his standing with other GM’s as he knew he would eventually be an agent again.
Like a real-estate agent who sells a toxic waste dump then goes back and buys it with someone else’s money to clear his name.
Man…I remember 3 years ago when Whitley and Brent Honeywell were both elite prospects. Hopefully their luck will change sooner or later
You wonder how much patience they’ll continue to have. His K-rate in MiLB continues to pop, but between the suspension and his upcoming TJS I’d think that he’s now far from “untouchable’ and will probably fall off of the Top 100 Prospects list moving forward.
Hindsight 20/20, but the warning signs were there when Whitley was drafted. He wasn’t a tall skinny flamethrower who had yet to fill out. He was already a huge guy (250 lbs) who had to lose weight to get drafted as high as he did. Not a ton of athleticism to fall back on. Similar to Tyler Kolek. I still think he can develop into a contributor, but I hope it involves even more core building and flexibility work than he’s already been force to do.
Note* Obviously the TJ surgery isn’t due to his physical makeup, but the nagging injuries that have limited him so far do fall into that category.
A’s shouldn’t have brought Fiers back. AJ Puk is a starter for sure, his stuff is incredible for a number 5. This could be the best thing that’s happened in the A’s off season. Jeffries is no joke either
The cost on Fiers was extremely low. While Puk and Jeffries are full of potential they are injury risks on top of being no more than prospects. Fiers was a no risk signing to likely bridge to one of the kids.
No worries Fiers is going back to Houston, I mean according to trash can fans everywhere this whole thing is overblown & we should all forgive & forget. Well let’s see the asterisks go first then. Ahahahaha!
Until now, Fiers has been durable. I don’t think that the A’s are sounding the alarm… yet.
It probably means that Puk slots in as the #5 starter. I’m excited to see what he can finally do at the MLB-level when he’s actually healthy.
Eh, I’m ok with the signing. Puk and Jefferies are young…pitching depth.
Puk hasnt thrown yet last time i checked.
Puk threw a sim game saturday, and is slotted in to start Wednesday’s game unless he gets hurt walking across the field.
Puk has had injury issues going back to college. I wouldn’t trust him at all. He’s pitched only 40 innings since 2018. They’d be lucky if he gets meaningful reliever innings out of him this season
Puk has been injury prone since high school he grew up played and graduated from Cedar Rapids. Injuries always seem to find this kid which sucks because of his potential
Well, that’s certainly not good news for the folks that want to run Adell out of Anaheim. Probably eliminates any perceived trade value, but I suspect we’ll still get two questions about it asked and answered next chat.
He’s not yet 22 yrs old. Feels as if the Halos are rushing him. Why would they not start him in AAA in ’21? They run the risk of damaging his confidence because watching him last year, he didn’t seem ready.
Adell is the only high schooler from his draft class to play the field in an MLB game. Eppler rushed him up here last year hoping to catch a spark, get into the playoffs, and save his job.
Jo was destined for AAA this year anyway. A little boo boo isn’t changing anything.
They were always gonna put him in AAA to start, hence the Fowler deal.
this is sarcasm, right?
Blow things out of proportion much? He’s got a bruised knee, hardly the type of thing that would “eliminate” his trade value. LOL
D-Backs did the same thing with Corbin Martin. I believe the Rays may have also done that.
Some may disagree with me, but moving that salary was the most impressive aspect of that trade, in my opinion.
As far as player-for-player trade assessments, the swap with San Diego last year may prove to be bigger.
Agreed. Moving that salary alone was a huge win. Imagine Seattle trying to retool and compete while paying Cano that money.
The fact they received genuine talent back is notable. The fact that talent looks to be really good makes this one of the most lopsided trades in recent MLB history.
Agreed for the most part JJ, at the time it appeared both teams got what they wanted for 2 still solid players, thou expensive, in Cano and Diaz. That with the M’s dumping coin.
The prospects in return weren’t expose to be all that great. The M’s might of found a diamond in the rough there, we’ll see, still have to do it at the Big league level to call it the “biggest lopsided deal” in recent history.
The dumping of bad contracts as hardly one way.
While the Mariners dumped more on the Mets, the Mets dumped quite a bit on the Mariners. DiPoto’s best moves were then offing those salaries as well as others in multiple trades. Every time he made a trade he cut his payroll a bit more.
Since this is his 2nd rebuild after his first fell flat and left the Mariners with a poor farm system and a number of bad contracts, I don’t understand the fascination with him other then he trades guys a lot. Frank Lane used to do that. And he too never won anything (DiPoto didn’t do well in Anaheim either).
The great thing about prospects is that all teams look like they’re building a perpetual WS contender…..until the prospects get up to the majors and play awhile. Of course only a small percentage of rebuilds actually succeed.
Time will tell with DiPoto. Right now I’m putting the Marlins over the Mainers – although DiPoto started a few years later (they are the first rebuild in decades that elected to do it pitchers first). Like the Orioles over the Mariners as well. Franchises such as the Rays, Indians, Red Sox, and others are now doing rebuilds on the fly as opposed to taking everything down to the studs by trading off every marketable veteran and young player for prospects.
It’s fun to follow organizations build up teams. Watching the growth of players – like how Alec Bohm has turned himself into a decent ML 3B (with more to come) this offseason. That allows the Phillies to do a lot of different things as he was looking like a guy that should split time between 1B, DH and pinch hitting. No one saw it coming.
Seems like Fiers will conveniently miss the Astros again this year…
Adell will be the next Nomar Mazara version 2.0…….
It’s certainly possible. I think he’ll be better than Bo Jackson.
From stealing bases to playing LF.
Actually, if he’s only as good as Bo Jackson, I’ll be disappointing.
I think there is no better experience than having our boy Jo Adell living the big dream, especially at his age. But he really looks nervous when playing the outfield and at the plate that seems to hurt him. I know it’s spring training, but I really do see the try-hard to make the team. Angels have great coaches and wonderful encouraging teammates that I’m sure we’ll keep him confident.
On the flip-side, if the guy’s not quite ready and he’s taking up a spot that another more-deserving teammate should have on the big-league club, I don’t think that’s good for anyone.
Speaking of the A.L West, my Rangers are having terrific developments on the pitching side this ST.
Mike Foltynewicz has regained his past velocity, and gotten over his recent mental struggles. The dude has 5.1 scoreless innings to his name this spring (BR shows 2 innings, but that’s because he threw 3.1 innings scoreless against the Royals in a B game.)
Kolby Allard has seen an uptick in velo, and he also worked on tunneling this off-season along with moving to the 1B side of the rubber. The results show in spring.
Kyle Gibson added a cutter into his ground-ball repertoire, so the defense behind him will need to step up, but he has looked good.
Japanese pitcher Kohei Arihara has been terrific in his outings thus far. He has like 6 pitches as well, the dude’s a beast.
JORDAN LYLES IS MOVING TO THE PEN!!!
Taylor Hearn’s command has improved this spring, and he’s shown that he can finally be moved into the SP role that he formerly seemed destined to miss.
And y’all are gonna love this… Wes Benjamin? Who dafug is that? … He’s the best pitcher in Rangers’ camp, obviously. Read this article that Evan Grant made for the DMN this morning, and it sums it up well: dallasnews.com/sports/rangers/2021/03/15/how-wes-b…
He was never even in the RANGERS top 30 prospects, but now he looks to be a late, great bloomer at the age of 28. On Rangers’ boards the hope is for him to have a Cliff Lee-esque career.
The pitching might not be as bad as originally envisioned.
Spring Training… where hope springs eternal for all 30 teams.
Yeah exactly
Always something with that guy, Fiers. Anything to avoid pitching against the Astros.
Watching the Angel game and getting use to their bullpen blowing yet another lead.
It’s nice to the Angels getting their fans in shape this spring training.
I for one enjoyed the Cano trade. Not as much as I’ve enjoyed the the Stanton trade, but still enjoyable.
Boo. I get it, but boo.
I know I’m not a good comedian. I should leave the comedy to the professionals…and to the NY Mets.
But you can admit that you also enjoy the Stanton trade more than the Cano trade.
How many years until baseball leaves Seattle again?