The Mariners placed outfielder Julio Rodriguez (right wrist contusion) and utilityman Dylan Moore (back spasms) on the 10-day injured list. Jarred Kelenic has been called up from Triple-A, and first baseman/outfielder Jack Larsen’s contract has been selected from Double-A. To make room for Larsen on the 40-man roster, left-hander Anthony Misiewicz has been designated for assignment.
Last night’s 5-4 win over the Astros was a costly victory for the Mariners, as Rodriguez, Moore, and Sam Haggerty (due to a cut on his forehead) all had to leave the game, making Seattle’s late-inning triumph all the more improbable. If that wasn’t enough, Ty France is also set to undergo an MRI, as his bothersome left wrist injury again flared up late in the game.
Rodriguez’s injury drew the most immediate concern after the star rookie was hit on the right hand while swinging, though x-rays were negative. Rodriguez is still sore enough that he won’t be able to swing for the next 4-5 days, manager Scott Servais told Ryan Divish of The Seattle Times and other reporters, and thus the IL stint was necessary to both keep the Mariners from being undermanned and to give Rodriguez time to get healthy.
There’s no easy way to replace Rodriguez, who has quickly cemented himself as both the present and future of Seattle baseball. The outfielder is the heavy favorite to capture AL Rookie Of The Year honors, unless this IL stint lingers or impacts Rodriguez’s production once he does return. Likewise, France also made the AL All-Star team this year and has basically done nothing but hit since the M’s acquired him from the Padres at the 2020 trade deadline.
Rodriguez and France are the Mariners’ two team leaders in fWAR, so losing at least one and potentially both to injury just prior to the trade deadline leaves Seattle’s front office in a tight spot. President of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto implied that after the Luis Castillo trade, the M’s could be done with any huge moves, and were relying on Mitch Haniger’s return to boost the offense rather than rely on any outside pieces. The Mariners still have over 52 hours to monitor and evaluate Rodriguez and France before the 5pm CT deadline on August 2, but if there’s any uncertainty, the aggressive Dipoto might opt to swing at least a depth trade for the lineup just in case.
Moore has been a valuable player in his own right, posting a 116 wRC+ (from five homers and a .197/.350/.367 slash line in 185 PA) and playing at least one game at seven different positions around the diamond this season. Abraham Toro will have to pick up some of the utility slack in the interim, though Toro has mostly played only second and third base during his two seasons with the Mariners. Back spasms might not sideline Moore for much beyond the 10-day minimum, yet Dipoto could also explore adding a multi-position player to help fill Moore’s shoes in the short term.
Kelenic will get another opportunity to establish himself in the majors after struggling badly in first 473 plate appearances in the Show. Kelenic has hit .173/.256/.338 as a big leaguer, with an ungainly 30% strikeout rate. That swing-and-miss has crept into Kelenic’s work in the minors, as though he is hitting well at Triple-A, his strikeout rate over 252 PA for Tacoma this season is 23.8%, considerably up from 15.4% in 143 Triple-A PA in 2021.
Larsen went undrafted in 2017, but after inking a deal with the Mariners shortly after the amateur draft, the UC San Diego product is now on the verge of his Major League debut without so much as a cup of coffee at the Triple-A level. The 27-year-old has played all three outfield positions and a handful of games as a first baseman, though Larsen hasn’t played any center field this year. At the plate, Larsen has hit .266/.371/.444 in 564 career PA in Double-A ball. Neither Baseball America or MLB Pipeline rate Larsen as one of the 30 best prospects in Seattle’s farm system.
Misiewicz has been a regular in the Mariners’ bullpen for the last three seasons, but he was optioned to Triple-A in June after posting a 4.61 ERA and only a 14% strikeout rate in 13 2/3 innings this season. The M’s are known to be looking for bullpen help before the deadline, and left-handed relief could be a particular need, as Misiewicz’s struggles further lessened a pen already thin on southpaws. It isn’t out of the question that Misiewicz could be claimed on DFA waivers, given how other clubs are constantly on the hunt for left-handed relief.
Well the Mariners are done for.
If they’re depending on Toro to pick up the slack, the end is near. The only opponent Toro produces against is HOU, which is great, but he sucks against all others.
The minors will be laid to waste for the next 5 years. Not worth it unless DiPoto is willing to pony up on a franchise crippling contract. The price in talent and dollars is just too high – no player is worth that.
They are 3 games up for the WC and are losing guys for 10 days. I think you’re being a wee bit hyperbolic
Right… There are a lot of games left. It does pretty much mean though that they’re done if they had any ambitions of winning the AL West. I think most of us thought they were done in that regard anyways.
Even in our 95 degree heat, when it rains it pours..
and they just got Castillo……
Mariners fans: This is fine…
Ugh
Cursed franchise
After the next 10 games, one more with Houston and 6 with the Yankees, Seattle has the easiest schedule in baseball. They’ll make it.
Those 10 games are the ones without J-Rod and Ty France.
Yes, I know. They’ll win at least 3. That won’t bury them. Everyone else in the same playoff mix will be right around .500 or slightly better.
As an Astro fan, I’d have much, much rather he played against NYY. Get better, dude.
Have to go get 2 hitters.
Nelson Cruz? Ian Happ? Merrifield? Walker from Diamonbacks?
As much as I love Nelson Cruz, he is finally done.
Its just 10 games. No reason to panic.
I would go and ask Red Sox about JD & Vasquez . They are both expiring contracts and sometimes guys like that can be had cheap.
This is all bad. Here comes a panic trade. I really hope I’m wrong.
Maybe Jack Larsen will catch lightning in a bottle. There’s zero MLB book on him. Seattle faces 3 mediocre pitchers until Cole on Wednesday. Winker and Suarez need to show up.
Panic trade? This is about making the team better whether injured players return sooner or later.
Even with a loaded lineup, no guaranteeing wins against the six with Yankees or one with Houston today. Just relax. They’ll get someone. Need it anyway.
Time to get Soto.
Not without marte they can’t anymore
Technically Bell is the better fit and the better player in 2022. Plus the Mariners are much better offensively against LHP, so adding Bell would give a balanced switch-hitter, but someone who would immediately be one of their best hitters against RHP. Santana is fun to have on the team, but he should be a spot starter/pinch-hitter at this point in his career.
With all the concerns over France’s health the last couple seasons, it wouldn’t hurt having Santana there to cover a few innings or games, depending on how Ty is doing from day-to-day. Bell’s ability to occasionally play some corner outfield might also allow Servais some flexibility to work around health issues. Plus getting Bell, Ketel, and Rodon would block other teams from a lot of the potential improvements they might otherwise target.
Bell is better than Soto???
All things being equal, yes.
Payroll cost in 2022.
Bell: $10M Soto: $17.1M
Cost to acquire each in terms of prospect value:
Bell $5-8M Soto: $140-200M
Fangraphs WAR value for both:
Bell: 2.6 fWAR Soto: 2.5 fWAR
Baseball-Reference WAR value for both:
Bell: 3.5 bWAR Soto 3.5 bWAR
Implied defensive liability: Bell
Literal defensive liability: Soto
I have said for a long time that this crap about about 1B taking a `12.5 run hit on their WAR for playing an easy position, why is it that guys who play “skill positions don’t ever play there?” When Alfonso Soriano couldn’t get over throwing the ball in the stands as a 2B, they moved him to LF, not 1B.
In fact, I can only think of two current 1B who were originally up the middle defenders (Max Muncy and Ty France). So keep in mind that Soto gets a 1 WAR advantage to start, just by being a corner outfielder (-2.5 runs) instead of a 1B (-12.5 runs). Even then Bell is even to slightly ahead.
Would I take a guy who can DH, play 1B, and cover a corner OF position in a pinch over a guy who literally can DH and shouldn’t even be playing defense? Well, let’s consider offense…Bell has a wRC+ of 145, while Soto has a wRC+ of 148. The difference is that Bell’s offense is less dependent on a good lineup. Because Soto does a lot of walking, his offensive value is increased with a lineup of players who can hit behind him.
A good example is the Mariners who have a great team OBP, but are only as successful as their hitting that day. That’s why like Soto, the Mariners are feast or famine offensively. In a vacuum when you don’t consider age, years of control, or potential marketing value, Bell this year is the better player and the better value. Maybe it’s just me, but if the choice is Bell, keeping my farm system and paying half as much money down the stretch, I’d be much more interested in Bell.
Well it’s good to see Jack Larsen land on his feet after losing his job as President of Laramie cigarettes.
Jarred needs to prove something now. This could be his last chance to do so.
The Mariners can still pickup Marte and Mantiply from the Diamondbacks, Josh Bell and Victor Arano from the Nationals, and Carlos Rodon from the Giants, none of those should be overly costly moves, even paying the mid-season deadline cost. Before this, I thought it would be a good move, Marte could play 2B regularly and in the event of Julio missing a game (or ten games in this case), Marte can play a decent CF. Someone made the point about Castillo basically pushes one of either Gonzalez and/or Flexen out of the rotation next year when Kirby and Gilbert can pitch more-or-less normal workloads.
If I’m Jerry Dipoto, I would have already been making these other moves, but now that he traded for Castillo, he absolutely needs to go all-in on 2022 because you can’t justify giving up Marte, Arroyo, and Moore (throws 101-102 mph max, sits 98+ mph) to crumple under these injuries. The positive side is nobody expected the Mariners to win against the Yankees and even with the injuries and guys coming back (Haniger and Trammell), the Mariners are much better than the Angels, by the end of the second Yankees series the Mariners should be back to full strength.
I would trade Flexen and his over 4 years of remaining control along with LHP Adam Macko and RHP Juan Then for Carlos Rodon, with the Mariners picking up the remaining salary. This would give the Mariners Ray, Rodon, Gilbert, Castillo, Gonzales, and Kirby as a spot starter or bullpen arm the rest of the way to keep his innings under control. In the offseason, they can try and extend Rodon and Castillo for that matter. If Rodon gets locked up, they can trade Gonzales even if they have to eat a little of his salary, with Hancock being the fill-in starter should someone go down in 2023.
The Nationals trade would be Bell (when Bell and France are healthy, Santana can go to the bench) and Arano (can sit on the DL until healthy, but makes him eligible for the postseason should they need an arm) to the Mariners for Zach DeLoach, Alberto Rodriguez, Kaden Polcovich, and Darren McCaughan. Names here don’t matter, the point is three or four well regarded but not top prospects. McCaughan could help immediately in the rotation, while the other three would be top 15 in the Nationals system today, with the three I named representing the 3rd, 6th, and 18th prospects in the Mariners system.
The final trade would be Ketel Marte and Joe Mantiply going to the Mariners in exchange for Taylor Dollard, Jonatan Clase, Robert Perez, and Travis Kuhn. Arizona would free themselves of Marte’s salary and sell high on a 31-year-old reliever in a career year, The Mariners get a solid lefty reliever and a flexible player who can spot start at multiple positions, The return is the 9th, 14th, 25th, and 30th prospects from the Mariners. Kuhn is close to compete for an MLB bullpen spot, Perez could replace Walker soon, Clase has CF starter potential, and Dollard fits the D-backs control over power pitching model.
While these trades would decimate their farm system in the near future, they also may be getting draft compensation for Julio in ROY balloting, they are poised to sign the biggest int. free agent this winter (Felnin Celesten), who has been tied to the Mariners since he first became a teenager. Add in Harry Ford, Emerson Hancock, Bryce Miller, Gabriel Gonzalez, Michael Arroyo, Lazaro Montes, Cole Young, Walter Ford, Ashton Izzi, Tyler Gough, Prelander Berroa, and Bryan Woo to name a few and the future of the farm is still bright. Considering depth and years of control, Seattle has time to rebuild their farm system.
Cool mlb the show franchise you got there. Now back to reality.
Go to baseballtradevalues, all of those trades are 10-20% overpays.
Just so you know, I was going to flag your comment, but there was no option for being a troll.
In real life, o team would make any of those trades with the Mariners. Clase should have some value, and DeLoach and Rodriguez may someday be 4th outfielders, but teams don’t trade valuable players to get organizational players and 8th men In The bullpen.
Ketel Marte is a butcher at 2B, and very suboptimal in CF. He is a DH these days for the Snakes. Also he was just signed to an extension, and Arizona has not expressed any desire to trade him after just signing him. Overall your proposals are a tad overzealous, but I believe your heart is in the right place.
I probably should be more worried than I am given our last 21 years, but the M’s remaining SOS is 6th easiest in baseball. Julio is obviously the team’s heartbeat and France can’t be lost for an extended period of time, but there are still plenty of good players to help beat up on these sub-.500 opponents.
The Mariners starting 9 are not necessarily as good as most of the playoff contenders, but the Mariners depth is probably the best in the majors, if you consider their roster flexibility. How many teams have a ROY candidate that can’t even break into their starting 5 rotation?
Their infield has three guys that are all going to finish with 3.5 WAR or better, the combination of Frazier, Moore, and Toro should give the Mariners at least 3 WAR from the 2B/Utility spots. The Mariners lost their starting catcher and still have a top 5 catcher in baseball by WAR/G, even while giving up 50-100 ABs to other catchers, Raleigh is still the 9th best catcher in MLB.
In their outfield, the Mariners have Jesse Winker, Julio Rodriguez, Mitch Haniger, Kyle Lewis, Taylor Trammell, Sam Haggerty, and Jarred Kelenic. That’s three former All-Stars, and at least one, if not two Rookie of the Year winners, depending on Julio’s remaining season.
The Mariners also have three former All-Stars on the infield, two former All-Stars in the rotation, one of which is the defending AL Cy Young winner. This is a very deep team and the players they traded for Castillo would not have helped in 2022 either way.
It’s also worth noting that Sewald, Swanson, and D. Castillo are the only holdovers left from last seasons bullpen unless you count Brash watching from the dugout and Munoz throwing a few pitches in the last game of the year in 2021. Otherwise, they’ve built a strong bullpen from what I will call new faces in Festa, Murfee, Munoz, Brash, and Borucki.
Combine that with one of the best defenses in baseball despite Winker sashaying his way through LF on a daily basis and you have a team that should win 4 or 5 games while the Mariners deal with these temporary loses, even if JeDi doesn’t pull the trigger on some much needed help.
The Mariners depth may be the worst of any contender. They finally have a sixth starting pitcher, but no starter in AAA or AA who could step in and keep the team in a game in a pinch. Haniger has been injured all season, Lewis is not known to be able to play even one entire game in the outfield, Trammell is out injured for the second time, Haggerty and Moore are fine utility pieces, and Kelenic may someday be able to hit better than a pitcher in the majors. The team has no backup catcher who can hit, no 3rd outfielder to complement Julio and Winker, and only backup 2b’s to DH.
The bullpen is very deep.
The farm system is ranked #24 by Fangraphs, prior to the Luis Castillo trade.
That’s the point isnt it? Nobody has dealt with the injuries, the suspension, and the other crap that Seattle has had to deal with, yet here they are in the top 10 teams in baseball.
Tampa just lost their CF and their catcher sround game 100, it took the Mariners a couple days to lose Haniger and Murphy. The Rays also haven’t had the same losses since either. You talk about farm strength like that means anything.
The Mariners have already graduated top 100 talents, Justus Sheffield, Justin Dunn, Evan White, Kyle Lewis, Logan Gilbert, Jarred Kelenic, Taylor Trammell, George Kirby, Julio Rodriguez, and Matt Brash. Emerson Hancockk has been unfairly shoved off the lists despite never having an ERA over 3.00 in the minors, never actually being cut or injured, and having the best Futures Game performance.
In addition to that, they traded away top 100 talents Brandon Williamson, Noelvi Marte, Edwin Arroyo, and still having Harry Ford.
That’s 15 top 100 players in just the last 3 years, let alone guys like Cal Raleigh not getting any prospect love despite being exactly the same age and out producing Joey Bart his whole career at every level and now in the majors as well. Bart was talked about like Adley Rutschman and the Giants have a backup bat first catcher who can’t hit at a league average rate.
Go check what Gabriel Gonzalez, Michael Arroyo, and Lazaro Montes are doing if you want to meet three guys who will be in the Top 100 prospects as soon as next year. All they do is hit. Montes is considered Alvarez 2.0, same game but can play CF right now. That came from the guy who trained Alvarez in the D.R.
The Mariners have tons of talent on the way. Remember Khalil Watson, look at Edwin Arroyo and when he was drafted, now compare their prospect status. The Mariners churn out prospects like Cinnabon does sweet rolls. Check farm eankings in a year and then again in 2024 when they are top 5 again.
You need to look again at Tampa Bay and really try to absorb the horrific luck they’ve had with injuries. And they have a pretty identical record to the M’s. Look I’m a Mariners guy all the way , but I think you need to self-regulate a little bit and take a few breaths because I am not sure you’re viewing things in the most objective manner.
Maybe the Mariners can get JD Martinez. The Tigers traded him to the Diamondbacks for 3 low level projects in a poor farm system at the time. Tigers have nothing to show for it today. A couple of low level players in a great Mariners farm system should get it done.
Problem is you’re not dealing with Al Avila so a competent GM should get more.
10 days probably means a month in baseball speak.
Hey Jerry, It’s AJ. How you doing today?
One name I always think of id CJ Cron..having good year. Locked in through 2023. Could play first and TY could DH. Be interesting to see if available and what would take to get him
Cron has always been pretty underrated. If we got him, I would want Ty to play 2B once a week or so… which probably isn’t ideal.
Cron is not a good defensive 1B and his offensive translates to only a 120 wRC+, which isn’t bad, but definitely not worth his current trade value. To put a point on it, France using a frying pan instead of a glove would have a higher fielding percentage than Cron on his best day with his best equipment, having his body possessed by Keith Hernandez.
Rockies already said he’s not available in trades.
No more Houston on the regular season schedule, and after Seattle plays the Yankees the remaining schedule should not be particularly difficult. Assuming France and Julio are back within the next couple of weeks things should be fine.
On the other hand, at least from my interpretation of the articles I’ve been reading Dipoto is talking more about adding bullpen help than adding hitting, and that the idea is for Haniger and Lewis to just step right in and fix the team’s hitting problems. Shouldn’t the M’s be more concerned about acquiring hitting as insurance in the events Haniger and/or Lewis are unable to produce at expected levels and Julio and/or France can’t come back right away? Why try to hold the machine together with chewing gum when they might actually do better with at least some duct tape? Without the above-mentioned players able to play at or near full strength, that remaining easier schedule stuff may not make much difference.
For heaven’s sake, forget about adding more relievers for now, and get a couple of decent bats.
Too bad for the team that just misses the wild card. The AL Central will be represented in the playoffs but less deserving.