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Mike Hazen, Jerry Dipoto Discuss Segura-For-Walker Trade

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The Mariners and Diamondbacks completed one of the largest trades of the young offseason last night, as Seattle sent right-hander Taijuan Walker and infielder Ketel Marte to Arizona in exchange for shortstop Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger and lefty reliever Zac Curtis in a trade that should have a longstanding impact on each organization. The lack of available starting pitching, both in free agency and in trades, has been well documented and played a role in the deal for both teams, as Arizona GM Mike Hazen and Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto explained to reporters in a pair of Wednesday night conference calls (links via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic and Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times).

“When we looked at the pitching that’s out on the market, we felt like this was an opportunity we had to take right now,” said Hazen of the trade. “Obviously, Jean is a great fit for them and was for us, but in order for us to get a starting pitcher the caliber of Taijuan, we felt like this was the opportunity we had to take given the market. It takes a lot of starting pitching to get through the season.”

Indeed, the D-backs will add Walker to a rotation mix that features Zack Greinke, Shelby Miller, Patrick Corbin, Robbie Ray, Rubby De La Rosa, Braden Shipley and Archie Bradley. The magnitude of this trade and Walker’s solid results to this point in his career — 4.18 ERA, 8.1 K/9, 2.5 BB/9, 41.5 percent ground-ball rate in 357 innings — should effectively guarantee him a spot in new manager Torey Lovullo’s rotation. Piecoro projects Walker to be joined by Greinke, Miller, Corbin and Ray on that front, and the remaining three righties could serve as either bullpen pieces, depth options in the minors or trade fodder thanks to the increased depth brought by Walker’s acquisition. Parting with Walker was painful for the Mariners, Dipoto admitted.

“It’s always hard when you give up talent like Taijuan,” said Dipoto. “You have to give to get and in this case we feel like we are getting a little bit more of a known commodity and we understand that Taijuan takes with him the upside to achieve something greater than we’ve seen. I know that’s real. At some point, Tai is going to put it all together and he will find himself as a pitcher.’

Walker, though, was only one part of the equation for the Snakes, and Hazen sounded excited about the opportunity to add a high-upside middle infielder like Marte. The switch-hitting 24-year-old already has parts of two MLB seasons under his belt, and though his sophomore campaign didn’t live up to a tremendous rookie season that came at the age of 21 (.283/.351/.402, two homers, eight steals in 247 plate appearances), Marte still carries plenty of upside and could be a long-term piece at shortstop or at second base.

“We think there’s definitely some upside in the bat and the defensive ability, and the speed and the athleticism,” said Hazen of Marte. And, as Piecoro notes, the trade could free up some at-bats for Brandon Drury (at second base), which Hazen acknowledged was a contributing factor in the decision. Drury hit .282/.329/.458 in his rookie season last year, showing great promise at the plate, but the presence of Segura at second base and Jake Lamb at third base pushed the natural infielder to left field. Drury struggled in left (-7 in both DRS and UZR), but he’ll have an opportunity to compete for regular time at second base next year.

Both GMs noted that Segura comes with significant appeal, and Dipoto offered confidence that his new shortstop’s 2016 breakout wasn’t a flash in the pan. “Segura was one of the premiere offensive players in the Majors last season,” said the second-year Mariners GM. “His combination of average, power and speed is extremely difficult to find, especially at a position like shortstop and at the top of our lineup. We believe pairing him with Robinson Canó gives us tremendous offensive potential in the middle of our infield.”

The Mariners, though, acquired a pair of pieces that could contribute to the team as soon as the 2017 season as well in Haniger and Curtis. Their proximity to the Majors also played a role in making this trade, according to Dipoto, who spoke quite highly of Haniger in particular. “We see Haniger as a high-ceiling prospect who projects to join our outfield as soon as next season, while Zac Curtis’ track record in the minors gives us great confidence in his future as a big league pitcher,” Dipoto explained.

While neither Haniger nor Curtis has been regarded as a premium prospect, Haniger laid waste to the admittedly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League last year, batting .341/.428/.670 with 20 homers in just 312 Triple-A plate appearances. With Nori Aoki departing via waivers while Franklin Gutierrez hits the open market and Stefen Romero heads to Japan, the Mariners have some outfield at-bats up for grabs. The right-handed-hitting Haniger could complement lefty swingers Ben Gamel and Seth Smith quite nicely in the corners, and his Triple-A success lends some hope to his ability to be a starter.

As for the lost rotation depth, Dipoto expressed confidence that the organization has enough remaining talent to survive a full season, but he also acknowledged that he’ll pursue additional help. “We are going to look at the free agent market,” he said. “We are certainly not opposed at potential for trades. We still feel like in the big picture that we are 10-11 deep with guys that we feel secure in starting a Major League game. We are comfortable with that group, but we’d like to augment it.”

While the trade market offers a limitless number of avenues for upgrade, free agency brings a lesser supply. Rich Hill, Jason Hammel and Ivan Nova are the top three starters on this year’s free-agent market, though Seattle’s pitcher-friendly environment could certainly be an appealing setting for one of the numerous rebound candidates that are available. Names like Brett Anderson and Derek Holland are both available, as are former Angels C.J. Wilson and Jered Weaver, each of whom pitched for Dipoto’s teams in Anaheim.

Diamondbacks Acquire Walker, Marte From Mariners For Segura, Haniger, Curtis

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The Diamondbacks have announced that they’ve acquired starter Taijuan Walker and shortstop Ketel Marte from the Mariners for middle infielder Jean Segura, outfielder Mitch Haniger and lefty Zac Curtis. The Mariners also announced that they’ve designated switch-pitcher Pat Venditte for assignment. Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan was first to tweet that a deal was close between the two teams.

[Related: Updated Arizona Diamondbacks Depth Chart]

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The trade marks quite the opening salvo for Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, who has added two very intriguing young players to his new organization. Walker, 24, began his career as a top-ten prospect in all of baseball, and while he hasn’t yet emerged as a standout starter, he also hasn’t done much to dim his status as a top young talent. His name had repeatedly come up as a speculative possibility in potential blockbusters, including one in 2014 involving David Price, but he managed to stick with Seattle and put in two-plus seasons in their rotation before finally being dealt. In 2016, he posted a 4.22 ERA, with 8.0 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 over 134 1/3 big-league innings, bringing a strong mid-90s fastball in the process.

Walker’s upside remains considerable, and he’s under control for the next several seasons — he’s eligible for arbitration for the first time this winter as a Super Two player (and is projected to make $2.8MM), and he can’t become a free agent until after the 2020 season. He battled a foot injury in the middle of the 2016 campaign and had surgery to address it after the season, but there’s no reason to expect that to be a major issue going forward. He’ll join some combination of Zack Greinke, Robbie Ray, Patrick Corbin, Shelby Miller, Rubby De La Rosa, Archie Bradley and Braden Shipley in the Diamondbacks’ rotation.

Marte is a not-to-be-overlooked component of Arizona’s side of the deal. He only recently turned 23 and already has the equivalent of a season’s worth of big-league plate appearances under his belt. While he struggled both offensively and defensively in 2016 (posting a .259/.287/.323 line and a significantly below average UZR), he fared well enough in the minors to get to the big leagues at age 21, and certainly has time to improve. If he develops, he could become the Diamondbacks’ starting shortstop for the next several seasons.

“Young, controllable pitching is hard to find, and adding Taijuan to the rotation gives us significant depth in that area,” Hazen says. “In Ketel, we believe we have acquired a talented switch-hitting shortstop to join a very solid core of young middle infielders.”

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[Related: Updated Seattle Mariners Depth Chart]

From the Mariners’ perspective, the deal seems to hinge to a large degree on Segura’s breakout performance last season. Segura batted .319/.368/.499 with 20 homers in an outstanding 2016, posting 5.0 fWAR of value in his first season with the Snakes. (Credit former GM Dave Stewart for acquiring Segura in one of his better trades in his short tenure in Arizona.)

Segura’s previous history is erratic, however — he failed to clear a .300 OBP in either 2014 or 2015 with the Brewers. Some of Segura’s struggles might have been related to the tragic death of his infant son in the middle of the 2014 season, but his difficulties on the field are still worth considering. Also, unlike Marte (who is controllable for five more years), Segura only has two years of control remaining before he’s eligible for free agency. (MLBTR projects he’ll make $7.3MM in his second year of arbitration eligibility this offseason.) Segura had primarily been a second baseman with the Diamondbacks, but it appears likely he’ll play mostly shortstop with the Mariners, who have Robinson Cano at second.

The 25-year-old Haniger made his big-league debut in 2016 and batted a modest .229/.309/.404 in 123 plate appearances. He did, however, grade well defensively in a small sample, and he batted an excellent .341/.428/.670 in 312 plate appearances at Triple-A Reno, demonstrating outstanding power (with 20 home runs, albeit in a favorite hitting environment) and good plate discipline. Nonetheless, he was not particularly highly regarded — MLB.com ranked him just 21st among Diamondbacks prospects, noting the likelihood that he would wind up as a good fourth outfielder, and Baseball America (subscription required) didn’t even mention him in their midseason writeup on the Diamondbacks system. Still, he wouldn’t be the first young player with excellent minor league numbers to go underrated by prospect hounds, and he could contribute to a thin Mariners’ outfield immediately (likely mostly as a corner outfielder, since the M’s have Leonys Martin to man center). The Diamondbacks initially acquired him in 2014 when they traded Gerardo Parra to the Brewers.

Curtis has the lowest profile of any of the five players in the deal, but he’s an interesting fifth piece. He was pitching for Class A+ Visalia in 2016 when he got promoted all the way to the big leagues, thanks to a stat line that included 22 strikeouts in 10 1/3 innings. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he didn’t fare well there, posting a 6.75 ERA, 6.8 K/9 and 8.8 BB/9 in 13 1/3 innings, but he got significantly better results after heading back to Double-A Mobile and might eventually reemerge as a good bullpen arm once he has more seasoning. In 111 minor league innings, he’s totaled 169 strikeouts against 35 walks. Curtis is undersized at 5’9″ and averaged a relatively modest 90.9 MPH on his fastball in the big leagues, though, so he probably doesn’t profile as a future power reliever.

Venditte pitched 13 1/3 innings with the Mariners in 2016 and allowed ten runs. The 31-year-old has attracted plenty of curiosity for his ability to pitch with either hand, but despite his consistent platoon advantage, he has just a 4.97 ERA, 7.5 K/9 and 4.1 BB/9 in parts of two seasons in the big leagues. Most of the damage done against Venditte has come from right-handed batters, as opposing lefties have hit just .179/.242/.366 against him.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Yankees, Mariners, Cubs Pursued Brett Cecil

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The Yankees, Mariners, and Cubs were among the organizations that pursued free agent lefty Brett Cecil, Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports. Cecil ultimately struck a four-year, $30.5MM pact with the Cardinals.

Those three teams figure as plausible landing spots for other top southpaws. Indeed, per Sherman, the Yankees are looking to bolster their left-handed setup corps. One possibility, he says, is high-K southpaw Boone Logan, who played in New York before departing for the Rockies and is now again a free agent. Though the report doesn’t further address the situations in Seattle and Chicago, both organizations lack impact lefties in their otherwise solid bullpens and could sensibly pursue alternatives after missing on Cecil.

[RELATED: Yankees, Mariners & Cubs Depth Charts]

While the Yankees never made Cecil an offer, the team is said to have kept a close eye on him up until the Cards emerged with a significant contract. The team is still seriously interested in bringing back Aroldis Chapman, notes Sherman. Since Chapman would likely slot in as closer, it stands to reason that another lefty could still be added even if the fireballing star lands in New York.

All told, it seems there are several possible approaches in mind with regard to the Yankees’ bullpen. The ultimate moves could be impacted in some part, too, by whether the organization is able to land the high-profile bat that it reportedly seeks. Last we heard, New York was pushing for Carlos Beltran and dabbling in the markets for top sluggers Edwin Encarnacion and Yoenis Cespedes (see here and here) — all while still weighing a move for starter Rich Hill and other rotation pieces.

Mariners Release Tom Wilhelmsen

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The Mariners announced today that they’ve requested release waivers on right-hander Tom Wilhelmsen, who was designated for assignment last week as part of a flurry of moves that preceded the deadline to set rosters prior to the upcoming Rule 5 Draft. A team could technically claim Wilhelmsen off release waivers, though with a projected $3.8MM salary for the 2017 season, that seems unlikely.

The 33-year-old Wilhelmsen went from Seattle to Texas in last offseason’s Leonys Martin swap but was shelled in his limited time with the Rangers. Wilhelmsen served up an incredible 25 earned runs on 38 hits (seven homers) and nine walks in just 21 1/3 innings. Those alarming struggles, unsurprisingly, led to a release by the Rangers, and the former Mariners closer quickly re-signed in Seattle. Wilhelmsen went on to enjoy success over his final 25 innings of the year, posting a 3.60 ERA with a 17-to-10 K/BB ratio and a 52.8 percent ground-ball rate.

With the exception of his disastrous run in Texas, Wilhelmsen has performed pretty well over the past three seasons. From 2014-15, he logged a 2.67 ERA with 8.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9 and a roughly league-average ground-ball rate in 141 1/3 innings of relief with the Mariners. He averaged a solid 94.8 mph on his heater this season and, given his past success, should draw interest for teams looking for a short-term commitment to a bullpen arm. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has already spoken about the possibility of a re-signing Wilhelmsen, though he could certainly end up garnering big league offers elsewhere.

Mariners' Small-Move Strategy

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  • For the second straight offseason, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is acting quickly on lower-profile moves to elevate his team’s talent floor, ESPN.com’s David Schoenfield writes.  Additions like Danny Valencia, Richie Shaffer and Carlos Ruiz fill holes and add more valuable depth around the Mariners’ core players, the type of top-to-bottom roster management that former Seattle GM Jack Zduriencik was unable to achieve in his time with the club.

Mariners Asked Pirates About Andrew McCutchen

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The Mariners asked the Pirates about center fielder Andrew McCutchen earlier this offseason, MLB Network’s Jon Morosi reports (Twitter link), though talks between the two sides “did not advance.”  Pirates general manager Neal Huntington said after the GM Meetings that he had been receiving calls from multiple teams about McCutchen’s services, and given Seattle’s rather unsettled outfield situation, it isn’t surprising that the Mariners checked in on the former NL MVP.  A couple of weeks ago, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Nationals discussed a McCutchen deal with Pittsburgh over the summer.

On most days, the Mariners will use three left-handed hitters (Seth Smith, Leonys Martin and Ben Gamel) as their starting outfield, with right-handed bats Danny Valencia, Guillermo Heredia or regular DH Nelson Cruz spelling Smith against left-handed pitching.  Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has said that the club intends for Gamel to play every day, though given Gamel’s lack of experience, one would think the M’s would also want some right-handed protection for Gamel against tough southpaws.  Then again, with Valencia also likely to see time at first base spelling Dan Vogelbach against lefty pitching, there may not be enough right-handed outfield bats to go around.

Adding another right-handed hitter (like McCutchen) would go a lot way towards stabilizing the many moving parts of this platoon situation.  McCutchen would have immediately become the everyday option in left or right field, as given how the former Gold Glover’s defense has heavily declined over the last three years, it would’ve made little sense for him to displace Martin in center.

The big question facing the M’s or any other team interested in McCutchen, of course, is whether his rough 2016 season was the start of a decline or just an aberration.  McCutchen hit just .256/.336/.430 over 675 PA for the Bucs last season, easily the worst numbers of his eight-year career.  Between his poor hitting, fielding and even a below-average baserunning totals, McCutchen posted just 0.7 fWAR last year, a stunning dropoff for a player who amassed 33.3 fWAR over the previous five seasons.

McCutchen is owed $14MM in 2017 and the Pirates have a $14.5MM club option on the outfielder for 2018 (with a $1MM buyout).  McCutchen’s contract has long been seen as one of baseball’s great bargains, though if the Pirates no longer know what kind of production their longtime star will deliver from now on, the deal may now be considered too risky for a small-market team like Pittsburgh.  With top prospect Austin Meadows waiting in the wings, one has to wonder if we’ve seen the last of McCutchen in Bucs black-and-gold, as teams with more financial breathing room can afford to see if McCutchen can return to form.

Mariners Not Ruling Out Re-Signing Tom Wilhelmsen

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  • The Mariners aren’t ruling out eventually re-signing reliever Tom Wilhelmsen, whom they designated for assignment Friday, general manager Jerry Dipoto told Greg Johns of MLB.com. Seattle was up against the 40-man roster limit when it parted with Wilhelmsen, and the club likely would have had to pay the arbitration-eligible right-hander in the $4MM neighborhood in 2017 had it retained him. It’s now possible the Mariners could re-up Wilhelmsen at a cheaper price in the coming months. “He did a good job, and I wish him well in free agency,” said Dipoto. “And this leaves something of an open door if something else arises and we want to bring him back.”

Mariners Release Stefen Romero

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  • The Mariners announced that outfielder Stefen Romero has been released so that he can pursue an opportunity to play in Japan.  Romero appeared in 72 games for Seattle in his 2014 rookie season but just 22 since, amassing a .195/.242/.307 career slash line over 233 plate appearances.  A 12th-round pick for the M’s in the 2010 draft, Romero showed some promise in the minors, posting an .875 OPS and an even 100 homers over 2567 minor league PA.

Players Added To The 40-Man

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We’ll use this post to keep track of the players being added to their teams’ respective 40-man rosters today, which is the deadline to protect players from the Rule 5 draft. Players must be added to the big league roster within either four years (if they were 19 or older at the time of their original signing) or five years (if 18 or younger) of their signing year in order to be shielded from selection.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo took a look at some of the biggest names who face roster decisions, though most of those won’t be much in question. At the fringes, teams must also consider the major league readiness of the player, since that factors heavily into whether they’ll be taken and kept. Any drafting team, of course, must keep a player on its active MLB roster for the full season (with certain exceptions relating to the DL) in order for their control rights to vest. Adding a player to the 40-man too early can have its own risks, because it limits flexibility and could require a team to expose that player to waivers if a need arises. With 26-man rosters reportedly under consideration, the Rule 5 draft could be quite intriguing this year, and that may bleed into today’s decisions as well.

Below is a division-by-division rundown of the names that were added to each team’s 40-man roster (plus the various waiver claims that spawned from teams trying to outright players to protect Rule 5-eligible prospects). We won’t delve into each player’s background, but if you’re looking to a little more about the names that were added, I’d highly recommend this tremendous, in-depth examination of each team’s additions by Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper. If you want to see how the moves look in the context of a team’s roster, head over to Roster Resource for your club’s depth chart.

Onto the moves…

American League West

American League Central

American League East

National League West

National League Central

National League East

Mariners Acquire James Pazos From Yankees, Designate Tom Wilhelmsen

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The Mariners announced that they’ve acquired left-hander James Pazos from the Yankees in exchange for minor league right-hander Zack Littell. Additionally, Seattle has designated veteran righty Tom Wilhelmsen for assignment and added lefty Paul Fry, corner infielder D.J. Peterson and right-hander Thyago Vieira to the 40-man roster.

Pazos, 25, has just 8 1/3 innings under his belt at the Major League level but has an impressive minor league track record. In 215 1/3 total innings in the minors, Pazos has a 2.30 ERA with 10.2 K/9 against 3.7 BB/9, and he’s worked to a minuscule 1.79 ERA with 78 punchouts in 60 1/3 innings at Triple-A. However, he’s also walked 34 batters in that time at Triple-A, indicating that his control could use some further refinement. Nonetheless, the Mariners are known to be looking for left-handed relief help, and Pazos will give GM Jerry Dipoto and manager Scott Servais an option that could conceivably break camp with the team in 2017 and, at the very least, should be an option later in the season.

Wilhelmsen, 33 next month, was traded from Seattle to Texas in last winter’s Leonys Martin deal but was rocked with the Rangers (10.55 ERA in 21 1/3 innings) and ultimately released in June. He quickly re-signed with Seattle and enjoyed a 180-degree turnaround, pitching to a 3.60 ERA with 6.1 K/9, 3.6 BB/9 and a 52.8 percent ground-ball rate in 25 innings to close out the season. However, the Mariners would’ve had to pay him a projected $3.8MM in his final trip through arbitration this winter.

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