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Guillermo Heredia

Pirates Sign Guillermo Heredia

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5:03PM: The Pirates officially announced the signing.

1:24PM: The Pirates have agreed to a deal with free-agent outfielder Guillermo Heredia, as first reported by Francys Romero of Los Mayores (Twitter link). It’s a Major League deal, MLB.com’s Adam Berry adds. Heredia is represented by Magnus Sports.

The 28-year-old Heredia was with the Rays in 2019 and spent the three prior seasons with Seattle. He’s seen action in 382 big league games and batted a combined .240/.317/.342 with 17 homers, 46 doubles, a triple and six stolen bases in 1101 plate appearances. While Heredia’s overall profile isn’t exactly eye-catching, he’s been a solid producer against left-handed pitching, hitting at a .274/.335/.401 clip in 487 plate appearances when holding the platoon advantage (including a sharp .281/.339/.456 slash in 2019).

Heredia is capable of handling all three outfield spots, and while he doesn’t have plus marks for his work in center field, both Ultimate Zone Rating and Defensive Runs Saved feel he’s a strong defender in either corner slot. Despite playing in only a part-time role and being shuffled between the Majors and Triple-A, Heredia ranks 21st among 565 big league outfielders with 19 Outs Above Average dating back to 2016, per Statcast.

The Rays non-tendered Heredia back in December despite a rather timid $1.1MM projected salary in arbitration. He has three-plus years of Major League service time, meaning that the Pirates can control him via arbitration all the way through 2022 should they see fit. Just how he fits into the club’s outfield picture is largely dependent on the fate of Starling Marte, for whom the organization is listening to trade offers.

Rays Non-Tender Guillermo Heredia

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The Rays have non-tendered outfielder Guillermo Heredia, according to Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times (via Twitter). He’ll head onto a market that’s hurting for center field capable players.

Heredia had projected to earn a relatively modest $1.1MM salary. But the Rays decided against paying it and obviously weren’t able to find another team that was interested in doing so instead.

Heredia lasts just one season in Tampa after coming over alongside Mike Zunino in a trade with the Mariners. In 231 plate appearances as a Ray, Heredia slashed just .225/.306/.363 (82 wRC+), right in line with his career body of work.

While defensive metrics have never loved Heredia in center field, he’s typically rated quite well in the corners and continues to garner some time up the middle. Prior to last season, he’d shown strong bat-to-ball skills, and he’s always been a patient hitter. Teams presumably won’t view Heredia as an everyday option, but it’s not hard to imagine him generating interest from teams in search of outfield depth. If Heredia gets on track elsewhere, he’ll be arbitration-eligible twice more.

The Rays Have Some Roster Decisions On The Horizon

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The Rays’ decision to waive C.J. Cron on the heels of a 30-homer campaign in the offseason raised plenty of eyebrows — particularly when it became apparent that the plan to replace him was to entrust the bulk of first base/designated hitter duties to Ji-Man Choi, Yandy Diaz and reclamation project Avisail Garcia. To this point in the season, that trio has been reasonably productive.

Through 294 plate appearances, Choi has batted .257/.348/.410 with nine homers, nine doubles and a triple. He’s walked at a healthy 11.4 percent clip against a 20.4 percent strikeout rate and done so while playing for less than $1MM as a pre-arbitration player. Up until recently, Choi was even more productive. The endpoint here is arbitrary, admittedly, but Choi carried a .287/.363/.467 line as recently as June 14. Since that time, he’s floundered with a .160/.306/.220 slash line in 62 plate appearances. He’s drawn 10 walks in that time against 11 strikeouts, so he’s maintained his discipline. However, Choi has been plagued by a .179 average on balls in play over that stretch, and the swoon has tarnished his season line.

A slump of that nature is never welcome for any hitter, but Choi’s downturn in performance is of particular concern for him given the offensive explosion of rookie/top prospect Nate Lowe. Since being summoned back for his second stint of big league work this season (when Choi landed on the IL due to an ankle injury), Lowe has obliterated big league pitching. It’s only 41 plate appearances, but the former 13th-round pick has belted five homers and three doubles with a .371/.463/.886 slash that’s impossible for the Rays to ignore. Overall, Lowe is hitting .315/.386/.589 in 75 plate appearances in his debut season.

Choi (who was activated from the IL two days ago) and Lowe can coexist in the same lineup for now, but as Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times mentions in his latest Rays notebook, the organization could soon have to choose between the two. The Rays will get Brandon Lowe back from the IL in the near future, which muddies the roster. His return will push Joey Wendle back to a utility/bench role, where he’ll join another hot-hitting rookie, Mike Brosseau, and whichever of Travis d’Arnaud or Mike Zunino isn’t starting on a given day. Choi is out of minor league options, so he can’t be sent to the minors without being exposed to waivers.

Wendle does have a minor league option remaining, which is of note given that he hasn’t hit well at all since returning from a fractured wrist (.198/.272/.253). However, he’s capable of playing virtually any position on the diamond, whereas Choi is a first baseman only. Optioning Wendle to accommodate the return of Lowe (Brandon, that is) wouldn’t leave manager Kevin Cash with much in the way of defensive flexibility. An in-game injury to Willy Adames in that scenario would prove particularly problematic, given that Wendle is the only real alternative to him at shortstop.

The Rays could delay any potential decision by dropping a reliever and going back to a four-man bench, but if they go that route, the preferred choice could be to bring outfielder Guillermo Heredia back up to the Majors. Cash called the decision to option Heredia the “toughest send-down” of the season earlier this week. Heredia rejoined the team as the 26th man for yesterday’s doubleheader but has since been sent back to Triple-A Durham.

As if that didn’t present enough options for a limited number of roster spots, the Rays will soon see infielder/outfielder Daniel Robertson and third baseman Matt Duffy embark on minor league rehab assignments, as Topkin reported last weekend (Twitter links). Both have minor league options remaining, but their impending returns only add another variable to the equation.

Certainly, the upcoming trade deadline could alter the roster construction and resolve some of these issues. It’s possible, too, that additional injuries will arise and render some of the decisions moot for an additional period of time. But as things currently stand, the Rays seem like they’ll have a tough call on their hands in the not-too-distant future.

Rays, Mariners Swap Mallex Smith, Mike Zunino In Five-Player Trade

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The Mariners and Rays both crossed off an item on their offseason checklist Thursday, officially announcing a five-player trade that will send catcher Mike Zunino, outfielder Guillermo Heredia and minor league lefty Michael Plassmeyer from Seattle to Tampa in exchange for center fielder Mallex Smith and minor league outfielder Jake Fraley.

Mallex Smith | Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports

[Related: Seattle Mariners depth chart and payroll outlook | Tampa Bay Rays depth chart and payroll outlook]

“Bringing Mallex back home to Seattle is exciting for us all,” said GM Jerry Dipoto in a tongue-in-cheek statement — a nod to having briefly acquired Smith in a previous trade. “His combination of speed, base running impact, defense and on-base abilities are unique in today’s game. We believe his breakout 2018 performance reflects the many ways his skills will positively impact the Mariners for years to come. Jake Fraley exhibits a similarly exciting set of athletic and baseball skills. His offensive game blossomed in 2018 and creates an exciting profile when coupled with his exceptional defense and overall instincts. Both players fit our desire to build a younger, more athletic and exciting roster.”

Unsurprisingly, the first significant swap of the 2018-19 offseason involves the ever-active Dipoto. As recently as Tuesday, the Seattle GM spoke of a desire to “re-imagine” the Mariners’ roster while striving to remain competitive. Specifically, he indicated to MLB.com’s Greg Johns that adding a center fielder would be a priority. Adding Smith not only achieves that goal early in the offseason but simultaneously lowers the club’s lofty payroll a bit; Zunino is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.2MM through arbitration this winter, while Smith is not yet arbitration-eligible after narrowly missing Super Two status and is controlled through the 2022 campaign.

This marks the second time in the past two years that Dipoto has acquired Smith, although the speedster’s original Mariners tenure was measured in minutes. Dipoto acquired Smith from the Braves in a deal that sent Luiz Gohara to Atlanta and promptly flipped Smith to Tampa Bay in order to acquire two years of Drew Smyly’s services. Unfortunately, Smyly injured his arm that Spring and ultimately required Tommy John surgery before ever throwing a regular-season pitch for the Mariners.

This time around, Smith’s acquisition seems to carry more permanence. He’s fresh off a season in which he hit .296/.367/.406 with a pair of homers, 27 doubles, an AL-leading 10 triples and a hefty 40 stolen bases. The 25-year-old Smith saw action at all three outfield positions with the Rays and delivered above-average ratings, but he’ll almost certainly slot in as the primary center fielder for manager Scott Servais in Seattle. He’ll give the Mariners a significant defensive upgrade over Dee Gordon, who admirably attempted to try his hand at a new position last season but graded out as one of the most ineffective defensive center fielders in the game. Gordon now appears likely to return to second base, if he isn’t traded himself, with Robinson Cano perhaps shifting to designated hitter and rotating between second base, first base and third base.

Mike Zunino | Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

For the Rays, the addition of Zunino gives them a catcher with light-tower power and premium defensive skills. However, Zunino pairs those highly desirable traits with enormous strikeout tendencies and questionable on-base skills. He’s coming off a season in which he hit just .201/.251/.406 with 20 homers, but he’s also only a season removed from a vastly superior .251/.339/.509 output and a career-high 25 homers. Over the past three seasons, Zunino is a .223/.300/.462 hitter with with 57 home runs in 1032 plate appearances. The average and OBP might not jump out, but when adjusting for the Mariners’ pitcher-friendly home park, that level of production rates at about seven percent better than the league-average hitter and nearly 20 percent better than that of a league-average catcher (by measure of OPS and wRC+).

Defensively, Zunino threw out a career-best 35 percent of would-be base thieves in 2018, and he perennially ranks among the league’s best in terms of pitch framing. He’s received well above-average marks in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average for catchers in each of his Major League seasons, and he’s controllable for the next two seasons. If the Rays feel they can curb Zunino’s alarming 34.2 percent career strikeout rate, perhaps they believe there’s some yet-untapped upside in the 27-year-old. If not, he’ll nonetheless give them a strong throwing/framing backstop with more power than just about any catcher in the game.

Acquiring Zunino pushes Michael Perez, acquired in this summer’s Matt Andriese trade with the Diamondbacks, from a starting role to a backup job. The 26-year-old Perez impressed in his brief big league promotion in ’18, hitting .284/304/.392 with a homer and five doubles while halting five of 17 stolen-base attempts against him (29 percent). Perez has received quality defensive ratings of his own throughout his minor league tenure, so this pairing gives Tampa Bay a couple of solid to plus defenders behind the plate — a likely point of emphasis for lead baseball ops duo Erik Neander and Chaim Bloom as they engage in experimental tactics with their pitching staff.

As for Heredia, he’s not entirely dissimilar from Smith in that he’s a fleet-footed outfielder with minimal power who is capable of handling all three outfield positions. He’s not likely to crack a crowded Rays mix that could feature Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows as starters in the outfield. However, he could also give the Tampa Bay organization a nice bench option or upper-minors depth piece, as he does have multiple minor league options remaining.

Heredia, 28 in January, hit .236/.318/.342 with the Mariners in 337 plate appearances last season — numbers that fall right in line with his career .244/.321/.336 output in 870 PAs. Unlike Smith, he’s garnered poor defensive ratings in center field, though he grades out above-average in the outfield corners.

Plassmeyer, 22, was the Mariners’ fourth-round pick just five months ago in the 2018 draft, which aligns with Dipoto’s willingness to deal from his most recent draft classes. He traded catcher David Banuelos, his 2017 fifth-rounder, to the Twins last December and also flipped 2017 fourth-rounder Seth Elledge to the Cardinals this past summer. Plassmeyer, Mizzou product, posted a ridiculous 44-to-4 K/BB ratio through 24 innings in Short-Season Class-A ball this summer.

Fraley, 23, was Tampa Bay’s second-round pick in 2016 and is coming off a monstrous .347/.415/.547 showing in 2018, but those gaudy numbers came in 260 PAs against younger competition at Class-A Advanced.

While the addition of Smith fills one vacancy for the Mariners, it also creates another. Light-hitting journeyman David Freitas now sits atop the team’s depth chart behind the plate, so adding some catching options either via free agency or (more likely given Dipoto’s tendencies) via the trade market now figures to become an imperative in the months to come. As for the Rays, they’re dealing from a position of strength and also adding some additional depth by picking up Heredia, so this trade merely checks one item off a length to-do list early in the winter, thus freeing the Tampa Bay front offices to turn its focus to other areas of need (namely, the pitching staff).

Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported that the two sides were close to a deal involving Zunino, Smith and Heredia. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted that an agreement was in place, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post and Greg Johns of MLB.com added some context on the return (Twitter links) before the inclusion of Plassmeyer and Fraley was also reported by Divish.

Quick Hits: Farquhar, Ichiro, Heredia, Giants, Adolfo

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White Sox right-hander Danny Farquhar will remain in hospital for at least the next three weeks after undergoing surgery last night to relieve swelling around his brain, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reports.  Farquhar is in critical but stable condition as he recovers from a ruptured aneurysm, suffered on Friday when he was in the team’s dugout following a pitching appearance.  A team source tells Paul Sullivan of the Chicago Tribune that specific information about the treatment isn’t being released at the request of Farquhar’s family.  Both pieces from Nightengale and Sullivan contain much praise and best wishes for Farquhar from several teammates past and present, a testament to what a popular and respected figure Farquhar has been over his 11 pro seasons.  We here at MLB Trade Rumors join the rest of the baseball world in wishing Farquhar and his family all the best in the recovery process.

Some news from around the league….

  • The Mariners’ demotion of Guillermo Heredia raised some eyebrows, both due to Heredia’s strong start to the season and the fact that Seattle had a seemingly more obvious expendable piece in Ichiro Suzuki.  Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto explained the move in an interview with MLB.com’s Greg Johns, noting that the left-handed hitting Suzuki was a better short-term fit since the M’s are set to face a long stretch of games against right-handed starters.  (Seattle was expected to send down a reliever rather than Heredia to accommodate Erasmo Ramirez’s return from the DL today, though that plan was scuttled by a short outing from James Paxton on Saturday.)  Dipoto insisted that Ichiro’s iconic stature didn’t have any bearing on the decision, though he did note that Ichiro’s leadership presence was a factor.  “I don’t think people realize the impact Ichiro has made in our clubhouse in one-and-a-half months in mentoring young teammates and even the older players who respect him so much,” Dipoto said.  “There has to be a balance in decisions and not solely what you see on the field. And that’s not to take away from the quality of teammate Guillermo is as well. This was not an easy decision, but it’s also not a permanent decision.”  Given that Ichiro’s career could be nearing the end, The Athletic’s Corey Brock wonders when the Mariners will finally part ways with the future Hall-of-Famer, and Brock speculates that the team could be waiting for their next homestand to give Suzuki a final appearance in front of the Seattle fans.
  • With prospects Austin Slater and Steven Duggar hitting well in Triple-A, the Giants could soon find themselves with an outfield logjam, Henry Schulman of the San Francisco Chronicle writes.  Gregor Blanco and Gorkys Hernandez are both out of options and playing well, though they would be the two most obvious candidates to perhaps be waived if the Giants felt a move was necessary.  Andrew McCutchen and (currently on the DL) Hunter Pence aren’t going anywhere, while Austin Jackson is struggling badly but not readily movable given his two-year contract.
  • White Sox prospect Micker Adolfo will soon receive another MRI to check on his UCL sprain and a flexor tendon strain, MLB.com’s Scott Merkin reports.  The results could still potentially require a season-ending surgery, even though Aldolfo has been playing (only as a DH) and hitting well despite the injuries, carrying a .328/.392/.552 slash line over his first 74 PA for Chicago’s high-A ball affiliate.  “I don’t feel anything [sore] when I’m hitting or lifting weights. Hopefully that’s a good sign that it’s getting better,” Adolfo said.  The 21-year-old was originally diagnosed with the injury in February and missed much of Spring Training, though the missed time hasn’t kept him from a hot start to the season.

AL Injury Notes: Rangers, Royals, Mariners, Orioles

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The Rangers activated center fielder Delino DeShields from the DL prior to their game Sunday and sent fellow center fielder Carlos Tocci to the DL with a bruised left hip. This represents a quick return for DeShields, who suffered a broken left hamate bone March 31 and was expected to miss four to six weeks. Neither Tocci, a Rule 5 pick, nor Drew Robinson effectively grabbed the reins in center during DeShields’ absence. Rangers center fielders have hit a league-worst .148/.242/.193 in 100 trips to the plate, 92 of which have come from Robinson and Tocci.

  • The Royals have promoted right-hander Clay Buchholz from Double-A to Triple-A, per Tony Boone of the Omaha World-Herald. Buchholz will make a rehab start Sunday, his second of the year, and could debut with the Royals as early as next Saturday, Jeffrey Flanagan of MLB.com suggests (Twitter link). The 33-year-old Buchholz, who missed nearly all of last season with the Phillies after undergoing surgery to repair a flexor tear in his right forearm, joined the Royals last month on a minor league contract. That deal includes a May 1 opt-out, perhaps making it all the more likely the Royals will promote him – especially considering how poorly fifth starter Eric Skoglund has fared in the early going.
  • Meanwhile, injured Royals cornerstones Salvador Perez and Alex Gordon are “very close” to returning, manager Ned Yost told Rustin Dodd of The Athletic and other reporters on Sunday. Yost added that both players could come back from their rehab assignments during Kansas City’s next series, which begins Tuesday. Perez suffered a Grade 2 MCL tear in his left knee on March 28, while Gordon has been out since April 10 with a labral tear in his left hip. Gordon got off to a woeful start (.174/.208/.217 in 24 PAs), as has his team, which entered Sunday with the worst record in the AL (4-15).
  • The Mariners reinstated righty Erasmo Ramirez from the DL on Sunday and somewhat surprisingly optioned outfielder Guillermo Heredia to Triple-A. In doing so, they bought more time for franchise icon and fellow outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, whom Heredia has easily outplayed thus far. Ichiro, the game’s oldest position player at 44, has opened with an unusual .212/.212/.212 line in 33 trips to the plate. The 27-year-old Heredia, on the other hand, has slashed .310/.417/.552 with a pair of homers in 37 PAs. Ramirez, who had been down with a lat strain since spring training, slotted back into Seattle’s rotation Sunday.
  • Orioles designated hitter Mark Trumbo hasn’t played this season because of a quad strain he suffered in mid-March. Trumbo previously opened a rehab assignment earlier this month, only to halt it after feeling discomfort. He’ll take another crack at it beginning Monday, Roch Kubatko of MASNsports.com was among those to report. The plan is for Trumbo to play three games apiece at the Double-A and Triple-A levels, per manager Buck Showalter.

AL Notes: Yankees, Tigers, Mariners, Pompey

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The Yankees would like to set aside roughly $10MM of payroll space to save for in-season promotions and additions at the non-waiver trade deadline, per MLB.com’s Jon Morosi. As such, the actual amount of money they have left to spend this offseason is less than it would appear on the surface. (Morosi suggests that New York has $15MM to spend, though they’re currently at about $176MM in luxury tax considerations, and subtracting the $10MM figure he mentions would leave them closer to $11MM to spend.) Rather than a significant splash like jumping back into the Yu Darvish mix, then, the Yankees are likelier to add some veteran complements either to their rotation or their infield; the Yankees have been oft-connected to free-agent second basemen in recent weeks as the team eyes a bridge to prospect Gleyber Torres, who is returning from Tommy John surgery on his non-throwing elbow.

Here’s more from around the American League…

  • Tigers GM Al Avila said this week that his team could still make some additions to the 40-man roster, MLB.com’s Jason Beck writes. The GM didn’t cite a specific area of need, indicating that he could have room to add a starter, a position player or a reliever. What’s clear, though, is that the Tigers don’t plan on making any kind of move that would come with long-term ramifications. “I’m not trying to come across as saying we’re going to try to pick up a pitcher here, a pitcher there and it’s going to make us so much better that we have a chance to win a championship,” Avila stated. “At this point, we might try to pick up a player here or there to, quite frankly, get us through the season, and hopefully have a guy have a bounceback and be able to make a trade later on and acquire a younger player, a piece here, a piece there, to make ourselves better little by little.” Comments like that, of course, make the MLBPA and agents alike bristle, as they’re the type of non-competitive remarks that have often been cited as a reason for the historically slow free-agent market. The Tigers have spent a bit of cash this offseason, signing Leonys Martin and Mike Fiers to Major League deals, but they won’t come anywhere near their previous levels of spending as they embark on what figures to be a lengthy rebuilding effort.
  • Right-hander Hisashi Iwakuma has been cleared to begin throwing as he rehabs from 2017 shoulder surgery, according to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (all Twitter links). Divish was among the reporters on hand when Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto spoke to the media about a wide variety of topics, including health updates on a number of Mariners. In addition to Iwakuma setting out on a throwing program, righty David Phelps and outfielder Guillermo Heredia are expected to be at or very close to 100 percent when Spring Training opens. Dipoto also said that lefty Marco Gonzales, who is out of minor league options, “will be given every opportunity to make our club.” Dipoto has taken some heat from fans for trading prospect Tyler O’Neill to acquire Gonzales from the Cardinals, though O’Neill’s .254/.304/.548 slash and 27 percent strikeout rate in Triple-A following the trade raise questions of their own.
  • Blue Jays outfielder Dalton Pompey spoke with Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet about his lost 2017 season. The former top prospect was once heralded as the center fielder of the future in Toronto but struggled in his first exposure to the Majors and was scarcely able to play at all last season. Pompey suffered a concussion playing for Canada in the World Baseball Classic that effectively prevented him from any sense of normalcy for the first few months of the season. The outfielder explains that he had to wear sunglasses everywhere he went, wasn’t able to use his phone or watch television and, certainly, was not participating at baseball activities for several months. A knee injury in his first rehab game back from the concussion more or less ended his 2017 campaign entirely. Pompey still has a minor league option remaining, Zwelling notes, but he has a long way to go to prove he can still be a long-term piece for the Jays. The column is well worth a full look, as it features an in-depth look at concussion symptoms, featuring interviews with not only Pompey but also recently retired first baseman Justin Morneau, whose career trajectory was dramatically altered by a 2010 concussion.

Guillermo Heredia Undergoes Shoulder Surgery

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Mariners outfielder Guillermo Heredia has undergone surgery on his right shoulder, per a club announcement. With a full offseason to recover, the 26-year-old is expected to be ready for Spring Training.

While the overall prognosis seems promising, it appears to be a fairly significant surgery. Heredia is said to have required repair of a Bankart lesion — one of the varieties of labrum tears that can occur.

Fortunately, though, the injury did not occur to his throwing side. More importantly, he’s not a pitcher. And given the timing, there’s plenty of time for rehab work.

Heredia played a significant role for the M’s this year and is expected to continue to do so into the future. While he’s generally regarded as a talented defender, though, he managed only a .249/.315/.337 slash with six home runs over 426 plate appearances in 2017. Clearly, that output will need to increase if he’s going to keep receiving so much playing time.

Seattle is already going to be looking to add an outfielder with Jarrod Dyson heading to free agency. Heredia’s status injects a bit of added uncertainty to the situation, though given the outlook it doesn’t seem as if Seattle’s plans will change significantly due to the surgery.

Jerry Dipoto Discusses Mariners’ Offseason Plans

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Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto discussed the next steps for his organization with reporters, including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune. Seattle trailed off late in the year and missed the postseason for the 16th-straight season, but it doesn’t sound as if a major roster shakeup is in order.

To the contrary, Dipoto stressed that he’s not anticipating anything approaching the kind of player turnover he oversaw during his first two years in charge of Seattle’s baseball operations. While he acknowledged there are “holes to fill,” he also said that he doesn’t expect “frantic movement” in the offseason to come.

Most broadly, the club’s top baseball ops official noted that his front office’s prior efforts have resulted in a more youthful slate of MLB talent that should provide a solid base moving forward. “I feel like we’ve made a significant move forward,” said Dipoto. “You just don’t really see it in the standings quite as much as we might see it in future planning.” 

He also acknowledged that it remains a tall order to put together a team that’s truly competitive with the division-leading Astros. “That’s going to take some time and frankly a little bit of luck,” he said.

It’s unclear what kind of payroll space will be available for what moves the team does make. Seattle finished 2016 with over $170MM on the books and opened the 2017 campaign at over $150MM. Even if the team spends at that level again, there likely wouldn’t be much room to work with, since the Mariners already have $110MM on the books for 2018 before accounting for some significant arbitration salaries.

Looking more particularly at the roster, Dipoto suggested that he doesn’t see the M’s as being particularly in need of adding starting pitching. While he acknowledged that adding a quality starter would be nice, he indicated that the team is no more needy in that area than are most others around the league.

Dipoto sees both “depth” and “quality” in the existing staff. Notably, he also suggested that Seattle is prepared to utilize its staff in a more flexible manner going forward. “We’re going to see a different style of pitching staff and how it’s set up,” said Dipoto. “… We are adjusting toward what the world looks like now for starting pitchers, which is a 15-to-18-out starter (rather) than the complete-game starter.”

Of course, like most teams, the Mariners have interest in young Japanese star Shohei Otani, who is poised to represent a unique bargain given his unique circumstances. He’d represent a potentially game-changing addition to the pitching staff and Dutton says the club is going to do everything it can to land him, perhaps hoping its history with Japanese players will provide an edge. Dipoto did not comment on the two-way performer, but did note that he thinks it’s possible a player could see significant action as both a pitcher and hitter — though he added it’s unlikely that both could be done on a full-time basis.

Elsewhere, the club needs to add an outfielder and consider its options at first base. Dipoto said that the Mariners won’t necessarily need to add a center-field-capable player to cover for the loss of Jarrod Dyson to free agency, citing the potential to utilize Mitch Haniger and Guillermo Heredia up the middle. (Notably, though, manager Scott Servais did mention the need to improve on the bases, as Dutton reports. Dyson was easily the team’s best performer in that department.) That stance ought to help with flexibility as the Mariners sort through the options on the open market (and, perhaps, the trade market).

At first base, the GM suggested there’s a real possibility of bringing back Yonder Alonso, though he also emphasized that there will likely be “a lot of different options” to be considered. Certainly, the free-agent market has a variety of possibilities, perhaps representing opportunity to target a given player or to achieve some value through patience. Though he indicated that the team still believes in Dan Vogelbach and Evan White, Dipoto noted that it “remains to be seen” whether either will be a major part of the solution for the season to come.

Guillermo Heredia To Undergo Shoulder Surgery

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Mariners outfielder Guillermo Heredia is headed for a second opinion on his ailing right shoulder but has already had surgery recommended by one doctor, manager Scott Servais revealed to reporters on Wednesday (via the Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish).

Servais stated that the surgery “needs to happen” and added that Heredia will require “kind of a lengthy rehab,” though he declined to put an exact time frame on the outfielder’s recovery. The team does expect Heredia to be ready for Spring Training, per Divish. Heredia has been diagnosed with a subluxation in his non-throwing shoulder, and the injury was exacerbated on a diving attempt at a fly-ball against the Astros a couple of weeks back.

The injury will officially close the book on Heredia’s first full season in the Majors. While his overall .249/.315/.337 slash line isn’t much to look at, it’s fair to wonder how heavily the shoulder troubles impacted Heredia down the stretch. He carried a much more respectable .272/.338/.377 batting line into the season’s final month before cratering with a .143/.211/.157 performance over his final 70 trips to the plate. That slump includes a woeful 0-for-16 stretch to close out the year.

The 26-year-old Heredia left Cuba back in January 2015 and went through a near-six-month waiting process before being declared a free agent by Major League Baseball that July. He ultimately took another seven months before signing with Seattle. He won’t be eligible for arbitration until after the 2019 season, so the Mariners can control him cheaply for the foreseeable future.

While his bat has yet to provide much in the way of value, Heredia has received strong grades for his work in the corner outfield, per Defensive Runs Saved and Ultimate Zone Rating, and he’s also played a roughly average center field in nearly 500 innings. Statcast’s new Outs Above Average metric pegs him at a solid +7 outs for the 2017 season.

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