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Dipoto Downplays Possibility Of Mariners’ Rebuild

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7:33pm: Dipoto told MLB.com’s Greg Johns at the GM Meetings that this morning’s reports were “clearly over-dramatized,” adding that the Mariners are “just too talented” to completely tear down the roster. That said, Dipoto also conceded that the Mariners are “open-minded to different ways we can get better” and expressed a desire to “re-imagine” the team’s roster while “gather[ing] as much talent as we can.”

Generally speaking, it seems as though the Mariners will be open-minded to moving shorter-term assets — Paxton and Zunino both have only two years of control remaining — while also trying to gather some controllable talent in order to supplement the pieces of the roster that remain into 2019 and beyond. The GM also suggested that the Mariners won’t rule out a reunion with Nelson Cruz, whom he called a “super human being” and a “wildly productive” player. But the team also has other needs, specifically in center field, Dipoto noted.

The column is rife with quotes from Dipoto on the offseason direction and the agile approach the Mariners will take toward offseason roster maneuverings and is worth a look for Mariners fans and those hoping that various Mariners players become available in trades.

10:48am: Facing a difficult path to improving their roster sufficiently to compete in the AL West, the Mariners are said to be weighing at least a partial sell-off of veteran assets. Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports tweets that the organization is “considering a full-fledged teardown,” while Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times characterizes the situation as one in which the club will pursue the somewhat less dramatic path of “culling the roster of a few players who could actually bring back some younger talent to the organization” while also maintaining a competitive assortment of MLB players.

Whatever the precise course, it’ll be a fine line to walk, and one that’ll require deft handling from Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto. It’s worth noting that both reports emphasize the variability remaining in the situation. The M’s won’t simply be auctioning players off, it seems. Rather, the club is going to be demanding value. And as Divish notes, there’s also a strong countervailing wind to the concept of a rebuild. The goal, as Dipoto has himself stated recently, is to make a legitimate challenge for a World Series as swiftly as possible. Accordingly, it’s at least possible that the organization will prioritize near-to-the-majors talent over far-away, high-upside prospects.

Regardless, it’s an interesting shift in the market just as it gets underway. No doubt, the allure of the trade market is factoring into the thinking for the Mariners’ front office. That seems to be an element of the Indians’ decision to consider offers on some key veteran pitchers. The market side of the reasoning here isn’t altogether different, though it’s quite a different competitive picture for the Cleveland organization, which still has a very clear path to the postseason. With few top-end starters and relievers available for the highest bidder, there certainly could be some opportunities to achieve value.

All indications of late had been that the Mariners would consider to push to contend. There’s real talent on the roster, to be sure, and the club did just win 89 games even after a late-2018 tailspin. Certainly, the organization’s slate of contract commitments represents that of a contending team, with large and lengthy commitments to several players. Those same factors, though, also can easily be interpreted as supporting a different approach. The 2018 club arguably outperformed its true talent level and still finished 14 games out of first place in the AL West. And a crowded payroll situation makes it hard to imagine ready solutions to some of the team’s ongoing areas of need.

So, what players could be on the move? The premium assets will certainly draw the most attention, though they’ll also be the hardest to pry loose. James Paxton, Edwin Diaz, Mitch Haniger, Jean Segura, and Marco Gonzales all come with ample excess value in their control rights. Surely, it would require the right deal to part with any of these players. Of them, Paxton seems the likeliest to move, if only because the others are all controlled for at least four move seasons while he has just two left to go. Indeed, Divish indicates it’s quite likely the power lefty will be shipped out. Diaz is a fascinating potential piece on the market, as he’d easily be the most valuable relief asset available. The 24-year-old just turned in an outstanding season and his trade value was boosted by the fact that he barely missed out on Super Two qualification, which would have greatly increased his overall arbitration earning power. Haniger is likely the team’s most valuable piece, though he might also be the hardest to part with. Moving Segura’s contract might offer a means of both dropping salary and adding younger talent in one fell swoop. There’s really not much reason for the Mariners to consider dealing Gonzales, who is amply affordable and controllable (and also just agreed to an unusual new contract).

Several other players will also surely be of keen interest on the market. Veteran reliever Alex Colome is not as good, or as cheap and controllable, as Diaz, but he’d be quite an interesting alternative to the open market options for clubs needing late-inning relief talent. Several other bullpen assets could hold appeal as well. Backstop Mike Zunino has his limitations as a player, but he’s a talented defender with huge power. It would be rather challenging for the club to move its most expensive veterans, though perhaps contract-swapping arrangements of some kind can be imagined. Plenty of rivals would like to have Robinson Cano, Kyle Seager, Dee Gordon, and Mike Leake on their rosters, after all, despite their suboptimal recent track records, though certainly the remaining financial obligations would need to be sorted out somehow.

The possibilities, truly, are endless, and will depend in no small part upon precisely what Dipoto and co. are looking to accomplish. It could well be a matter of seeing what’s possible on the market, rather than setting out specifically to prioritize the addition of new talent, say, as opposed to shaving payroll. Given Dipoto’s history of dealmaking, it wouldn’t be surprising to see quite a few moves to re-shape the roster in the coming months.

Mariners, Marco Gonzales Agree To Two-Year Deal

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7:14pm: Heyman tweets that Gonzales agreed to drop his grievance, which could have increased his service time and, consequently, his earnings, in exchange for a current salary greater than that of a typical player with his service time.

6:13pm: According to Heyman, part of the explanation for the abnormally high value of Gonzales’ deal is the existence of a previous grievance from his time with the Cardinals, which is still pending (Twitter link). The grievance reportedly concerns the timing of a demotion. The outcome of this dispute may alter Gonzales’ service time and therefore his earning power, which would explain the $1.9MM figure.

4:40pm: The Mariners have agreed to a highly unusual two-year contract with lefty Marco Gonzales, reports Fancred’s Jon Heyman (Twitter link). The contract promises Gonzales a total of $1.9MM despite the fact that Gonzales is still two full years from reaching arbitration. Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweets that Gonzales will earn $900K in 2019 and $1MM in 2020.

Presumably, then, there’s some type of club option associated with the deal that will give the Seattle organization the right to control at least one of Gonzales’ arbitration seasons at a predetermined rate. Beyond that, it’s not entirely clear why the Mariners would bump Gonzales’ pay to this extent; he earned just north of the league minimum in 2018 and could’ve been given only minimal raises over that sum in both of the next two seasons. While it’s only a minor difference, the Mariners are effectively promising as much as an additional $700-800K with this deal.

Gonzales, 27 in February, emerged in 2018 as a quality rotation piece for a Seattle team that was in desperate need of arms. While some raised an eyebrow when Seattle traded slugging outfield prospect Tyler O’Neill to St. Louis in order to acquire Gonzales, the lefty delivered plenty of value to the Mariners in his first full season with the organization. Through 166 2/3 innings (29 starts), Gonzales pitched to an even 4.00 ERA with 7.8 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, 0.92 HR/9 and a 44.9 percent ground-ball rate.

There’s also yet some reason to believe that Gonzales has more in the tank. His pristine control helped to offset his average strikeout tendencies, prompting metrics like FIP (3.43), xFIP (3.49) and SIERA (3.81) to view his 2018 results even more favorably. Meanwhile, he induced swings on pitches out of the strike zone at a whopping 35.9 percent clip — a mark that ranked fifth in the Majors and trailed only Patrick Corbin, Jacob deGrom, Carlos Carrasco and Miles Mikolas. That speaks to the deception that Gonzales brings to the table and suggests that there could eventually be more strikeouts — or at least more weak contact — in the future for the southpaw.

Mariners Notes: Gonzales, Segura, Haniger, Cruz

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Here’s the latest from the city of Jimi Hendrix and Frasier Crane…

  • Marco Gonzales is hopeful that he can return from the disabled list to start during the Mariners’ series with the Yankees this weekend, MLB.com’s Greg Johns was among those to report.  A cervical neck muscle strain forced Gonzales to the 10-day DL on August 27, though the left-hander had no issues while playing catch today.  Gonzales will throw a light bullpen session Monday and another later in the week with an eye towards starting against New York.  “The silver lining” of the absence, Gonzales told Johns and other reporters, is that he has had time to rest his arm and perhaps get a bit of a reset after struggling badly over his last four outings.
  • The November 2016 deal that brought Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger to Seattle has turned into one of the best trades in recent Mariners history, with the two both quickly becoming cornerstone players for the M’s.  The Athletic’s Corey Brock (subscription required) looks back at the trade with GM Jerry Dipoto, who broke down some of the talks between he and Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen, and how Segura and Haniger were identified as targets.
  • In a mailbag piece for the Seattle Times, Ryan Divish notes that the two biggest questions surrounding the Mariners’ offseason will be whether or not to re-sign Nelson Cruz, and what position Dee Gordon will play in 2019.  The two questions go hand-in-hand, particularly in regards to Robinson Cano — if Cruz leaves, Cano will see more DH time and Gordon could play more at his natural second base position.  If Cruz stays as the full-time DH, however, Cano will see regular time at second while Gordon could return to the outfield.  Ryon Healy’s future with the team is also a factor, as Cano could also be deployed at first base.  It will be an interesting positional juggle for the M’s, plus we can’t rule out Dipoto trying another unconventional solution (i.e. the decision to acquire Gordon and use him as a center fielder in the first place).

AL West Notes: Tillman, Rodney, Ohtani, Diaz, Gonzales

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Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram runs through some potential September call-ups for the Rangers, listing outfielder Scott Heineman, left-hander Brady Feigl and veteran right-hander Chris Tillman as potential options who are not on the 40-man roster. Per Wilson, the Rangers are intrigued by Tillman as a potential piece for the 2019 rotation, and a September call-up would serve as an audition of sorts. Tillman hasn’t had any big league success since 2016 and has missed time with a groin injury since signing a minor league deal with the Rangers. However, he has a fairly lengthy MLB track record, and the Rangers are thin on upper-level pitching depth. At the very least, Tillman could be a candidate to head to Spring Training as a non-roster invitee in 2019, though perhaps with a strong September showing the team would consider a guaranteed deal.

Here’s more from the AL West…

  • Fernando Rodney doesn’t know what the Athletics’ plans for him are as pertains to the 2019 season, but the league’s leading arrow-shooter made clear to Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle last week that he has every intention of playing. Whether the A’s exercise a $4.25MM club option on Rodney remains to be seen, but the 41-year-old right-hander has certainly given his new team plenty of reason to consider retaining him. Rodney has fired off eight scoreless innings with a 7-to-2 K/BB ratio since being acquired in exchange for young righty Dakota Chalmers earlier this month. As Slusser notes, he’s four saves shy of Francisco Cordero’s all-time record for a Dominican-born player. Rodney is keenly aware of that fact, acknowledging that he’d hoped to set the record with the Twins and still has his sights set on doing so in the future.
  • Angels pitcher/DH Shohei Ohtani seems to be champing at the bit to make his next major-league start after a long layoff following the diagnosis of a UCL sprain. As Jeff Fletcher of the Southern California News Group reports on Twitter, the prized 24-year-old feels he’s ready to go after throwing fifty pitches today in a simulated game. While skipper Mike Scioscia indicated that Ohtani’s stuff is crisp, the club is surely prioritizing the long-term in deciding how to proceed. This campaign won’t end in a postseason appearance, after all, and Ohtani’s right arm is of critical importance to the Halos’ hopes in 2019 and beyond.
  • Corey Brock of The Athletic takes a look at the rise of Edwin Diaz to one of the game’s elite closers (subscription required). Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais, bullpen coach Brian DeLunas and first base coach Chris Prieto are among those to weigh in on Diaz’s ascension from a prospect who never appeared on a major Top 100 list to the second-fastest player ever to reach 100 big league saves. As Dipoto recalls, there was a fair bit of internal debate in his first offseason as GM with the team about whether to develop Diaz as a starter or a reliever. It was eventually decided to see how Diaz’s stuff would play in shorter stints and, if things didn’t go well, to then transition him back to the Majors. Diaz uncorked a 101 mph fastball on his first pitch out of the Double-A bullpen, per Dipoto, and the right-hander’s ensuing dominance made the organization’s decision fairly straightforward. Brock also chats with Astros manager A.J. Hinch and a few of Diaz’s teammates about his emergence as one of the game’s premier relievers.
  • In other Seattle pitching news, the Mariners have placed southpaw Marco Gonzales on the 10-day DL with a cervical neck muscle strain, per a club announcement. He’ll be replaced on the active roster by outfielder Guillermo Heredia. As Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes, it’s still not clear how the M’s will address the newly opened rotation hole. While it’s possible southpaw James Paxton will be ready to go in time to take the ball on Wednesday, when Gonzales had been scheduled to start, that would mean moving up his schedule. It’s certainly not an optimal situation for a Seattle club that is trying to catch up to the division-leading Astros and Athletics. Gonzales entered the month of August with a strong 3.37 ERA, but has faded of late. He coughed up eight earned runs in just three innings in his most recent start and has seen his earned-run average climb all the way to 4.32. It has been a compelling season for the 26-year-old, regardless, but as Divish explains the southpaw may be wearing down now that he has reached 145 2/3 frames on the year — a significant workload for a pitcher who has been limited by injuries for most of the past three campaigns.

West Notes: Ross, Rockies, Beltre, Gonzales

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Tyson Ross spoke recently with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune about the likelihood that he’ll be traded by the Padres at some point in the near future. Ross spoke like a pitcher who is anticipating that he’ll be traded, though he notes that his experience with the Padres in 2015 taught him that there are no certainties. That season, Ross was considered to be among the top trade assets in baseball, but the Padres held onto him — a decision GM A.J. Preller likely regrets, given that Ross was injured for the whole 2016 season and ultimately released. “I was one of the bigger names being thrown around as a trade piece,” Ross said of that 2015 campaign. “A.J. held on to me. He didn’t get his return on that. If he wants to make a move at some point, that’s the game. For him, it would be a great investment — buy low, sell high.”

MLBTR’s Jeff Todd recently took a look at Ross and another pair of Padres starters, Clayton Richard and Jordan Lyles, and explored their trade candidacy as the summer approaches. Ross, right now at least, looks like a rare thoracic outlet surgery success story; in 60 1/3 innings he’s notched a 3.13 ERA with 9.6 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, 0.75 HR/9 and a 44.1 percent ground-ball rate.

A few more notes from the game’s Western divisions…

  • MLB.com’s Thomas Harding addresses a number of Rockies-related issues in his latest Inbox column, writing that while fans are champing at the bit to see Brendan Rodgers in the Majors, it may very well that infield prospect Garrett Hampson beats the more highly-touted Rodgers to the big leagues. Rodgers is still just 21 and has yet to play in Triple-A, Harding notes, while Hampson was recently promoted to Triple-A, has experience hitting leadoff and has a strong history of on-base skills. With DJ LeMahieu on the shelf, that skill set holds some appeal to the organization. Harding also looks at what could be a challenging trade deadline for Jeff Bridich as he looks to improve an inconsistent offense, though he adds that he isn’t hearing any indication that the Rox are aggressively exploring the trade market just yet. Of course, in late May, that’s hardly an uncommon stance for any team.
  • Adrian Beltre hasn’t made a decision about his future beyond the 2018 season, writes Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, though he’s open about the fact that he’s not looking to play for several years beyond 2018. Asked if he had any desire to play to age 45 like his countryman Bartolo Colon, Beltre joked, “My wife would divorce me.” For now, the Rangers third baseman is merely focused on getting healthy enough to return to the field, and Wilson notes that the current plan is for the 39-year-old to return to the lineup in about two weeks’ time. Whether Beltre will finish out the season in Texas remains to be seen as well, of course, as he’s already come up as a potential trade candidate should he return to the lineup in good health and avoid further trips to the DL.
  • Mariners southpaw Marco Gonzales chatted with Corey Brock of The Athletic in an interesting Q&A about his return from Tommy John surgery, the process of reestablishing trust in his curveball and his use of data and analytics. The 26-year-old said he feels like this is “the best curveball I’ve had in my career,” explaining that because he’s largely recovered from TJ surgery, his grip strength is improved and he can throw from his natural arm slot. Gonzales, though, added that he doesn’t feel that he (or any other pitcher) can ever say he’s 100 percent recovered from such a major surgery. “It’s a constant job,” Gonzales said of managing his recovery. “And it’s something I take a lot of pride in, getting my arm ready each day. It’s 45 minutes worth of stuff each day to make sure I’m feeling good. Even on days when I don’t need to do it, I still do it because it helps me feel secure. I think that’s what the rehab process did: give me some pride and some conviction in how I go about my routine.” Gonzales has turned in a 4.05 ERA with 8.3 K/9, 1.9 BB/9, 0.84 HR/9 and a 46 percent ground-ball rate in 53 1/3 innings this season, with FIP (3.22) and xFIP (3.20) looking even more favorably upon his work.

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.

Mariners Place Felix Hernandez On 10-Day DL

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The Mariners have announced that they’ve placed righty Felix Hernandez on the 10-day DL with right biceps tendinitis. To take his place on the active roster (and to start for him today against Kansas City), they’ve recalled righty Marco Gonzales from Triple-A Tacoma.

Hernandez has struggled in his last two starts, giving up a total of eight runs over 11 innings against Boston and Texas, and he’s in the midst of an uncharacteristically uninspiring season, with a 4.28 ERA, 8.4 K/9 and 2.6 BB/9 over 73 2/3 innings. He also missed time earlier this season to a right shoulder inflammation. Nonetheless, the timing of his current injury comes as somewhat of a surprise. It’s unclear, at this point, how much time we’ll need to miss, but a second bout of arm trouble is never welcome news to player or team. As Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets, Hernandez’s injury could increase the likelihood of the Mariners acquiring a starter via a waiver trade.

The Mariners last month acquired Gonzales from the Cardinals for Tyler O’Neill. He briefly appeared in the big leagues with St. Louis earlier this season but has not yet pitched in a game with the Mariners, although GM Jerry Dipoto said last week that he was impressed with Gonzales and expected him to appear in the big leagues later in the season. He has a 3.02 ERA, 7.6 K/9 and 2.3 BB/9 over 86 1/3 minor-league innings this year after missing all of 2016 after having Tommy John surgery.

AL Notes: Twins, Indians, Mariners

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The Twins already dealt for Jaime Garcia, but their recent slide in the standings (they’ve lost their last four games and are now 50-51) could result in them dealing Garcia and other veterans, as Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press notes. Trade candidates (in addition to Garcia) could include Ervin Santana, Brandon Kintzler, Eduardo Escobar, Brian Dozier, Matt Belisle and Kyle Gibson. Interestingly, Berardino relates an anecdote from current Twins GM and former Rangers exec Thad Levine about the Rangers’ ill-fated trade of Adrian Gonzalez and Chris Young to San Diego for a package headed by Adam Eaton (the former starting pitcher, not the current outfielder). “We realized this very soon after making some of those moves (in 2006) that we made some short-sighted decisions,” says Levine. “I think they were born out of a central flaw in our decision-making process, which you see across a lot of sports, which was we miscalculated where we were in the winning continuum. I think we thought we were the proverbial one player away when we really weren’t.” Here’s more from the American League.

  • The Indians are most likely to pursue relievers and/or bench players before the deadline, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal tweets, adding that the club could be active during waiver trading season in August. The implication seems to be that the Indians are unlikely to be involved in any huge moves in the next two days. The team had previously been connected to big bats like J.D. Martinez and Jay Bruce.
  • After acquiring pitchers David Phelps, Erasmo Ramirez and Marco Gonzales, the Mariners are probably done making trades this month, writes MLB.com’s Greg Johns. “We’re always open,” says GM Jerry Dipoto. “The phone is never very far from me, and there are areas we can improve, so we’ll keep our ears to the street. The likelihood is there probably isn’t going to be another move, but I would have told you that two days ago as well.” Dipoto adds that he’s impressed with Gonzales, who he describes as “about as big-league-ready as a Triple-A pitcher could be” and says will be back in the big leagues at some point this season.

Mariners Acquire Marco Gonzales From Cardinals For Tyler O’Neill

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The Mariners have acquired left-hander Marco Gonzales from the Cardinals in exchange for minor league outfielder Tyler O’Neill, as per a Mariners press release.

[Related: updated Cardinals and Mariners depth charts at Roster Resource]

[Related: MLBTR’s Cardinals news and rumors page on Facebook]

The 25-year-old Gonzales is only just making his way back from a pair of injury-plagued seasons.  Gonzales missed a good chunk of 2015 due to shoulder problems and then all of 2016 due to Tommy John surgery.  The southpaw posted a 2.90 ERA, 3.35 K/BB rate and 7.5 K/9 over 11 starts and 68 1/3 IP at the Triple-A level this season, and Gonzales made it back to the big leagues for one start this season, a 3 1/3-inning outing on June 13.

St. Louis drafted Gonzales 19th overall in 2013 and both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus ranked him as one of the top 52 prospects in the sport prior to the 2015 season.  BA ranked him as the #1 prospect in the Cardinals’ farm system that year, giving particular praise to Gonzales’ outstanding changeup.  The Cardinals thought enough of Gonzales that they promoted him to the majors barely a year after drafting him, and the lefty even made the Cards’ postseason roster in 2014, not allowing a run in five of his six outings in the playoffs.

Seattle was known to be looking for young pitching, and while Gonzales doesn’t project as an immediate upgrade for the current M’s rotation, he still possesses quite a bit of upside.  Beyond his potential on the mound, Gonzales also offers over six remaining years of team control; he isn’t eligible for arbitration until after the 2020 season, and won’t be a free agent until after 2023.  With Drew Smyly scheduled to miss most or all of 2018 recovering from Tommy John surgery and Hisashi Iwakuma and Yovani Gallardo both questionable to have their club options exercised for next season, Gonzales projects to be an important rotation piece for the 2018 Mariners.

In acquiring Gonzales, the M’s gave up a well-regarded young player in O’Neill, who was comfortably positioned within preseason top-1oo prospect lists from MLB.com (36th), Baseball America (38th), Baseball Prospectus (53rd).  Power is O’Neill’s calling card, as he has 89 homers over 1794 minor league plate appearances, including 19 this season at the Triple-A level.  O’Neill got off to something of a slow start in his first taste of Triple-A action, though he has recovered to post a .244/.328/.479 slash line through 396 PA.  He has cut down on his strikeouts over the last two seasons, though he still gets more than his share of whiffs, with 108 strikeouts this season.  O’Neill’s plate discipline and average corner outfield defense are also works in progress, though the 22-year-old Canadian has so much raw power and overall hitting potential that the Cardinals are surely willing to tolerate some growing pains.

O’Neill joins several other interesting young outfielders in the St. Louis farm system, and USA Today’s Bob Nightengale speculates that the Cards could now look to move an outfielder from their MLB roster in the offseason.  This could imply that Randal Grichuk or Stephen Piscotty could become trade chips, though the Cardinals would be selling low on either player in the wake of lackluster 2017 seasons.

Quick Hits: Martinez, Gonzales, Altavilla

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The Tigers themselves are waiting to see how what general manager Al Avila calls “the J.D. Martinez situation” unfolds, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press writes. The Tigers are currently mired in third place at 29-32, but could potentially work their way more clearly toward contention, or out of it, over the next month. If they do find themselves leaning toward trading him, the quality of Martinez’s own play and his health are two more variables, along with which contenders want him and how badly. The Tigers could also keep him and collect a draft pick should he reject a qualifying offer, although they might stand to get more if they trade him this summer. Employees from other teams suggest the return for Martinez might not be spectacular, but it would be considerable. “Maybe the ‘1A’ prospect. Not the tip-top, but among the better group,” says an NL scout. “I’d happily give away our No. 2 and No. 4 prospect,” says a scout from the AL. Martinez has clearly established himself as a consistent power hitter, and his .297/.389/.714 line in 108 plate appearances since returning from a spring foot injury can’t hurt his stock. Here’s more from around the league.

  • Cardinals lefty Marco Gonzales will make his first big-league appearance since 2015 in a start on Tuesday, Jenifer Langosch of MLB.com writes. Gonzales made it to the Majors barely a year after the Cardinals picked him 19th overall in the 2013 draft, but he struggled in 2015 and missed the entire 2016 season after having Tommy John surgery. Now, after six mostly successful minor-league starts, he’s back.
  • Mariners special assistant and former scouting director Tom McNamara says his club “got lucky” in finding righty Dan Altavilla out of Division II Mercyhurst University and taking him in the fifth round of the 2014 draft, David Laurila writes in his weekly notes column for FanGraphs. The Mariners had already seen Altavilla pitch in the Cape Cod League, but ended up taking him in part because of a coincidence of geography, as Altavilla happened to be pitching again a few miles from where Mariners officials were watching another game. “We were going to watch LSU versus Vanderbilt,” says McNamara. “It was (Aaron) Nola against (Tyler) Beede. Our scout who had Pennsylvania, Mike Moriarty, told us, ‘Hey, you know what? You guys could see the kid from Mercyhurst, too. He’s pitching at noon, and then you can go see the Vanderbilt game at seven o’clock. So we went.” Now, of course, Altavilla is a hard-throwing reliever in the Mariners’ bullpen.
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