Mariners Designate Ryan Jensen For Assignment
The Mariners announced that they have designated right-hander Ryan Jensen for assignment. The M’s needed an extra roster spot after acquiring right-hander Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala in exchange for third baseman Eugenio Suárez, a trade you can read more about here.
The timing from the M’s is unfortunately impolite, as Jensen’s 26th birthday is tomorrow. The Mariners claimed him off waivers from the Cubs in August but kept him on optional assignment. Between the two clubs, he tossed 64 1/3 innings in the minors on the year, split between Double-A and Triple-A. He had a 5.32 earned run average over that time, striking out 25.1% of opponents but giving out walks at an alarming rate of 17.4%.
Despite a rough 2023 campaign, Jensen could garner interest from other clubs. He is a former first-round pick, having been selected 27th overall by the Cubs in 2019. Walks have been an issue for him since then but he’s generally gotten good amounts of strikeouts and ground balls. He still has a couple of option years and some club with an roster spot could perhaps try to help him better harness his stuff while keeping him in the minors.
The M’s will have a week to try to work out a trade or pass Jensen through waivers. He doesn’t have three years of service time or a previous career outright, meaning he would have to stick with the M’s if he cleared waivers, though without occupying a spot on the 40-man roster.
D-backs Acquire Eugenio Suarez
The D-backs and Mariners on Wednesday agreed to one of the first notable trades of the offseason, with Seattle sending third baseman Eugenio Suarez to Arizona in return for reliever Carlos Vargas and catcher Seby Zavala. Both teams have announced the deal. The trade gives the Diamondbacks the power-hitting third baseman they were looking for while the M’s pick up a controllable power arm, a backup catcher option and shed some meaningful salary.
Suarez, 32, has spent the past two seasons in Seattle after coming over from the Reds alongside Jesse Winker in the trade that sent Justin Dunn and Brandon Williamson to Cincinnati. While the trade was originally more about the Mariners absorbing the remainder of Suarez’s contract in order to acquire Winker on the heels of an excellent couple seasons at the plate, it was Suarez who rebounded and wound up providing the Mariners with the middle-of-the-order punch they’d been targeting.
Suarez clobbered 49 home runs back in 2019 — the second season of a seven-year, $66MM contract extension he’d signed with the Reds prior to the 2018 campaign. His bat tailed off considerably in 2020-21, however, and the Reds shopped him around as they looked to pare back payroll coming out of the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, which was played without fans and came with substantial revenue losses for all 30 clubs.
Upon landing in Seattle, Suarez was largely back to form. While still quite strikeout prone, he popped 31 long balls in 2022 and posted an overall .236/.332/.459 batting line that was about 30% better than league average after adjusting for home park and league run-scoring environment (by measure of wRC+). His 2023 season wasn’t as successful. Suarez posted very similar batting average and OBP marks, but his power dropped off considerably. He complemented this past season’s .232/.323/.391 batting line and 22 homers with his best defensive showing in quite some time (at least in the estimation of Statcast, who credited him with 11 Outs Above Average).
Suarez’s overall approach at the plate, however, is a profile from which the Mariners have voiced a desire to move on. Seattle president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said earlier this month at the GM Meetings that he was looking to add high-contact hitters to his lineup — an understandable goal after his team’s 25.9% strikeout rate ranked second in all of Major League Baseball this season. Finding a trade partner for Suarez, in that specific regard at least, is addition by subtraction; Suarez fanned in 30.8% of his plate appearances in 2023 and 31.2% in 2022.
The 2024 season is the final guaranteed year on that $66MM contract for Suarez. He’s owed an $11MM salary plus at least a $2MM buyout on a $15MM option for the 2025 season. In all, the trade trims $13MM of guaranteed salary off the Mariners’ books. It also creates a notable hole at the hot corner, however. Recent trade acquisition Luis Urias is one potential option for the M’s, but he’s coming off a down season and was picked up in buy-low fashion. Presumably, a win-now club like the Mariners would want a more solid option at the position. Time will tell whether the Mariners find that player via free agency or, more likely (at least based on Dipoto’s track record), via trade.
As for the D-backs’ end of things, even Suarez’s slightly diminished 2023 production would be an improvement over their third basemen this past season. Arizona third basemen combined for a dismal .234/.303/.340 line in 2023. Suarez probably isn’t going to help out in terms of batting average, but he should bring more power to the position at a relatively reasonable price point of $13MM. Arizona now projects for about a $114MM payroll, per Roster Resource, which checks in $10MM shy of last year’s mark and about $18MM shy of their franchise-record level, established in 2018.
The trade fills at least one immediate need for the Mariners, who watched Tom Murphy become a free agent at season’s end. Zavala gives them an option to replace him as Cal Raleigh‘s backup behind the plate.
The 30-year-old Zavala has tallied 514 plate appearances in the big leagues but mustered a tepid .210/.275/.347 slash in that output. While he’s shown above-average power at times in the minors — including a 20-homer showing in 82 games of Triple-A ball in 2019 — Zavala’s output at the plate has been undercut by his own prolific strikeout rates. He’s gone down on strikes in 35.8% of his Major League plate appearances to this point in his career. He won’t come to the plate nearly as often as Suarez, however, so even though Zavala has his own contact issues, the swap could still prove to bolster the team’s overall contact skills, as has ostensibly been one of their goals.
Furthermore, Zavala grades out as a strong defender behind the dish. Statcast rates him as above-average in terms of blocking balls in the dirt, and he’s regularly drawn plus framing grades both at FanGraphs and via Statcast. Zavala’s 14% caught-stealing rate this past season was well shy of the league-average 20%, as is his career 17% mark. He nabbed a roughly average 24% of would-be base thieves in 2022, however, and he’s hardly the only backstop who struggled to control the running game in 2023, when MLB’s new rules regarding pickoffs and slightly larger bases dramatically increased stolen bases throughout the league.
Zavala doesn’t have any minor league options remaining, so he’ll have to open the season on the Mariners’ active roster or else be traded or placed on outright waivers. It’s always possible they add another backup catcher to supplant him, but for now he stands as the clear favorite to back up Raleigh heading into next season.
The piece of the trade with larger appeal for Seattle could very well be the flamethrowing Vargas, who made his MLB debut with Arizona in 2023. Vargas pitched in just 4 2/3 innings (allowing three runs) and had suspect surface-level numbers in Triple-A Reno: 7.02 ERA, 17% strikeout rate, 15.1% walk rate. Grisly as those numbers may be at fist glance, however, there’s also a fair bit of intrigue around the young righty.
Vargas only just turned 24 last month, and in his brief time on the D-backs’ big league roster, he averaged 99.4 mph on his four-seamer and 98.8 mph on his sinker. Per Statcast, only seven of the 851 pitchers who tossed at least one inning last year averaged a better mark on their four-seamer and sinker. Vargas is one of the game’s hardest-throwing pitchers, and his sinker produced a massive 59% ground-ball rate in Triple-A.
When considering the substantial command issues that Vargas has shown not only in 2023 but throughout his professional career — he’s walked 11.5% of opponents in his overall minor league career — he’s clearly something of a project. That said, he’s also controllable for at least six seasons and still has a minor league option remaining for the 2024 campaign. The Mariners could see this as a similar bet to the one they made on Andres Munoz, who was a similarly live-armed but unproven young reliever with command issues when they picked him up from the Padres.
As it stands, the subtraction of Suarez still weakens the Seattle roster overall, so if there’s no subsequent move to add another third base option or at least to reallocate the $13MM in savings, this will still be widely viewed as a salary dump — even if there’s some legitimate long-term potential with Vargas. But the offseason is also quite young, and both the free-agent and trade markets have various options to consider at the hot corner or at second base, if Seattle is comfortable sliding another former Diamondback, Josh Rojas, over to third base.
A deal for Matt Chapman would be wildly uncharacteristic for Dipoto, who hasn’t signed a free-agent hitter to a multi-year deal since taking the reins in Seattle, but the market offers some more affordable options such as Gio Urshela and Justin Turner. The trade market is light on pure third basemen but has several shortstops, second basemen and/or multi-position names who could fit into the Seattle infield: Willy Adames, Jonathan India, Jorge Polanco, Kyle Farmer and perhaps Brendan Donovan among them.
Given the strong young core in Seattle and this past season’s narrow miss of the playoffs, there’s little reason to think the team is preparing for a notable step back. Dipoto has made a name for himself as perhaps the most active baseball operations leader in the game when it comes to the trade market, and is stands to reason that further moves will follow. With Suarez in Arizona, the M’s now project for a payroll around $133MM, per Roster Resource, which is about $7MM shy of last year’s total and about $25MM shy of their franchise record. There should be resources to further augment the roster in the days and weeks ahead.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale first reported that the Mariners and D-backs had agreed to a trade involving Zavala and other players. Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times broke the news that Suarez and Vargas were in the swap.
Blue Jays Hope To Add Multiple Position Players This Offseason
Blue Jays general manager Ross Atkins spoke to the media at the GM Meetings in Scottsdale, Arizona, with Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet passing along some of his quotes. Atkins discussed many details but the overarching takeaway was that the Jays are looking to add position players, with Atkins saying it could be anywhere from one to four players but it would most likely be two or three.
That pursuit is understandable given the results from the season that just ended. Though the Jays qualified for the postseason, their strength was their pitching and defense. The club had a combined wRC+ of 107 at the plate during the regular season, which wasn’t terrible, putting them just inside the top 10 league-wide. But they scored just one run across two games against the Twins in the Wild Card round and then saw Matt Chapman, Brandon Belt, Whit Merrifield and Kevin Kiermaier become free agents, depriving the club of four regular members of the lineup.
Atkins went on to address the free agent market, which is generally considered light on impact position players beyond Shohei Ohtani and Cody Bellinger, though the GM doesn’t necessarily view it that way. He said that “there are some really compelling players” available beyond the top of the market but they could also look to the trade market since they “still have the depth to trade from.”
Infield is likely to be a focus for the club, since Chapman was an everyday player at third base, while Merrifield split his time between second and the outfield and Belt played a bit of first base when he wasn’t the designated hitter. The Jays have plenty of infielders on the roster but, outside of shortstop Bo Bichette and first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., many of them are unproven at the big league level or are perhaps better suited to a bench/utility role.
Davis Schneider, Cavan Biggio, Santiago Espinal, Spencer Horwitz, Ernie Clement, Otto López, Orelvis Martinez, Addison Barger and Leo Jimenez are all infielders on the 40-man roster but it’s unclear if the Jays want to rely on anyone in that group to step up and replace those that are departing. That is perhaps why Atkins gave the wide swath of possibilities for this winter.
Free agency features some potential solutions, such as Gio Urshela or Amed Rosario, though bringing Chapman back still seems to be on the table. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reports that Chapman is at the GM Meetings and has met with multiple teams, including the Jays. Chapman is coming off an uneven season but is still going to be one of the top free agents available this winter. He recently took the #7 spot on MLBTR’s list of the Top 50 Free Agents for this offseason, with a prediction of $150MM over six years.
Another option would be corner infielder Jeimer Candelario, who came in #13 on that MLBTR list with a prediction of $70MM over four years. Shi Davidi of Sportsnet reports that the Jays met with Candelario’s reps at the GM meetings, indicating they are open to him as a Chapman replacement. Candelario looked to be establishing himself as an everyday player in Detroit not too long ago, hitting .278/.356/.458 over 2020 and 2021 for a wRC+ of 124. But he then endured a nightmare season in 2022 and got non-tendered. Splitting 2023 between the Nationals and Cubs, he got back on track with a .251/.336/.471 line and 117 wRC+. He’s generally been regarded as a passable but subpar defender in that time.
It’s also possible the Jays go another direction and lump multiple younger players together in a trade for an established major leaguer. That’s how they acquired Chapman in the first place, sending four less-established players to the A’s in March of 2022. Given the aforementioned glut of infielders, it’s possible the Jays could look to do something like that again.
On the trade front, Nicholson-Smith reports that third baseman Eugenio Suárez of the Mariners is one of the players they are interested in. It’s unknown if Seattle has openness to such a deal, but it seems possible. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto said yesterday that the club is looking to reduce the amount of strikeouts in the lineup and moving on from Suárez would certainly help in that department. Each of the past five seasons has ended with his strikeout rate near 30%, when the league average is usually in the 22-23% range.
That hasn’t stopped him from being a useful hitter, but with year-to-year inconsistency. While his strikeout rate has been steadily high in those five recent campaigns, the power and batting average have oscillated. That has resulted in two season with a wRC+ of 130, a couple close to league average and one way down at 85. On defense, he’s generally considered passable at third, though Outs Above Average loved his 2023 season. That metric considered him to be league average over the 2018-2022 period but gave him +11 in 2023. He has one year left on his contract with a club option for 2025. He’s set to make a salary of $11MM in the upcoming campaign with the option valued at $15MM and coming with a $2MM buyout.
Another option that the Jays are open to is first baseman Joey Votto, who is now a free agent for the first time in his career after the Reds declined their 2024 club option. He has been a speculative fit for the Jays going back many years since he grew up in Etobicoke, which was amalgamated into Toronto in 1998. “Incredible player, remarkable career,” Atkins said of Votto. “They’re just massive impact in the community if he were to be a Toronto Blue Jay. So definitely something that we would have to consider if that was something he wanted to pursue.” Though he added that Votto’s reputation would lead to him finding interest outside of his stomping grounds. “Incredible reputation, really dynamic personality, really bright (person) that I know our team would embrace,” Atkins said. “But I think that’s the case for probably 15 teams.”
Despite Votto’s incredible career, he’s not coming into free agency on a high note, having hit .204/.317/.394 over the past two seasons with a shoulder surgery in between those campaigns. It’s a somewhat similar scenario to Belt, who joined the Jays after a poor 2022 campaign that was ended by knee surgery. But Belt was going into his age-35 season when he was signed whereas Votto is now 40. Both are left-handed hitters at first base and the designated hitter spot, so it’s possible Votto could be viewed as a Belt replacement, but the Jays might have less faith in a post-surgery bounceback from Votto given the age disparity.
In the outfield, the Jays could look for a center fielder to replace Kiermaier though Daulton Varsho is also a capable center fielder, which could allow them to add in a corner. But Jon Morosi of MLB.com reports they are showing interest in free agent Michael A. Taylor. He’s a similar player to Kiermaier as both are considered excellent defensive center fielders but with lesser reputations on offense. Taylor hit 21 home runs in 2023 but his 6.7% walk rate and 33.5% strikeout rate were both worse than league average, resulting in a 96 wRC+. The defensive metrics have continued to be excellent though, as they have all throughout his career.
Though the lineup figures to be the primary concern, there is some uncertainty on the pitching staff. Four rotation spots should be spoken for with Kevin Gausman, José Berríos, Chris Bassitt and Yusei Kikuchi all under contract and set to return in 2024, though the free agency of Hyun Jin Ryu leaves one spot open. That could go to Alek Manoah, who was excellent in 2021 and 2022, but 2023 was a different story. He posted a 5.87 ERA and was optioned to the minors multiple times as the relationship between him and the club appeared to sour. Perhaps there is some hope of getting back on track next year, as Atkins tells Keegan Matheson of MLB.com “I do feel like he has earned, already, the right to have a strong leg up” for that spot. Manoah may have some competition, as the Jays recently added Mitch White back to their roster, while prospect Ricky Tiedemann reached Triple-A in 2023.
Davidi adds that the Jays are interested in Japanese hurler Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with Atkins having gone to Japan to scout him three times this past year. They surely won’t be alone in that pursuit since Yamamoto is only 25 years old and has been one of the best pitchers in Japan for years, leading MLBTR to predict a contract of $225MM over nine years. Whether the club would upgrade their relatively strong rotation while having clear needs in the lineup is something that was asked of Atkins. “I feel like we will have the opportunity to present those types of significant adds or acquisitions to ownership. We’ve been given so much support that I wouldn’t say that that is unrealistic to do both.”
The club’s president/CEO Mark Shapiro previously stated that he expects next year’s payroll to be similar to this year’s, though they are already close on that front. Cot’s Baseball Contracts pegged their Opening Day payroll at $210MM in 2023 and now Roster Resource has them slated for $205MM next year. That includes projected salaries for arbitration-eligible players, but even a couple of non-tenders would only drop them down a bit below $200MM. Though if the competitive balance tax is the larger concern, there should be more wiggle room. RR estimates the club got to $246MM in terms of CBT in 2023 but is only at $216MM at the moment, with a few non-tenders likely to knock that down some.
Elsewhere in Blue Jays’ notes, they announced that Carlos Febles will be their third base coach next year, replacing Luis Rivera. It was reported last month that Rivera is retiring after 11 years in that gig for Toronto. Febles has been part of the Red Sox’ organization for the past two decades, serving as that club’s third base coach since 2018.
Mariners Looking To Add High-Contact Hitters
Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto was among a number of executives to speak with reporters at the GM Meetings on Tuesday. He addressed a few of the club’s offseason goals — most notably, a desire to improve the offense’s bat-to-ball skills.
“Adding some contact to our lineup,” Dipoto replied when asked by Jon Morosi of MLB.com about the club’s biggest need. He added that an additional right-handed bat would be preferable, saying the front office was excited about its group of young lefty hitters.
That desire to improve the contact rate tied into Seattle’s somewhat surprising decision not to issue a qualifying offer to Teoscar Hernández. “We wanted to make sure we can address some of the flaws that exist in our team,” Dipoto told reporters (link via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). “Despite the fact he didn’t have a great start to his season, he put up his numbers and he contributed down the stretch as much as any player we had. But we felt like this was an opportunity to kind of take a new look at the way our team is built. If there was a reason why we were sitting home in the postseason, we felt like it was probably the inability to consistently make contact.”
Seattle hitters indeed struggled with swing-and-miss. Only the Twins struck out more often, while the M’s finished 22nd with a .242 batting average. They were 15th in on-base percentage and 16th in slugging. Hernández finished second on the team with 211 strikeouts, although that shouldn’t be especially surprising. He has always been a power-first player who compensates for a middling plate discipline profile with extra-base impact.
It seems the Mariners are planning a conscious shift away from that style. The departure of Hernández leaves a hole in the corner outfield. Speculatively speaking, Hernández’s former Toronto teammate Lourdes Gurriel Jr. could fit the mold that Seattle is targeting. While Gurriel also has an aggressive offensive approach, he’s a right-handed bat who has strong pure contact skills and 20+ homer pop.
Gurriel is a left fielder only, so a hypothetical pursuit would likely push Jarred Kelenic to right field. KBO star Jung Hoo Lee hits from the left side but brings a hit-first approach and could profile in right field. Alex Verdugo and Max Kepler are among the outfielders who may be available in trade. Second base, which stands out as another area the M’s could try to upgrade, has a few hit-over-power possibilities. Whit Merrifield, Amed Rosario and Tim Anderson are all free agents who hit from the right side, although none is coming off a great finish to the 2023 season.
Seattle’s team leader in strikeouts was third baseman Eugenio Suárez, who fanned at a 30.8% clip. Suárez has led the American League in total strikeouts in consecutive seasons. He hit .232/.323/.391 in 2023 overall, roughly league average offense when accounting for Seattle’s pitcher-friendly home park.
While Dipoto didn’t mention Suárez, it doesn’t seem out of the question the Mariners shop him before the final guaranteed season of his contract. To that end, Ben Nicholson-Smith of Sportsnet reported this evening that the Blue Jays are eyeing Suárez as a potential third base option if they lose Matt Chapman in free agency. Were Seattle to move Suárez, they’d likely need to backfill via trade or free agency. Jeimer Candelario is the top alternative to Chapman on the open market.
In other news, Dipoto confirmed the team continues to have interest in re-signing Tom Murphy (via Divish). The longtime #2 catcher hit free agency, leaving Seattle with just minor league trade pickup Blake Hunt on the 40-man roster behind Cal Raleigh. The M’s are very likely to bring in a veteran catcher this winter. Murphy, who hit .290/.335/.538 in 47 games before a season-ending thumb fracture, has a shot at a two-year pact.
MLBTR Podcast: Adolis García, the Tyler Glasnow Decision and Bob Melvin
The latest episode of the MLB Trade Rumors Podcast is now live on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts! Make sure you subscribe as well! You can also use the player at this link to listen, if you don’t use Spotify or Apple for podcasts.
This week, host Darragh McDonald is joined by Anthony Franco of MLB Trade Rumors to discuss…
- The Rangers are in the World Series for the first time since 2011 (0:55)
- Looking back on the journey of Adolis García (5:00)
- What’s next for the Astros after dropping the ALCS? (7:40)
- Bob Melvin reportedly moving from the Padres to the Giants (10:15)
- Is Tyler Glasnow a trade candidate or not? (14:45)
- The Offseason Outlook of the Dodgers (21:45)
Plus, we answer your questions, including…
- Who should the Mariners target in free agency? (27:45)
- Should the Mariners look to replace Eugenio Suárez or Ty France? (29:35)
- Where will Cody Bellinger sign and for how much? (30:35)
Check out our past episodes!
- Boston Searches for a Boss, Kim Ng and Surgery for Brandon Woodruff – listen here
- The Mets’ Front Office, TJ for Alcantara and the D-Backs Extend Their GM – listen here
- Mariners To Spend? Tigers To Contend? And Managerial Vacancies – listen here
Each MLB Team’s Players On WBC Rosters
The World Baseball Classic is returning this year, the first time since 2017. The quadrennial event was supposed to take place in 2021 but was scuttled by the pandemic, now returning after a six-year absence. Rosters for the tournament were announced today and those can be found at this link. Here is a breakdown of which players from each MLB team are set to take participate. Quick caveat that this list is fluid and might be changed as more information becomes available.
Without further ado…
Angels
- Glenn Albanese Jr.
- Jaime Barria
- Gustavo Campero
- Alan Carter
- Jhonathan Diaz
- Carlos Estevez
- David Fletcher
- Jake Kalish
- D’Shawn Knowles
- Shohei Ohtani
- Jose Quijada
- Luis Rengifo
- Gerardo Reyes
- Patrick Sandoval
- Mike Trout
- Gio Urshela
- Cesar Valdez
- Zack Weiss
- Aaron Whitefield
Astros
- Bryan Abreu
- Jose Altuve
- Ronel Blanco
- Luis Garcia
- Colton Gordon
- Cristian Javier
- Martin Maldonado
- Rafael Montero
- Hector Neris
- Jeremy Pena
- Ryan Pressly
- Andre Scrubb
- Kyle Tucker
- Jose Urquidy
- Derek West
Athletics
Blue Jays
- Jose Berrios
- Jiorgeny Casimiri
- Yimi Garcia
- Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
- Spencer Horwitz
- Alejandro Kirk
- Otto Lopez
- Damiano Palmegiani
Braves
Brewers
- Willy Adames
- Sal Frelick
- Alex Hall
- Matt Hardy
- Joel Payamps
- Rowdy Tellez
- Abraham Toro
- Luis Urias
- Michele Vassalotti
- Devin Williams
Cardinals
- Nolan Arenado
- Genesis Cabrera
- Tommy Edman
- Giovanny Gallegos
- Paul Goldschmidt
- Ivan Herrera
- Matt Koperniak
- Noah Mendlinger
- Oscar Mercado
- Miles Mikolas
- Lars Nootbaar
- Tyler O’Neill
- JoJo Romero
- Adam Wainwright
- Guillermo Zuniga
Cubs
- Javier Assad
- Owen Caissie
- Danis Correa
- Ben DeLuzio
- Roenis Elias
- Miles Mastrobuoni
- Matt Mervis
- B.J. Murray Jr.
- Vinny Nittoli
- Fabian Pertuz
- Liam Spence
- Seiya Suzuki
- Marcus Stroman
- Pedro Strop
- Nelson Velazquez
- Jared Young
Diamondbacks
- Dominic Fletcher
- Jakob Goldfarb
- Gunnar Groen
- Merrill Kelly
- Ketel Marte
- Eric Mendez
- Dominic Miroglio
- Emmanuel Rivera
- Jacob Steinmetz
- Mitchell Stumpo
- Alek Thomas
Dodgers
- Austin Barnes
- Mookie Betts
- Freddie Freeman
- Clayton Kershaw
- Adam Kolarek
- Miguel Rojas
- Will Smith
- Trayce Thompson
- Julio Urias
Giants
Guardians
- Enyel De Los Santos
- Dayan Frias
- Andres Gimenez
- Bo Naylor
- Richie Palacios
- Cal Quantrill
- Cade Smith
- Meibrys Viloria
- Josh Wolf
Marlins
Mariners
- Matt Brash
- Diego Castillo
- Matt Festa
- Harry Ford
- Teoscar Hernandez
- Milkar Perez
- Julio Rodriguez
- Eugenio Suarez
- Blake Townsend
Mets
- Pete Alonso
- Jonathan Arauz
- Edwin Diaz
- Eduardo Escobar
- Dominic Hamel
- Elieser Hernandez
- Francisco Lindor
- Jeff McNeil
- Omar Narvaez
- Cam Opp
- Adam Ottavino
- Jose Quintana
- Brooks Raley
- Claudio Scotti
Nationals
Orioles
Padres
- Xander Bogaerts
- Nabil Crismatt
- Nelson Cruz
- Jarryd Dale
- Yu Darvish
- Jose Espada
- Ruben Galindo
- Luis Garcia
- Ha-Seong Kim
- Manny Machado
- Nick Martinez
- Evan Mendoza
- Juan Soto
- Brett Sullivan
- Julio Teheran
Phillies
- Jose Alvarado
- Erubiel Armenta
- Malik Binns
- Jaydenn Estanista
- Vito Friscia
- Brian Marconi
- J.T. Realmuto
- Kyle Schwarber
- Noah Skirrow
- Gregory Soto
- Garrett Stubbs
- Ranger Suarez
- Trea Turner
- Taijuan Walker
- Rixon Wingrove
Pirates
- David Bednar
- Tsung-Che Cheng
- Roansy Contreras
- Alessandro Ercolani
- Santiago Florez
- Jarlin Garcia
- Antwone Kelly
- Josh Palacios
- Jeffrey Passantino
- Tahnaj Thomas
- Duane Underwood Jr.
- Chavez Young
- Rob Zastryzny
Rangers
Rays
- Jason Adam
- Jonathan Aranda
- Randy Arozarena
- Christian Bethancourt
- Trevor Brigden
- Wander Franco
- Andrew Gross
- Joe LaSorsa
- Francisco Mejia
- Isaac Paredes
- Harold Ramirez
- Graham Spraker
Red Sox
- Jorge Alfaro
- Richard Bleier
- Rafael Devers
- Jarren Duran
- Ian Gibaut
- Rio Gomez
- Norwith Gudino
- Enrique Hernandez
- Nick Pivetta
- Henry Ramos
- Alex Verdugo
- Masataka Yoshida
Reds
- Donovan Benoit
- Silvino Bracho
- Luis Cessa
- Fernando Cruz
- Alexis Diaz
- Arij Fransen
- Kyle Glogoski
- Tayron Guerrero
- Evan Kravetz
- Nicolo Pinazzi
- Reiver Sanmartin
- Vin Timpanelli
Rockies
- Daniel Bard
- Jake Bird
- Yonathan Daza
- Elias Diaz
- Kyle Freeland
- Justin Lawrence
- German Marquez
- Michael Petersen
- Alan Trejo
Royals
- Max Castillo
- Robbie Glendinning
- Carlos Hernandez
- Nicky Lopez
- MJ Melendez
- Vinnie Pasquantino
- Salvador Perez
- Brady Singer
- Bobby Witt Jr.
- Angel Zerpa
Tigers
- Javier Baez
- Miguel Cabrera
- Chavez Fernander
- Andy Ibanez
- Jack O’Loughlin
- Jacob Robson
- Eduardo Rodriguez
- Jonathan Schoop
- John Valente
Twins
- Jose De Leon
- Edouard Julien
- Jorge Lopez
- Pablo Lopez
- Carlos Luna
- Jose Miranda
- Jovani Moran
- Emilio Pagan
- Christian Vazquez
White Sox
- Tim Anderson
- Kendall Graveman
- Eloy Jimenez
- Lance Lynn
- Yoan Moncada
- Nicholas Padilla
- Luis Robert
- Jose Ruiz
Yankees
Mariners Expect To Activate Eugenio Suarez On Tuesday
The Mariners are likely to reinstate Eugenio Suárez from the injured list tomorrow, president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times and Curtis Crabtree of Fox 13). He’ll be deployed as a designated hitter initially, as the fracture in his right index finger is still inhibiting him defensively.
In even better news for the M’s, Dipoto said star center fielder Julio Rodríguez “looks great” as he rehabs from the lower back strain that sent him to the injured list last week. Dipoto indicated the club anticipates he’ll be ready for reinstatement when first eligible next Monday.
Getting both players back after brief absences is critical for a Mariners team trying to secure its first playoff berth in over two decades. The M’s enter play Monday with an 83-69 record that has them in possession of the American League’s final Wild Card spot. They’re four games clear of the Orioles, and they’re within 2 1/2 games of both the Blue Jays and Rays as they jockey for Wild Card position.
Assuming the Mariners hold onto a playoff spot in some capacity, they look likely to enter the postseason with both Suárez and Rodríguez on the roster. That duo has arguably been Seattle’s top two position players this year. Rodríguez has emerged as the face of the franchise with an incredible rookie season, hitting .280/.342/.502 with 27 home runs and 25 stolen bases across 549 plate appearances. Suárez, meanwhile, leads the team with 31 homers and has a .235/.335/.470 line. It has been a surprising bounceback after a .198/.286/.428 showing his final year with the Reds.
The Mariners have turned to Ty France and Abraham Toro at third base in Suárez’s absence. They’ll presumably continue to split the hot corner until he’s ready to return to action defensively, while Jesse Winker will probably get more action in left field after serving as the DH of late. That’d come at the expense of playing time for Sam Haggerty and Taylor Trammell. Center field, meanwhile, has been the purview of Jarred Kelenic since Rodríguez went down.
Mariners Place Eugenio Suarez On 10-Day Injured List
The Mariners have placed third baseman Eugenio Suarez on the 10-day injured list due to a fracture in the tip of his right index finger, manager Scott Servais told reporters (including The Athletic’s Corey Brock, The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish, and MLB.com’s Daniel Kramer). Utilityman Dylan Moore has been activated from the 10-day IL to take Suarez’s roster spot, with Moore returning after about three weeks missed due to an oblique strain.
More will likely be known about Suarez’s timeline after he visits a specialist on Monday, but for now, there is optimism that the fracture is minor enough that he’ll be able to return before the regular season is over. However, he might be limited to designated hitter work if he is able to come back, as throwing is the biggest question mark for the right-handed Suarez.
Losing Suarez is a big setback for a Mariners team that has been on a dream run for the last few months, positioning themselves to win a wild card and reach the postseason for the first time since 2001. Beyond just making the playoffs, the M’s were looking to make a deep run into October, yet that will be a lot more difficult if Suarez is limited or perhaps unable to play whatsoever.
After struggling in both the 2020 and 2021 seasons, Suarez became an expendable piece for the cost-cutting Reds, who dealt Suarez and Jesse Winker to Seattle in March for a package of four younger players. Ironically, Winker was seen as the big get at the time, as Suarez’s inclusion in the deal was largely seen as a contract the Mariners had to absorb in order to pry Winker out of Cincinnati.
As it has turned out, Winker has delivered roughly league-average offense in 2022, while Suarez has bounced back to become one of the Mariners’ top bats. The third baseman has hit .235/.335/.470 with 31 home runs over 594 plate appearances, translating to a 133 OPS+/135 wRC+. Though Suarez has a league-high 183 strikeouts, he has been crushing the ball when he has made contact, and his 12% walk rate is in the 90th percentile of all players. Beyond the offensive production, Suarez has also been something of an unexpected benefit at third base, with positive grades (+1 Outs Above Average, +3 Defensive Runs Saved, +2.1 UZR/150) from several public defensive metrics.
Only 25 position players have a higher fWAR than Suarez’s 4.4 number, making him a difficult player for the Mariners to feasibly replace. If he is able to return as a DH and keep on hitting, the M’s would be more than pleased with that outcome — given how Carlos Santana has been inconsistent as the team’s regular designated hitter, Suarez might even be an upgrade in the role.
Third base is another story, as Moore and Abraham Toro figure to be the top options in the short term. Servais said that Jake Lamb will also get some work at the hot corner, and regular first baseman Ty France also took some grounders at third base today. France has past experience as a third baseman but he hasn’t played the position at all this season, and made only 11 appearances at third base in 2020-21.
NL Notes: Diamondbacks, Nationals, Reds
The Diamondbacks have removed Mark Melancon from the closer’s role, writes Theo Mackie of the Arizona Republic. Melancon was signed in the offseason to a two-year, $14MM deal, and there’s still value to be extracted from that deal, even if Melancon doesn’t return to the ninth inning. After all, Melancon may still receive some save opportunities, but the Diamondbacks will explore a situation-based approach for the rest of the season. Let’s check around the league for other roster updates…
- The Nationals have released southpaw Josh Rogers, who elected free agency after clearing outright waivers. Infielder/outfielder Dee Strange-Gordon has also been granted his release. Strange-Gordon was in his second stint with the Nationals this season, but he requested a release after not being called up to the Major League club, per Bobby Blanco of MASNsports.com. As for Rogers, the 28-year-old began the year in the Nats’ rotation, making three starts before a move to the bullpen. In all, Rogers posted a 5.13 ERA/6.42 FIP over 26 1/3 innings.
- Kyle Farmer‘s run of 192 consecutive starts at shortstop will end with a move to the hot corner, writes Mark Sheldon of MLB.com. Youngster Jose Barrero is getting the call-up from Triple-A, and he’ll be given the rest of this season to showcase his ability to be a regular at the position. Farmer, meanwhile, will move to third base and, in the long term, probably back into more of the utility role that he played for most of his career before taking over as the Reds regular shortstop in 2021. Farmer was a substantial defensive upgrade over Eugenio Suarez at the time, but his defensive metrics (-4 OAA, -1 DRS) at shortstop suggest there’s still room to improve for the Reds as a franchise.
Mariners Acquire Jesse Winker, Eugenio Suarez From Reds
The Mariners made a massive addition to their lineup, announcing the acquisition of star outfielder Jesse Winker and third baseman Eugenio Suárez from the Reds. Seattle will reportedly assume the entirety of the three years and $35MM remaining on Suárez’s contract. In return, they’re sending pitching prospect Brandon Williamson, outfielder Jake Fraley, right-hander Justin Dunn and a player to be named later to Cincinnati.
Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has been open about his hunt for offensive help throughout the winter. Seattle already signed reigning AL Cy Young winner Robbie Ray to a five-year contract, but they hadn’t previously done a whole lot to bolster the offense aside from a deal that brought in Adam Frazier from the Padres.
Winker got his due as a first-time All-Star last season, but he’s quietly been an excellent hitter for some time. He’s had a wRC+ of 127 or better (output at least 27 percentage points above the league average) in four of his five career seasons. The former supplemental first-rounder has been particularly impressive the past couple years. Going back to the start of the 2020 campaign, he owns a .292/.392/.552 line with 36 home runs over 668 plate appearances.
Last year, he tallied 485 trips to the dish and hit a personal-best .305/.394/.556 with a strong 10.9% walk rate and a 15.5% strikeout percentage that’s more than seven points lower than the league average. Winker rarely swings and misses or chases pitches outside the strike zone, and he’s capable of doing plenty of damage when he makes contact. He posted well above-average marks in terms of barrel rate, hard contact percentage and average exit velocity.
It’s easy to see the appeal for Seattle in adding that kind of offensive firepower to the lineup. Despite winning 90 games, the Mariners didn’t have an especially productive offense last year. Seattle hitters ranked just 21st in team wRC+ (excluding pitchers). They finished 22nd in total runs scored. Winker should be a massive boon to a unit that’ll need to improve if they’re to snap a 20-year playoff drought.
That said, Winker isn’t entirely without flaws. He’s limited to the corner outfield defensively, and he’s never rated favorably in the eyes of public metrics. Defensive Runs Saved has pegged him as 20 runs below average in 2,335 2/3 career innings in the corners (in addition to three runs below average in 138 innings as a center fielder). Statcast’s Outs Above Average has him at -21 plays as a big leaguer, including a -7 mark last season.
The left-handed hitting Winker also has some of the league’s most notable platoon splits. He’s been downright elite in his career against right-handed pitching (.313/.405/.556), but his numbers without the platoon advantage (.188/.305/.295) have been unimpressive. Winker’s probably not a strict platoon player — he does at least draw a boatload of walks against southpaws — but his impact has been concentrated to feasting on righties.
Perhaps of more concern than any aspect of his talent, though, has been his lack of volume. Winker has gone on the injured list in every full season of his MLB career. Heading into last season, the 28-year-old had never tallied even 400 plate appearances in a big league campaign. He picked up a personal-high in playing time last year, but he ended the season on the IL after suffering an intercostal strain in mid-August (from which he unsuccessfully tried to return in September).
That all makes Winker a tricky player to value, but there’s little question he’ll improve Seattle’s overall offense. He’ll presumably step in as the M’s regular left fielder, joining an outfield that could feature Jarred Kelenic in center and Mitch Haniger in right. Former Rookie of the Year Kyle Lewis is coming off another serious knee injury, and Dipoto told reporters (including Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times) he’s unlikely to be ready for the start of the season as they proceed with caution in his recovery. Former top prospect Taylor Trammell and utilityman Dylan Moore could be depth options behind the presumptive season-opening trio of Winker, Kelenic and Haniger. Julio Rodriguez, among the top handful of prospects in the game, mashed at Double-A at the end of last season.
Winker will probably be in the Pacific Northwest for at least the next two seasons. He’s projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz for a $6.8MM salary via arbitration this year. He’ll be controllable via that process once more next winter before reaching free agency in advance of his age-30 season.
In order to entice the Reds to part with a player of Winker’s caliber, the M’s are taking on far more money than just his projected arbitration figures. Cincinnati signed Suárez to a $66MM extension in March 2018, which will pay him a bit more than $13MM annually for the next three seasons. (The deal also includes a $15MM club option for 2025). Initially, that looked to be a shrewd investment by the Cincinnati front office, as Suárez went on to earn down-ballot MVP support in each of the following two years. Yet after combining for a .277/.362/.550 line over that stretch, he’s struggled the past couple seasons.
Suárez hit .202/.312/.470 during the shortened 2020 campaign. That’s a ghastly batting average, but he offset it somewhat with a robust 13% walk rate and 15 homers in only 231 plate appearances. However, his issues at the plate mounted last year. His walk percentage dipped to a solid but no longer elite 9.8%, not sufficient to make up for an even lower .198 batting average. Suárez reached base at only a .286 clip — the sixth-lowest mark among the 135 players who totaled 500+ plate appearances. He still hit for power (31 homers), but the on-base issues and his inability to successfully acclimate to an ill-advised move from third base to shortstop kept his overall production in the realm of replacement level.
Clearly, the Mariners assumed Suárez’s deal as a means to acquire Winker. That said, it seems likely they’ll give him some opportunity to try and right the ship in his new environs. Seattle bought out longtime third baseman Kyle Seager at the end of the year. Abraham Toro looks like the in-house favorite for playing time at the hot corner, but Toro can bounce between the corners and second base as a bat-first utility option as well. Divish tweets that Suárez is likely to step in as the primary third baseman, at least to begin the year, with Toro deployed around the diamond as needed.
The acquisitions of Suárez and Winker will add around $20MM to the Mariners’ 2022 books. That puts this year’s estimated expenditures at $106MM, per Jason Martinez of Roster Resource. That’s well above last year’s season-opening $73MM mark but nowhere close to franchise-record payrolls that exceeded $150MM from 2017-18. Precisely how much remains in the coffers isn’t clear, although it seems they’re content with the position player group. Dipoto told reporters (including Daniel Kramer of MLB.com) the club was unlikely to make further moves on that side of the ball. Seattle had been linked to big-ticket free agents like Kris Bryant and Trevor Story this offseason, but Dipoto called their pursuits of free agent hitters “dead ends.”
The Winker acquisition marked another aggressive move for a win-now Mariners team, but it’s a continuation of payroll-cutting efforts for the Reds. Cincinnati traded away Tucker Barnhart and lost Wade Miley on waivers for little to no return in November. They’ve listened to trade offers on their top three starting pitchers, and they moved Sonny Gray to the Twins for pitching prospect Chase Petty over the weekend.
This afternoon’s swap is the most notable to date, as the Reds slice around $20MM in 2022 commitments off the books. Of arguably greater import, they find a way out of the future commitments to Suárez. Only Joey Votto ($25MM) and Mike Moutakas ($18MM) have guaranteed money on the Cincinnati books in 2023, and the payroll slate is completely clean by 2024. Reds brass has pushed back against the idea they’re orchestrating a full teardown, but the recent subtractions of Winker and Gray make it more difficult for what had been an 83-79 team to contend this season.
Against that backdrop, it wouldn’t be surprising to see further subtractions by Cincinnati. Luis Castillo and Tyler Mahle each have two more seasons of arbitration control, as Winker did. Both pitchers would bring back a haul if the Reds made them available, particularly with the free agent market essentially now bereft of mid-rotation options.
Even if the Reds have further moves on the horizon, however, the players they bring back should all factor into the mix in short order. Fraley and Dunn are immediate big leaguers, and Fraley seems likely to step right into the left field spot vacated by Winker’s departure. The left-handed hitter struggled in limited big league looks between 2019-20, but he showed reasonably well this past season.
Fraley picked up 265 plate appearances last year, hitting .210/.352/.369 with nine homers and ten steals. The batting average is obviously subpar, but the LSU product more than compensated with an elite 17.4% walk rate. Fraley’s extremely patient approach at the plate should make him a serviceable on-base option. He’s primarily been a left fielder in the big leagues, but he’s capable of covering center in a pinch. Fraley’s controllable through 2026 and isn’t on track to reach arbitration eligibility until 2024.
Dunn, meanwhile, is a former first-round pick who went to Seattle from the Mets in the Edwin Díaz/Robinson Canó trade. He’s made 25 starts over his three big league seasons, posting a 3.94 ERA in 102 2/3 innings. The 26-year-old’s peripherals don’t support that kind of run prevention; he’s benefitted from an unsustainable .205 opponents’ batting average on balls in play and has walked an untenable 15.5% of batters faced. Despite averaging a decent 93.8 MPH on his four-seam fastball last year, he only generated swinging strikes on 9.7% of his offerings (a bit below the 10.9% league mark for starters).
Like Fraley, Dunn is an affordable, MLB-ready piece though. He’s controllable through 2025 and won’t reach arbitration until next season. If the Reds do move one or both of Castillo and Mahle, Dunn could factor into the back of the rotation immediately. He might also be a candidate for a bullpen transfer — some prospect evaluators have long suggested he’d be a better fit in relief — where he could aid a Cincinnati bullpen that was among the league’s worst.
Fraley and Dunn are the more well-known parts of the return, but Williamson is quite likely the player the Reds value most of the trio. A second-round pick out of TCU in 2019, the southpaw has impressed evaluators since getting into pro ball. Baseball America ranked him as the game’s #83 overall prospect this winter (fifth in the Seattle system), noting that the 6’6″ lefty can run his fastball into the mid-90s and has a potential 70-grade curveball on the 20-80 scouting scale.
BA writes that the 23-year-old could develop into a #3/4 starter. FanGraphs slotted Williamson 61st on their recent Top 100 list, opining that control issues could limit his ability to work deep into games consistently but praising his repertoire and suggesting he could be “dominant” for five-six innings per start. Williamson pitched his way to Double-A last year, working 67 1/3 innings of 3.48 ERA ball with an excellent 33% strikeout rate and a fine 8.1% walk percentage. He seems likely to get a big league look at some point this season and may eventually work alongside college teammate Nick Lodolo in the Reds’ rotations of the future.
The Reds also pick up a player to be named later who is reportedly a notable part of the return. Moreover, general manager Nick Krall told reporters (including Mark Sheldon of MLB.com) they plan to reinvest some of the money they saved in free agency. Cincinnati fans may roll their eyes at their assertion, given the club’s cost-cutting efforts to date, but Krall reasserted that this was not going to be a multi-year teardown.
The deal offers a major shakeup to both organizations. The M’s continue to push forward in an effort to hang with the Astros (and perhaps the Angels) at the top of the AL West. The Reds’ hopes of contending were dealt another blow, but the front office continues to maintain they’re not punting on the 2022 campaign. Whether Cincinnati’s future moves back up that assertion remains to be seen, but there’ll be no shortage of demand if they turn their attention to trading away either Castillo or Mahle.
Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported the Mariners were acquiring Winker. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com reported the Mariners were acquiring Suárez and that the Reds were acquiring Fraley, Williamson and Dunn. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported that Seattle was taking on the entirety of Suárez’s contract. Ken Rosenthal of the Athletic reported the Reds were acquiring a player to be named later who “enhances” the quality of their return.
Images courtesy of USA Today Sports.