Mariners Rumors

7 AL West Hitters Looking For Bounce-Back Years

By Connor Byrne | February 24, 2020 at 8:57pm CDT

As the season draws closer, we’ll be examining several prominent players around the majors who are hoping for bounce-back years. Let’s start with a group of well-known American League West position players whose numbers dipped dramatically in 2019…

Justin Upton, LF, Angels: The 32-year-old Upton has been terrific for the majority of his career (otherwise, the Angels wouldn’t have given him a five-year, $106MM guarantee after 2017), but last season was a nightmare. A foot injury kept Upton out until June, and his season ended prematurely in September on account of a right knee issue. When Upton was healthy enough to take the field, he batted a disappointing .215/.309/.416 with 12 home runs and a career-worst 30.5 percent strikeout rate (5 percent worse than his lifetime mark). Compared to 2018, his fly ball percentage and launch angle went way up, but his average exit velocity dropped almost 4 mph, and his hard-hit rate plummeted. The banged-up Upton was even worse in left field, where he accounted for minus-13 Defensive Runs Saved and a minus-5.2 Ultimate Zone Rating. Upton recently told Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register that he’s healthy and aiming for a rebound. The Angels will likely need one from him if they’re going to break a five-year playoff drought; if they get one, Upton should form a lethal offensive quartet with Mike Trout, Anthony Rendon and Shohei Ohtani.

Andrelton Simmons, SS, Angels: Like his teammate Upton, Simmons missed a significant number of games last year because of injury issues. Ankle troubles limited Simmons to 103 games, his fewest since 2012, and his effectiveness at the plate waned compared to the prior couple years. While Simmons has never been an offensive force, the defensive maven’s slightly above-average work with the bat from 2017-18 helped him combine for 10.4 fWAR in that span. Simmons only put up a .264/.309/.364 line in 424 PA last year, though he did continue to avoid strikeouts (8.7 percent), and his wizardry in the field helped him to a respectable 1.7 fWAR. However, he still finished near the bottom of the majors in several key offensive Statcast categories. For instance, Simmons’ xwOBA (.265) ranked in the bottom 2 percent of the league and fell 59 points from 2018. The ankle may have been holding Simmons back, but regardless, a return to form in 2020 would aid the Angels and the pending free agent’s bank account.

Khris Davis, DH, Athletics: Yet another injury case from 2019, Davis’ normally elite power was sapped during a season in which he fought hip, oblique and hand problems. After three straight 40-home run seasons (and four in a row in which he hit .247), he finished with a .220/.293/.387 line and 23 HRs over 533 PA. His ISO sunk like a stone, going from .302 in 2018 to .166 last year, and his hard contact went way down in the process. The 32-year-old has already been slowed by a calf injury early in camp, but indications are that it’s minor. Oakland will need that to be the case, especially considering the commitment the low-budget club made to Davis before last season. It still owes him $16.75MM on a two-year, $33.5MM contract that hasn’t worked out for the team so far.

Stephen Piscotty, RF, Athletics: The missed time theme continues. Piscotty’s 2019 ailments ranged from frightening (a melanoma on his right ear) to more conventional (knee and ankle injuries). The 29-year-old made just 93 appearances as a result, and he didn’t produce like the big-hitting, 3.0-fWAR player he was in 2018 when he did play. Piscotty hit .249/.309/.412 with 13 homers and 0.6 fWAR in 393 PA, though his hard-hit percentage and average exit velocity both increased. There may be hope for return to his career-best output, then, but Piscotty will first have to get over yet another health issue. He’s dealing with an oblique/rib cage injury that could jeopardize his status for Opening Day.

Mitch Haniger, RF, Mariners: Haniger was quietly great in 2018, but his playing time and his numbers sagged last season. He sat out 99 games after suffering a ruptured testicle at the beginning of June, didn’t play again after that and still hasn’t returned to health. Haniger just underwent his second surgery in the past few weeks – a microdiscectomy on his back – leaving it up in the air when he’ll debut in 2020. The 29-year-old is the Mariners’ best player, though, and if they can get a healthy version back sometime in 2020, he’s as logical a bounce-back candidate as anyone.

Mallex Smith, OF, Mariners: Smith looked like a quality pickup for the Mariners when they acquired him from the Rays after the 2018 campaign. At that point, the speedster was coming off a 3.5-fWAR, 40-steal showing in Tampa Bay. Smith amassed even more stolen bases in is first year in Seattle (46), but the rest of his stats tanked. The 26-year-old hit a weak .227/.300/.335 in 566 trips to the plate, while his defensive output was similarly poor (minus-12 DRS, minus-9.5 UZR). The combination of subpar offense and defense led to a replacement-level fWAR for Smith, who also fell victim to a massive decline in batting average on balls in play. He logged an inflated .366 BABIP in ’18 and a .302 mark in that category last season, which partially explains the drastic difference in year-to-year production.

Rougned Odor, 2B, Rangers: If you’re a Rangers fan (or even part of the organization), you may be tired of Odor’s inconsistency. He has been a 2.0-plus-fWAR player three times in his career, most recently in 2018, but a replacement-level or worse performer twice. That includes last season – even though Odor walloped 30 homers, he was only able to slash .205/.283/.439 in 581 tries. Along the way, the left-handed Odor posted his worst strikeout percentage (30.6) and was eaten alive by righty pitchers, who held him to a dismal .190/.260/.417 line. If there’s a silver lining, it’s that Odor was much better in the second half of the season, ending the year with a flourish after general manager Jon Daniels expressed frustration with his production in late August. The Rangers still owe Odor $36MM through 2022, making it all the more important for the club to receive at least passable production from him.

Red Sox Claim Phillips Valdez Off Waivers, Place Pedroia On 60-Day IL

By George Miller | February 23, 2020 at 1:32pm CDT

The Red Sox have claimed right-hander Phillips Valdez off waivers from the Mariners, reports Chris Cotillo of MassLive. To clear a spot on the 40-man roster, Dustin Pedroia was placed on the 60-day injured list.

Valdez, 28, had been designated for assignment on Friday following the Mariners’ claim of Taylor Williams, another right-handed reliever. He debuted with Texas last year and was claimed off waivers by Seattle in November, but was unable to stay on the roster for the entirety of the offseason. In his brief Major League stint last year, he tossed 16 innings of 3.94-ERA ball, striking out 18 batters. He was deployed exclusively as a reliever after spending the majority of his minor-league career as a starter. We’ll have to wait and see how the Red Sox view his future role, but evidently they like Valdez enough to give him a shot with the team.

Pedroia’s placement on the 60-day IL isn’t reflective of any new developments in his recovery from left knee complications: after suffering a “significant setback” this winter, Pedroia targeted late May or June as the most optimistic date for his return to the field, meaning that those first 60 days were always out of the question. And with Pedroia having only appeared in nine games over the last two seasons, Boston surely hasn’t been planning around a sizable contribution from the former MVP.

Mariners Sign Rymer Liriano

By Anthony Franco | February 23, 2020 at 11:42am CDT

The Mariners have signed outfielder Rymer Liriano to a minor-league contract with an invitation to MLB spring training, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). The club has since confirmed the agreement.

Liriano hasn’t reached the majors since a brief stint with the 2017 White Sox. Between that time in Chicago and some work with the 2014 Padres, he has compiled 167 MLB plate appearances with a .220/.293/.287 slash (66 wRC+).

He spent 2019 with the Mets’ Triple-A affiliate in Syracuse, where he hit .209/.346/.403 with ten home runs in 247 plate appearances. Still just 28 years old, Liriano came up as a center field prospect in the San Diego system but was used exclusively in the corners last season. He’ll presumably vie for a spot in an uncertain Seattle corner outfield mix this spring.

AL Notes: McKay, Gordon, Astros

By Connor Byrne | February 22, 2020 at 1:17am CDT

Rays left-hander Brendan McKay has been dealing with shoulder stiffness early in camp, Eduardo A. Encina of the Tampa Bay Times writes. McKay’s “fine,” though, according to manager Kevin Cash. He long tossed from 120 feet Friday, and the hope is that he’ll throw his first bullpen session of the spring in the next couple days. If healthy, the 24-year-old figures to rack up at least some starts for the Rays this season. McKay totaled 13 appearances and 11 starts last season, when he pitched to a 5.14 ERA/4.03 FIP in 49 innings. He – like his organization as a whole – is an unconventional player, as someone who’s also capable of hitting. Two-way McKay batted a respectable .239/.346/.493 with five home runs in 78 Triple-A plate appearances last season. He only garnered 11 trips to the plate during his first MLB campaign, though.

The pricey Dee Gordon has seemingly become superfluous to a Seattle team that doesn’t figure to contend this season, the last guaranteed year of his contract. The Mariners are planning to start Shed Long, not Gordon, at second baseman. However, although Gordon and Long are friends, the veteran’s not ready to give up his position, as Greg Johns of MLB.com relays. “I’m the best player in the locker room,” Gordon said. “I’m the best player when I walk on the field. Y’all ain’t seen it. I’ve been hurt. I’ll just get ready and you’ll see something fun.” Injuries did limit Gordon to 117 games last season, but it has been a couple years since the speedster has been productive. He turned in a 60-steal, 3.6-fWAR campaign in 2017 – his final season as a Marlin – but has combined for 52 stolen bases and 0.5 fWAR over 1,009 plate appearances as a Mariner. In an ideal world, they’d probably like to get his $14.5MM guarantee off the books, but they haven’t been able to do it on the heels of back-to-back replacement-level seasons for Gordon.
The Astros’ pitching depth has taken a couple blows. The team shut down right-hander Rogelio Armenteros on account of soreness in his elbow and shoulder, and it has also shut down fellow righty Riley Ferrell because of shoulder soreness, Chandler Rome of the Houston Chronicle tweets. The 25-year-old Armenteros threw 18 innings in the majors last season; he spent most of the year at the Triple-A level, where he pitched to a 4.80 ERA/5.08 FIP with 9.07 K/9 and 3.31 BB/9 over 84 1/3 innings. Arm injuries are nothing new for Ferrell, who dealt with biceps tendinitis last season and didn’t pitch much as a result. Miami took him from Houston in the 2018 Rule 5 Draft, but the Marlins returned him to the Astros last June.

Mariners Claim Taylor Williams, Designate Phillips Valdez

By Jeff Todd | February 21, 2020 at 1:06pm CDT

The Mariners have claimed reliever Taylor Williams off waivers from the Brewers, per a club announcement. The Seattle org designated fellow 28-year-old righty Phillips Valdez to create roster space.

Williams, who recently lost his spot in the Milwaukee bullpen mix, seemed like a possible waiver target. While the hard-throwing righty hasn’t yet entrenched himself in a MLB relief unit, he turned in 54 innings of 2.83 ERA ball at the Triple-A level last year. He racked up 9.5 K/9 against 3.5 BB/9 while carrying a strong 54.0% groundball rate.

As for Valdez, he was claimed earlier in the winter but didn’t last long in camp before losing his roster spot. If he clears waivers, he’ll presumably remain on hand as a non-roster player. Valdez debuted in the majors last year, recording 16 innings of 3.94 ERA ball, but spent most of the year as a swingman at Triple-A. He worked to a 4.92 ERA with 7.4 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and a 51.6% groundball rate in 78 2/3 innings of action in the PCL.

Latest On Mitch Haniger’s Injury

By Steve Adams | February 20, 2020 at 10:51am CDT

Mitch Haniger has undergone two surgeries in the past several weeks — core surgery and a microdiscectomy — and while there’s no clear timetable on his return to the diamond, the Mariners’ right fielder offered some additional context on his injury today while speaking to reporters. MLB.com’s Greg Johns tweets that Haniger can’t do any lifting or much activity at all for the first month following the microdiscectomy on his back. Haniger fully expects to play in 2020, tweets Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, but he’s limited to walking as his only means of exercise at the moment.

Suffice it to say, that’s not a great outlook and doesn’t bode well for a return in the early portion of the 2020 season. After that initial month has elapsed, Haniger will surely need to build up some strength before returning to full baseball activities, and he will of course need an eventual minor league rehab assignment to get up to game speed.

The level of escalation in Haniger’s injury troubles has been stark. The 29-year-old (28 at the time) sustained a ruptured testicle when he fouled a ball into himself last June. That alone is gruesome enough, but Haniger revealed today that he tore the adductor muscle attachment last summer while rehabbing that injury (Twitter link via Divish). That issue went undiagnosed, leading to the herniated disc in his back and the microdiscectomy that is now limiting him to a walking regimen. (Haniger also provided Divish with a more … colorful? … description of the injury, courtesy of his surgeon.)

That sequence of events — particularly the lack of diagnosis on the adductor issue — will surely be a frustrating revelation for Mariners fans, but Haniger explained today that he felt healthy all offseason long and only incurred a setback upon resuming baseball activities.

With Haniger on the shelf for an indeterminate period of time, the Mariners will have themselves something of a competition in right field. Jake Fraley, Braden Bishop, waiver claim Jose Siri and non-roster invitee Carlos Gonzalez will all be in the mix for playing time alongside projected left fielder Kyle Lewis and center fielder Mallex Smith.

Quick Hits: Mikolas, K. Seager, Judge, D-backs

By Connor Byrne | February 20, 2020 at 1:05am CDT

Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas will begin the season on the injured list after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As of now, it appears Mikolas will make his 2020 debut toward the end of April or in the beginning of May, according to Goold. It’s a blow to the Cardinals’ rotation, which got back-to-back quality seasons from Mikolas in 2018-19 and now has to fill a couple openings behind Jack Flaherty, Adam Wainwright and Dakota Hudson. Carlos Martinez and Kwang-hyun Kim were already known to be in the running before Mikolas went down, and now Daniel Ponce de Leon, Austin Gomber, Ryan Helsley, Alex Reyes, John Gant and Genesis Cabrera are also in the mix, Goold writes.

Here’s more from around the game…

Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager was the subject of trade rumors over the winter, when “a handful of teams” discussed him with the M’s, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes. Seager has stayed put to this point, and he’s now the longest-tenured player on Seattle’s roster, though he realizes a deal could still come together. The 32-year-old admitted to Divish that a trade remains “a definite possibility.” Seager enjoyed a bounce-back season in 2019, but he’s still owed $37MM over the next two years. His contract also includes a 2022 $15MM club option that will turn into a player option if he’s dealt, which could help stand in the way of a trade.
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge has been battling a right shoulder issue early in camp, but he’s progressing in his recovery, George A. King III of the New York Post relays. Judge told manager Aaron Bone he’s “game-ready,” but the Yankees are taking it slow with their prized slugger, whom injuries limited to a combined 214 of a possible 324 regular-season games from 2018-19. “Start reintroducing him to full swinging and stuff in the next couple of days I would think,’’ Boone said. “I am sure in the next day or two it will probably start to ramp him back up.’’
Thanks to a productive 2019 season at the Double-A level, Diamondbacks first base prospect Pavin Smith has a chance to make his major league debut sometime this year, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic observes. Smith was the seventh overall pick of the Diamondbacks in 2017, and while he hit well in low-A ball that year, he provided little to no power (zero home runs, .097 ISO). He then didn’t produce at a particularly impressive clip at the high-A level the next season, but Smith turned it around last year. In his Double-A debut, he put up a .291/.370/.466 line with 12 homers and almost as many walks (59) and strikeouts (61).

Mariners Sign Cody Anderson

By Anthony Franco | February 17, 2020 at 5:42pm CDT

FEBRUARY 17, 5:42pm: Cowgill’s signing has also been announced, along with the previously reported deal with Carlos Gonzalez.

11:13am: Seattle has announced its deal with Anderson. Cowgill’s deal has yet to be finalized, it seems.

FEBRUARY 15: The Mariners are nearing agreements with right-hander Cody Anderson and outfielder Collin Cowgill, reports Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times (via Twitter). Once finalized, both players will get invitations to MLB spring training on minor-league pacts, Divish adds.

Anderson, 29, had spent his entire career in the Indians’ organization. He had an impressive run in Cleveland in 2015, working to a 3.05 ERA in 91.1 innings across 15 starts. His 12.1% strikeout rate that season suggested that level of run prevention was a mirage, but he limited walks and airborne contact and looked to have a shot at sticking in the back of Cleveland’s rotation. That never came to fruition, as Anderson was bombed in limited action the following year and was forced to undergo Tommy John surgery in March 2017. That procedure largely wiped out his next two seasons.

While Anderson returned to the mound in 2019, he was mostly limited to minor-league duty in the season’s first half. Another elbow surgery- this time to repair his flexor tendon- last July marked the end of his tenure in Cleveland. Anderson is taking his physical with the Seattle organization today, Divish reports. Assuming all goes well, he may take a shot at cracking a Mariners’ rotation that could also feature injury returnees Kendall Graveman and Taijuan Walker. Alternatively, he could be an option for a Seattle bullpen lacking much certainty.

As for Cowgill, the 34-year-old is hoping to crack the majors for the first time since 2016. He’s largely made the rounds at Triple-A the past half-decade with middling results. Last season, he took 280 plate appearances for the Nationals’ top affiliate and hit .228/.330/.440. In 759 MLB plate appearances over parts of six seasons, Cowgill has compiled a .234/.297/.329 line (79 wRC+).

Mitch Haniger Undergoes Surgery

By Connor Byrne | February 13, 2020 at 11:09pm CDT

11:09pm: Haniger underwent a discectomy, which “removes part or the whole intervertebral disc,” Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times writes.

8:50pm: Mariners outfielder Mitch Haniger underwent surgery on Thursday, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports. It’s the second procedure Haniger has undergone since he had core surgery three weeks ago. It’s unclear when he’ll be able to come back, but there will be a significant delay to the start of his season, according to Passan.

Haniger was already set to miss a major chunk of time after his previous surgery. As of Jan. 23, he was supposed to sit out six to eight weeks, which would’ve kept him out for at least the beginning of the season. Last week, though, general manager Jerry Dipoto didn’t seem sure when the Mariners would get Haniger back, saying, “We have no expectation on his timeline until we actually see him live [at Spring Training].”

Dipoto didn’t rule out an early season return or a mid-year debut for Haniger, and now uncertainty continues to abound in his case. It’s awful news for Haniger, who already missed 99 games in 2019, as well as a Mariners team that will have to continue trudging on without arguably its best player.

While the 29-year-old Haniger wasn’t as productive in 2019 as he was during the previous two seasons, in which he posted star-caliber offensive production, he still put up above-average numbers at the plate. His batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage experienced precipitous drops, but Haniger’s .220/.314/.463 line in 283 plate appearances was nonetheless 6 percent better than the MLB mean, per FanGraphs’ wRC+ metric.

Had he gone through a healthy offseason, Haniger – who has three years of team control left – could have served as an appealing trade chip for the Mariners. That’s obviously not going to happen in the near future, though, and it’s now up in the air whether he’ll have much of a chance to rebuild his value before this July’s trade deadline.

AL West Notes: Rangers, Dyson, Hamilton, Taijuan, Diaz, A’s

By Mark Polishuk | February 13, 2020 at 8:28pm CDT

The Rangers talked with Jarrod Dyson and Billy Hamilton before the two veteran outfielders respectively signed with the Pirates and Giants, Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram writes. The Rangers didn’t have any talks with Kevin Pillar prior to Pillar’s agreement with the Red Sox. Center field is still something of a question area for Texas heading into the 2020 season, as utilityman Danny Santana is slated to handle the position, but with Scott Heineman, Joey Gallo, and perhaps Nick Solak on hand to share in some of the center field duties.

Additional help may not be imminent, as GM Jon Daniels told Wilson and other reporters “there’s nothing that is front-burner right now that I’m expecting to come to a head this spring. There will be a lot of conversations, I’m sure.” This doesn’t close the door on a new acquisition, of course, even if that new player may be more of a part-timer than a star (such as Kris Bryant, who has also been widely linked to the Rangers on the rumor mill.) The versatile Santana is the answer in center field for the time being, though “we have to decide how we’re going to go about it,” Daniels said. “I think Danny comes in with the expectation he’ll get the bulk of the playing time out there, but we also like him in that versatile role. There’s a little bit of give there. We have to make a call.”

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