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D-Backs, Mariners Nearly Struck Trade Involving Mike Leake

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Details remain sparse, but it seems the Diamondbacks and Mariners nearly lined up on a trade involving veteran Seattle right-hander Mike Leake. According to Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times, the teams “worked to finalize” the swap as late as Tuesday evening.

Clearly, talks fell through since Leake ended up on the bump. He says that he never caught wind of the possible deal, which certainly is notable given that he possesses full no-trade protection. Leake added that he’s willing to consider approving a deal in the right circumstances.

It seems quite likely Leake will at some point have an opportunity to consider approving a move. With the Mariners trying to move more veteran assets after already shipping out Jay Bruce, it’s not surprising to hear that the club went down the line on a swap involving the expensive pitcher.

Leake, 31, has managed to deliver 81 2/3 innings of 4.30 ERA ball this year despite some worrying peripherals. He has averaged 6.2 K/9 against 1.8 BB/9 but has already surrendered 18 home runs. That said, Leake’s start last night was awfully impressive. He worked a 119-pitch complete game while allowing just one earned run.

While the Diamondbacks are obviously interested in adding Leake or another veteran starter to bolster their staff, it’s hard to imagine they’d take on anything close to his remaining contract. Leake is earning $16MM this year, $15MM in 2020, and a $5MM buyout for a 2021 mutual option. The Cardinals are on the hook for $5MM this year and $4MM next, but it’s still a hefty commitment. It’s not clear whether the Arizona organization remains a potential landing spot for Leake.

Mariners Sign Mac Williamson To Minors Deal, Select His Contract

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The Mariners have placed outfielder Braden Bishop on the 10-day injured list due to a lacerated spleen.  Taking Bishop’s spot on the 25-man roster is Mac Williamson, who signed a minor league contract with the Mariners just today and will immediately have that contract selected.

Williamson’s stint on the open market didn’t last long, as he only elected to become a free agent on June 1 after clearing waivers following his second designation for assignment of the season from the Giants.  Once an intriguing prospect who posted strong numbers in San Francisco’s farm system, Williamson has yet to turn that promise into results at the Major League level.  Williamson has a .207/.283/.359 slash line over 396 plate appearances, spread over parts of the last five seasons for the Giants.

A change of scenery seemed in order for the 28-year-old, and he’ll now get another big league opportunity in Seattle.  He’ll provide backup in both corner outfield spots for the Mariners, and he is currently the only backup outfielder on the M’s roster (behind regulars Mitch Haniger, Mallex Smith, and Domingo Santana).  Williamson is out of options, and his long-term chances of sticking with Seattle could be limited given that Dee Gordon and Ryon Healy are both slated to begin rehab assignments as they work their way back from the IL.

Bishop has appeared for 10 games in his rookie season, with just two hits to show for 24 plate appearances.  Bishop was only just promoted back up to the MLB roster on Sunday, though he told reporters (including Root Sports’ Jen Mueller) that he was hit in the ribs with a pitch while in the minors last week, which could have led to the spleen injury.

Mariners Likely To Activate Gerson Bautista

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  • Mariners righty Gerson Bautista seems ready to return from the injured list, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports on Twitter. The 24-year-old has been sidelined with a pec strain. He has already thrown a dozen innings on an extended rehab assignment and now has a locker waiting for him in Seattle, which certainly suggests an imminent activation. Bautista struggled in a brief debut showing last year with the Mets and ended up being dealt to Seattle as a part of a significant multi-player swap. While he didn’t mow down opposing MLB hitters in his first attempt, Bautista did show off a 97 mph heater and posted strong strikeout numbers last year in the upper minors. Because Bautista had been moved to the 60-day IL, his activation will require both a 40-man and active roster move. [UPDATE: The Mariners announced that Bautista has been activated from the IL, with right-hander Andrew Moore heading to Double-A to create roster space.]

Mariners Notes: Sadzeck, Gordon, Healy, Crawford

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The Mariners sent reliever Connor Sadzeck to the 10-day injured list Tuesday with a flexor mass in his right elbow, per Greg Johns of MLB.com. Sadzeck will be out “at least a couple weeks,” Johns writes. His roster spot went to right-hander Andrew Moore, whom they recalled from Double-A Arkansas. Moore started the Mariners’ game against the Astros on Tuesday.

The injury to Sadzeck will deprive free-falling Seattle and its shaky bullpen of one of most utilized options for the time being. The 27-year-old Sadzeck joined the Mariners in an April 1 trade with the division-rival Rangers, who acquired righty Grant Anderson in return. Sadzeck has produced good bottom-line results in 23 2/3 innings since then, thanks in part to a 96 mph four-seamer and a 94 mph sinker. He has pitched to a 2.66 ERA with 10.27 K/9 and a 46 percent groundball rate, though a bloated BB/9 (5.7) and a 4.66 FIP do curb enthusiasm about Sadzeck’s performance.

In better injury-related news for the Mariners, infielders Dee Gordon, Ryon Healy and J.P. Crawford are all nearing rehab assignments, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times suggests. Gordon (right wrist contusion) and Healy (lower back inflammation) have each been on the IL since May 21, while Crawford went down less than a week ago on account of a left ankle sprain.

With transaction-happy general manager Jerry Dipoto at the helm, Gordon and Healy could be trade chips when they return to health. Both players have managed uninspiring production since they arrived in Seattle heading into the 2018 season, though, and likely wouldn’t bring back much in a deal.

Gordon and Healy may not be long-term building blocks for the Mariners, but the hope is Crawford will emerge as one. Acquired from the Phillies in a blockbuster trade last December, the formerly elite shortstop prospect got off to a nice start with his new organization before landing on the IL. Crawford, 24, hit well with Triple-A Tacoma and then began his M’s tenure by batting .279/.343.426 (112 wRC+) in 67 plate appearances between his promotion on May 10 and his IL placement on the 29th.

Mariners Place Chasen Bradford On 10-Day IL

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  • The Mariners placed Chasen Bradford on the 10-day IL and recalled fellow righty reliever Matt Festa from Triple-A Tacoma, per a team announcement. Bradford’s dealing with a right forearm strain, which is an ominous-sounding injury for a pitcher. This also marks Bradford’s second IL stint of the season, as he previously missed time with inflammation in his pitching shoulder. The 29-year-old still ranks fifth among 2019 Mariners relievers in innings (16 2/3), and has only walked 2.16 hitters per nine while generating ground balls at a 51.9 percent clip. However, a lack of strikeouts (5.94 K/9) and a bloated home run rate (3.24 HR/9) have contributed to an uninspiring 4.86 ERA/7.23 FIP for Bradford.

Mariners Acquire John Andreoli

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The Mariners have acquired outfielder John Andreoli from the Twins, as per reporter Joe Veyera (Twitter link).  Andreoli appeared in the lineup tonight for Triple-A Tacoma.

Andreoli is back for his third separate stint with the Mariners organization, originally signing with the M’s in the 2017-18 offseason and eventually making his MLB debut with the team last May.  Andreoli was claimed off waivers by the Orioles in August and then claimed back by Seattle after the season, kicking off a busy winter of activity that saw Andreoli briefly join the Rangers and Giants on waiver claims before being traded to Minnesota in March.

After that whirlwind, Andreoli ended up batting .196/.324/.359 over 185 PA for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate.  Over 3458 career plate appearances in the minors, Andreoli (who turns 29 next week) has a .266/.370/.386 slash line, plus an impressive 250 stolen bases in 312 chances.  As a big leaguer, Andreoli appeared in 20 games with the Mariners and Orioles last season, amassing 67 PA.  With extensive experience at all three outfield positions, Andreoli will once again give the Mariners some outfield depth at the Triple-A level.

Mariners Reportedly Looking To Sell

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TODAY: The Mariners “have shown a willingness to eat significant money in” trades, ESPN’s Jeff Passan tweets, and “almost every veteran on their roster” is available.  We’ve seen the first instance of this earlier today, as Seattle covered $18MM of the approximately $21.5MM remaining on Jay Bruce’s contract in trading Bruce to the Phillies.

SATURDAY: The Mariners, who’ve gone a staggering 12-33 after a 13-2 start in which the club made its fans forget the cavernous dimensions of T-Mobile Park, are “deep in sell mode,” tweets MLB Network’s Jon Heyman, who lists Edwin Encarnacion, Ryon Healy, Dee Gordon, Mike Leake and Tim Beckham among the players the club is “talking” about.

None in the group seem likely to net a significant return – the 36-year-old Encarnacion may be the most attractive piece, despite the some $18MM remaining on his contract – though it’s possible GM Jerry Dipoto would simply like to clear space for younger players. One feather in Encarnacion’s (and the Mariners’) cap is his renewed vigor in the infield: the one-time third-baseman is on pace for the most first-base innings in his fifteen-year career, and has thus far been surprisingly adequate at the position, per both DRS and UZR. The aging slugger, who’s now just seven homers shy of 400 for his career, seemed on a clear DH-only trajectory after two seasons in Cleveland where he totaled just 388 innings at the position, but has nearly eclipsed that mark in just two short months in Seattle. The three-time all-star’s on pace for nearly 3.0 fWAR in ’19, with a hard-hit rate hovering around his peak average, though teams aren’t typically clamoring for 1B/DHs in the rental market, even one with a track record as glowing as Edwin’s.

Thirty-one year-old Gordon, twice an all-star earlier in his career, is still owed approximately $22MM on his deal through 2020, and may indeed have negative surplus value at this point. After a poor 2018 showing, in which the second baseman-turned-center-fielder posted 0.1 fWAR on the back of a 77 wRC+ and hard-to-fathom 1.5% BB rate, the again infielder hasn’t been much better this year, posting just a .281/.310/.369 line (85 wRC+) with a stolen-base rate that doesn’t even begin to approach the standard he’d set from 2014-17. It’s true that Gordon’s ground-ball rate has dropped below 50% for the first time in his career, and that he’s flashing a bit more power than usual, but it’s hard to foresee this profile netting much more than a bit of salary relief.

Mix-and-match artist Leake, now 31 and with over 1,700 big-league innings under his belt, is still owed upwards of $30MM on his deal that extends through 2020 and is currently in midst of the worst season of his career. Leake’s homer rate has skyrocketed to an a galactical 2.23 per nine, thanks mostly to a career-low grounder rate and an average fastball velocity that’s down over four MPH from his 2015 peak of 93.1. FanGraphs places Leake’s value at below replacement-level this season, and peripheral markers aren’t encouraged. His value would seem to mirror Gordon’s closely.

Former number-one overall pick Beckham appeared to have finally turned the corner this season after an early-season hot streak that catapulted him to the top of the league’s leaders in nearly every relevant statistical category. Still sporting an impressive 119 wRC+, Beckham’s secondary markers appear much the same as in years past: his 6.3% walk rate aligns exactly with his career total, and the 30% K rate is actually higher than the standard he’d set in the four years previous. Beckham’s .342 wOBA, on the strength of a middling 32% hard-hit rate, isn’t sustainable, per Statcast, who estimates his true (expected) wOBA title at just .312. The 29-year-old’s defense, too, has been far less than stellar this season, with DRS pegging him at a particularly cruel -7 runs saved already. He’s in his second-to-last year of arbitration, and may yet be a utility target for some contending clubs, but not one that’s likely to yield a blue-chipper in return.

Lesser names, like Healy, Wade LeBlanc, Hunter Strickland, and Domingo Santana, whose 119 wRC+ has been almost entirely offset by poor corner defense, aren’t likely to be coveted on the market. Third baseman Kyle Seager has been hurt for much of the early season, and recent-years returns are probably enough for interested teams to leave the some $50MM remaining on his deal behind.

If Dipoto is feeling particularly frisky, the team could try dangling each of Daniel Vogelbach, Mitch Haniger, Marco Gonzales, and Omar Narvaez to interested teams, though it seems the club is set on contending in the near future, and each of those players are controlled through at least the 2022 season.

Phillies Acquire Jay Bruce

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3:33pm: The trade is now official, per a Phillies announcement, with The Athletic’s Matt Gelb tweeting additional details on the deal: the Mariners will acquire minor league infielder Jake Scheiner from Philadelphia, while the Phillies will receive about $18MM from Seattle to cover the majority of Bruce’s remaining salary.

9:31am: The Phillies and Mariners were rumored to be very close yesterday on a deal that would send first baseman/outfielder Jay Bruce to Philadelphia, and Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia (Twitter link) is reporting that the trade has been completed.  Bruce could potentially join his new club as early as today — the Phillies are in Los Angeles completing a series with the Dodgers, while the Mariners are at home this weekend against the Angels.

The exact return headed back to Seattle isn’t yet known, though The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported yesterday that the Mariners would receive a minor leaguer and some money back from Philadelphia to cover the roughly $21.6MM owed on Bruce’s contract through the end of the 2020 season.  As per USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, the Phillies will take on “the bulk” of Bruce’s remaining salary, so it’s safe to assume that the M’s will only be getting a minor prospect in return for getting so much cash off their books.

Bruce is no stranger to the trade market, as the 32-year-old has now been dealt four times in less than three years’ time.  Bruce most recently went to the Mariners as part of the blockbuster trade that sent Robinson Cano and Edwin Diaz to Mets, with Bruce included in the deal largely as a way of partially offsetting Cano’s large contract.  In his brief time as a Mariner, Bruce showed plenty of pop, cracking 14 homers and posting a whopping .533 slugging percentage over 184 plate appearances.  While Bruce’s average (.212) and OBP (.283) have a lot of room for improvement, it seems as if Bruce has rebounded from a down year in 2018 that was marred by hip problems.

While Bruce has actually been a reverse-splits hitter in the small sample size of his 2019 numbers, the Phillies are counting on his left-handed bat to help their mediocre numbers (91 wRC+) against right-handed pitching.  The Phils were known to be looking to add left-handed balance to a lineup almost entirely full of righty bats, aside from Bryce Harper and switch-hitting Cesar Hernandez.

With Harper and Rhys Hoskins respectively locked into the right field and first base jobs in Philadelphia, Bruce looks to be slated for left field when he is in the starting lineup.  Andrew McCutchen has been moved over to center field in the wake of Odubel Herrera being placed on administrative leave earlier this week, and it remains to be seen if more outfield moves could be made given that there isn’t any timeline for Herrera’s return.  It has been some time since McCutchen was a defensively-viable center fielder, and Bruce’s metrics as a corner outfielder have also been below average for several seasons.  It stands to reason that the Phillies could still pursue a center field option in order to give them the flexibility of moving McCutchen back to left field, where he has displayed some solid glovework.

Moreover, the deal is notable in that a trade of this variety is relatively rare in the first days of June. Yes, the playoff race has begun to take shape, but the trade market is not a robust one and plenty of teams have not firmly taken a stance towards buying or selling. For that reason, interest in Bruce may have been limited compared to where it might have been in July, especially if Bruce’s power keeps up. The deal may perhaps be compared to the Braves’ 2017 acquisition of Matt Adams, which occurred on May 20, with Adams stepping in as a stopgap for Freddie Freeman, who suffered a wrist injury that would keep him out for about six weeks. Analogously, Herrera’s stay on the administrative leave has no timetable, leaving the Phils in search of a short-term replacement.

For the Mariners, this could be the first of many trades coming over the next two months, as the team is reportedly open to moving several veteran players.  Since GM Jerry Dipoto announced his intentions to “re-imagine” the roster last November, the M’s have parted ways with Cano, Diaz, Jean Segura, James Paxton, Mike Zunino, Alex Colome, and a host of other players, significantly cutting payroll and adding young talent to both the farm system and the MLB roster.  Getting the Phillies to take the majority of Bruce’s salary already counts as a win for Dipoto, as Bruce’s contract was looking like something of an albatross in the wake of his disappointing 2018 season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Phillies Close To Acquiring Jay Bruce

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TODAY: The Phillies will cover “the bulk” of Bruce’s remaining salary obligations once the deal is official, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale tweets.  While the exact dollar figures aren’t yet known, the Phillies were willing to take on more of Bruce’s contract than any other team the Mariners were in talks with about the veteran slugger, Nightengale notes.

SATURDAY, 10:46pm: A deal’s close to the finish line, “pending a review of Bruce’s medicals and other final details,” Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic tweets. The Mariners will receive cash savings and a minor leaguer in return, Rosenthal adds.

12:57pm: Passan has amended his earlier report to state that a deal between the two sides is “not imminent.”

12:45pm: The Phillies are “nearing a deal” to acquire Jay Bruce, tweets ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who notes that the deal’s expected to be completed within the next 24 hours.

Bruce, 32, has rebounded in ’19 for the Mariners after a poor showing in 2018 with the Mets. In 184 plate appearances for Seattle, the three-time all-star’s posted a solid .212/.283/.533 line (114 wRC+) on the back of a career-best .321 ISO.  His hard-hit rate has jumped to near career-best levels, though his average exit velocity (via Statcast) still doesn’t register among the game’s top 100 qualified hitters.

Armed with a no-trade clause and a hefty $22.5 MM remaining on the three-year deal he signed with New York prior to the 2018 season, Bruce didn’t seem a likely candidate to move so soon, especially to a club which already featured Bryce Harper and an aging Andrew McCutchen at the corner-outfield spots. McCutchen, though, has more often been deployed in his traditional center-field post (despite frightening advanced metrics at the position in his last two prolonged attempts) in the absence of Odubel Herrera, who’s been placed on administrative leave after his arrest for a domestic violence charge.

Bruce, then, could fill Nick Williams’ current role as the strong side of a left-field platoon, or perhaps simply as a bench option (MLB Network’s Jon Heyman tweets that the Phils are looking to upgrade the unit) and DH in AL parks. The longtime Red’s always been a bit of a liability against southpaws, and his defense, like McCutchen’s, has declined rapidly in recent seasons.

Trigger-happy Mariners GM Jerry DiPoto again seems to be on the prowl for Seattle, this time in perhaps the more thorough iteration of a multi-stage teardown that began in earnest last November. There’ll be no shortage of candidates with which to shuffle, though many of the choicest names have been injured (Kyle Seager) or seen their performance slide to immovable levels (Dee Gordon, Mike Leake).

Mariners To Skip Yusei Kikuchi's Next Start

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  • On the heels of back-to-back brutal performances from Yusei Kikuchi, the Mariners are skipping the southpaw’s start Tuesday in an effort to “recharge the batteries,” according to manager Scott Servais (via Greg Johns of MLB.com). Kikuchi will slot back into their rotation “later next week,” Johns writes. The 27-year-old Kikuchi yielded 10 earned runs on 20 hits, including three homers, over 6 2/3 innings in his two latest starts. He joined the Mariners in the offseason as a ballyhooed signing from Japan, and has gotten off to a so-so start in the majors. Kikuchi owns a 4.43 ERA/4.64 FIP with 6.72 K/9, 2.28 BB/9 and a 45 percent groundball rate through 67 innings. Now that Kikuchi’s headed for a brief respite, the Mariners could promote lefty Jon Niese or righty Anthony Misiewicz from Triple-A Tacoma as his replacement, per Johns. Neither hurler is on the M’s 40-man roster, but the team does have a pair of openings at the moment.
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