Headlines

Go To Pro Hockey Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Mariners Rumors

Mariners Rumors: Encarnacion, Hernandez

By | at

After the Mariners acquired designated hitter/first baseman Edwin Encarnacion from the Indians in a three-team trade in December, the retooling M’s informed the slugger they were planning on flipping him elsewhere for prospects, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports. While Enarnacion did generate interest from a few other teams after Seattle acquired him, he’s still a member of the Mariners nearly two months after the fact. The reason? Potential suitors for Encarnacion have faded, Divish relays, making it possible the 36-year-old will at least open the season with the Mariners.

The Rays, Astros and White Sox were reportedly “involved” in talks for Encarnacion in late December. Tampa Bay showed no interest in trading for Encarnacion, however, even if the Mariners ate half of the remaining $25MM guarantee left on his contract, according to Divish. Meanwhile, although the Mariners did shop Encarnacion to division-rival Houston, the Astros appear content with Tyler White and Yuli Gurriel as their top DH/first base options, Divish suggests. As for the White Sox, they don’t look like a clean fit for Encarnacion given the presences of lumbering sluggers Jose Abreu and Yonder Alonso.

With Encarnacion primarily being a DH at this juncture of his career, his market’s limited to the American League, where nobody is champing at the bit to acquire him, per Divish. The Mariners’ best hope of moving Encarnacion before the season may be if a contending team’s DH/first baseman suffers an injury during the spring, then, as Divish observes. Otherwise, it appears the M’s will be left to hope Encarnacion – a once-dominant offensive force who posted a 146 wRC+ and a major league-best 231 home runs from 2012-17 – can rebuild his stock in their uniform leading up to the July and August trade deadlines. Encarnacion did belt 32 homers in 579 PAs last year – his seventh straight campaign with at least 30 HRs – though his .246/.336/.474 line and 115 wRC+ fell flat in comparison to his tremendous output over prior seasons.

Like Encarnacion, right-hander Felix Hernandez is potentially a year from free agency and may be in his last several months as a Mariner. And the M’s have even less hope of finding a taker for the formerly marvelous Hernandez, owing to both his team-high salary ($27.5MM) and the hideous 5.13 ERA/5.12 FIP he registered over 242 1/3 innings from 2017-18. Despite King Felix’s recent struggles, however, “all indications” are that he plans to his career beyond the upcoming season, Divish writes. Regardless, Hernandez will try to return to at least serving as a viable starter this year after an awful showing in 2018, when the M’s briefly relegated the 2010 AL Cy Young winner to their bullpen. Going forward, though, general manager Jerry Dipoto emphasized that the Mariners are planning on using Hernandez solely as a starter.

Investigation Finds No “Credible Evidence” Of Alleged Racist Statements By Mariners Employees

By | at

An independent investigation “did not uncover any credible evidence” to support allegations by Dr. Lorena Martin that high-placed Mariners employees made racist comments and improperly fired certain Latino employees, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports.

Martin served as director of high performance for the Mariners until she was terminated last October. Thereafter, Martin publicly alleged that GM Jerry Dipoto, manager Scott Servais, and director of player development Andy McKay had used language labeling Latino players “lazy, dumb, and stupid” and had fired Dominican trainers “because of their color/race.” Major League Baseball launched an investigation into the allegations, hiring the law firm Epstein Becker Green to conduct it.

In light of the investigation’s findings, which were reached by the firm after it conducted seventeen interviews, it seems the commissioner’s office will not pursue any disciplinary action against the Mariners organization under the league’s workplace code of conduct. However, the conclusion of the league inquiry does not resolve the still-pending lawsuit that Martin brought against the organization regarding her termination.

For her part, Martin issued a statement casting doubt on the process. As she notes, the lead attorney on the matter, Jennifer Gefsky, has deep ties to Major League Baseball and commissioner Rob Manfred. Per Martin, Gefsky and her firm focused mostly on speaking with current Mariners employees and did not contact “corroborative witnesses” that she identified during her own interview. Additionally, referring to her prior allegations, Martin says that Gefsky “chose not to speak with any of the Dominican trainers who were fired who could attest to the discriminatory conduct.”

Outrighted: Gavin Cecchini, Max Povse

By | at

A pair of players has been outrighted after clearing waivers …

  • The Mets will retain the rights to former first-round draft pick Gavin Cecchini, who was recently dropped from the 40-man roster and seemed a plausible candidate to be claimed. Evidently, no rival clubs were intrigued enough to create the roster space that would have been required. Cecchini is still just 25 years old and has at times hit well in the minors, but he has never developed much power and was limited by injuries last year.
  • Also heading to Triple-A after losing his roster spot is Mariners righty Max Povse. The writing was on the wall after Povse scuffled through his two seasons with the Seattle organization, though the former third-rounder still has some impressive physical tools. The M’s will presumably be glad to hang on to the 6’8 hurler. If he throws well in camp or at the outset of the season, it’s still possible he could find his way back to the MLB mound in the season to come.

Mariners Sign Hunter Strickland

By | at

JAN. 27: Strickland will earn a $1.3MM salary this year and could end up making nearly $2.6MM via incentives based on appearances and games finished, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports.

JAN. 24: The Mariners have agreed on a one-year contract with righty reliever Hunter Strickland, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reports (via Twitter).  Though only a one-year contract, Seattle still retains control over Strickland through the 2021 season, via Strickland’s two remaining arbitration-eligible seasons.

Strickland was something of a surprise addition to the free agent relief market when the Giants designated him for assignment in November, effectively releasing him prior to the non-tender deadline.  MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projected Strickland for a modest $2.5MM salary in 2019, so combined with the team control through 2021, it raised some eyebrows when the Giants parted ways with the 30-year-old.

2018 was, however, the weakest of Strickland’s four full MLB seasons.  He posted career-worst totals in ERA (3.97), homer rate (9.1%), grounder rate (38.1%), strikeout rate (7.35), and swinging strike rate, while allowing far more hard contact than in past years — Strickland’s 42.3% hard-hit ball rate dwarfed his 31.7% career rate.  The real lowlight was a two-month DL stint due to a fractured hand, an injury suffered when Strickland punched a door in anger after a blown save.

The Giants may have simply felt that a change in scenery was necessary, so the Mariners now get the opportunity at a potential bargain if Strickland returns to his old form.  Over 173 2/3 innings and 195 appearances from 2015-17, Strickland was a quality part of San Francisco’s bullpen, posting a 2.75 ERA, 2.84 K.BB rate, and 8.6 K/9.  He could find himself in line for saves as part of the Mariners’ drastically overhauled bullpen, with Cory Gearrin and Anthony Swarzak also in the mix for closer duty.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mariners Designate Max Povse

By | at

The Mariners announced that they’ve designated right-hander Max Povse for assignment. Povse’s 40-man spot will go to fellow righty Hunter Strickland, whose signing is now official.

Now 25, Povse has been with the Mariners since they acquired him in a 2016 trade with the Braves that also involved Alex Jackson and Robert Whalen. Thus far, Povse has totaled a meager 3 2/3 innings in Seattle, all of which came in his first season with the club. While Povse posted solid Double-A numbers that year, when he logged a 3.41 ERA with 8.9K/9 and 2.82 BB/9 in 60 2/3 innings and 10 starts, he hasn’t been nearly as successful in Triple-A.

Over the past two seasons at the minors’ highest level, Povse recorded a horrendous 8.17 ERA with 9.7 K/9 and 5.3 BB/9 in 68 1/3 innings and 21 appearances (13 starts). Povse does possess a mid-90s fastball and one more minor league option, though, so perhaps another organization will take a chance on him.

Tigers Claim Kaleb Cowart

By | at

The Tigers announced this afternoon that they’ve claimed infielder Kaleb Cowart off waivers from the Mariners, which now gives them a full 40-man roster. Cowart was designated for assignment earlier in the week.

The Mariners had planned to utilize Cowart in a hybrid infield/reliever role, and while the Detroit organization didn’t immediately reveal plans to do so, Anthony Fenech of the Detroit Free Press tweets that Cowart will report to Spring Training as a two-way player.

Cowart, 26, was a first-round pick of the Angels back in 2010 but has not yet developed into a reliable big leaguer (hence the experimentation in using him as an infielder/pitcher). In parts of four big league seasons — all with the Halos — Cowart has appeared in exactly 162 games but managed a paltry .177/.241/.293 slash in 380 plate appearances. The right-handed-hitting Cowart has played all over the diamond but has seen the majority of his action at third base (6341 professional innings) and second base (915 innings). He’s a career .289/.361/.469 hitter in just over 1400 Triple-A plate appearances.

Mariners To Re-Sign Ichiro Suzuki

By | at

The Mariners have reached agreement on a minor-league deal with ageless outfielder Ichiro Suzuki, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today (via Twitter). It would pay him at a $750K rate in the majors.

While the contract may come as a surprise to some, it has long been something of an inevitability. When the legendary former star wrapped up his most recent stint with the M’s last May, the sides made clear that the arrangement — in which Ichiro traveled and trained with the big league club but did not suit up for games — would not preclude a return to action in the future. Since that time, Ichiro has prepared to play in 2019, with the club indicating it would give him an opportunity in camp.

At this point, it’s a risk-free move for the Seattle team. Indications are that Ichiro will at least be utilized to open the season, as the M’s are slated to kick things off with a two-game series in his native Japan in which the team will be able to carry a 28-man roster. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess whether Ichiro has a real shot at sticking on the active roster, but it certainly seems at least possible he’ll do so in what has already been declared something of a transition year for the club.

Needless to say, it’s an unusual situation. Then again, few if any players have combined Ichiro’s (metaphorically) towering stature with his unending drive to play the game. For a Seattle team that has failed to reach its goals over the past few seasons (and then some), there’s obviously an opportunity here to continue to benefit from a uniquely great player. There’s also still no shortage of potentially tricky terrain to navigate.

West Notes: Dodgers, Angels, Ichiro

By and | at

The Dodgers remain something of an enigma as Spring Training approaches. It’s possible to imagine the organization making any number of moves over the next few weeks, with so many opportunities still available on the market. At several areas on the roster, the team could conceivably either make an external move or utilize existing players. There is, however, an overarching need for a right-handed hitter, per manager Dave Roberts (via Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times). While the skipper hardly gave much away, he did say that he believes there are more moves to come. And Roberts, at least, would like to see one transaction that would “kind of balance out the lineup with a right-handed bat.”

Here’s more from out west …

  • Angels GM Billy Eppler told reporters following his team’s signing of right-hander Cody Allen that the Halos had to “stretch” the budget and were only able to do so with the blessing of owner Arte Moreno (link via Jeff Fletcher of the Orange County Register). As such, it seems unlikely that there are any other sizable moves on the horizon for the Angels. Eppler explained that the team was undeterred by Allen’s inflated 4.70 ERA last offseason, citing Allen’s long ninth-inning track record and plainly stating that the organization fully anticipates Allen serving as the closer in 2019.
  • Though Ichiro Suzuki has widely been expected to receive a send-off from the Mariners during the club’s season-opening series in Japan, Jim Allen of Kyodo News writes that the legendary outfielder doesn’t necessarily see things that way. Rather, per agent John Boggs, the aging but impeccably conditioned veteran is “working toward playing the whole season.” It’s a bit tough to imagine any MLB club giving Ichiro a guaranteed contract, but perhaps the 45-year-old still has another trick up his sleeve. He’ll have a chance to show his form in camp with Seattle, at least. Beyond the news item here, the article is well worth a read for Allen’s chat with Boggs about his famously unique client.

Mariners Designate Kaleb Cowart

By | at

The Mariners announced that they have designated Kaleb Cowart for assignment. His roster spot was needed to accommodate today’s acquisition of infield prospect Shed Long.

When the M’s claimed Cowart in December, the club announced that he’d come to camp not only as an infielder, but also as a pitcher. That could still be the plan, but he’ll first have to clear waivers if he’s to remain with the Seattle organization.

It’d certainly be interesting to see whether Cowart can carve out a dual-use role. He also seems reasonably likely to outperform his dreadful career .177/.241/.293 MLB batting line, which has come in less than four hundred plate appearances spread over four seasons. After all, he has produced strong numbers at the Triple-A level, slashing .298/.361/.469 in 1,402 total plate appearances.

Reds Acquire, Extend Sonny Gray As Part Of Three-Team Trade

By | at

After several days of reporting and speculation, right-hander Sonny Gray has officially been traded from the Yankees to the Reds and also agreed to a contract extension with Cincinnati. It’s a three-team deal that also involves the Mariners. Second base prospect Shed Long and a Competitive Balance Round A pick go from the Reds to the Yankees in exchange for Gray and left-hander Reiver Sanmartin. New York, in turn, has flipped Long directly to the Mariners in return for center field prospect Josh Stowers — the Mariners’ second-round pick in the 2018 draft.

Sonny Gray | Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports

As part of the trade, Gray has agreed to a new, three-year contract extension with the Reds that’ll span the 2020-22 seasons. He’ll earn $30.5MM over those three campaigns — that’s in addition to his $7.5MM salary for the 2019 season. Along with a $500K signing bonus, the deal reportedly promises $10MM in each of its three years and also comes with a $12MM club option for the 2023 season. There are $500K worth of incentives in each new season of the deal, with that value achievable in full at 190 innings pitched, and his annual salaries can grow based on performance escalators. Gray’s contract doesn’t contain a no-trade clause but stipulates that he be paid a $1MM assignment bonus each time he is traded.

Cincinnati emerged as a front-runner to land Gray last Friday, and his addition will be the third such pickup of the Reds’ offseason, joining lefty Alex Wood and fellow righty Tanner Roark. That trio will be added to a new-look Cincinnati rotation that’s also projected to include holdovers Luis Castillo and Anthony DeSclafani. It’s a group that should give the Reds a vastly more competitive outlook in 2019 while likely pushing names such as Robert Stephenson, Brandon Finnegan, Tyler Mahle, Jackson Stephens and others out of the Major League rotation mix and either into bullpen roles or back to the minors (Stephenson, it should be noted, is out of options).

A change of scenery for Gray, 29, only makes sense after he struggled profusely with the Yankees in 2018 — particularly when pitching at Yankee Stadium. Gray posted a ghastly 6.98 ERA at home in 2018 compared to a 3.17 ERA on the road, and while there’s surely more at play in those splits than the surface-level numbers exhibit, the contrast between the two numbers is unequivocally jarring.

The Reds quite likely found it encouraging that Gray’s velocity remained consistent with its previous levels (93.8 mph average fastball), that his swinging-strike rate remained north of 10 percent and that his ground-ball tendencies (50 percent) remained above the league average. Gray actually allowed home runs at his lowest rate since 2015 as well (0.97 HR/9; 13.3% HR/FB), despite pitching more than 40 percent of his innings at the homer-friendly Yankee Stadium. Of course, he’ll be moving to a similarly hitter-friendly setting in the form of Cincinnati’s Great American Ball Park, though the move to the National League should prove beneficial.

With the extension now in place, the trade of Gray differs starkly from Cincinnati’s acquisition of Wood and Roark, each of whom is a pure one-year rental. In essence, it’s a bet that the move into a lower-pressure setting could help Gray in a similar manner that Matt Harvey seemed to benefit following his own trade over from the Mets this past May. Gray, it should be noted, is not far removed from an extended run as a high-quality arm; the former No. 18 overall draft pick entered the 2018 season with a career 3.45 ERA in 770 1/3 innings, highlighted by an All-Star nod and a third-place Cy Young finish in 2015.

While it may be too much to expect for Gray to return to those lofty heights, he at the very least has the potential to help comprise a radically improved Reds rotation and gives the team some long-term stability a a time when many of the pitching prospects acquired over the course of Cincinnati’s rebuild have yet failed to pan out.

Cincinnati will also add a left-handed option to the middle levels of its farm system in the form of Sanmartin. While he wasn’t considered to be one of the organization’s top prospects, Sanmartin reached Double-A for the first time last season, at the age of 22, and pitched to an overall 2.81 ERA with a 58-to-4 K/BB ratio in 67 1/3 innings between Class-A, Class-A Advanced and Double-A. New York originally acquired Sanmartin out of the Rangers organization in a swap that sent righty Ronald Herrera to Texas.

Long, meanwhile, will head to the Mariners in a surprise development and give Seattle a prospect that is not far from big league readiness. The 23-year-old Long was a 12th-round pick by the Reds back in 2013 but has vastly outperformed that draft billing, rising to the Double-A ranks and hitting at a .261/.353/.412 clip with a dozen homers and 19 stolen bases this past season. Kiley McDaniel and Eric Longenhagen of Fangraphs ranked Long seventh among Reds farmhands just last month, noting that the converted catcher still has some defensive question marks at second base. That said, he has the bat to profile as a regular there if he can improve his glovework, and if not, he could move to an outfield corner.

Stowers, in turn, is several years further from the point where he’d need to be added to the 40-man roster in New York. He went a round or two higher in the draft than many expected on the heels of a strong finish to his college season at Louisville, and it seems that given New York’s quick acquisition of him, the Mariners weren’t the only ones who hoped to snag him in the draft’s early rounds. The Yankees will also acquire a pick that is currently slotted in at No. 36 overall but could move a bit, depending on the outcome of the remaining free agents who rejected qualifying offers (and the subsequent draft pick compensation attached to them). The No. 36 slot last season came with a $1.967MM slot value, meaning the Yankees have likely added another $2MM+ to their bonus pool in the 2019 draft.

A trade of Gray has been expected since early in the offseason since Yankees general manager Brian Cashman openly spoke about his desire to find a change of scenery for Gray. Today’s swap gives the Yankees a rotation consisting of Luis Severino, James Paxton, Masahiro Tanaka, J.A. Happ and CC Sabathia. With Gray no longer in the fold, the Yankees’ top depth options are Domingo German, Jonathan Loaisiga, Luis Cessa and Chance Adams. The organization likely hopes to have lefty Jordan Montgomery, who underwent Tommy John surgery early last summer, can return late in the 2019 season, though it certainly possesses ample rotation depth even if he’s shelved into the 2020 season.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported Friday that the Reds were closing in on a deal to acquire Gray. Fancred’s Jon Heyman tweeted over the weekend that Long and the draft pick would likely be involved in the deal, if completed. Rosenthal first added that the trade could hinge on an extension. ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported today that Gray had been traded, confirming Long’s inclusion and adding that he’d been flipped to Seattle for Stowers. Rosenthal reported the extension and the terms of Gray’s new contract, with Bob Nightengale of USA Today adding salary details. Bobby Nightengale Jr. of the Cincinnati Enquirer added Sanmartin’s inclusion in the swap. Heyman tweeted the trade assignment bonus.

Show all

MLB Trade Rumors is not affiliated with Major League Baseball, MLB or MLB.com

Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

hide arrows scroll to top