Mariners Rumors

Minor MLB Transactions: 12-11-15

By Steve Adams | December 11, 2015 at 8:44am CDT

The 2015 Winter Meetings are officially in the books. As the baseball world winds back down, here are some of the recent minor transactions from around the game…

The Rangers announced a pair of minor moves yesterday: the re-signing of outfielder James Jones to a minor league deal and the trade of left-hander Will Lamb to the White Sox in exchange for right-hander Myles Jaye. Texas somewhat surprisingly non-tendered Jones earlier this month not long after acquiring him as part of the Leonys Martin trade, but he’ll return to the Rangers, who freed up a 40-man roster spot with the sequence. Jones, a fleet-footed 27-year-old center fielder, saw quite a bit of action with the 2014 Mariners but just 31 plate appearances in 2015. He’s a career .238/.268/.296 hitter in 359 plate appearances, though he boasts an impressive 28 steals (in 30 tries) in that small sample of PAs. Jones is a .278/.358/.390 hitter in an even 500 Triple-A plate appearances.
As for the trade, the Rangers pick up a soon-to-be 24-year-old in Jaye, who started 26 games for Chicago’s Double-A affiliate in 2015 and posted a 3.29 ERA with a 104-to-47 K/BB ratio in 147 2/3 innings. He rated as Chicago’s No. 23 prospect following the 2013 season, per Baseball America, but fell shy of their Top 30 last winter. In exchange, they’ll part with a 24-year-old lefty, Lamb, that pitched to a 4.42 ERA with 8.1 K/9 against 4.1 BB/9 in 57 innings of relief work between Double-A and Triple-A last season. Lamb held lefties to a .210/.319/.247 batting line in the minors last year.
MLB.com’s Alden Gonzalez tweets that the Angels have inked outfielder Nick Buss to a minor league deal. The 28-year-old Buss batted .296/.352/.408 in 322 plate appearances with the D-backs’ Triple-A affiliate in 2015. Buss received a brief big league look with the A’s in 2013 but hasn’t returned to the Majors since.
Baseball America’s Matt Eddy reported a slew of minor moves on Twitter yesterday, including the White Sox’ signings of left-hander/former top prospect Matt Purke and shortstop Andy Parrino; the Padres’ signings of veteran right-hander Phil Humber and lefty reliever Ryan Buchter; and the re-signings of Rosell Herrera and Frank Garces by the Rockies, and Padres, respectively.

Law On Walker, Giles, Lind Trades

By charliewilmoth | December 10, 2015 at 3:15am CDT

Here are a few of Keith Law of ESPN’s takes on some of Wednesday’s key transactions. Law’s articles are Insider-only and contain significantly more detail that we’ll present here. We highly recommend subscribing.

The trade for Neil Walker was a good one for the Mets, although Law is puzzled by the team’s addition of Asdrubal Cabrera. Cabrera’s deal would make sense if he were a second baseman, but with Walker in the fold, Cabrera will play shortstop, a position he can no longer play well. The Walker trade reflects the Mets’ skepticism that Dilson Herrera can take over second base next season, but Walker is a consistently solid player, and the Mets only gave up Jon Niese, who didn’t figure to play an important role for them going forward. Niese will allow the Pirates to move top prospect Tyler Glasnow along slowly, although Law notes that Niese’s lack of strikeout ability makes him a back-end starter and writes that Niese will have to improve next season to justify the Bucs picking up the first of his two options.
In Ken Giles, the Astros got a strikeout reliever who will be a good addition to a bullpen that did register enough Ks in 2015, Law writes. They’ll also get five years of control, making Giles a valuable asset. The Phillies, however, did get plenty in return, including Vincent Velasquez, who Law thinks can stick as a starter, and Brett Oberholtzer, a back-of-the-rotation lefty who can soak up innings as the Phillies continue their rebuild.
Adam Lind isn’t much of a defensive first baseman, Law writes, but for the Mariners, he’s still an upgrade over the recently traded Mark Trumbo. Platooning the left-handed Lind with the right-handed Jesus Montero would be a good plan, Law suggests. The Brewers, meanwhile, got three young pitchers who are possible future relievers. None of them are outstanding talents, but Milwaukee did well to get something in return for a player they didn’t really need in 2016.

Relief Notes: Rodney, Sipp, Astros, Twins, Soriano

By charliewilmoth | December 10, 2015 at 1:47am CDT

Here are a few notes on teams’ searches for bullpen help.

The Padres are trying to lure Fernando Rodney with an incentive-based deal, Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports (on Twitter). The Cubs and other teams are also possibilities for Rodney. The 38-year-old former closer posted a 4.74 ERA, 8.3 K/9 and 4.2 BB/9 overall in a tough season in 2015, although he fared well after a late-August trade from Seattle to Chicago.
GM Jerry Dipoto says the Mariners are likely to add at least one big-league free agent reliever, Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune tweets.
The Astros have already landed Ken Giles, but they aren’t done making moves to improve their bullpen, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports tweets. Lefty free agent Tony Sipp, who posted a 1.99 ERA, 10.3 K/9 and 2.5 BB/9 in a terrific season for Houston in 2015, remains on the Astros’ radar.
The Twins are looking for a lefty reliever, but are unlikely to pursue Sipp or Antonio Bastardo, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune tweets. That means they could turn to the trade market. Twins exec Terry Ryan says he would prefer to acquire a lefty capable of working multiple innings and is not interested in a LOOGY, Mike Berardino of the Pioneer Press notes (on Twitter).
The Yankees are among the teams that have been in touch with Rafael Soriano’s representation, Heyman tweets. The 35-year-old Soriano missed most of the 2015 season, not signing until June and then dealing with shoulder troubles, and the Cubs released him in early September. Prior to that, however, he had two relatively successful seasons as the Nationals’ closer and was terrific in ninth-inning work for the Yankees in 2012.

Mariners Designate Andy Wilkins

By Jeff Todd | December 9, 2015 at 12:04pm CDT

The Mariners have designated first baseman Andy Wilkins for assignment, Greg Johns of MLB.com reports on Twitter. His roster spot will go to just-acquired first baseman Adam Lind.

Wilkins was recently claimed off waivers, but the left-handed hitter was not needed after the acquisition of Lind. He’s produced big numbers at Triple-A but has yet to receive any substantial playing time in the majors.

Mariners Acquire Adam Lind

By Steve Adams | December 9, 2015 at 10:55am CDT

Another day, another trade for Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto. The Mariners and Brewers have announced a trade sending first baseman Adam Lind to Seattle in exchange for minor league right-handers Carlos Herrera, Freddy Peralta and Daniel Missaki.

Following the trades of Mark Trumbo and Logan Morrison, the Mariners had a clear need for an upgrade at first base, and Lind should fill that void nicely. The 32-year-old is coming off a strong season with the Brewers in which he batted .277/.360/.460 with 20 home runs in 572 trips to the plate. Milwaukee made the easy call to exercise his $8MM club option this offseason, though the expectation has long been that the rebuilding Brewers would look to trade the final year of club control over Lind, who will be a free agent next winter.

That, of course, makes Lind a short-term upgrade for the Mariners, who will probably also look to add a platoon partner for him (although an in-house option like Jesus Montero could function well in that capacity). Lind batted just .221/.277/.298 against left-handed pitching in 2015 and was limited to 112 plate appearances against same-handed pitching, as his troubles in that regard are a known factor in his game. In parts of 10 seasons at the Major League level, Lind has batted just .213/.259/.327 against lefties. On the flip-side of that ugly split, however, is an impressive .293/.354/.509 batting line against right-handed pitching. Assuming a strict platoon deployment, Lind figures to give the Mariners a nice boost in on-base percentage at first base, and one can imagine a platoon of him and a righty with some notable pop — Mike Napoli, for instance, is a speculative fit with the Mariners — approximating or exceeding the power output that Trumbo would have delivered in a full-time capacity.

The acquisition gives new Mariners manager Scott Servais the option to run out a lineup that features Lind, Robinson Cano, Ketel Marte, Kyle Seager, Seth Smith, Leonys Martin and Nori Aoki against right-handed pitchers. Servais will have the option to deploy Montero (or a yet-unsigned platoon partner for Lind) and Franklin Gutierrez against left-handed pitching. The Mariners, of course, already have one of the game’s more potent right-handed bats in the form of Nelson Cruz.

The addition of Lind continues what has been one of the most active offseasons for any GM in recent memory, as Jerry Dipoto has wildly reshaped the Seattle roster in his first three months on the job. In addition to trading Trumbo and Morrison, Dipoto has also shipped out Brad Miller, Danny Farquhar, Tom Wilhelmsen, Carson Smith and multiple prospects in order to bring in Martin, Nate Karns, Wade Miley, Joaquin Benoit, Steve Clevenger, Anthony Bass, Luis Sardinas and Evan Scribner. Additionally, he’s re-signed Gutierrez and signed other free agents such as Aoki, Chris Iannetta and Justin De Fratus as he looks to reshape a roster that won a disappointing 76 games in 2015.

As for the Brewers, they’ll receive a trio of young arms that didn’t rank in the Mariners’ top 30 prospect on MLB.com’s end-of-season rankings, although each is exceptionally young and has a good bit of time to rise up the prospect ranks in Milwaukee.

Peralta, 19, did rank as Seattle’s No. 24 prospect in the eyes of Baseball America one winter ago. He spent his second season with the team’s Rookie-level affiliate in Arizona this season, and while he logged an uninspiring 4.11 ERA in 57 innings, he also posted an electric 67-to-8 K/BB ratio while spending most of his time (nine of 11 appearances) as a starting pitcher.

Seattle only signed Herrera, 18, in July of 2014. BA’s Ben Badler wrote at the time that Herrera’s fastball was topping out at 90 mph as a 16-year-old, but his projectable 6’3″, 170-pound frame gave reason to believe that more velocity would come as he filled out. He also noted that Herrera had a 72-74 mph curve ball in his arsenal. Herrera debuted in the Dominican Summer League this past season, pitching to a 3.26 ERA with 73 strikeouts against just 13 walks in 80 innings.

Missaki, 19, is a Brazilian-born right-hander who, as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel tweets, underwent Tommy John surgery back in May. Despite his young age, Missaki opened the season in the Class-A Midwest League and looked impressive in six starts, pitching to a 3.41 ERA with a 34-to-5 K/BB ratio in 34 1/3 innings against markedly older competition. He’ll presumably be ready to take the mound this summer and could see some more action at Class-A upon a return to health.

The three prospects acquired here demonstrate that new Brewers GM David Stearns is committed to restocking the farm and won’t be shy about moving Major League assets for players that are years away from contributing in the Majors. Each of the pitchers acquired has displayed impressive control for a young pitcher, which could be a point of emphasis in future trades as the Brewers look to return to prominence in an absolutely stacked National League Central Division.

Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of FOX Sports initially reported that the Mariners were pursuing Lind and making progress in talks. Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reported that the deal was in place (Twitter link). Jim Bowden of ESPN and MLB Network Radio on SiriusXM said the Brewers would get three minor leaguers (links to Twitter). Joel Sherman of the New York Post tweeted that all three were pitchers.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Mariners Close To Acquiring Adam Lind

By Steve Adams | December 9, 2015 at 8:16am CDT

WEDNESDAY, 8:16am: Zunino is not in the potential deal involving Lind, Heyman tweets.

7:19am: Catcher Mike Zunino’s name also has been a part of trade discussions, although it’s unknown whether he’s involved in the deal, CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman tweets. Zunino’s inclusion might have broader implications for the Brewers, who also could conceivably trade catcher Jonathan Lucroy at some point. The Brewers have reportedly been listening to trade offers for Lucroy.

6:14am: The Mariners are “close” to acquiring Lind, Rosenthal tweets. Tom Haudricourt of the Journal Sentinel, meanwhile, writes that there’s speculation that 3B/1B D.J. Peterson could be part of the Brewers’ return. Peterson, the 12th overall pick in the 2013 draft, hit well in the low minors but struggled last season at Double-A Jackson, batting .223/.290/.346 in 393 plate appearances there.

12:45am: The Brewers and Mariners have made “very substantial progress” on a deal, Jon Morosi of FOX Sports tweets.

MONDAY 5:29pm: Seattle GM Jerry Dipoto acknowledged that he’s talked to the Brewers and several other teams about possible first base acquisitions, Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times tweets.

2:22pm: The Mariners, who minutes ago reportedly agreed to acquire Wade Miley from the Red Sox, are also in pursuit of Brewers first baseman Adam Lind, reports Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports (via Twitter). Seattle has a need at first base after trading both Mark Trumbo and Logan Morrison already this offseason.

Lind, 32, batted .277/.360/.460 for the Brewers in 2015 and would give the Mariners a potent bat to deploy against right-handed pitching. He’s a lifetime .293/.354/.509 hitter against righties and batted .291/.380/.503 against them in 2015. Lind is the quintessential platoon player, having logged just 112 PAs against lefties in 2015 and owning a career .213/.259/.327 batting line against southpaws. The Mariners have a potential in-house option to handle a platoon in the form of Jesus Montero, or the team could look to bring in a free-agent platoon partner such as Mike Napoli.

The Brewers exercised a one-year, $8MM club option on Lind this offseason on the heels of his solid 2015 season. He’ll be a free agent next winter.

Mariners Acquire Evan Scribner From A’s

By Steve Adams | December 8, 2015 at 10:05pm CDT

10:05pm: The Mariners have announced the trade.

10:00pm: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan tweets that the Mariners will send minor league right-hander Trey Cochran-Gill to the Athletics to complete the trade. Seattle selected Gill out of Auburn University in the 17th round of the 2014 draft, and the 23-year-old reached Triple-A this past season. Collectively, Cochran-Gill logged a 4.18 ERA with 6.1 K/9 against 4.4 BB/9 in 75 1/3 innings (almost exclusively out of the bullpen). Gill dominated at Class-A Advanced but struggled in his exposure to Double-A and Triple-A hitting. He was a fair bit younger than the average age of his competition at each level, though.

6:20pm: Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle tweets that Scribner to the Mariners “sounds as if” it “is indeed happening.”

5:55pm: The Mariners “appear close” to a trade that would send Athletics right-hander Evan Scribner to Seattle, according to Bob Dutton of the Tacoma News Tribune (Twitter link).

Scribner, 30, is coming off a season in which he posted a 4.35 ERA in 60 innings with Oakland, though there’s quite a bit to like about him when glancing at numbers beyond ERA. Scribner posted an incredible 64-to-4 K/BB ratio this past season, which, when paired with the numbers he posted in a small sample of work in 2014, gives him 75 strikeouts against just four walks over his past 71 2/3 innings in the Majors.

Scribner’s main problem has been an unusually high homer-to-flyball ratio; nearly one of every four balls put into the air against him has left the yard dating back to 2014. Homer-to-flyball rate tends to stabilize around 10 to 11 percent for the average pitcher, and home runs were never much of a problem for Scribner in the minor leagues, where he has a career HR/9 rate of just 0.6 despite spending his Triple-A days in the incredibly hitter-friendly Pacific Coast League. Metrics like xFIP and SIERA peg Scribner’s work over the past two seasons more along the lines of a mid-2.00s ERA.

The Mariners would be acquiring four years of control over Scribner, who is a Super Two player (two years, 142 days of Major League service time) and is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn a modest $700K salary in 2016.

Bullpen Notes: Clippard, Chapman, Nathan, Twins, LaCava

By Mark Polishuk | December 8, 2015 at 5:11am CDT

Here’s the latest reliever news from around the game…

The Mets have discussed re-signing Tyler Clippard, Newsday’s Marc Carig reports. Clippard posted a 3.06 ERA in 32 1/3 innings for the Mets after being acquired in a late-July trade from Oakland.
From that same item, Carig says the Mets “briefly discussed” making a move for Aroldis Chapman at the last trade deadline but they didn’t revisit that idea this winter.
Joe Nathan is in Nashville talking to teams at the Winter Meetings, FOX Sports’ Ken Rosenthal reports (Twitter links). Nathan underwent Tommy John surgery last April and is hoping to be ready to pitch by midseason. Rosenthal speculates that the former star closer could receive a contract that pays him a low base salary in 2016 with a higher guaranteed salary or a club option in 2017. It will be quite a comeback for Nathan if he’s able to overcome his second Tommy John procedure for a return at age 41.
The Rangers, one of Nathan’s former teams, spoke with him today in what MLB.com’s T.R. Sullivan described as a “courtesy meet.”
Though the Twins have never signed a reliever from outside the organization to a multi-year contract under GM Terry Ryan’s tenure, Ryan tells reporters (including Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press) that he’s “not opposed” to doing so “if it was a necessity of getting the guy we had confidence in and a need that we have.” The Twins have been linked to several big-name relievers (Joakim Soria, Ryan Madson, Tony Sipp) who have either already signed or likely will require multi-year guarantees.
Blue Jays assistant GM Tony LaCava told reporters (including MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm) that his team was made contact with many of the notable relievers who have already come off the board. “I wouldn’t say [we were] close, but we were engaged with some of the guys that signed,” LaCava said.
Upgrading the bullpen “will be our primary focus the rest of our time here” at the Winter Meetings, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto told reporters, including MLB.com’s Greg Johns.

Minor MLB Transactions: 12/8/15

By Mark Polishuk | December 8, 2015 at 3:36am CDT

With all the big moves and rumors from the Winter Meetings grabbing the headlines, here are a few lower-tier transactions from around the baseball world…

The Red Sox announced that right-hander Roman Mendez has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A. Mendez was designated for assignment last week to make room for outfielder Chris Young on Boston’s roster. Mendez made three appearances for the Sox after being claimed from the Rangers in September. The righty owns a 94mph fastball and has a 3.09 ERA in 46 2/3 career Major League innings, though that ERA is belied by some very unfavorable peripheral numbers, particularly in his 2014 stint with Texas.
The Pirates announced some minor league signings, all on contracts that contain Spring Training invites: infielder Cole Figueroa, outfielder Danny Ortiz, left-hander Robert Zarate and right-handers Wilfredo Boscan and Deolis Guerra.
The Mariners signed righty Donn Roach to a minor league contract, the Tacoma News Tribune’s Bob Dutton reports (Twitter link). The deal contains an invitation to the Mariners’ big league Spring Training camp. Roach has a 5.35 ERA in 33 2/3 career innings and appeared in just one MLB game in 2015. Roach, who turns 26 later this week, pitched for three organizations (the Blue Jays, Cubs and Reds) last season.
The Phillies announced that southpaw Joely Rodriguez has been outrighted to Triple-A. Rodriguez, acquired from Pittsburgh in exchange for Antonio Bastardo last winter, posted a 6.12 ERA, 5.1 K/9 and 1.3 K/BB rate over 129 1/3 innings split between Double-A and Triple-A in 2015.

AL West Notes: Wilson, Angels, Kendrick, Rangers, Pearce, Lewis, Catchers, Mariners

By Jeff Todd | December 7, 2015 at 6:19pm CDT

The Angels are telling clubs they’ll listen to offers on lefty C.J. Wilson, Scott Miller of Bleacher Report reports on Twitter. It seems that Los Angeles would be interested in clearing some payroll in a bid to address the multiple areas of need on the position-player side of the equation.

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