Mariners Rumors

AL West Notes: Luhnow, Peacock, Mariners

By Mark Polishuk | August 12, 2015 at 9:58am CDT

Here’s the latest from the AL West…

The Astros’ acquisition of Oliver Perez may have filled the club’s last remaining need, The Houston Chronicle’s Evan Drellich reports. “There’s a lot of activity on the trade waiver wire and we’re monitoring it, but I think we’ve addressed the main areas that we wanted to address going into this trade season,” GM Jeff Luhnow said. “Obviously we’re going to be opportunistic if somebody pops up.”
Astros righty Brad Peacock underwent back surgery last week and will officially miss the rest of the season, MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart reports. The procedure involved the removal of two bone spurs that were pinching a nerve near Peacock’s spine, which should hopefully solve the health problems that have plagued Peacock all season. He made only one start for Houston back in April before a lengthy DL stint with what was thought to be a right intercostal strain.
The Mariners’ problems stem from an inability to develop highly-touted young players, Grantland’s Jonah Keri writes. This includes both many of their own draft picks as well as prospects acquired in trades, like Justin Smoak or Jesus Montero. GM Jack Zduriencik had a strong track record of player development as the Brewers’ scouting director, yet his inability to duplicate this success with the M’s may cost him his job in the wake of Seattle’s poor season.
CSNBayArea.com’s Joe Stiglich takes a look at some of the Athletics’ top prospects, several of whom were just recently acquired in midseason trades to bolster Oakland’s farm system.

Minor MLB Transactions: 8/9/15

By Zachary Links and Mark Polishuk | August 9, 2015 at 5:47pm CDT

The latest minor moves…

Prior to today’s game, the Tigers purchased the contract of lefty Tom Gorzelanny while optioning Shane Greene to Triple-A. Gorzelanny pitched in today’s 7-2 Tigers loss to the Red Sox, allowing a run in a third of an inning. The southpaw was designated for assignment then outrighted to Triple-A in July, and heading into today, Gorzelanny had posted a 6.38 ERA over 24 relief innings for Detroit.
The Mariners have traded Triple-A third baseman Carlos Rivero to the Red Sox for cash considerations, as Greg Johns of MLB.com tweets. Rivero joined Seattle when he was claimed off waivers from the Red Sox in November of 2014. In December, the M’s re-signed him to a minor league deal. Rivero made his Major League debut last season, appearing in eight games with Boston. In part of five Triple-A seasons, Rivero has slashed .274/.324/.388.
The Orioles announced that infielder Chris Parmelee has accepted his outright assignment to Triple-A Norfolk. The O’s designated Parmelee for assignment when they acquired Gerardo Parra at the trade deadline and they outrighted him days later. He has hit .216/.255/.433 in 102 plate appearances with Baltimore.

AL East Notes: Dombrowski, Blue Jays, Red Sox

By Zachary Links | August 9, 2015 at 2:05pm CDT

Top Yankees prospect Luis Severino is elated to be a part of the club’s playoff push, Grace Raynor of MLB.com writes. There has been a ton of hype surrounding the pitcher in New York, but skipper Joe Girardi says that Severino is taking it all in stride.

“Going into the game, I thought that he was a young man that really wasn’t fazed by his surroundings in Spring Training, was able to relax and go about his business,” Girardi said. “I think that that’s what I saw last week. It’s kinda what I expected to see. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot more about him as time goes on — and you see him make starts and how he responds to certain situations and adversity. But, for the most part, that was kind of what I expected.”

Here’s more out of the AL East..

Indications are that former Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski is more likely to wind up with the Blue Jays or the Mariners than the Red Sox, Brian MacPherson of The Providence Journal writes. Still, MacPherson says that doesn’t mean that the Red Sox can’t learn from Dombrowski by looking at how he built a winner in Detroit. Dombrowski’s Detroit teams had structural flaws, but he took them from a team void of stars to a powerhouse organization with aggressive trades. Boston has worked to hang on to its young talent in recent years rather than moving it for established players, but many of those prospects have failed to live up to expectations.
Red Sox GM Ben Cherington is open to change in the front office if that means improving the team, Michael Silverman of the Boston Herald writes. “I don’t think it’s threatening at all” to bring in a new voice in baseball operations, Cherington said late last week. “Whatever stake you have in the Red Sox, after what you’ve been through the last two years, you don’t even have a choice but to try to find solutions to this after awhile of doing it our own way. It’s going to mean different things to different people, but that’s what we’re trying to do around here.” With Larry Lucchino on his way out, Cherington may have to answer to whoever his replacement will be.
Orioles GM Dan Duquette likes cheap reclamation projects and has caught some lightning in the past, but things just didn’t work out that way with Travis Snider, Peter Schmuck of The Baltimore Sun writes. Snider, who came over from the Pirates this winter to help replace the departed Nelson Cruz and Nick Markakis, was designated for assignment on Friday.

Zwelling, Keri Examine Blue Jays’ Active Deadline

By Steve Adams | August 5, 2015 at 9:36pm CDT

In a pair of excellent columns, Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet and Jonah Keri of Grantland offer behind-the-scenes looks at the chaotic week of Blue Jays GM Alex Anthopoulos leading up to the trade deadline. Each spoke directly to Anthopoulos, and while Keri’s piece focuses on blockbuster deals for David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, Zwelling’s looks at each day of Anthopoulos’ week leading up to the deadline (including those trades and other discussions) — painting a vivid picture of the life of a general manager during one of the most chaotic times of the year.

Some highlights from each piece, although I’d highly recommend reading each in its entirety…

Both Zwelling and Keri note that talks between the Blue Jays and Rockies date back to the offseason, but the initial concept of Jose Reyes and pitching prospects for Tulowitzki surfaced in late May. Anthopoulos, Zwelling writes, had been unwilling to part with Jeff Hoffman until the day that Tulowitzki was traded. When Hoffman’s name was put on the table, talks with Rockies GM Jeff Bridich accelerated quickly. Zwelling’s piece also provides a glimpse into the difficult task of Anthopoulos informing Reyes that he’d been traded.
Meanwhile, Anthopoulos told Keri that the decision to add Tulowitzki did have its detractors within the Toronto front office. “They brought up the length of his contract, the dollars on his contract, the players we’d have to give up,” said Anthopoulos. However, his take on the situation varied. “Players like that don’t become available,” said the Toronto GM. “They sign 10-year contracts and become the face of a franchise. It wasn’t an easy decision. It was weird, the process was long and stressful … but it was also a lot of fun.”
Zwelling writes that Anthopoulos was in negotiation for players such as Ben Zobrist, Gerardo Parra and Mike Leake as well, but an eventual phone call from Detroit’s Dave Dombrowski caused him to shift his focus to Price. Dombrowski had told Anthopoulos a week before the trade deadline that he’d call him if he decided to move Price, and despite the fact that Anthopoulos saw constant rumors about Price’s availability, his respect for Dombrowski prevented him from calling to check in. “His guarantee that he’d call me was all I needed,” said Anthopoulos. “Dave’s a complete pro. No matter what was being said in the media, I was going to take his word for it. When and if the time presented itself, he was going to call.”
Anthopoulos tells Zwelling that while there was pressure to get a deal for Price and/or another starter done, he did have a fallback plan. Anthopoulos had a standing agreement in place for a yet-unnamed lesser pitcher than Price that he could’ve swung on July 31, but the move for Price halted that need.
Keri notes that Anthopoulos was on the phone with Mariners counterpart Jack Zduriencik discussing Mark Lowe when Dombrowski came calling with the info that he was ready to move Price. “I’m dying to jump off the phone, but I don’t want to do that to Jack,” said Anthopoulos. “I did really want Price, though. So I did hurry it along.”
Keri cites a Blue Jays source in reporting that the Blue Jays nearly had a trade completed for the Indians’ Carlos Carrasco, but talks fell apart just as the Jays thought they had something worked out. The Jays also checked in with the Phillies on Cole Hamels over the winter, in Spring Training, before the All-Star break and with 10 days to go before the trade deadline, Keri reports, but were repeatedly told that Hamels wouldn’t waive his no-trade clause to approve a deal to Toronto. Anthopoulos also aggressively pursued the Padres’ Tyson Ross, according to Keri’s source, though he gives no indication that anything was as close with Ross as it seemingly was with Carrasco.

Yankees Notes: Ackley, Pineda, Williams, Gregorius

By Steve Adams | August 4, 2015 at 5:13pm CDT

The Yankees placed Dustin Ackley on the disabled list today due to a lumbar strain in his back. Ackley’s collected just three plate appearances since coming over from the Mariners in a trade, but Yankees GM Brian Cashman told reporters, including MLB.com’s Bryan Hoch (Twitter link) that he has no issues with the Mariners. Ackley was healthy at the time of the trade, said Cashman, who expects the outfielder to miss about 20 to 30 days.

Quick Hits: Kasten, Mariners, Prospects

By Mark Polishuk | August 2, 2015 at 11:09pm CDT

The Dodgers made several additions at the trade deadline yet didn’t move any of their top prospects to do so, a tactic that team president Stan Kasten generally prefers. “I think I am well known, both by reputation and by my own comments, as having a deep, deep need to develop the farm system as a way of sustaining excellence over the long haul,” Kasten tells Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register. “It takes discipline to avoid the short term for the long term. And I think we have done that. That doesn’t mean we won’t trade anyone. We will. But we are going to keep our focus on retaining the majority of our high-end prospects so that we can be good and don’t have these pressing needs at the deadlines.”

Here’s some more from around the league as the baseball world still settles down from a busy pre-deadline week…

It seems like the Mariners are looking ahead to 2016, though GM Jack Zduriencik described his team’s deadline moves as helpful for both the present and future. “It’s more about the future, yeah, but also the production you are getting at the big-league level and if you can replace that and still be competitive while adding talent to your organization,” Zduriencik told reporters, including The Seattle Times’ Ryan Divish. “I think that’s what we accomplished.”
A whopping 44 of the 57 prospects dealt over the last two weeks were pitchers, as several team officials told Baseball America’s J.J. Cooper that there weren’t many quality minor league position players available on the trade market. Cooper breaks down the 57 traded prospects, which included six members of BA’s list of the top 50 prospects in the sport.
Looking ahead to the August waiver period, ESPN’s Jerry Crasnick lists several players who could still be on the move this month. One of the names listed, Martin Prado, probably won’t be dealt as Marlins officials say Prado is in the team’s plans for 2016. It was reported prior to the July 31st deadline that Miami could move Prado but only for a major return.
James Shields, Jeff Samardzija and Starlin Castro are three more players who could be August trade candidates, FOX Sports’ Jon Morosi says (Twitter link).
All 30 general managers receive grades for their trade deadline performance from ESPN’s Jim Bowden (Insider subscription required). The Blue Jays’ Alex Anthopoulos was the only GM to receive an A+, while the Diamondbacks’ Dave Stewart was the only GM to get an F since Arizona didn’t make any deadline trades.

Cafardo’s Latest: Gray, Iwakuma, Red Sox, Padres

By Mark Polishuk | August 2, 2015 at 2:40pm CDT

The Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo recaps the trade deadline moves, evaluates which teams fared well or poorly with their transactions (or lack thereof) and also looks ahead to the August trade market in his latest column. Some highlights…

“Plenty of teams” approached the A’s about a trade for Sonny Gray, though unsurprisingly, Oakland held onto the young ace.
The Mariners believe they can re-sign Hisashi Iwakuma (a pending free agent) for one or two more seasons. For this season, the M’s decided to keep the righty at the deadline, though Iwakuma drew interest from multiple teams.
Mike Napoli could be an August trade candidate, as one GM called him “a guy teams want to see a little bit more of” to see if Napoli can heat up at the plate. The Red Sox first baseman is only hitting .206/.307/.387 with 13 homers over 362 plate appearances. Boston shopped Napoli prior to the July deadline though the Pirates were the only team known to have any interest.
There was some deadline day speculation that the Padres could make a run at Pablo Sandoval, though no deal materialized.
The Red Sox pursued Cole Hamels for 18 months but are still looking for a rotation-topping ace as Hamels ended up dealt to Texas. Cafardo wonders if all this wasted time will hurt Boston, as he feels the Sox could’ve matched or topped the prospect package the Phillies got from the Rangers. Now, the Red Sox will have to spent far more than Hamels’ remaining salary to obtain an ace this winter.
One team evaluator though the Phillies ultimately fared well in their deadline deals for Hamels, Jonathan Papelbon and Ben Revere, though “from where they started in their demands to where they wound up, it’s quite a fall. But if you look around at other deals, nobody was giving up No. 1 or 2 prospects. They settled for quantity in some cases, but they got a fair share of quality, as well.”
Cafardo was surprised to see the Tigers deal Joakim Soria, “as relievers of this ilk are hard to come by and the Tigers have a history of being unable to identify them. They finally did with Soria and yet they traded him.”
The fact that the Tigers entrusted GM Dave Dombrowski with trading Soria, Yoenis Cespedes and David Price could be a sign that Dombrowski may remain in Detroit, Cafardo opines. The two sides hadn’t made progress on an extension as of early July, though Dombrowski’s last extension to remain with the Tigers (in 2011) wasn’t settled until August of that year.
You can add the Nationals to the list of teams that showed some interest in Justin Upton, as Cafardo writes that Washington “considered” a move for the Padres outfielder.
Speaking of Upton, Cafardo thinks the Padres could move both he and James Shields in August if the team finally decides they’re out of the race. I would think an Upton deal would be extremely difficult, since any number of teams would put in waiver claims to block him from going to a rival and wouldn’t hesitate taking on the roughly $5MM remaining on Upton’s contract. As for Shields, his much longer and pricier contract makes him unlikely to be claimed on waivers, so Cafardo thinks a team like the Yankees could make a move for Shields to upgrade their rotation.

Mariners Promote Ketel Marte

By Zachary Links | July 31, 2015 at 5:54pm CDT

The Mariners (on Twitter) announced that they have promoted infielder Ketel Marte to the majors. Marte, 21, was rated No. 50 on Baseball America’s midseason top 50 prospects list.

Marte signed for just $100K in the Mariners’ ~$6MM 2010 int’l class, but he has proven to be that group’s best prospect, as BA writes. Marte’s arm limits him at shortstop and he doesn’t boast a ton of power, but scouts project that he can become an above-average defender at second base.

The youngster has spent the bulk of the 2015 season at Triple-A Tacoma. In 287 plate appearances, Marte has hit .314/.359/.410 with three homers.

Pirates Acquire J.A. Happ

By Steve Adams | July 31, 2015 at 3:24pm CDT

The Pirates announced that they’ve acquired left-hander J.A. Happ from the Mariners in exchange for minor league righty Adrian Sampson.

In picking up Happ, the Pirates have struck a last-minute deal to add a back-of-the-rotation starter to their ranks. The 32-year-old pitched to solid results for much of his first and only season with the Mariners, but he’s run into trouble as of late, posting an unsightly 8.47 ERA over his past four starts — a span of just 17 innings. At his best, Happ is a serviceable back-of-the-rotation arm whose greatest problem is a susceptibility to home runs versus right-handed hitters. PNC Park’s dimensions will help to mitigate that concern, as it’s ranked as one of the toughest parks in terms of right-handed home run factor in each of the past three full seasons.

On the year, Happ has a 4.64 ERA with 6.8 K/9, 2.7 BB/9 and a 42.1 percent ground-ball rate in 108 2/3 innings. Those numbers are more or less in line with the totals he delivered from 2012-14, although they came in the hitter-friendly Rogers Centre as opposed to the pitchers’ paradise that is Safeco Field. (His ERA+ from ’12-’14 was 89, compared to just 80 this season.) Happ is earning $6.7MM this season and is a free agent this winter, so he’ll be a short-term pick up that the Pirates can use as rotation insurance down the stretch.

The 23-year-old Sampson ranked as the Pirates’ No. 28 prospect on MLB.com’s midseason update, where Jim Callis and Jonathan Mayo praise the righty’s sinking fastball and ability to get grounders. The MLB.com duo notes that Sampson has strong command and average stuff across the board, giving him a low ceiling but also placing him close to big league ready. Sampson has started 21 games at Triple-A Indianapolis this season and has a 3.98 ERA with 6.9 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9 in 124 1/3 innings in that time.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blue Jays Acquire Mark Lowe

By Steve Adams | July 31, 2015 at 1:07pm CDT

1:07pm: Lefty Rob Rasmussen is the final minor leaguer headed to Toronto, the Blue Jays revealed in officially announcing the trade.

12:55pm: Left-hander Jake Brentz is also in the package for Lowe, Heyman tweets.

12:45pm: Class-A left-hander Nick Wells is one of the three players heading to Seattle, Heyman tweets. Wells was the Blue Jays’ third-round pick in 2014.

12:24pm: The Mariners are netting three minor leaguers in the deal, reports Joel Sherman of the New York Post (Twitter link).

12:16pm: The Jays have acquired Lowe, tweets Chris Cotillo of SB Nation.

12:12pm: The Blue Jays are moving towards a trade that will acquire veteran right-hander Mark Lowe from the Mariners, reports Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (via Twitter).

Lowe’s name doesn’t leap off the page as an exciting target based on his track record, but he’s in the midst of an astounding breakout season. Lowe has a pristine 1.00 ERA with 11.8 K/9, 2.8 BB/9 and a 36.5 percent ground-ball rate in 36 innings for Seattle this season, and his 95 mph average fastball is the best heat he’s shown since 2011.

By adding Lowe, who signed a minor league deal this winter, the Blue Jays have secured a relief upgrade that comes with the most minimal of financial commitments. One would think that played a factor in the decision to target him (in addition to his excellent numbers), as the Blue Jays have been said to be on a limited budget and took on quite a bit of cash to acquire David Price yesterday. Lowe will be a rental for the Mariners, as he’s logged well over the necessary six years of big league service required to qualify for free agency at season’s end.

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