The Mariners have acquired Danny Valencia from the Athletics, Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan tweets. In exchange, Oakland will receive righty Paul Blackburn, tweets MLB.com’s Greg Johns.
[Related: Updated Seattle Mariners Depth Chart]
The 32-year-old Valencia has hit well in each of the past two seasons, most recently posting a .287/.346/.446 line in 517 plate appearances with Oakland in 2016. He also logged substantial playing time at three positions (third base, first base and right field), giving him a bit of defensive versatility. He graded poorly at third, though, and got in a clubhouse altercation with Billy Butler that resulted in Butler heading to the 7-day concussion DL.
Butler was released soon after, and although the Athletics said Butler’s release was unrelated to the clubhouse fight, it seemed by season’s end that the A’s were looking to move on from Valencia. Youngster Ryon Healy received the bulk of the Athletics’ available playing time down the stretch at third base. It already looked possible the A’s could look outfield help this winter, and now it looks even more likely that they will.
Valencia has one more year of club control remaining before he’s eligible for free agency, and we project he’ll make $5.3MM next season. The Mariners obviously have a good third baseman in Kyle Seager, but Valencia could be a factor at first base and/or in the outfield. At first, his right-handed bat might pair well with that of lefty Dan Vogelbach.
The 22-year-old Blackburn, who arrived with Vogelbach in the Mike Montgomery deal in July, ranked as the Mariners’ 18th-best prospect, according to MLB.com. The Cubs made him the 56th overall pick in the draft in 2012. He throws sinkers in the low 90s and has what MLB.com describes as solid secondary stuff and a good feel for pitching, so perhaps he could profile as a back-of-the-rotation type in the big leagues. He produced a 3.27 ERA, 6.2 K/9 and 2.2 BB/9 in 143 Double-A innings in 2016.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Wow ok I guess that clears the way for Healy but there goes the only other good hitting OF
The first of many moves to come. And DV is not an “outfielder,” he just hangs out out there and comes to hit every once in awhile.
He was arguably the A’s best hitter besides Davisson of the year.
Most of the year*
A’s free up money and get a mid level pitching prospect. Face it Valencia’s days were numbered since his defense is below par at all positions. He can hit but can’t field. Good move for the A’s they are in a rebuild mode and need to cut players with no future for them.
When would Danny play?
Isn’t guti a free agent? Also Nelson will DH
First base with Vogelbach
Interested to see the return considering Valencia was probably going to get cut.
287 with 17 homers. They would be dumb to cut him for nothing.
That’s pretty much the same stats as Cano in 2015
Good get for the M’s
Did the A’s get one bag of peanuts or two bags?
A decent prospect
one bag. prospect pitcher who M’s saw had little upside.
A 300 hitter, it’s just another blow for A’s fans…
They are in a rebuild year and the A’s received the best they could for a guy who can’t play defense.
Not really. Anyone who is an A’s fan knows that those numbers came in a hot first half. His best days are behind him; the A’s are lucky to get something of value back.
Yup…thank you for pointing that out
Paul Blackburn not a bad return
Yep. Definitely a two peanut bagger. Low K/9 in minors and other metrics implies pitch to contact 5th starter type.
Good move for the Mariners, Valencia can play in the outfield, and sometimes third base and even first base. Not bad.
He’ll be a platoon 1B with D. Vogelbach.
I wouldn’t say he can “play” the OF, but he’s good at standing there and taking up space I guess.
About as well as Cruz
Not bad, Mike Montgomery for Valencia and Vogelbach.
That’s not really how that works, but okay.
It’s how it ended up for the mariners tho.
I hope this means Healy goes to first and Chapman to 3B over them retaining Alonso
Alonso is a non-tender candidate, but Chapman isn’t likely to start the season in the majors. Mid season call up at the earliest, Lowrie will hold the fort at third for the first half
And the Danny Valencia tour of the American League continues. The guy hits a ton, but wears out his welcome really quickly everywhere he goes.
It’s kinda like a yard sale before you move…
Bye bye Dae Ho
Kinda feel bad for Valencia. He’s been a journeyman since being traded from the twins. He’s underrated.
He created his club house persona and is projected to make 5.3 million dollars next year by playing baseball for a living.
Good for Danny.
Why do you feel bad for him?
Solid return for a low 90s MPH, sinker type pitcher that doesn’t miss bats at a very high clip. He fits as a natural platoon partner for Vogelbach, and can probably spell LF and RF in a pinch. I’m content with this.
Amazed the A’s got a serviceable major league quality arm for this guy. One year rental, short side platoon, may have clubhouse issues, and the position at which he has the most value (3B) is unavailable at the team he was traded to.
A’s were gonna non-tender him anyway. Stupid move, M’s.
This year Seattle had the second-best wRC+ in baseball at 107 despite a woeful 94 from the first-base position..
Danny Valencia, who posted 118 wRC+ and 1.1 fWAR this year, and Dan Vogelbach, who posted OBP above .400 in the minors the last two seasons, will replace Adam Lind, who posted 92 wRC+ and a negative 0.6 fWAR, and Dae-Ho Lee, who posted 102 wRC+ and 0.3 fWAR..
This year the Mariners posted a negative 4.7 UZR/150 in 1,457 innings at first base while Danny Valencia has a career UZR/150 of a positive 1.8 in a limited 212.2 innings at first base.
Seattle will pay Valencia a projected $5.3 million this year for a player who has been valued at $27.1 million over the past two seasons (including $9.1 million this year), according to the WAR conversion at FanGraphs. Had the Athletics non-tendered Valencia, the Mariners would likely have competed with other clubs at a steeper price in terms of dollars and/or contract length.
It seems like a prudent move to me.
Great post- thank you for the time and research. I like this trade even more after reading your comment. Cheers
Yes they might have non-tendered him, but doesn’t mean the Mariners would have automatically signed him, nor does it mean he’s going to sign for less than what he stood to make. And while his best spot might be 3B, I imagine he can also play 1B effectively, which is what they needed…a right handed hitting 1B.
Valencia vs righties last 2 years- 118 wrc+… that’s better than Morales was last year and I’m sure you thought that was a good signing.
At 3rd base, Valencia was worth negative 18 runs according to Defensive Runs Saved. UZR had him worth negative 13. Tell me again how he’s most valuable at third base? Coming to the Mariners and being put into a platoon situation at any position other than 3rd will maximize his value for us, all while paying him less than the going rate for a 1 win player. And we gave up depth, an arm with little-if-any upside. Glad you chimed in.
I hope he’s just going to play 1st and some 3rd and they pick up a different guy to play OF the M’s are weak in the OF
Agreed. And as someone else mentioned in a different post, they don’t really have a bat off the bench (outside of the possible Valencia/Vogelbach platoon, which is no guarantee to be an effective bench bat). I’d love to see them resign Gutierrez because he’d be a better platoon mate to Smith and mashes lefties.
A’s weren’t going to tender him, this is the best possible result for them, getting a guy whos ceiling is Kendall Graveman is the right kind of depth a rebuilding team needs.