Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano has been out since mid-May on account of both an 80-game suspension and a fractured right hand. In his absence, the Mariners have deployed Dee Gordon at second, and they’re not going to waver from that upon Cano’s return. “We are looking at Dee as our second baseman,” general manager Jerry Dipoto said Friday (via Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times). “There may be a time, especially mid-August to the end of the season where he slides out to center field for a day. But primarily he’s going to play second base.” With Gordon poised to continue at second, it seems Cano will primarily handle first base when he comes back. Although the 35-year-old Cano has never lined up at first, he certainly has the bat for the position. If Cano’s his usual self at the plate, he’ll be an easy upgrade over Seattle’s current starting first baseman, Ryon Healy, though the former’s suspension means won’t be eligible for the postseason if the contending Mariners earn a spot.
Here’s more from around the game…
- The Mets pulled off a major trade Saturday in sending pending free-agent closer Jeurys Familia to the Athletics for third baseman William Toffey, right-hander Bobby Wahl and $1MM in international bonus money. Keith Law of ESPN (subscription required) isn’t impressed with the Mets’ half of the deal, writing that Toffey and Wahl are “two fringe-at-best prospects” and lambasting the big-market club for its penny-pinching ways. Law, who credits the A’s for paying next to nothing for a proven reliever, goes on to offer in-depth assessments of Toffey and Wahl in his piece.
- If Diamondbacks right-hander Shelby Miller returns this season from elbow inflammation, he may work as a reliever, manager Torey Lovullo told reporters (including Zach Buchanan of The Athletic) on Friday. For now, Miller’s in the midst of a 10- to 14-day shutdown period, Buchanan notes, though he doesn’t have any UCL damage. Miller, out since July 12, endured a nightmarish few starts before going on the DL. In his first action since undergoing May 2017 Tommy John surgery, Miller yielded 19 earned runs on 24 hits and seven walks in 15 innings (four starts).
- White Sox reliever Nate Jones suffered a setback in his recovery from a pronator muscle strain and will be shut down for two weeks, Scott Merkin of MLB.com tweets. The team still expects Jones to come back this year, Merkin adds, though it seems too late for him to emerge as an in-season trade chip. The 32-year-old Jones has already been out for more than a month, making this his second straight injury-shortened campaign. Jones, whom elbow problems limited to 11 2/3 innings last year, has thrown 24 2/3 frames this season and registered a 2.55 ERA/4.61 FIP with 9.85 K/9 and 5.11 BB/9.
Figures the Mets will now spend internationally. Spend another team’s money. That said, I’m not a Familia guy so my take is other offers weren’t sufficient to offset the $1m. Only question I have is why pull the trigger now when there was time to build up interest? If the A’s collapse the next 10 days, the A’s will be sellers…
I think that’s kind of part of the attractiveness of the deal for the A’s. They got it done early enough that if any kind of collapse by them or resurgence in Seattle should happen they have a couple weeks to flip him.
Of course it doesn’t hurt that they got him for relatively cheap.
That’s not how international bonus pool money works. It’s not another teams money it’s just an extra slot to spend their own money….
Technically, they saved about $3 million on the deal since the A’s took on his salary, so the Mets would be using some of that money for the int. Pool
Familia’s had medical problems the past two seasons. Trade him while healthy and effective.
Do teams have some evidence that supports pitching out of the pen is easier on your arm than starting? Guys like John Smoltz have said in the past he thought being the closer was way harder on his arm than starting. Pen arms now are required to come out and throw as hard as they can for one inning usually on back to back days. And given the high turnover of great RP every year I’d tend to agree with Smoltz.
It’s likely if Miller returns this year, he wouldn’t work on back to back days. Limiting him at first to pitching a couple innings in spot duty once every 4 days or so…At least that would be mybguess…
I don’t think they’re moving Miller to the pen to protect his arm, they’re movin him because he’s been really bad
Probably a mix of both rols
Throwing 20 game pitches vs 100 is definitely better on your arm. Just from watching – closers last longer than starters. It’s an actual thing. Even if you use your closet multiple days it is still less stress than being a starter.
How on earth do you know? My source is a former mlb starting pitch who has done both.
The Mariners should try Cano out at 3rd. Seager is absolutely terrible. All he does is strike out or hit Mike high pop ups.
Lol no. Kyle Seager has 2 fWAR, Ryon Healy has -0.5 fWAR. Very obvious who should be replaced and it’s not Seager.
at least Healy shows signs of enthusiasm. Seager literally walks out to the plate takes 3 terrible hacks then goes straight back to the bench. granted Seager’s defense is decent but so was Brandon Ryan’s defense.
WOW! As long as you’re enthusiastic you should play over the mellow guy that’s way better than you. LOL!!!
Hi! im enthusiastic and my name is Tyler. so when do i start for the Mariners? So excited that thats all it took!
my point is that Seager doesn’t even try anymore. he is embarrassing to watch and is a total liability at the plate.
Let’s just say Cano doesn’t have the arm for 3rd.
The category is, “ things no one has ever said”. You have one point.
Although it appears Seager’s having a down year at the plate he has been better this last month and his numbers are better with runners in scoring position- he is still hitting HRs and producing RBI’s close to his career numbers. His defense this year has been spectacular- just ask James Paxton! He’s on pace for another Gold Glove this year and I believe no-one has more accurate throws/put-outs at 1B.
In a trade like today’s Mets-A’s deal, does the team just get the ability to spend $1 million more or do they get the actual money from A’s, too? Or can it be either way and that’s up for negotiation?
They get the ability to spend $1million more on international FA. It’s just a cap increase.
I didn’t realize that. Thanks for clarifying. Actually refreshing to think the Mutts will spend more. They’ve never been as cheap as people think but since Madoff and the interest they owe on Citi Field (2008-2009 timeframe), they’ve not gone for the big ticket (Cespedes fell into their lap … another discussion entirely as the A’s, Sox and Tigers all learned). Starting to rebuild their system is the way to go.
If you read the Mets statement about the trade, they say they received international pool money. So it appears money changed hands. .
“”This trade hits three major areas,” Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said in a statement. “We got a Major League-ready reliever our scouts recommended, a position player who was a high selection from the 2017 Draft and strong prospect in the A’s system as well as receiving international bonus pool money to help in the future.”
He apparently didn’t mean they received tangible money. Here is a link I found to an article that explains the process and confirms physical money is not exchanged:
sonsofsamhorn.com/baseball/majorleaguebaseball/al-…
Doesn’t matter how they said it. No money changed hands.
You trust the Mets to know the nuances of finance?
the hard part of relieving is the getting up and warming up to be ready
to go in the game numerous times night after night
Sandy Alderson made the Familia deal. He is in Oakland this weekend for a celebration of the ‘89 World Series victory over the Giants.
how about this trade … degrom to Toronto for vlad guerrero and bo bichette. ???
Not happening. There is no way the Blue Jays trade Vlad Jr. That trade makes no sense for them right now because they aren’t close to winning. They are sellers in this market. That would be a buyers move.
Might be the worst trade proposal I’ve ever seen between two teams who are rebuilding or trying to
I think Law is a little harsh on Toffey. I’ve seen Toffey play in person & the kid is pretty darn good. He is quite good defensively. I’ve heard criticisms of his speed at that position, but they obviously didn’t see him play in college. He played at Vanderbilt & they have a very fast turf field. He was plenty quick there & made all the routine plays and some great plays. He also has power. I think he’s better than a fringe prospect
Law is one man’s opinion. Matters little.
Lol, translation:
A guy with no axe to grind who follows prospects for a living says my beloved metsies got garbage in a trade, so hes irrelevant.
If he said we got great prospects I’d use those words as gospel.
Ignore Law’s opinion. The A’s paid more than any other team was willing to. The Market decides a player’s worth.
That’s with 9-10 days still to go. Is it not possible the market could change in a favorable way on the mets side?. Say a team loses out on another arm they target. Their urgency changes, markets can change both ways i understand that.. Doing this trade a this point just doesn’t look gook for a constantly critized orginization with absolutely no definitive leader in the front office. I mean what’s the f-ing plan here.. I see people here want this orginization to trade what few assests they have. What’s insane to me is that people want the guys who may not even be here or in charge next year to do it. I’m a long time mets fan. I get it, they’ve done ridiculous things in the past.. But, c’mon man when is this circus gonna end. lmao. The wilpons need to stop f-ing around and need to name 1 of these guys the GM or shut down player movement on controllable assests for now. Yes i know Familia was not under contract and you’re not gonna qualify him cause that makes no sense. I find it hard to believe this trade, if it’s the best they could’ve recieved could not have been done closer to the deadline. Even in John Ricco’s statement i get the feeling he distances himself from accountability. “We got a major league ready reliever our scouts recommended”. There is really no need to make that statement in my opinion unless you don’t want to own it…..sorry let me get off my soap box…..just sayin’
What Law was saying is that if the Mets were to pay the A’s the rest of Familia’s salary the return would’ve been better. Just like last year when they gave away Bruce for salary relief. Since the A’s are paying the rest of Familia’s salary AND giving the Mets $1mil in international bonus money the return the Mets got was weak. Can’t blame the A’s when the Mets owners approach the trading deadline like a going out of business liquidation sale.
He’s shown zero power in the minors. He is struggling to make contact in a minor league equivalent Coors field against younger competition. Law has far more insight and analysis then “I saw him in college and he was good in a environment”. Sickles I think was the only one who even had him in a top 20 list as #17 in the system. Neither Wahl nor Toffey was estimated to be a 40-grade prospect, which is the minimum to show up on lists like those made by FG, Thats as fringe as it gets.
On the surface, it does seem that the Mets fleeced themselves in the Jeurys Familia deal.
Having been a Mets fan for 40 years (insert joke) I think the million dollar international pool money is the most important component of the deal. Mets do sign high end international prospects. That being said the simple gave that they took less to get the A’s to take the 3 million onFamilia’s. contract is a bunch of garbage. They just said they would take salary to get back better prospects. Who would want the Mets GM job? You have to review deals with Jeff Wilpon who no one in baseball likes.
The Wilpons are an embarrassment, but Law must realize that MLB is not going to come down on them like they did McCourt. If they were, it would have happened a long time ago.
It is funny that the Wilpons took back the right to spend $$. Cheapskates in the IFA market for decades, now that there’s a cap, they OK with it. Sad.
So will Cano be eligible for the 1 game WC play-in game if the M’s play in that game? Or does that count as the playoffs and he is also ineligible for that?
He can’t play the wild card game, but he could play a possible game 163 if necessary.
People would go apesh*t if he played in such a game and was a deciding factor. Also trading Healy doesn’t make sense right now even if his playing time diminishes because he’s still the better option over Vogelbach in replacement. My opinion is that the m’s trade Cano to restock the farm.