The Mariners and Rays both crossed off an item on their offseason checklist Thursday, officially announcing a five-player trade that will send catcher Mike Zunino, outfielder Guillermo Heredia and minor league lefty Michael Plassmeyer from Seattle to Tampa in exchange for center fielder Mallex Smith and minor league outfielder Jake Fraley.
[Related: Seattle Mariners depth chart and payroll outlook | Tampa Bay Rays depth chart and payroll outlook]
“Bringing Mallex back home to Seattle is exciting for us all,” said GM Jerry Dipoto in a tongue-in-cheek statement — a nod to having briefly acquired Smith in a previous trade. “His combination of speed, base running impact, defense and on-base abilities are unique in today’s game. We believe his breakout 2018 performance reflects the many ways his skills will positively impact the Mariners for years to come. Jake Fraley exhibits a similarly exciting set of athletic and baseball skills. His offensive game blossomed in 2018 and creates an exciting profile when coupled with his exceptional defense and overall instincts. Both players fit our desire to build a younger, more athletic and exciting roster.”
Unsurprisingly, the first significant swap of the 2018-19 offseason involves the ever-active Dipoto. As recently as Tuesday, the Seattle GM spoke of a desire to “re-imagine” the Mariners’ roster while striving to remain competitive. Specifically, he indicated to MLB.com’s Greg Johns that adding a center fielder would be a priority. Adding Smith not only achieves that goal early in the offseason but simultaneously lowers the club’s lofty payroll a bit; Zunino is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $4.2MM through arbitration this winter, while Smith is not yet arbitration-eligible after narrowly missing Super Two status and is controlled through the 2022 campaign.
This marks the second time in the past two years that Dipoto has acquired Smith, although the speedster’s original Mariners tenure was measured in minutes. Dipoto acquired Smith from the Braves in a deal that sent Luiz Gohara to Atlanta and promptly flipped Smith to Tampa Bay in order to acquire two years of Drew Smyly’s services. Unfortunately, Smyly injured his arm that Spring and ultimately required Tommy John surgery before ever throwing a regular-season pitch for the Mariners.
This time around, Smith’s acquisition seems to carry more permanence. He’s fresh off a season in which he hit .296/.367/.406 with a pair of homers, 27 doubles, an AL-leading 10 triples and a hefty 40 stolen bases. The 25-year-old Smith saw action at all three outfield positions with the Rays and delivered above-average ratings, but he’ll almost certainly slot in as the primary center fielder for manager Scott Servais in Seattle. He’ll give the Mariners a significant defensive upgrade over Dee Gordon, who admirably attempted to try his hand at a new position last season but graded out as one of the most ineffective defensive center fielders in the game. Gordon now appears likely to return to second base, if he isn’t traded himself, with Robinson Cano perhaps shifting to designated hitter and rotating between second base, first base and third base.
For the Rays, the addition of Zunino gives them a catcher with light-tower power and premium defensive skills. However, Zunino pairs those highly desirable traits with enormous strikeout tendencies and questionable on-base skills. He’s coming off a season in which he hit just .201/.251/.406 with 20 homers, but he’s also only a season removed from a vastly superior .251/.339/.509 output and a career-high 25 homers. Over the past three seasons, Zunino is a .223/.300/.462 hitter with with 57 home runs in 1032 plate appearances. The average and OBP might not jump out, but when adjusting for the Mariners’ pitcher-friendly home park, that level of production rates at about seven percent better than the league-average hitter and nearly 20 percent better than that of a league-average catcher (by measure of OPS and wRC+).
Defensively, Zunino threw out a career-best 35 percent of would-be base thieves in 2018, and he perennially ranks among the league’s best in terms of pitch framing. He’s received well above-average marks in Baseball Prospectus’ Fielding Runs Above Average for catchers in each of his Major League seasons, and he’s controllable for the next two seasons. If the Rays feel they can curb Zunino’s alarming 34.2 percent career strikeout rate, perhaps they believe there’s some yet-untapped upside in the 27-year-old. If not, he’ll nonetheless give them a strong throwing/framing backstop with more power than just about any catcher in the game.
Acquiring Zunino pushes Michael Perez, acquired in this summer’s Matt Andriese trade with the Diamondbacks, from a starting role to a backup job. The 26-year-old Perez impressed in his brief big league promotion in ’18, hitting .284/304/.392 with a homer and five doubles while halting five of 17 stolen-base attempts against him (29 percent). Perez has received quality defensive ratings of his own throughout his minor league tenure, so this pairing gives Tampa Bay a couple of solid to plus defenders behind the plate — a likely point of emphasis for lead baseball ops duo Erik Neander and Chaim Bloom as they engage in experimental tactics with their pitching staff.
As for Heredia, he’s not entirely dissimilar from Smith in that he’s a fleet-footed outfielder with minimal power who is capable of handling all three outfield positions. He’s not likely to crack a crowded Rays mix that could feature Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermaier and Austin Meadows as starters in the outfield. However, he could also give the Tampa Bay organization a nice bench option or upper-minors depth piece, as he does have multiple minor league options remaining.
Heredia, 28 in January, hit .236/.318/.342 with the Mariners in 337 plate appearances last season — numbers that fall right in line with his career .244/.321/.336 output in 870 PAs. Unlike Smith, he’s garnered poor defensive ratings in center field, though he grades out above-average in the outfield corners.
Plassmeyer, 22, was the Mariners’ fourth-round pick just five months ago in the 2018 draft, which aligns with Dipoto’s willingness to deal from his most recent draft classes. He traded catcher David Banuelos, his 2017 fifth-rounder, to the Twins last December and also flipped 2017 fourth-rounder Seth Elledge to the Cardinals this past summer. Plassmeyer, Mizzou product, posted a ridiculous 44-to-4 K/BB ratio through 24 innings in Short-Season Class-A ball this summer.
Fraley, 23, was Tampa Bay’s second-round pick in 2016 and is coming off a monstrous .347/.415/.547 showing in 2018, but those gaudy numbers came in 260 PAs against younger competition at Class-A Advanced.
While the addition of Smith fills one vacancy for the Mariners, it also creates another. Light-hitting journeyman David Freitas now sits atop the team’s depth chart behind the plate, so adding some catching options either via free agency or (more likely given Dipoto’s tendencies) via the trade market now figures to become an imperative in the months to come. As for the Rays, they’re dealing from a position of strength and also adding some additional depth by picking up Heredia, so this trade merely checks one item off a length to-do list early in the winter, thus freeing the Tampa Bay front offices to turn its focus to other areas of need (namely, the pitching staff).
Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reported that the two sides were close to a deal involving Zunino, Smith and Heredia. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal tweeted that an agreement was in place, while Joel Sherman of the New York Post and Greg Johns of MLB.com added some context on the return (Twitter links) before the inclusion of Plassmeyer and Fraley was also reported by Divish.
How many trades have these two teams made together in the past couple years?
This would be their 10th trade since the David Price deal back in 2014.
I believe the Rays traded David Price to Detroit not Seattle.
Seattle was involved in the trade. It was a three team deal.
Am I the only one who thinks Tampa is just giving smith away for nothing
We are curing a problem from a surplus… not exactly giving away
Trading an outfielder for an outfielder and catcher is not gonna help with surplus
With Kiermaier playing over 110 games only once in the past 5 seasons, they probably need a back-up plan and they got the catcher they needed and Heredia as insurance. Probably why it wasn’t a straight player swap.
Zunino isn’t ‘nothing’. Even with his near-inability to judge a pitch seriously hurts his value, he’s in the highest tier of defensive catchers. Even if he never develops an eye, hell still rank well above average in total value at catcher.
As a Mariner fan that understands his shortcomings, but doesn’t dwell on them, it’s a tough pill and I wouldn’t be surprised if this comes back to bite us — even IF Smith’s time in TB was legit.
Now are the M’s rebuilding or just exchanging pieces to find a fit? It looks more like they are just plugging holes to find a fit. They do not have a real catcher so does this mean they will bring in a free agent which there is nobody special out there to pick up.
The article covered that
Red Sox have a surplus of catches so I wouldnt be totally surprised to see something develop there. All three have their downside but any one of then could start for another team.
There are quite a few catchers available this year and all of them are probably better hitters than Zunino. Mesoraco is intriguing and Grandal or Ramos would be huge upgrades.
Swihart would not start for anyone.
Can start for the Brewers if nobody wants him we will gladly take and he can start for us for the next 6 years
What about Wilson Ramos? He would be an upgrade over Zunino. Ramos is good on offense and defense. Underrated catcher. Just ask the Nats, the difference when they didn’t have him. Also look what he did for Tampa’s pitching staff in 2018.
Zunino has been an above average catcher the last three years… It would be ignorant to say they are giving him up for nothing.
@dipsanddingers it’s not the worst trade considering you get a catcher back that is pretty good, but I do understand what you’re saying.
Maybe but it makes total sense to trade Smith at his highest value. Rays have several OF already. Need room for Meadows.
This. Sell high, buy lowish.
He was on the Mariners for a Litlle bit already Smith. Also they had a Topic on MLB Tonight Rays needs could waited and this might have solved need.
Zunino is a great defensive catcher with pop in his bat. He doesn’t get on base much, but he’s still a valuable player
dipoto is probably one of the only foolish GMs to believe that Mallex is really the player that he was during the 2nd half of the season
Seattle traded two years of Mike Zunino, with Steamer’s projected 2019 WAR of 2.3, for four years of Mallex Smith, with a projected 2019 WAR of 1.2.
On some level the trade seems about even.
I show Zunino with 1.9 and Smith projected for 1.7 for 2019.
Zunino will make TB pitchers better!
Totally. And Zunino’s departure will hurt Seattle’s pitchers.
Mat- No doubt! Seattle Pitching staff w/o Zunino behind the dish had a 4.59 ERA. Ms Pitching w Zunino Catching? 3.86 ERA
I don’t think it’s nothing. But I wish it was KK instead of Mallex. Mallex is what KK should be.
What?
Kevin Kiermire.
Who?
In trading Smith the rays didn’t give up much and got a much needed catcher
Just think about the statistic of almost EVERY Ex-Mariner hitter who has been traded away and how much better they do when they leave. LoMo, Smoak, Shin Soo Choo, Ortiz, Adam Jones. The chances Zunino will find his stroke with the Rays is very high which will just make his 20+ homers yoy more valuable.
Based off of comments from MLB “experts”on Facebook, you would think the Mariners just traded away Johnny Bench in his prime! LOL
Not the only one. This deal makes zero sense for Tampa
So JTR is as good as gone
Wrong team
Realmuto’s value just went up now that another strong catching option is off the trade table. That said, it also removed one of the catching-needy teams from that table, though it was probably never someone in play for Realmuto anyway.
Better get more then that
Rays and Mariners need to get a room already
Haha
Cubs and Rangers too
Hope Seattle gets pitching prospect as well
If it’s just Smith they get back… I see it as a big loss for Seattle.
This can’t be the only trade, I imagine that Seattle will be making at least 1-2 more trades before the week is up
Bad move. Hard to get a war above 1.5 with a catcher. He has a 1.9. Plus nothing good in return. Mallex smith is horse crap
Smith had a 3.5 war dude…. you clearly have no idea what you are talking about
370 OBP, 40 SB, good defense, 3.5 war
117 wRC+, 40 SB, 3.4 WAR.
He’s 25 and under team control.
But yeah, “horse crap”
Plus, IF they keep Dee Gordon, that’s a decent amount of speed that will hopefully translate into runs.
Dee Gordon is going to have to draw more than 9 walks to really use his speed to any advantage.
Guess Seattle is getting the CF they need.
Mariners had Zunino for 15 minutes 2 years ago before he was flipped to the Rays for Drew Smyly…
That was Mallex Smith
Yes that is what I meant to say. Typo!!
They had Mallex Smith for 15 minutes.
Well technically they also had Zunino for those 15 minutes too so your initial comment could be considered correct depending who you read “he” as referring to.
It was actually 77 minutes
Would rather see Austin Meadows as the return for Seattle.
And I’d like to see Ronald Acuna for Jeff Samardzija.
That would be a MASSIVE overpay by TB though, so it makes sense why Mariners fans would rather have Meadows.
And, I want a billion dollars and a supermodel girlriend, but, I don’t see that happening!
Typo – Mariners had Mailed Smith 2 years ago!
And another typo!
Unless he meant they had mailed smith to the Rays two years ago…
I give up. Auto-correct wins!
Smith is better than Heredia so what is the gain for Tampa Bay here?
Zunino? did you not read the article?
Smith is far better than Zunino too, much more positive value to their team than the bust Zunino
Zunino…. duh
A right handed hitter capable of CF to spell Kiermeier. Smith is a LHB. Seattle will now look to move Gordon (with Smith to be the new leadoff hitter) and hopefully focus on signing a short-term catcher… Suzuki??? I like the deal for both teams.
Gordon to play secomd, cano for first and DH
Article says Heredia NOT a good CF but IS a good corner outfielder. However both Pham and Meadows can play CF.
Seems a pretty simple answer right? They get a def catcher with some pop, an area in which they were deficient at, for a platoon 4th of and an OF, area of strength, that didn’t necessarily fit.
Zunino sucks. Dude can’t hit worth a crap. And he was a top prospect, if memory serves.
Good thing he’s a really good defensive catcher who can hit 20-25 bombs.
power is not in short supply. everyone is hitting bombs. hitting for a high average, on the other hand, is much rarer.
But how many CATCHERS are hitting for power?
It’s in short supply at the catcher position. He’s also one of the best defensive catchers in the game. There are lots of guys with his power that are corner types with weak D. Zunino plays premium defense at a premium position
And how many catchers hit for a high average?!
So if a player doesn’t offer something rare he sucks.
Most catchers can’t hit in general. The ones that do are the elite ones that teams aren’t willing to move. Zunino is a home run or bust guy, but he’s better than some of the catchers who are swinging pool noodles out there.
Power isn’t in short supply when you are talking about corner players with fringe defense…. but this is obviously a different case
Mallex hit two bombs last year. So do you really mean everybody?
Power is in relatively short supply in Tampa.
Zunino was completely inept with the bat. He was an automatic out and his glove and framing couldn’t make up for that deficiency. If the Rays can fix his swing, kudos to them.
Check baseball reference to see if he’s an above average player. He has been for the last 3 years. How can you have a Mariners logo as your avatar???
mendoza line garbage
The average for a catcher is usually.230 or so… I’ll take .200 if you can give me 20-25 bombs and really good defense any day
Batting average is a sh*tty stat, look at his WAR, he is a good asset
I resemble that Syndergaarden!
Again these buffoons who care about batting average for catchers. By their logic there’s like maybe 5 decent catchers in the league cause finding a catcher who doesn’t crush your avg in a Roto fantasy league is nearly impossible in a 12 team league. Start paying attention to baseball, the entire league instead of one team and learn how to understand today’s stats unless you people like looking like clowns.
@iverbure lol what angry garbage you are
That’s a roundabout way of saying I’m right…
Rays put a premium on good defense at the catching position as it is actually part of the pitching performances and THAT is the MOST premium position for them.
you can’t say Zunino sucks when he gloves is already recognized by everyone. To find a catcher that can hit and play his position and carry the pitching staff is hard. If my catcher is a gold Glover caliber player than he good.
Let’s hope dipoto doesn’t trade mallet Smith for another tjs victim this time…
who is going to catch for the mariners if he goes. He cant hit worth a crap but a heck of a backstop
I don’t think the Mariners even know the answer to that.
Do they still have Jesus Montero?
You know the kid isnt that old too bad he couldn’t get serious about getting in shape and really commit to his defense, He could find a job and have couple years. Would love to see Betancourt get another chance too.
Look at ATL; job shared by 2 journeyman catchers.they were cheap and performed decent.
Jeff Clement
A name from the past!
Kurt Suzuki or Wilson Ramos I assume
That seems like a good deal for both sides
that’s it?
I’m just relieved that the Mets didn’t trade for Zunino.
Why? He’s an above average catcher. No reason not to want him when they don’t really have anyone of note there
Because he’s a horrendous hitter. For crying out loud, Zunino’s OBP was under .280. No disrespect to Zunino but I’d much rather Wilson Ramos. Not to mention, Ramos would only cost money, Zunino would cost players.
As a Ray fan Ramos is exactly who I was hoping they would sign in free agency.
This now allows them to sign Matt Wieters haha
Wieters would be an improvement for the Mariners. Good call.
No he wouldn’t. Check their WAR the last 3 years.
It was a joke. Wieters is garbage.
smart move by Dipoto. Hopefully, he can flip some of these guys for a 3-4 started. I do not expect us to compete in the AL West but at least he is filling in gap. I am assuming that we’re going to get rid of Dee Gordon or Jean Segura next. Hopefully Dee, he did not hit at all. Many might find Dipotos method weird but atleast he is making an effort to making a good team each year. He moves lead us to 89 wins in a very hard AL West.
It would be hard to move Dee Gordon’s contract when there’s a lot of veteran second basemen on the free agent market.
he can also play CF now
Play cf or stand in cf?
Weird is one way to put it but crippling your farm can cost you 5/6 years to recover. Just look at what he did to angels and diamondbacks, while he may bring a decent team now most of his moves offer youth for 1 year wonders. Dont be suprised to see regression from mitch haniger.
Mitch Haniger has been a pretty good hitter his last 1000 PA’s. I could say expect some regression from Cody bellinger next year and that has just as much validity as what you said. The mariners didn’t have much of a farm when Dipoto came in. He hasn’t grown in it by any means but you can’t say he’s tore their farm down. Simply not true. His best prospects were Luiz Gohara and Tyler O’Neill. He’s done an alright job with what he’s had to play with to try and make this team a playoff contender. This system was empty when he came to Seattle and it’s empty now but there’s some young bright spots on the ML roster. The Gordon move never made any sense because of the salary he was making and the fact that he’s not a CF. I’m not saying Dipoto should win exec of the year but he didn’t gut a flourishing farm system.
Would prefer if Zunino would be heading to the Dodgers to replace Grandal.
Barnes???
Dodgers have Ruiz and Smith probably 1 year away, they will play Barnes and Farmer
Say what you will have his offense but his defense, rapport with the pitching staff, and ability to control the running game are legit. He has has the ability to hit 20 or more homeruns per year.
He was also named the 2018 Wilson Defensive player of the year at catcher.
dip-dip, the trade king!
Leonys Martin, Mallex Smith, Jarrod Dyson, Dee Gordon, back to Mallex Smith . . . round and round the Mariners’ Center Field Carousel goes.
A catcher who can hit 20+ home runs a year, had 12 DRS, threw out 35% of runners trying to steal on him last year, and 16th in framing runs? People are complaining, but getting good offensive production from your catcher is rare nowadays, so getting someone like Zunino is pretty good.
Except You cherry picked all his good statistics. How about his 201 BA and 251 OBP and his nearly 40% K rate. His overall offensive slash line was below average because of those reasons. He has upside to be an above average offensive catcher but with that kind of K rate he’s going to put up piss poor offensive seasons as well. BTW 16th in framing? That’s not really an accomplishment. You basically just said he was average.
You tell me how many good and consistent offensive catchers there are in today’s game. Catchers are becoming more of a glove first, bat later kind of position. Getting 20 home runs while also being a decent fielding catcher who isn’t bad at framing is pretty good. Plus that’s 16 out of 117 total catchers.
There aren’t many good and consistent catchers but Zunino isn’t consistent at all. The only thing he consistently does is strikeout. He’s had 1.5 positive offensive seasons in his big league career. With the way he strikes out that will never change. He may put up a good offensive season every now and then but he will be the farthest thing from consistent.
16/117 catchers. Let me ask you this do you think 117 catchers put up a meaningful enough sample size to grade their framing? If that was pulled from a sample of catchers that large that makes zero sense whatsoever. What did they grade catchers framings skills who played 5 games?
Catcher is becoming a glove first position? Ummm it’s been that way for as long as I’ve been alive.
He’ll consistently give 20+ home runs, while being a decent overall defensive catcher. He was worth 7.5 framing runs. I’ll admit looking back on the source, many catchers didn’t reach 1000 framing chances, but 7.5 framing runs is still decent overall.
I’m not saying Mike Zunino is useless. Just the way you framed it originally made him look like a stud catcher and that’s really not the case. He has some serious drawbacks but even with all of them he’s good enough to be a starting catcher. He’ll just just never be consistent at the plate. His OPS was 679 last year. If I posted some other catchers with OPS near that level you would not consider them to be good offensive catchers. However, his defense is consistently good.
Catchers have always been a glove-first position. The ones we remember – the Carters and Berras and Piazzas and so on – are the outliers. Most catchers throughout the history of baseball have been below-average hitters.
Framing is a product of the ump as much,or more than the c.
What are his “serious drawbacks” as a defensive Catcher? Not being argumentative, as a Rays fan I am asking for information purposes.
Don’t forget one of the best of them all; Roy Campanella!!
Your answer is the Rays needed an expert (defensive) catcher to handle their young pitching staff and the Opener/follower pitching scheme they sucessfully created. Zunino will excel with this and be an expert in no time. We hope he will hit and get on base better, but not that necessary, The Rays have young Michael Perez who is a 290 LH hitter that barrels the ball 75% of his ABs! with execllent defense skils as well. Think a young Yadia Molina type who bats left handed, huge upside here!. These 2 catchers will end up the best tandem in MLB in 19!
Zunino: Awful with the bat, I don’t see his offense catching up,considering his bad bat-to-ball skills, and a lack of plate discipline, but it very well could bounce back, I’m just a fan for a reason. But Gosh darn, he is one of the greatest defenders at that position, and controls the running game like a beast. Defensively, he’ll be missed a ton.
Heredia is just. A fourth outfielder, nothing more. He was bad from June 1st,and on. They rate him bad defensively but that is not the case at all. The eye test shows he is much better. I assume the same with Mallex, as well.
Mallex was BABIP fueled, but players like that always are. At least he had a .339 wOBA, 117 WRC+ and a roughly 9 walk percentage. Lots of team control acquired, and a good amount of team control given up. Not to mention, a prospect as well. MAYBE another roster player, too, but who knows.
Now time to find a catcher. Preferably one who can actually call a game.
Forgot to mention Zunino has serious big boy power. But that’s about all he does offensively.
Mallex is always going to have a high BABIP. Guys like him live on that. It was probably a little higher last year than where he’ll sit at though. I’d expect some slight regression in that area but no reason to think he can’t be highly productive. I will say this. With Dee Gordon potentially somehwere in the lineup it doesn’t really make a lot of sense. They lost a lot of power at catcher and now have two slap hitters in the lineup. They’ll certainly put the ball in play more than Zunino. (Anyone would) but it’ll be interesting to see if they don’t try to dump Gordon.
Dee Gordon is getting dumped. I can’t say for sure, but, it’d be a shock if he is still on this team in the spring.
I think it’d be wise for Seattle to ultimately shop Gordon for two main reasons:
1. Even though the M’s would likely have to off-set some of Dee’s remaining salary, they could still shed some payroll by trading him.
2. It’d be a way to add a couple prospects to the farm, going along with the idea of avoiding a full scale rebuild. Now, Gordon wouldn’t bring back a great prospect package, but considering Seattle’s overall system, anything adequate would be a plus.
I believe Mallax will always have a high BABIP because, unlike a lot of speed players he is a line drive hitter and not a big ground ball hitter. He also led the AL in triples for the same reason.
Solid move for both sides, I’d say. Tampa needed to move an OF’er and got back a starting catcher.
Zunino’s salary will be minuscule compared to Ramos and Grandal, but his power will play in the AL East.
Seattle now has a solid CF’er.
Best to watch Malleks’ routes in the outfield and his baserunning before he’s called solid. He is disruptive on the bases….to both teams.
It is true that Mallax makes baserunning mistakes but he is young and still learning. He still stole 40 bases last season.
I approve this trade.
What do the mariners do at catcher now.
It was a tale of two Mallex Smith-s last year, an idiotic OF who made little contact and got caught stealing more than he stole (those #s are approximate). But he really turned it around in the second half, playing at least acceptable defense, putting the bat on the ball, and running intelligently. Dunno what happened. Baldelli? Maybe that’s what got Rocco the Minny job.
M’s might (stress MIGHT) have got themselves a pretty good player. Mike Z. doesn’t fit Rays’ contact oriented approach, but they were inept behind the plate last year
so he’s a massive upgrade, Z being one of the better ones around. With a young staff (and of course the “opener”) that can really be a plus.
Pretty fair trade IMHO, tho I think M’s might have gotten the more-impact type guy. Especially if they a PTBL; Rays system is pretty strong. Likely to be someone who gets left off the 40-man and survives Rule 5.
I would expect them to reach out to Boston on a catcher
oh ya…..of course….Paxton for Swihart…….
The Rays didn’t get Zunino for his bat.
The Rays pitcher will be better in 19′
This is Jerry Dipoto needing to fulfill that desire to make another trade and just taking the first one that got offered. Anything for that next post-trade high.
Z I s predicted to get 4.2M in arbitration…….not saying where Stuie will get the money, but if I was one of the fish in the tank, I’d be making out my will…….
Actually the Rays payroll situation is in really good shape due to all the rookie starters they had last season. They only have about 30 million committed for next season (b4 this trade).
Yesterday I wrote a couple of long posts on the White Sox 2019 review.
Sox fans think the team is ready to contend heading into the season. They don’t understand that they are nowhere near the cusp of contention.
The Rays are the team that enters contention status in 2019. They continue to make smart, surgical, measured moves. This is truly exciting to watch.
As for Dipoto, his routine is getting old. He’ll have a team set-up entering 2019. Then one starter will become injured, and within a month there will be multiple trades with most remaining players switching roles / positions. When the Cubs fire Maddon, Dipoto will hire him.
Makes me think the Mariners will try to acquire Realmuto or sign Ramos or Grandal.
They don’t have anyone in their system they could trade for Realmuto. Not that they’d let go of anyway.
They aren’t going to go into sell mode and then acquire someone that has 3 years of control.
2
Right, that was a dumb mistake on my part. My point is still the same though.
Aren’t you glad that the stat and grammar cops are out here 24/7? Allows us posters to sleep better.
Someone with 3 years of control is worth more than someone with 2 years of control. If you don’t like be corrected don’t write things that aren’t factually correct.
I don’t know if trading Zunino is going into sell mode. They didn’t trade him for an A ball prospect. This is a major leaguer coming off a quality year. They’ve seen Zunino be up and down offensively for years and saw the opportunity to add a cheap controllable outfielder. Doesn’t have to signal a rebuild.
Braves sign Brantley for a couple of years for around 13 mil a year.
Trade Riley, Soroka, and alex jackson for JT
sign some bullpen arms in FA
allow young pictures to develop and see who is for real on rotation
trade for a veteran starter with postseason experience at trade deadline if needed
braves be set
developing pictures?
How does a braves trade proposal get worked into every comment section? What goes through your head here? Something like “Mallex used to be a braves prospect, so it’s clearly a great time to bring up a braves trade proposal that doesn’t involve a team in this article.”
I like the move for the Mariners. Mallex will be solid in CF and leadoff spot. Now, gotta keep it going though. So…. let’s have some fun.
Segura and Diaz to the Cubs for Schwarber and Happ
Paxton, Seager, and Haniger to the Braves for Swanson, Riley, Allard, and Wright
Braves have better options that could take over SS (Camargo or Albies). Braves IF would consist Seager, Albies, Camargo, and Freeman with an OF Acuna, Enciarte, and Haniger, with Paxton in the rotation.
Mariners have control of an IF consisting of Riley, Swanson, Happ, and Healy with Smith in the OF and Lewis coming up at some point too.
Segura and Diaz for Schwarber and Happ would be an idiotic trade for Seattle. Diaz has more value than anyone in that deal and it’s not even close. Segura is arguably the 2md most valuable piece as well.
What?…. -_-
@Ichiro51 That’s a very vague response
Zunino was rushed to the majors by Seattle during the Jack Zduriencik era, which happened far too often during his tenure and ruined a bunch of their top prospects (e.g., Dustin Ackley, Brad Miller, Jesus Montero, Justin Smoak, etc.) Zunino never recovered and, since they couldn’t send him down to the minors again this year, Seattle had to stick with him. He has ballpark-proof power if and when he does make contact, but that’s about all he can do with the stick; he has zero plate discipline or instincts, leading to his intolerable K%. Breaking balls down and away are crack cocaine for him – he knows he shouldn’t swing at them, but he just can’t resist. He was definitely not the poster boy for the Mariners’ “Control the Zone” philosophy.
His defensive metrics are very good (he won the Wilson Defensive Award at catcher tonight.) He calls a good game and does well with pitch framing, but he definitely has lapses behind the plate, especially with regard to blocking balls in the dirt. Those tend to correspond with his deep offensive funks.
He may benefit offensively from playing more games in the AL East and the bandbox ballparks, but his OBP will probably never break .300 and it’s unlikely that he’ll be anything more than a boom-or-bust hitter at the plate. That being said, he should help the TB pitching staff tremendously.
Heredia is a prototypical 4th OF; he can play all 3 positions, and provide a little help off the bench with his bat and/or his legs. But he is best used on occasion as opposed to regularly; his weaknesses at the plate are exposed and exploited over time.
Smith had a very Jekyll-and-Hyde season last year, showing up in April, July, and August, but disappearing in the other months. His month-by-month splits on B-R.com are striking. But what’s even more revealing is his home-road splits; Mallex Smith may be the next coming of Garry Templeton, in that he seems to play MUCH better on the turf than the grass. That doesn’t necessarily bode well for Seattle.
Too early to tell on this trade, but Trade-DHD strikes first again….
I wouldn’t call Zunino’s plate discipline awful. He’s walked at an 8.2 percent clip over the past three seasons and doesn’t really chase an inordinate percentage of out-of-zone pitches. He’s slightly above average in that regard, but nowhere near the top of the league in chase rate.
His main problem is just that he doesn’t make contact when he swings — be it on out-of-zone pitches or pitches that are in the zone. He has the second-worst contact percentage in all of baseball when swinging at in-zone pitches over the past three seasons, trailing only Joey Gallo.
Zunino has a decent knowledge of the strike zone, he just isn’t very good at putting bat to ball even if he knows the pitch is a strike.
I would say that’s probably more of an issue then having a guy who had a high chase rate. He halved his walk rate last year as well too. Really no way to slice up his year at the plate in a positive light.
Maybe being back in Florida Zunino can find his bat like his UF Gator days.
Paging Pat Borders
M. Smith had a good season but a weak arm. Rays were not going to spend big money on a FA catcher & M. Perez is a good backup. This trade fills holes on both teams.
This is one of many trades that Jerry D. will do this off season. M.Smith fills a need and is more the type of player that Jerry wants. Watch for the remaining Z acquired players to follow Zunino out the door. Zunino’s a good catch for the Rays and their pitchers will like throwing to him.
Cards have carson Kelly wasting away, and hes pretty good, might be a good matchup for a trade with seattle.
That’s a good point. That seems like the type of player Dipoto would go after
I always like Mallex. Would have loved Atlanta to keep him but at the time we had a lot of speedy contact hitters. It may be that the Braves would have been better off with Mallex than Inciarte.
Mallex may as well keep a suitcase packed. Seems like he’s always on the move.
Tampa made a good move. Expect Zunino to hit a little better. He fills a void at Catcher and Tampa has a set OF until KK gets hurt. Inevitable. This deal helps both teams.
Smith is a pretty solid ball player. A part of me kinda wishes we didn’t trade him away. We knew he was solid, just didn’t have a great fit for him. Be nice to have him back inLF and move RA to RF. The speed on the braves would be a little outrageous lol
I wonder why the Rays didn’t hit up the Pirates for Cerveli and a few of their prospects for Mallox. Would have made more sense. Looking at past deals, the Pirates would have given away a ton of top talent for him.
Why would the pirates be interetested in an outfielder? They have three starters at last count.
Mainly because he’s paid twice as much and won’t be under control for as long.
Rays fans are suffering a Mallox moment.
What’s next, Mariners trade for Adam Jones and Jeff weaver
Rays gave up a lot for Mike Zunino who is not a very good hittier. We did much better with speed on the bases than HR hitters of the past. Zunino is a very-very good defensive catcher and our pitchers will appreciate his skills back there. Smith is a very shaky defensive outfielder who looked lost for the first second or 2 in CF when the ball was hit with authority out there. Smith was one of our most reliable hittier’s and will be missed! I believe it was “way to early” in the off season to rush into a trade like this but the Rays FO is right 90% of the time!
It’s not tower power at the Trop. It’s catwalk power. Come on Steve look alive out there. 🙂
if you want yerself a catcher, look no further than Peter O’Brien
Trading has begun. So excited. Now Ellsbury for Trout and cash, please.
Lol right….
The Zunino love seems a bit much. There’s a ton of catchers on the free-agent market, so the Mariners can get a good backstop who will probably be a better all-around hitter than Zunino.
Plus the M’s received a good defensive center fielder who gets on base and can scoot. Dee Gordon and Mallex Smith at the top of the order (or 9-1) will make things really interesting.
Actually, as a Rays fan who watched every Ray game this year, Mallax is a DECENT outfielder not a good one. He CAN cover a lot of ground with his speed but has, let us say, “interesting” routes to the ball.
Don’t like this move for Seattle
Zunino had a down year at the plate in 2018, yet still finished with the 15th highest WAR among catchers. Over the last 3 seasons, he ranks 7th in total WAR behind the dish. The Mariners are giving away one of the better value catchers in the game.
And what are they getting?
Smith in 2018:
.244/.317/.340/.657 (82 wRC+) on Road
– a 230 OPS / 70 wRC+ drop from Home
.268/.331/.370/.701 (96 wRC+) as CFer
– a 140+ OPS / 40-50 wRC+ drop from corners
.163/.241/.184/.424 (23 wRC+) in High Leverage situations
– 300 OPS / 100wRC+ difference from season line
That’s not encouraging. He saw dramatically different lines across the board both on the Road and while in CF than he did at Home or at a corner, and when the stakes where at their highest he became an absolute auto-out
I’m not sure this will ultimately be much of an upgrade over Dee for the Mariners, but they gave up a premium catcher for him
I’ll take a quality OF capable of playing all the positions who is coming off a breakout .296/.367 season with 40 swiped bags – and team control through 2022. I am fully expecting regression…
In 1885 at-bats, Zunino is batting a CAREER .207/.276 – while striking out 38% of the time. Don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of Z, but this deal makes sense. It was time to move on.
Smith on the artificial turf of Tampa Bay over his career:
.329/.400/.446/.846
Smith everywhere else:
.254/.318/.345/.663
Then, Smith in the AL West stadiums:
.185/.215/.185/.399 – LA
.200/.286/.240/.526 – Hou
.083/.120/.125/.245 – Oak
.100/.100/.100./200 – Sea
.333/.400/.333/.733 – Tex
Now granted, that was only 27 games and 102 combined PA for the ALW stadiums, but…
This has all the makings of being an absolute disaster of an acquisition. Right now, there’s nothing really showing he can hit at all anywhere other than that artificial Turf in TB
And as far as a catcher not having a high BA – it’s a catcher without a high BA, like every other catcher. The difference is Zunino plays in a park/division that is harder to hit in and has big time powe even then.
Please enlighten me how Zunino will ever buck the trend of mediocrity at the plate? Any major leaguer who K’s close to 40 % of the time will never consistently perform at the plate. It will never happen. Zunino might give you another year like 2017 but it’ll surely be followed by another 2 like 2018. Why is it a down year for Zunino? It’s more like the norm for him and anyone else who K’s at that rate. The ballpark doesn’t help the fact he can’t get his bat on he ball.
If you want to read the biggest morons comment on sports come to Trade Rumors
Lmao
– said in a comment on Trade Rumors.
Good one, Justin T.O.!
Plassmeyer might be a steal, if he continues on like he started out. Incredible strike out rate, low walk rate, and a great WHIP.
This season Mike Zunino, who comes with two years of team control, finished 15th among all catchers in fWAR, but Mallex Smith, who comes with four years of team control, ranked 23rd among all outfielders, and 10th among all center fielders, in fWAR.
Seattle going to be installing artificial turf so Smith can keep up that batting line?
Can you please tell me how it’s the artificial turf helping him hit? I could see it maybe being the lighting of the stadium, the catwalks or almost anything else. But I can not see how artificial turf helps him hit.
There are almost certainly other park factors in play which TB is surely taking advantage of as well, but turf plays fast and TB has been making a very clear effort to increase GB/decrease FB the last couple seasons for a reason (7% drop in FB% last two years during middle of launch angle age)
Zunino fits their strategy perfectly….
Don’t know if the Mariners have enough money to sign free agents at the same time they would probably have to include money to other teams to get someone to take Gordon and/or Seager off their hands, in exchange for whatever decent prospects they could get.
But I do think an infield of Cano at 1B, DJ Lemahieu at 2B, Segura at SS, and someone like Daniel Descalso at 3B would be fine, maybe with Kurt Suzuki and someone else sharing catching duties.
Even with that, they would still have a lot of holes. With Haniger in RF and Smith in CF, a LF with some pop would be nice… so would another decent SP. I hope they hang on to Paxton, Diaz, Haniger, and Segura and build around that group.
“Cano at 1B, DJ Lemahieu at 2B, Segura at SS, and someone like Daniel Descalso at 3B” -that’s the worst INF in the div by a long, long way, and their OF is not a strong point either.
What would you suggest? Enlighten us.
Add a first baseman and a left fielder. And a Tyson Ross type for the rotation. They don’t have the money to do anymore than that. The only other alternative is to rebuild. Which is probably their best course of action but it’s a hard pill to swallow. If not, try to unload gordon’s deal you should’ve never took on. Gordon had a noodle arm that’s why he played 2nd. To think he could ever be a CF was just foolish. I don’t even know if they can unload Gordon at this point. It’ll involve eating cash or taking bad cash back.
Now the Mariners need to add to the rotation and fill the void behind the dish. I look at a guy like Tyson Ross as a nice fit in Seattle; he won’t cost a ton of money or require a lot of years, but carries some upside. Then maybe taking a chance on a guy like Marco Estrada could be something worth looking into. Regardless, the M’s never really addressed their rotation needs last year, and if they want a chance to compete this year, it’s an absolute must.
Absolutely on Ross and on addressing the rotation. He could be a nice addition, and they could use a couple of guys like him, especially if they go and trade Paxton (which I hope they don’t do!) Paxton, Ross, Leake, and Gonzales could be a good first four if they all stayed healthy. I’m guessing they’re stuck with Felix as their fifth starter…
Dipotos O/U; 25
This is barely news.
Dipoto is such a joke: “I’m going to re-imagine this team….that I created a year ago” – honestly can’t believe the Mariners would let him say that, that’s admitting he doesn’t have a long term plan in place.
He should have never gotten rid of Smith in the first place. For Mallex, Yarbrough (who was better than a lot of M’s pitchers this year) and an intriguing prospect, Dipoto got the right to pay $6M to Smyly to never throw a pitch for him. Genius GMing 101 by the worst in the game.
I don’t think he’s a great GM, but how exactly could he have predicted Smyly’s injury?
Absolutely spot on. Hiring that idiot was the last straw for me caring about the worst organization in all of sports. Could not have been a worse choice. The not yet in existence Seattle hockey team is going to make the playoffs before the Browniners do….
Residue from another one of AJ Preller’s genius trades in San Diego – Mallex Smith, Max Fried and 2 other minor leaguers to Atlanta for a 1-year rental of Justin Upton. How he’s still employed is amazing.