Although he has earned a reputation as a trade-happy general manager, the Mariners’ Jerry Dipoto hasn’t swung many significant deals yet this offseason. He could add to his list of trades soon, however, as Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic (subscription link) reports that multiple clubs are showing interest in Mariners third baseman Kyle Seager.
Seager has an undesirable clause in his contract that could scuttle a deal, as his $15MM club option for 2022 will turn into a player option if he’s traded. However, Seager may be open to amending that, per Rosenthal, who suggests that he’d rather play for a winner than a rebuilding team (Seattle) and could give up his option rights if an acquiring team’s willing to hand him more money upfront. Alternatively, the Mariners could just include cash in the deal and/or attach a good prospect in an effort to offset the player option, Rosenthal notes.
As of now, Seager’s due a guaranteed $37MM over the next two seasons. That would’ve looked like a wholly unappealing sum 12 months ago, at which point the typically productive Seager was coming off the worst year of his career. But Seager put himself back on the map with a 2.9-fWAR 2019 in which he batted .239/.321/.468 (110 wRC+) and swatted 23 home runs in 443 plate appearances. Now, with teams such as the Nationals, Braves, Twins and Rangers among those seeking third basemen, they could turn to Seager if they don’t sign Josh Donaldson or find a way to pry Kris Bryant from the Cubs.
I hope the Braves do not settle for Seager. If that is the case, I would much rather save the money, and give the ABs to a mixture of Riley and Camargo..Heck, I’d rather even sign Scooter Gennett, and give him a shot at bouncing back..
Trade for Seager, sign Ozuna, ask Liberty Media for more money and sign Bummerman and call it a day
Call up Dylan Carlson
Dylan Carlson is a Cardinal
Grizzly Adams did have a beard
no
Ozuna is wildly variable as to what they’d be getting, and the other two don’t get you to the playoffs.
I’d rather they try to get both Seager and Haniger.
Thinking same thing but from a Dodgers fan pov
at some point, internal options are just better. that point has to be on the list be you all would see Seager.
Seager is underrated in general although the money is a little high for what he is. I’m sure the Ms will eat some salary if need be and don’t sleep on his defensive value.
I still think it’s a long shot he is traded but if you can get him at $10M a year, he’s worth it
Seager stinks and worth nothing
That would explain this post, wouldn’t it?
I’d rather trade for Eduardo Escobar. He put up comparable numbers to Donaldson last year. No, he doesn’t have the sustained success, but he will be paid 1/3 of Donaldsons AAV.
Escobar isn’t moving unless a major league piece is traded back to Arizona.
We tried that with Gennett. Didn’t work last year….best year? Maybe.
**next year
The Braves are written all over this right?
As a fan, I hope not.
Dudes named Scooter are never the solution.
Back on the map with .239 BA? Dudes making 18.5 mil a year more like back in the outhouse
Batting average isn’t everything. 2.9 fWAR plus moving to a park with a really short left field porch would be an increase in the power categories. Seager isn’t nearly as bad as you’re making him out to be with just starting his average.
he’s lefthanded bud
You are crazy, Seager has been a premium 3B for years and his fall-off coincided with his foot injuries last year. He is alsoa notoriously slow starter in April until the weather warms up. Playing in Hot-lanta in the spring, just hours from his offseason home in NC would probably get him going earlier.
In a fully healthy season, he should put up 4-6 WAR/season. The Mariners just want to penny pinch, but he is well worth 1/2 of Rendon’s yesrly and at half the duration. To put it in perspective, if Seager were to stay healthy (something he did until last year) and he averages 3 WAR/season until he’s 40, he’s in the HOF, or just misses it with a 60 WAR career..
A guy who does things the right way, is a borderline HOF candidate, and who is making 1/2 of what slightly better players are signing up for currently, deserves a lot more respect from the baseball community.
If Seager duplicates his 2019 value next year for his current salary, you could have Bumgarner in the rotation as well for what it cost to get Rendon approximately and a scrap heep pitcher. But if you think putting all your eggs in one basket is better, go talk to the Padres, Angels, Brewers, about how their seasons changed when their superstar got injured.
Final points, since Rendon entered the league in 2013 he has been worth 27.3 bWAR entering his age 30 season with a $245M/7 year commitment; Seager on the other hand has been worth 26.7 WAR and is entering his age 32 season with a $52M/3 year deal. So with Seager missing 1/3 of this season and playing 1/2 of last season without being able to really plant his power foot in hitting, he’s been worth essentially the same as prime Rendon and you get him for nearly 1/5 of the cost and slightly more than 2/5 of the contract length?! How is that bad??
Kyle seager would be 34 when his player option ends, Rendon will still need to be paid $70M over his 35 and 36 year old seasons. Plus Rendon wants to be home with his kids on the couch, his words not mine, I wonder how quickly his training will fall off when not motivated to be a gym rat?? I’d rather keep Seager than trade him and sign the Rendon or Donaldson deals, both will be garbage in a couple years.
Fangraphs shows how Seager’s decline have been greatly exaggerated.
blogs.fangraphs.com/reports-of-kyle-seagers-declin…
Well said, there are additional, motivational intangibles here, as well. Seager would be going from a perennial losing team to a young, playoff-bound team, while Rendon is going to a pitching-anemic team without a #1 starter from a pitching/defense-first team who just won the World Series. Seager is the clear value here, and he’ll likely be playing for his final contract.
Amen Austin Riley is a better 3rd Baseman than Seager. He is 18m cheaper. He is in need of MLB experience. Loaded with All Star Potential & contract control.
Seager is a Liability & a waste of money. Why would the Braves even want him?? His contract is bad. He is underperforming. At the age of 32 he isnt getting much better anytime soon.
He is a downgrade from what the Braves already have. If they want a guy to play 3B other than Riley, they need to get Castellanos or Donaldson. Otherwise they’re wasting money.
I do agree a guy like Gennett would also be better than Seager. So many people are.
Riley’s high SO rate (even in minor) is concerning, but if Braves want to give him more time in major then there’s no reason for them to trade for any established 3rd baseman anyway.
They traded their starting catcher, that was pretty significant
Yes, it was. The Narvaez move slipped my mind. Wording changed. Thanks!
Check out the M’s other dude-Tom Murphy. Country strong. Dk about his framing or throw out rate tho
Yankees need a left handed bat
Where would he go at the moment? Also, luxury tax considerations
Seager showed really well last year in both production and fitness level. He produced at a healthy clip when he came back and lost a lot of weight. Any team that misses out on Donaldson will surely inquire about him.
Showed well? .239 BA making 18.5 mil, get real
Batting average to prove your point? Is it 1999?
he still stinks
His OPS was 10% better than league average and he was a top 10 defensive 3B last year. He’s slightly above average. If you think he stinks you’re a casual baseball fan.
For the record, in 1999 people weren’t exactly painting on cave walls and cooking mastodons over open fires. We actually had brains then too.
Omaha- your overall .239 BA stat includes the first half stats pre and post hand injury. Throwinched10 is making the point that Seager turned the corner after his hand healed in the 2nd half. He not only proved he can beat the shift by hitting to all fields he also showed more flexibility in his range defending 3B. The dude has a GG.
Get real? Look at these 2nd half (Fangraphs) stats thru 68games- .524 Slg% .863 OPS .339 OBP- all career best 2nd half stats. He had .360 wOBA and 129 wRC+ – both career highs to go with 17 HRs and 45 RBI’s. He had a .260 BA in the 2nd half and he increased his BB%
Seager has had a good career with 1 bad season- 2018. After that season he worked hard on hitting the ball the other way and becoming leaner and more flexible. He went on the 60 day DL with a hand injury then finished the year strong. I hope the Ms keep Seager because our lineup desperately needs his bat AND we don’t have a comparable replacement. I’m not surprised at your comment tho- Seager’s been under the radar and under appreciated his whole career.
This is a stretch. Rosenthal is bring joysticked around here clearly.
Not a stretch by any means. Contract the Mariners would probably like to get out from under. Declining, but still valuable. Plenty of teams that have checked in on Rendon and Donaldson, with only the Angels and a team to be decided coming out on top. There will be a market for 3B. Whether or not the $ make sense will determine if a deal is made.
His AAV is higher than what Moustakas got.
He hit .239 last year and that was considered an “up” year.
Not sure how many GM’s are dumb enough to go there, but I guess it only takes one.
There is that aspect. There is also the aspect that his defense is way better than Moustakas.
Made me think. If you can get Seager at the same AAV as Moose nit at half the number of years, would you do it?
Better defense, younger, but been much worse with the bat lately.
It’s not half the years. Seager has a third year option he would surely use.
The piece above indicates that could be negotiated out.
Stop using batting average to prove your point. He was 10% better than league average at getting on base and slugging.
He still stinks
Okay, casual baseball fan.
Myaccount- exactly, Seager had .339 OBP and a .524 Slg% – an OPS of .863 in the last 68 games of 2019. While (nearly) everyone stopped watching the Ms games Seager made a huge improvement on his poor 2018 season
Please rangers! Pounce on this, let them eat the money for seager by giving up some prospects.! Then we can fix the rest of the team without worrying about 3rd base.
The Mariners are happy with their SP and OF prospects. Who do the Rangers have for infield prospects?
Excluding first base.
Can never have too many pitching prospects. Obviously Gilbert, Dunn, Sheffield, Kirby, Campbell, Carlson, Then, Newsome, etc. are promising but I’d be more than happy if Dipoto stacks up the pitching prospects. If nothing else, they can be dealt in the future when the M’s are competing. I’d happily take someone like Palumbo for Seager and cash.
DO NOT trade the “Ranger-Killer” to the Rangers!! Seattle will regret it just like the Beltre acquisition!
Here would be my preposition, kyle seager for jonathen hernandez and tyler phillips. The M’s would eat all of seager’s money for two pitchers in the rangers top 20.
He wants to go to a contender
The Mariners aren’t going to give up prospects to move Seager. It makes absolutely no sense. Rebuilding teams don’t sacrifice prospects to move a player whom they have no replacement for. He could still factor in to the next contending team.
Sending some money with him for a solid prospect is possible, but Seattle has leverage here. They aren’t desperate to move him. They don’t have to do anything.
Seager has always torn the cover off the ball in Arlington. Something about that place makes Seager hulk out.
He’s going to miss that ballpark for sure- w that hot, thin air and wind that drove his fly balls over that RF porch. I’m curious to see his splits for that park
Maybe the Indians, because they need a natural 3B now more than ever and then move Ramirez to his natural position 2B
I kind of agree, although Antonetti came out and said they’d rather keep Jose at third and acquire a second baseman. I also imagine they wouldn’t want to block Nolan Jones.
Still, if the Mariners ate some of the money and/or attached a decent prospect, I’d personally be okay with it.
Evan Longoria is due 53M over the next three years, which is roughly the equivalent of Seager’s contract if he opts to keep his player option and/or asks for more money up front.
Not only does Longoria have better history as a player over the past few years, but has also been better than Seager in the recent couple of years as well. Shouldn’t Longoria be the better trade option assuming Seager doesn’t change his contract?
Absolutely no one is taking on Longorias contract. Giants would have to pay at least half to even get someone to think about it.
Absolutely no one wanted Melancon contract either. Anyone who said Melancon was having a comeback year never saw how he was used.No leverage situation, garbage time and still had a hard time keeping his era under 4.
Braves were desperate for a relief pitcher. No one needs a 3B bad enough to get Longoria.
Longoria- age 34-35-36 seasons. Seager age 32-34 seasons.
I wouldn’t want to deal for either one of them but if you were baking regression into your model I’d expect it’d be higher for Longoria. I can’t imagine why anyone would buy those 3 years for anything close to 53 million bucks.
Agreed. The Giants could probably move him if they ate about half the remaining money, but you’re talking a straight salary dump there. The return would likely be a fringe type of prospect or two. He’s just showing too much regression already. He’d really only make sense as a trade target if he had 1 year left on his deal, and some team needed a stopgap at 3B; and wanted to gamble he might find a little something on a better team, outside of SF.
This year Kyle Seager posted 2.9 fWAR and 2.4 bWAR in 106 games while Evan Longoria posted 2.0 fWAR and 2.4 bWAR in 129 games.
They’re comparable, but the issue is neither are really impact players now.
Wow you are arguing over who is the tallest midget! They are both bad contracts with declining skills
Yes to your question Baseball 1600. The people who crapped on your comment do not have a clue.
Atlanta is looking to win a WS in 2020. Evan Longoria puts up similar road numbers he had in 2019 they receive an upgrade. Longoria’s OPS beat Arenado, Seager, Donaldson and Escobar. Now, the age is an issue. However, Atlanta is WIN-NOW, and trading for Seager kicks in the $15-mil option which pushes the guarantee to $52-mil over 3 years.
With Will Smith on the team, you do try and deal Melancon and ask for a few million over 2021 and 2022. It’s a deal Atlanta has to explore if Donaldson doesn’t re-sign. Don’t pay attention to the know-nothings here. Any bad contract can be traded with enough creativity and disaster.
Before you label anyone as “not having a clue”, you may want to consider that you have to consider more than just the OPS. Is Seager really the guy you want to slot 4th in the order? Also, why are you moving Melancon? Doesn’t that weaken a bullpen they just spent time fortifying?
No to Seager, and since Longoria was the subject you have made my point.
Why move Melancon? Why NOT move Melancon? The Braves have a plethora of young arms who can be every bit as medicore as Melancon at a fraction of the price. You made it too easy for me. I thank you.
Overrated
Everyone says he’s bad and you’re calling him overrated? Try underrated and you’d be closer. What he really is, is overpaid
That contract is horrible. Tell you what, pay for the final year that vests when he gets traded. Include Haniger. And the Braves will send Riley to replace seager and Duvall to replace Haniger, plus one of our young arms not named Wright or Anderson. Say Touki or Wilson. Saves the Mariners about 46 mil over the next 2 years and gives y’all some good players as well.
No way. Duvall is not someone Ms need and Haniger could bring back a better deal without paying anything
Yea well I’m assuming they want someone to eat that contract. It’s either send prospects with him or pay for most of that. He’s owed like 46 the next two years plus a 3rd year player option for like 15 that vests automatically if he gets traded.
I agree with you on almost everything I see you about the Mariners, but I disagree on this. Sending Seager, Haniger and ~$15 million to Atlanta for Riley, Tousaint, Shewmake, Duval and Inciarte would be a great move for Seattle. Tousaint would compete with Dunn for the 5th spot in the rotation in Spring, and Riley becomes the everyday third baseman. Duval and Inciarte would basically just be the Bruce and Encarnacion of 2019 and be moved for basically nothing but are necessary for getting back the prospects. I’m not sure if the Braves would be willing to give up Shewmake but he would add the extra depth missing from Seattle’s infield in the prospect ranks.
Seattle would also send a prospect like Carlson or Fraley depending on whether Atlanta would want someone closer or further with more upside to the Major Leagues.
Actually, this trade proposal just sucks.
Disagree. Last thing Ms need are two outfielders to clog the roster.
I assumed that Duval and Inciarte had negative trade value based on how badly Atlanta fans want to get rid of them. But in reality they’re actually fairly positive meaning Atlanta would never make that trade. But if Jerry somehow pulled that deal off like he did Cano/Diaz, I don’t think there would be any chance of Inciarte or Duval being on the opening day roster as they could easily find a better prospect than what they got for Bruce. But again, no way Atlanta does this after seeing Inciarte and Duval have positive value.
Inciarte absolutely doesn’t have negative trade value. He’s a top flight defender, not a liability with that bat, and as far as I remember, a good baserunner. He wouldn’t fetch a bunch but there’s no negative value there. Absolutely not.
Wow, it’s not like I just said that or anything.
uggggh. I would hate to sell that low on Carlson. Kid has huge upside and his makeup is off the charts.
No shot. Total swing and miss.
Hung up the phone @ “…Hanig-……!!!”
it would be funny to see seager on the dodgers with his brother. i dont like the batting avg but i dont mind everything else
I don’t think it would be funny, I think it would be cool. But it wouldn’t make the Dodgers any better though.
Last bros on same team: Uptons in Atlanta?
Probably it was the Upton brothers, but they last played together in San Diego (2015).
Marlins. Seager/Haniger package. I feel like this is so obvious.
Braves*
He’s very underrated. Quality player, standup person and a great defender.
If he was a career Yankee, could you imagine people’s opinion if him? He’d have about 100 more career hrs playing in the Al East and be a likely hof candidate
Before this off-season is over, every single player and the top 10 players from each teams farm system are going to have other teams interested in them.
Make it go away!
dipdip!
He doesn’t fit what ATL needs. They need a right handed cleanup hitter. Seager is a good player, just isn’t right for the Braves.
Career reverse splits slot him in pretty nicely
Please take him! I will gladly drive he and his family to SeaTac Airport!
You said 23 Hr’s with a 239 avg put him back on the map. Hahaha, you got jokes
Considering he hit around the Mendoza line for about a month after his injury I’d say that’s pretty good.
It’s time to unite the Seager brothers in Dodger blue. Seattle sends money with Kyle, gets Rios and nonprospect in return. Kyle shares time with Turner, Muncy, takes Freese-like role.
You could do alot worse than ‘Corey’s Brother’ at the hot corner for the next 2 seasons, especially the odd-teams out on Donaldson or trading for KB! Seags pretty much had in-season spring training last year starting the year injured, so he was real slow out of the gates…BUT 2nd Half(68 games/250 AB’s) he hit .260 with 17 HR’s, 13 2B’s, 1 3B, 45 RBI’s, .863 OPS…Not too shabby and you know he’s a great clubhouse guy/intagibles etc, not a bad fall back plan at all imo, even more so knowing the M’s will likely eat some of that money!
You’d get the same offensive output from Franco as you would Seager at this point. But for a fraction of the price. And his glove hasnt been terrible. If you’re using WAR to compare them idk that you’ll get the warm and fuzzies tho. But that’s past performance. 32 vs 27 yrs old.
So, one of the two players you named had an OPS+ of 80 while the other had one of 112. Yet you say they’d have the same offensive output. The numbers seem to disagree with your assessment.
Good argument. Seagers wRC+ was 83, 110 in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Franco was 105 and 70. Seagers ceiling was 134 in 2016 and Francos 129 in 2015. Pulling out 1 yr stats is fun and all. Take into account the Mariners actually wanted to play Seager and Krapler messed with Franco up and down in the system all year. My point is that starting you’ll get similar output from a 32, 33, and 34 y.o. Seager as you would 27, 28, 29 y.o. Franco. 20-25 HRs, 70-80 RBIs, .240-.250 BA and mid 400s slugging. One will cost 37M over 3 yrs w buyout the other probably could be had for 2/7-9M.
Three-way:
Seattle gets Duvall, Camargo, and two of Touki,Patrick Weigel and Tucker Davidson from Atlanta
Dodgers get Seager and money from Seattle (enough that LA only pays Seager $11M per year) and the pitcher not taken above from Atlanta
Atlanta gets Turner from LA and Haniger from Seattle
Not nearly enough to going to Seattle or LA.
He makes the little joke.
Dodgers downgrade to help Atlanta? And Atlanta gives up their trash. Makes sense if you’re a Braves fan.
Seater hit .239 but hit much higher than that when he came back from the injured list.
He is one of the best defensive 3rd basemen in all of MLB.
Seager is one of those guys I can’t see playing for another club. Sort of like Verlan-evermind
Maybe Kyle and Corey can play on the same team! That would be pretty cool!! The Seager Brothers owning the left side of an infield.. well, maybe not “owning” but it would still be pretty cool to watch!
It would be cool however I don’t see the dodgers ever trading for Kyle, even with the check book wide open
Atlanta might not be a bad plan b. Ballpark is a launching pad.
I feel like the Braves could get the same results from Camargo as they could from Seager. Makes no sense to trade for him.
I think it’s Donaldson or Bryant for the Braves. If not, Camargo and Riley will battle for 3rd.
Seager’s not too bad, but he’s no Josh Donaldson. Leave it be.
Better trade him for a third baseman because the Mariners have none. Who’s going to be a veteran leader on the team? And for crying out loud, if they trade him, please don’t give him up for a bucket of balls like they did Narvaez
You do know that they had Tom Murphy who was nearly the best overall catcher in baseball last season right? I loved Omar but he’s was unneeded at this point.
Moustakas was an overpay. Seattle doesn’t have a compelling reason to trade Seager for payroll relief, and he’s not blocking anybody who’s within two years of being major league ready. I think even Dipoto will resist trading him for what little is likely to be offered.
I know I’ve got a lot to learn about metrics in baseball, but those other numbers, .239/.321./.468 kinda’ stink, don’t they?
To those teams inquiring… the Giants have Evan Longoria, who plays solid defense and had a very similar year offensively. We’ll take any offers.
Call Farhan Zaidi at (415) 972-2000. Tell them Porkins sent you.
Somehow he goes to the Reds as their new SS. (Please read previous statement with a grain of salt, there IS sarcasm implied.)
Nah he’s the Reds’ new 3B. Eugenio Suarez: SS. If Joey Gallo can stand in CF, then Suarez just has to knock 45 to out-hit his mistakes. Child’s play.
I don’t care if the Pirates are contenders or not… it’s been well over a decade since they’ve had a major league quality 3B