Mariners, Rangers Reconfigure Outfield and Bullpen Piles
I have a rather uncanny knack for having my regularly-scheduled, irregularly-posted contributions here usurped by major deals or trades that have come to fruition without our prior awareness. Thus, it came to pass that Monday, the Mariners traded with Texas to acquire outfielder Leonys Martin and right-hander Anthony Bass while sending way once-closer Tom Wilhelmsen, stolen base prodigy James Jones, and a PTBNL who I can only assume is a man between the ages of eighteen and forty who has two thumbs and likes baseball a lot. You, friend, may be the player to be named later!
Over the week in which DiPoto has been in charge, we’ve seen moves made in an attempt to remake the team in his own image and philosophies. Whether or not this is a side effect of going mad with power after being released from the perpetual tutelage of one Mike Scoscia, the general idea has been an emphasis on playing more to the uniqueness of Safeco by emphasizing flyball pitching, plus defense, and on-base percentage to compensate where power may be less viable (rather unlike the previous attempts to get bury-the-needle levels of power that would overcome whatever circumstances). Martin helps to tick off the second category and, despite OPS generally below .700 for his career, he’s nonetheless been a positive WAR contributor by virtue of his excellent defensive skills.
One of the remarks made in the presser and by sports pundits afterward is that, while Martin had a down year last season, expecting him to bounce back isn’t outside reason. The offensive skillset the Cuban employs is primarily based on speed and contact and more rarely getting one into the gaps. Since his BABIP last year was below .300, uncharacteristic of his profile, one could be convinced that some positive regression is in order. Cruz and Bogar, who have both been around Martin, have vouched for his abilities, and familiarity with him in his better years makes rebound probable. Since very little of his game was about power, he likely won’t suffer much in Safeco. As for his position in the batting order, I would guess that with the discussion of OBP, we’re likely still looking tentatively at Marte leading off and Martin will serve to lengthen the lineup down at around 8 or 9.
The trade makes sense to me in the same way that the Austin Jackson trade made sense. From a player development and acquisition standpoint, the Mariners have long neglected their outfield depth, necessitating deals for such trivia question answers as Eric Thames and Trayvon Robinson and mercenary lummoxes-for-hire like Mike Morse. Even as outfielders started to be prioritized again, few have been viable everyday centerfield candidates and Braden Bishop, who would appear to be the best bet internally, is at least three years off. Martin helps us bridge the gap and provides a plus defender so that we aren’t shifting the burden directly on Boog Powell and an out-of-options Ramon Flores, whom I would tentatively pencil in as the back-up outfielder at this point.
Anthony Bass’ role might be defined less concretely as a member of the pile of limited material definition. One presumes that someone in the organization is familiar with him insofar as we’re again trading for a former Padres. Bass was a starter in the minors up through 2013 and in the majors has been a reliever with a three-pitch arsenal of fastball, slider, and change with velocity sitting in the low 90s. He’s a pitch-to-contact groundballer who probably walks a higher percentage than you might be comfortable with given the lower strikeouts. In the grander scheme of things, Benoit likely fills the higher-leverage roles that Wilhelmsen had and Bass will sop up innings in lower-leverage situations.
Within the larger organizational scheme, Bass helps the bullpen now while being a potential piece going forward. As noted in the 40-man preview, what with the perpetual trading away of relief resources, the Mariners are a bit thin on bullpen contributors in the near term. Farquhar and Leone are gone. Carson Smith is still here and a bit erratic. Guaipe hasn’t looked like an asset. Zych could be. And then there are guys like Jose Ramirez and Cody Martin… The situation isn’t great. Bass as a tertiary piece is useful, but he could end up being secondary or primary depending on how things shake out. In the interim, I would imagine that DiPoto is still looking to shore up the bullpen before February.
In trading Wilhelmsen, the Mariners lose one of their better arms from the bullpen and their best dancer (as far as I know). Tall Tom from Tucson had a rebound year for the Mariners in which he eventually helped solidify the back end of the bullpen while Fernando Rodney’s arrows went errant and struck hapless passers-by. He had the look of the Tom Wilhelmsen that had been so fun to watch in 2012, but as we’ve repeatedly noticed and hopefully learned, bullpen commodities can be volatile and a frequent reminder of the vagaries of chance and fate we are often oblivious to. For the Rangers, Wilhelmsen is the centerpiece, but they aren’t exactly buying low as the second-half of 2015 did a lot to repair his reputation. The roles Wilhelmsen played for the Mariners bullpen can be delegated to Benoit and others, but having that level of versatility in a single pitcher is a boon to any bullpen.
Of James Jones, there may be less to say other than Chris Gwynn is still somewhere, smiling about his reaching the majors as a position player and not a pitcher. The reality is that Jones’ elite speed and arm strength have not translated to good defensive play. In the minors, he played almost exclusively right field. For whatever stock you put into defensive metrics, the ones Jones has supplied to Fangraphs have stink lines rising up from them. If Rangers fans are interested, I can note that after having perennial issues with strikeouts, Jones ran close to an even K/BB in the minors this year. Whether he has the requisite power to keep pitchers honest is another matter, but there is at least a reason to think that his offense may eventually not be abysmal, as you wait for the defensive improvements that may or may not come.
This is another one of those trades that made sense for both parties involved. The Mariners improved their outfield depth significantly while losing some bullpen depth, the Rangers did the opposite, but one could argue that with the acquisition of Benoit, and even considering the loss of Farquhar, the Mariners had ability to maneuver in the bullpen whereas plus gloves in centerfield were probably going to be harder to come by. About as much as I have for summary is that DiPoto has wasted little time in restructuring the team. While I haven’t been elated by any of the moves, they’ve seemed like potential net positives in each case. We absolutely needed a centerfielder for at least the next three years, probably more than we needed a reliable arm in the bullpen, so I think that the early opinion favors Mariners on this one. Getcher warmed-over, next-day’s-breakfast takes, right here.
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15 Responses to “Mariners, Rangers Reconfigure Outfield and Bullpen Piles”
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Unfortunately I’m over 40. Being a PTBNL would be awesome.
Much like dreams of high school testing persist long after graduation, this does not preclude you from waking up in the middle of the night thinking that you have been acquired by the Pirates. Not that I would know personally about any of that.
Jay, no one has written anything about the great job that Tom McNamara and his scouts did on the 2015 Free Agent Draft. The quality of the young pitchers was especially noteworthy. With a strong emphasis on the high school hurlers (5 out of the first 15picks) the WHIP numbers all of the high school picks were really good. I know that this is based on a small sample size, but these kids throw strikes.
Of all of the of the pitchers selected in the 40 rounds, the highest WHIP number was 2.07. Nice going scouting team!
Hey, I’m over 50. Maybe I could be the second coming of Jesse Orosco – I’m a lefty, after all!
Jay, I just wanted to say thank you again (and to Marc, too, if he reads this). I thoroughly have enjoyed reading the stuff that’s been posted since the off-season began. I know this is just a sideline to what you’re doing in the real world, and I appreciate it whenever you feel you’ve got time to contribute.
I think the M’s may have sold high on Wilhelmson; If so, they may have paid appropriately for Martin.
PS I too am well over 40, but I have enough names anyway.
If DMZ were still moderating, you’d be put in the box for going off-topic, but since I post rarely, am not so fastidious, and have long handled the minor league side of things, I’ll let this one slide.
If we went based off a year’s worth of data and just projected straight forward, Felix Hernandez would have Tony Butler behind him in the rotation and we would have never had to have drafted Mike Zunino since Daniel Santin would be handling the pitching staff.
Do the 2015 early returns look positive? Sure. I’m enthusiastic about the young pitchers as they all individually appear to have a good pitch or skill and Drew Jackson and Braden Bishop both look like outright steals at the moment. There’s no guarantee that they’ll continue to perform at this level going forward. Stuff happens. Give draft classes a few years before you start making serious retrospectives.
All work is the avoidance of other work! Thank you though. No idea right now if I won’t be buried come April and never get around to posting minor league roster previews.
My enthusiasm for Martin will depend on the other potential outfielders. For example if you count Guttierez, Smith, Trumbo and Cruz, then Martin could end up as a 5th outfielder (or even 6th if the Mariners end up acquiring Gardner). If Trumbo ends up at first base and Cruz is used more as a DH, then Martin will have more playing time.
It’s blessedly difficult to imagine a situation in which Trumbo is used in the outfield with this current front office and management team.
What I like is that Dipoto is at least trying to address the outfield and remake it in a different style. It has been a long time since this team had a good outfield — last year they tried to get better players, but in the end we got too much of Trumbo and Cruz and trying to retrain Brad Miller.
It would be refreshing to have decent outfield defense and some depth for a change.
Dipoto has pretty much consolidated his outfield plans. He sees Guti and Smith in left with not always one facing righties and the other lefties. Leonys Martin is the full time centerfielder. Cruz will split time between DH and right field. Dipoto hopes to come up with another outfielder for rightfield. I’m guessing Trumbo plays first, DH’s, or is gone…..no outfield for him.
Why not go after Aoki, it appears he can be had for approximately 12 to 14 million over two years, all reports are that he’s healthy, you would have speed and contact 1-2 with Marte, his defense is fine despite the rap on his routes and can cover corners very well, try and move Smith for somebody like what they gave up in Mauer. This would also buy some time for a youngster coming up
I am somehow still under 40, but have definitely had dreams where I play professional baseball but with only had the occasional MLB call up, I’m generally stuck in AAA…oh, and I’m Jay Buhner’s brother (in the dream.)
Between Martin and Powell that should officially end our involvement in the courtship of Brett Gardner.
Getting Martin’s glove and speed for the price of The Bartender ™ does indeed feel like we sold high.
Is Trumbo going to play first or are they still a move away?
Is Servais going to catch? All this talk of Ianetta has me kinda woozy. I like Zunino’s defense better and he has a way higher ceiling. I mean, at least we didnt PAY Zunino to hit .175. We’d actually have to pay Ianetta. Ask Chip Kelly about the Sam Bradford experiment to get a good understand on how painful it is to pay *full price* to ‘try something new’.
Also, theres a ton of closers available. I hope Dipoto tries to jump in a chair and sign one before the music stops playing.
Well, to give you a sense, I’m older than Alan Trammell by a couple of years.
Have to be honest – I’m ok and even kind of excited about a DH/1B job share between Cruz, Trumbo, and Montero, with Cruz getting a bit of time in RF (just a bit!). I’m looking forward to seeing who else DiPoto adds to the OF, particularly because a potentially healthy Guti gives us one of the best 4th OFs in the game.