Hot Stove Update: Mariners Acquire Danny Valencia

The Mariners have acquired Danny Valencia from the Oakland A's for pitching prospect Paul Blackburn.  Valencia has been much traveled over the past few seasons playing for multiple teams.  Valencia, who bats RH, can hit, no doubt about that!  He is known as a lefty killer hitting .318 against them in 2016, but is no exactly helpless against RHP's with a .275 BA.  He will team up with Nelson Cruz to form the RH half of a 4 man R-L gauntlet in the middle of the Mariners batting order with Kyle Seager and Robinson Cano forming the LH half.

Valencia has become a defensive liability at 3B and the Mariners anticipate he will play mostly 1B, RF and DH for them.  He may split time at 1B with lefty Dan Vogelbach.  The other issue with Valencia is what type of a guy he is or isn't in the clubhouse.  He was involved in a physical altercation with Billy Butler during the season which put Butler on the DL after which the A's shipped Butler out to the Yankees.  We don't know whose fault the altercation was or if Valencia's clubhouse personality had anything to do with his bouncing from team-to-team over the past few seasons.  The Mariners are likely not his last stop as he is FA eligible after the 2017 season.

Not much word on what the A's are getting in Blackburn.  He seems to be your average sinker-slider pitching prospect whose FB tops out at 93 MPH.  The A's seem set to go with Ryon Healy at 3B in 2017.