Trader Jerry Dipoto fired up the hot stove with a multi-player trade with the Rays, another team that likes to stay active on the offseason. The trade sends C Mike Zunino, OF Guillermo Heredia and minor league LHP Michael Plassmeyer from the Mariners for OF Mallex Smith and minor league OF Jake Fraley. Zunino and Smith are the two most recognizable names on the list.
Mike Zunino is a former first round draft pick, #3 overall in 2012 out Florida. He is known as a superior defensive catcher with "light tower power", but has horrific K and BB rates. His 2018 was disappointing with just a 1.5 fWAR after a 3.7 in 2017. The Rays were in need of a catcher since Wilson Ramos is headed into free agency. They had been rumored to be a possible destination for JT Realmuto, but Realmuto would have cost a much bigger haul in return than Zunino. Zunino will almost certainly be the Rays starting C with Realmuto going elsewhere or staying put in Miami this winter.
Guillermo Heredia is a light-hitting OF who is subpar on defense and doesn't steal bases. He may be passable as a 4'th OF. Michael Plassmeyer was drafted in the 4'th round in 2018 after putting up a 103/17 K/BB in 91 IP in college. He continued that goodness with a 44/4 ratio in 24 IP for the Everett Aquasox in the NWL. I don't know what kind of stuff he has but you have to pay attention to those secondary stats.
This is the second time Trader Jerry acquired Mallex Smith. The last time was from the Braves and Jerry flipped him within hours to the Rays in a trade I criticized at the time. Smith emerged in 2018 as a rare player who combines elite SB speed with strong OBP skills putting up an fWAR of 3.4. Despite those very nice numbers, he might not have been a starting OF with the Rays who also have Tommy Pham, Kevin Kiermeier and Austin Meadows on their roster although Pham is coming off a disappointing season while Meadows has never quite established himself as an MLB OF.
Jake Fraley was a compensation round pick in 2016 out of LSU. He put up a huge slash line of .347/.415/547 in 2018 for the Rays A+ level team after a terrible 2017 campaign. The slash line came with a BB% of 10.0 and a K% of 16.9 both quite good.
I like this trade from the Mariners standpoint. Although Zunino has value, it's limited by his horrific secondary numbers. While catching is generally a thin position, he can be replaced either by another trade or FA signing like Wilson Ramos! Mallex Smith looks like a potential elite leadoff hitter. Safeco Field is still a tough park for hitters and DiPoto appears to be trying to construct a roster that plays to the Park. With Smith, the Mariners now have the #3, #10(Dee Gordon) and #21(Jean Segura) MLB SB leaders from 2018. I have advocated for the Giants to acquire SB guys to play in AT&T Park if they are going to eschew power, so I am a fan of this approach.
Plassmeyer for Fraley is a fairly even deal but I think you have to favor the hitter in that swap.
Conclusion: Trader Jerry wins this deal.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Good for Dipoto -- SF doesn't seem to win Tampa Bay trades although the much maligned Matt Moore got the Giants within 3 outs of forcing a game 5 of the 2016 NLDS, and Israel Cruz might amount to something if he can tame his wild hare.
ReplyDeleteDipoto doesn't seem to be in a tear down as previously suggested, not should they be having won 89 games last year.
Similarly, Zaidi isn't going to tear down the Giants because he does have a lot to work with if he can fill the obvious needs with judicious signings and trades.
A reminder, with ALL the reverses they endured this year, the Giants began September @ .500 after losing 98 games in 2017 (34 games below .500!) -- AND they reset CBT hell which allows them to do whatever they want this year.
I doubt Zaidi will have a "I am not an idiot" Sabean moment -- I'm excited! I cannot imagine any other hire who would have such an upside as Zaidi -- In Zaidi We Trust!
i miss the old days when Vets like Al Rosen made blockbuster trades like the one that brought Kevin Mitchell to the Giants ... now we have baseball men who never donned as uniform, took a cut at a slider or slid into home plate but who know how to operate a slide rule and put on a power point presentation running the show
DeleteSIGH !!!
No wonder Kim Ng has in her Wiki bio that she played softball as a NY kid! Otherwise how could she have street cred, no matter how much baseball savvy she has shown at the highest levels, if she lacks grass stains on her jersey, tobacco stains on her lower jaw, and perhaps a broken hamate in her hand?
ReplyDeleteLuckily for her, she’s probably inept with slide rules, since they began to obsolesce forty-four years ago, when electronic calculators were developed, and would have been out of date even by the time that Rosen shook the rosin-sticky right hand of the Mets GM to swap for Mitchell.
Mets?
DeleteJuly 5, 1987: Traded by the San Francisco Giants with Chris Brown, Mark Davis and Mark Grant to the San Diego Padres for Dave Dravecky, Craig Lefferts and Kevin Mitchell.
Right. I forgot that he was in SD for 3 months between the Mets and us. But I suspect that the Pad guy was as ash-barreled, horsehided, and berosined as the Met guy and our Al. No Power Point nerds, or non-males, in those days on either coast of the USA.
DeleteThat's ok, I forgot he was ever a Met!
Delete