Kendrys Morales: The Seattle Mariners vs Scott Boras

Dec 11, 2013; Orlando, FL, USA; MLB agent Scott Boras is interviewed during the MLB Winter Meetings at the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Resort. Mandatory Credit: David Manning-USA TODAY Sports

Well fans, we finally broke our 8 game skid after beating the Astros on Wednesday. Yes the pitching was bad, the defense made a ton of mistakes, and the run support was non existent…but the worst part about that streak, we are making Scott Boras look like a genius.

According to reports, last season Kendrys Morales turned down a $30 million dollar extension from the Mariners. In Jack Zdruiencik‘s eyes, he did everything he could to hang on to the 23 home run – 80 RBI hitting DH last season, even offering Kendrys a 1 year $14.1 million dollar qualifying offer to keep him from becoming a free agent. But he and his agent, Scott Boras, promptly declined.

Apparently there had been constant talks throughout the offseason between the Boras-Morales tandem and the Seattle Mariners front office, but no deal had been reached. Zduriencik had indicated that Boras was asking way too much for Morales and neither sides would budge.

Prior to the season it appeared that the Mariners had the upper hand on Boras and Morales since the switch hitting free agent still had not reached a deal with anyone. The price of losing a pick to the Mariners by any team that signed him may have squashed possible deals for Morales.

As the season moves on, the tables have turned..

The Mariners as a team hold a batting average of .222 with 18 home runs and 71 RBI’s. With the health of Corey Hart becoming more consistent, the Mariners do have the ability to shuffle in more people at DH and RF. Here is the stats of our guys who have played RF:

RK	Player	Team	Pos	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG▼	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Jones, J	SEA	RF	–	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000
2	Hart, C	SEA	OF	–	8	2	4	3	0	1	1	2	0	0	0	.500	.600	1.250	1.850
3	Franklin, N	SEA	2B	–	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667
4	Romero, S	SEA	LF	–	22	1	5	2	0	0	1	0	7	0	0	.227	.261	.318	.579
5	Morrison, L	SEA	1B	–	9	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.222	.222	.222	.444
6	Saunders, M	SEA	CF	–	33	4	6	1	1	0	2	3	7	1	2	.182	.243	.273	.516
7	Bloomquist, W	SEA	2B	–	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000

And this is how the DH has looked for us this year:

RK	Player	Team	Pos	G	AB	R	H	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	AVG▼	OBP	SLG	OPS
1	Franklin, N	SEA	2B	–	4	1	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	.250	.250	.750	1.000
2	Hart, C	SEA	OF	–	51	5	11	0	3	5	3	13	0	.216	.273	.392	.665
3	Cano, R	SEA	2B	–	5	1	1	0	1	3	0	0	0	.200	.200	.800	1.000
4	Morrison, L	SEA	1B	–	10	1	1	0	0	0	2	4	1	.100	.250	.100	.350

Analyze these numbers any way you want; if Hart is healthy, he should be in RF. It is a position he was very comfortable at in Milwaukee. In order to keep him healthy throughout the season he can split with Romero, Saunders or maybe even Cole Gillespie.

As for our designated hitter? Well without Hart, those numbers are worthless. Franklin, Cano, and Morrison should not be at DH. Morales was had already generated 25 hits and 10 RBI’s at this time in April of 2013. Think a team ranked 26th in batting could use those numbers? It doesn’t take a sabermetrics genius to understand how badly we could use his services.

This is the bottom line folks, we need Kendrys back.

Zduriencik has to understand that he needs to convince our owners that bringing Morales back to a multi-year deal is in the best interest of winning and keeping our stars happy. The price tag will be high because we know that Boras demands too much for his guys anyway. But whatever it is, pay it. Keep Cano happy and interested in winning rather than his guaranteed money.

Here is a look at a possible lineup featuring Morales:

Almonte, A. CF

Miller, B. SS

Cano, R. 2B

Morales, K. DH

Smoak, J. 1B

Hart, C. RF

Seager, K. 3B

Ackley, D. LF

Zunino, M. C

Please M’s, stop Boras from doing anymore damage.

Home/Mariners News