The efficiency of the (possible) trade

Well, it took a bit to bring me out of my hiding spot. I just am so amazed by this trade I couldn’t let someone else comment on it. While it’s speculated that it won’t become official until sometime Wednesday at the very earliest and more likely at the end of the week, this is looking like such an amazing trade for the Seattle Mariners.

There is this link here … and over in Jayson Starks blog and really anywhere else you look. Everyone likes this deal for the Mariners. Geoff Baker of course talks about the awesome impact for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in San Diego.

But, I’m a little surprised at the “hype” of what the Mariners are giving up. Look, I am a huge JC Ramirez fan. Love him. I think he could be a good pitcher in a couple of years. I just don’t know if he’ll be great. Meanwhile, having the likes of Maikel Cleto, Mauricio Robles, Dan Cortes and Michael Pineda eases the loss of such a prospect. All having the same top of the rotation ability. Oh yeah, three of those four pitchers have been acquired by Jack-Z in the past year.

Phillippe Aumont has a history of injuries and his mechanics are ugly. Sure he has great pure stuff, but he isn’t a sure thing and having Shawn Kelley, Josh Fields, Mark Lowe and David Aardsma makes him rather redundant. No matter what his talent level is as a relief pitching prospect his value is only so high. Jon Shields made the twitter update “Phillippe Aumont probably has the best stuff of any M’s pitching prospect, but how high can you rate a reliever? For me, not terribly high.” I could not agree more.

Not the least, but the last rumored prospect Tyson Gillies is without a question the fastest man within the entire organization. On the 20-80 scouting scale I’ve read multiple articles where he tops out at 80 for speed. While being hearing impaired he has made the adjustments over the last year to be possible an above average defensive center fielder and has shown to have become a much better hitter. However, with all that said. We have a market on good young outfielders. In fact with this coming year we have a ‘Gillies Lite’ presumably starting in CF for Tacoma.

Ezequiel Carrera doesn’t have the ceiling that Gillies has, and simply lacks some of the tools. However, Gillies is further away and still has adjustments to make which could prevent him from ever becoming a successful player. Looking at Carrera, he profiles as a 4th outfielder with speed. He can play good defense in any of the three outfield positions and his understanding of the strike zone is amazingly advanced. Most articles I’ve read seemed to make Carrera expendable due to the progression of Gillies – funny as it would seem the shoe is on the other foot with Gillies seemingly on his way out.

These three prospects may all find themselves in the big leagues one day and then again none may even be succesful in AAA. The greatest thing to remember is this, A) We are not giving up any of our top 5 prospects (Ackley, Saunders, Triunfel, Moore and Poythress… in any order you want to argue). Yes, Ramriez and Aumont were most likely the top pitching talents within the system but again were redundant with the amount of other talent surrounding them. B) Jack Zduriencik has not only done an amazing job turning over the roster of this team, but, has also quietly restocked the farm system. That in making a move such as this, we are not set years in development and have the pieces that make moving these prospects which even on year ago would have been unthinkable, a completely comfortable situation.

Just think, over the last 13 Months Jack has added approximately 14 of the top 30 prospects within the system. Ackley, Poythress, Franklin, Robles, Cleto, Carrera, Carp, Fields, Baron, Pimentel, Cortes, Saito, Seager and James Jones. Just the ones off the top of my head, and who knows? There could be a few under the radar still from the draft. Such as Tyler Blandford who has problematic mechanics and has been injury prone but retains a tremendous fastball and could be yet another power pitching reliever from the pen. There is also the likes of yet another UNC player drafted this past year. Brian Moran, who, despite his lack of velocity has excellent command and deceptive off-speed stuff. Moran has been one of the best college relief pitchers the past two years at UNC.

This trade stands as a great deal and moves the Mariners closer to contending. Not just with the Angels, Rangers or Athletics, but the rest of the league.  Please don’t misunderstand me. There is plenty still to do and It’s only still only the beginning of the off-season. Go Mariners!