Seattle Mariners Bring Back Kendrys Morales

That’s right, the Seattle Mariners have acquired the one player who’s agent publicly said he didn’t want play for the Mariners in a trade with the Minnesota Twins.

Today the Mariners and Twins agreed on a trade to send Stephen Pryor to the Twins in exchange for Morales.

Pryor, who was trying to complete his comeback after suffering a shoulder injury had so-so numbers while pitching for the Tacoma Rainers, the Mariners AAA affiliate.

It is no secret that the Mariners offense has been lack luster, with the failed experiment so far of Corey Hart, an acquisition of a designated hitter was more of a necessity than a priority.

If you look at Morales numbers now, you would see a hitter who is batting .234 with 1 homerun and 18 RBIs. But what you have to take into account is that Morales had no spring training since he wasn’t on a team.

It is one thing to be down in Miami working out, it is another to be thrown into live pitching without any sort of warm up. Last year for the M’s, Morales put together one of the best offensive seasons the Mariners had seen in a while.

He hit .277 with 23 home runs and 80 RBIs. He also tallied a .449 slugging percentage and a .785 OPS. Morales gives the Mariners a legit clean up man with power capabilities.

Kyle Seager will also benefit from this, he will no longer have to be “that guy.” He can move back down to the fifth spot in the line up and be able to just focus on hitting, instead of having to worry about driving in 100+ runs for the M’s.

This is only Kyle’s third full season in the big leagues, having him be the pinnacle of your line-up (excluding Robinson Cano of course) is hard for a guy at his age and “lack of experience” in the majors.

Is this the end for the Mariners trades? I sure hope not, while Morales is an upgrade from the lack of hitters at the DH spot, it isnt enough. We still have needs at a couple positions.

Brad Miller continues to struggle at short,  whether it is his offense or defense he isn’t getting it done. He already has 14 errors in the season and is hitting .205 with a .599 OPS.

First base is a position that we might want to look at an upgrade as well, while i personally like Logan Morrison, he is hitting .211 with only 5 home runs. Granted he is coming off of injury, but his approaches at the plate are worsening and his defense is lack luster compared to Smoak.

I love the trade for Morales, he gives us a good veteran guy who can hit at the big club. Lets hope the Mariners make another trade and make this team a real contender.