Seattle Mariners Should Target These 4 Players in Trade

Billy Hamilton, Center Field, Cincinnati Reds

The Seattle Mariners currently have a massive hole in centerfield. Well… not literally. After all, Guillermo Heredia is a more than capable bat against LHP and plays a mean center defensively to boot. But against RHP, the position could become a wasteland. The options in free agency all carry some risk, and Lorenzo Cain is 32 and will cost a draft pick and a large chunk of your budget.

The Mariners aren’t likely to find and every day CF on the trade block either. It does not currently sound like the big names of Kevin Keirmaier and Kevin Pillar are available. The young crop seems to be a bit too expensive, namely Michael Taylor, Albert Almora, and Marcell Ozuna.

If the team wants to spend big on the pitching side of things, they might consider adding an outfielder to compliment their others, instead of dolling out big money on 1 guy. Enter Billy Hamilton.

Lets get this out of the way now: Billy Hamilton is a dreadful hitter. Like, really bad. He has a career 71 wRC+.  Remember, 100 wRC+ is considered average. Hamilton is 30% below average, aka bad. He hits a little better against RHP, which makes him a decent platoon partner with Heredia. What Hamilton lacks in hitting ability, he makes up for in other areas of the field. You see, Billy Hamilton is the fastest player in all of baseball.

Hamilton uses this speed to create havoc on the base paths. He has stolen at least 56 bases in each of the last 4 seasons. He immediately creates problems for opposing pitchers, and is one of the smartest and most aggressive base runners in baseball.

Hamilton also plays elite defense in center, grading out as better than even Jarrod Dyson from a year ago. Hamilton is an ideal player to have on your bench or at the bottom of your lineup. If he could just become a slightly below average hitter, his defense and speed could carry him to being a 4+ win player.  At 27 years old, he still has a chance to get there.

Proposal: Andrew Moore and PTBNL for Billy Hamilton

Next: The Mike Leake Allegory

The Seattle Mariners have a lot of work to do if they want to end their 16 year playoff drought. Making a handful of creative trades and aggressive free agent signing could go a long way to making it happen.