Seattle Mariners, Dipoto Trade Pagan, Get Healy

Late Wednesday evening, Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto acquired corner infielder Ryon Healy from the Oakland A’s in exchange for reliever Emilio Pagan and Alexander Campos.

The deal came as quite a shock to the baseball world, and the opinions are flying fast and furious. Ryon Healy, who will enter 2018 in his age 26 season, hit .271/.303/.451 for the A’s, with 25 home runs and 78 RBI. This on the heals of his 2016 debut, which saw him slash .305/.337/.524 in 78 games.

Jerry Dipoto has already said that the team will use Healy as the everyday first baseman. Considering the strong statement of support, the Mariners should be considered out of the market for bigger name free agents like Yonder Alonso, Carlos Santana, and Logan Morrison.

The deal also cast a shadow on the prospects of Mariners farm hand Dan Vogelbach. Vogelbach should now be considered “on the block”. He profiles similarly to Healy, and the team has no reason to keep him around.

The Mariners lose multi-inning reliever Emilio Pagan in the deal, which is a bit of a head-scratching move. The team has talked about only asking their starters to get 12-15 outs in 2018, so it seems like a reliever capable of getting 6-9 outs is of vital importance.

Perhaps the Mariners believe the crop including Andrew Moore and Marco Gonzales can replace Pagan. Or perhaps Seattle plan on pursuing a Juan Nicasio or Tyler Chatwood type in free agency.

As a result of Healy’s club control and pre-arbitration salary, the Mariners could have a little extra money. The options available in free agency figured to cost at least $6-$10 million in 2018. If Seattle can parlay these savings onto free agents like Yu Darvish or Lorenzo Cain, the deal makes sense.

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The trade could also allow for the Mariners to be more aggressive in the trade market. In conclusion, it is difficult to judge any one deal in a vacuum. Instead, it is better to wait until the whole picture can be seen. On the surface, this deal looks to be a fair value deal. Whether or not the Mariners got better, only time can tell.