Seattle Mariners: Re-grading the trade deadline

The Mariners made four deals at the deadline that initially got us pretty excited, but all of the moves (some more than others) have been disappointing in the end. Today, we re-evaluate those deals and give our final grades.

After the deadline, we graded the Mariners’ four deadline deals all relatively positive. While the team failed to make a rather splashy move, they seemingly acquired four players that filled certain holes or beefed up pre-existing strengths of the team.

These deals were made with the intention of righting the ship and getting the Mariners back on course for their first playoff berth in 17 seasons. Now, with the Mariners mathematically eliminated from playoff contention, we realize how much of a failure this year’s trade deadline turned out to be.

Without further ado, let’s get into it.

RHP SAM TUIVAILALA

This is the one outlier of the deadline, as it falls on the circumstances rather than the player. Tuivailala only appeared in five games before tearing his achilles tendon covering first base in Texas.

In those five games, Tui impressed with great poise in high-leverage situations while flashing a fantastic slider that got him out of his Mariner debut unscathed against the Astros. The future appears to be bright for Tui, which makes his injury even more unfortunate.

Thankfully, Tui is club-controlled for the next four seasons. That’s great news for his growing sub-fanbase within the Mariners community, which has quickly fallen in love with the 25-year-old reliever.

The injury is disappointing and, consequently, the deal negatively impacted the 2018 season. Still, there is a lot to be excited about with Tuivailala moving forward so it remains a solid deal for the Mariners in the end.

Initial grade: A-
Re-evaluated grade: B

LHP ZACH DUKE

The Mariners initially walked away from this deal thinking they were getting one of the more viable left-handed relievers on the market. Duke entered the Mariners’ clubhouse with a great track record of erasing left-handed hitters and had yet to allow a single home run.

So, of course, he allowed a two-run dinger to the left-handed hitting Josh Reddick in his Mariner debut. Ironically, that’s been the only home run he’s allowed all season. Yet, Duke’s time with the Mariners has been nothing short of a disaster.

At face value, you’ll notice that Duke has only allowed one run over his last 18 appearances. However, when you dive a little deeper, you’ll find that in the six games he’s been brought in to face lefties, he hasn’t been able to get the job done. That was the one job he was given, and he failed to do it on a consistent basis.

With Marc Rzepczynski and now Duke, Jerry Dipoto has failed to land a successful left-handed specialist for his bullpen. Even James Pazos, who started the year off hot, has fallen apart as the season’s progressed.

Because the Mariners didn’t give up a whole lot of value for Duke, I won’t give the deal an F, though I’m very tempted to. Still, very disappointing.

Initial grade: B
Re-evaluated grade: D-

RHP ADAM WARREN

When the news came in that the Mariners had acquired Warren, we were absolutely ecstatic. It’s embarrassing to admit, but we thought the Mariners had robbed the Yankees blind, acquiring a versatile pitcher in  Warren for a reasonably low price.

Well, he hasn’t entirely been a disaster like Zach Duke, necessarily, but he hasn’t been very good either. Over his 20 appearances since joining the team, Warren has posted an abysmal xFIP of 5.66 while averaging 3.79 walks per nine innings.

You may compare Duke and Warren and make the argument that Warren has been worse. Warren’s numbers have been worse, but Duke’s inability to do what he was brought in to do – get lefties out – makes him the bigger failure.

But Warren has been mediocre at best. He may be offered a deal to stay with the Mariners in the offseason, but our initial idea of what he could be for this team moving forward has greatly been diminished.

Initial grade: A
Re-evaluated grade: D