Seattle Mariners: The 5 Most Disappointing Acquisitions of 2018

1B RYON HEALY

The trade for Ryon Healy didn’t make a lot of sense to begin with. He better fit the mold of the type of player Jack Zduriencik’s regime would fall for, rather than Jerry Dipoto’s. For Oakland, Healy was an undisciplined hitter with a ton of raw power. What attracted Dipoto the most was Healy’s five years worth of club control, paired with Oakland’s relatively low asking price.

Seattle had high hopes for Healy to develop an upgraded plate approach. In ways, he instead regressed. Of the 140 hitters that qualified, Healy had the 16th worst offensive season in the MLB, per FanGraphs offensive metrics. Simply put, he was abysmal.

Healy tended to get streaky at times, whether his bat would seemingly come alive out of nowhere, or it would disappear into thin air for weeks at a time. The latter happened far more often than it should have, though that isn’t to say Healy didn’t show flashes every now and then.

August was Healy’s best month of the year by far. Coincidentally, Robinson Canó returned from suspension in the middle of month, making most of his starts in Healy’s place at first base. Healy still saw 24 games of action that month, slashing .289/.322/.446 to the tune of a 114 wRC+, perhaps indicating that the 26-year-old plays best when splitting time. However, that didn’t carry over into September and Healy finished the season on a poor note.

It’s hard to see what Healy’s future in Seattle holds. The Mariners may move on to Canó full-time at first base in 2019, if that’s what offers them the most roster flexibility moving forward. In that case, it may be in the Mariners’ best interest to capitalize on his Minor League options and four years of remaining club control by either trading him or allowing him to work on things in Tacoma.

As it stands, as long as Healy remains on Seattle’s roster, he appears to be no more than a bridge to Evan White.