Seattle Mariners Should Pursue This Late Spring Trade Target

The Seattle Mariners are undefeated. The career of Ichiro is over. The team won’t play another meaningful game for a week. But now that we have some time to relax and reflect, it is also time to look for upgrades who may be available.

The Mariners aren’t a great team, as fun as that mini-sweep in Japan was, and other teams are going to start making the moves they need to make to get down to 25 man rosters. This is a great opportunity to find potential value since for most teams, it’s either trade a player or get nothing for him.

Do you know who loves himself a good buyers market? General Manager Jerry Dipoto. But he needs to tread lightly. Remember he wants to give his young team an opportunity to play, so acquiring low ceiling players who may block higher ceiling guys doesn’t make a lot of sense.

There are a few places that have no real upside present and could stand a small upgrade to get through the season. The bullpen is one of those places. Perhaps even third base, although it’s unlikely they can find anybody who makes more sense than Ryon Healy. But perhaps the biggest area lacking depth or upside is at catcher.

The plan for the Mariners at the position is likely to give Omar Narvaez a bulk of the ABs from the spot for an entire season and hope he improves his defense. We saw some good and some bad in Japan but there looked to be enough raw skill to work with. The problem? You can’t run Narvaez out there for 130 games. It’s not going to do him any good.

You likely are going to need between 50-60 games from your backup and that’s if there isn’t an injury. After all, when do catchers ever have an opportunity to get hurt? If that happened, the Mariners would be forced to start David Freitas for huge chunks of the season. No offense to David, but he is a no ceiling, fringe MLB backup catcher. He provides no value to Narvaez as a teacher and isn’t a suitable replacement for him on any consistent level.

However, there is one veteran catcher who does make sense for Seattle. His name is Sandy Leon. Currently, the Boston Red Sox have a 3-way battle for the catcher jobs and Leon has reportedly lost that battle. The Red Sox have begun calling teams to gauge their interest in the 30-year-old backstop.

The Mariners should jump at the opportunity. Now I have eyes, so I know how bad Leon is at the plate, at least in 2018. But in 2017 the switch-hitting Leon did post a .247/.321/.411 slash and 91 wRC+ against LHP. So the option to give Narvaez a day off against a tough lefty is there.

In addition to the handedness argument, Leon is a strong defensive catcher. He ranked seventh in Baseball Prospectus pitch framing metrics. He is a good blocker, works well with veteran pitching staffs, and had a 19.1 Defensive Score via Fangraphs (zero is average).

So the Mariners get a right-handed hitting catcher to compliment Narvaez. They get a defensive minded vet to work, mentor, or teach their youngster the finer points of catching. And they get him for incredibly cheap.

The Red Sox cannot send Leon to the minors. It is either trade him or waive him. The cost to acquire Leon will be minimal and could be as small as some cash changing hands. Leon instantly upgrades the backup catcher situation and even offers some small upside that David Freitas isn’t capable of.

In many ways, Leon is the opposite of Narvaez. But when it comes to backup catchers, that may be a good thing. The Mariners can still help their ball club, even if they aren’t trying to win the World Series. And they can do it without sacrificing young talent as well.