Seattle Mariners Five Best Trades in the Jerry Dipoto Era

The Seattle Mariners have made a lot of trades since Jerry Dipoto became the General Manager in September of 2015. Some were good, others not so much. But today, we celebrate success, not the failures.

For most of the Mariners fans now, Jerry Dipoto is an interesting figure. Some love his aggressive style. Others use phrases like “he trades the team away”. But whether you like him or hate him, one thing that can never be said of Dipoto is that he is boring.

Today, we are going to look back at his five best trades, at least according to me. In this column, I’ll focus more on process than result, since it is too early to know what the results of certain trades will be for years. Again, this is an opinion piece, but I do think each of these trades will or have turned out favorably for the Mariners. Without further ado, let’s get started.

5. Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano for Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn, Gerson Bautista, Jay Bruce, and Anthony Swarzak

Yes, I am coming out strong with a controversial selection. I know many Mariners fans struggle with this trade. I also know that the reason they do is not based on logic or reason, but rather on emotion. And that is totally fine. Fans are allowed to respond emotionally, just as I am allowed to tell you this was an awesome trade from Jerry Dipoto.

Yes, the Mariners traded Edwin Diaz after an incredible 2018 season. But I’ll tell you two things he didn’t do. First, he didn’t “give away” Diaz. You see this phrasing from a lot of fans when a team makes a deal they don’t like or understand. But Diaz and Cano weren’t given away because the Mariners got assets back.

Second, the Mariners did not sacrifice any of their haul for Diaz by attaching Robinson Cano. This is a common misconception, largely because fans either can’t fathom that a team can get 100% trade value return when attaching massive contracts, or because they love Edwin Diaz and no package would have swayed them.

When you look at the prospects in the deal, the Mariners may have gotten more than anybody could have reasonably expected in Kelenic, Dunn, and Bautista. Kelenic has superstar traits. Dunn’s floor may be an elite closer with the upside of a #2 starter. Bautista has a 100 mph fastball and should have a nice career as a middle reliever.

So the Mariners added a potential superstar, a mid-rotation arm, and a young flamethrower to grow in their bullpen for Diaz, who had just 1 elite season under his belt. The Mariners gained 14 years of club control more than Diaz, who will start to earn real money after this season. Slam Dunk.

Now, you add the fact that Dipoto was able to get the Mets to eat half of Cano’s salary and still get potential trade chips Jay Bruce and Anthony Swarzak, both of whom are off to solid starts by the way, and what is the real reason people don’t like this trade? Simply put, they love Edwin Diaz. Logic be damned.

3. Andrew Moore and Tommy Romero for Denard Span and Alex Colome

From a pure baseball standpoint, this might be Dipoto’s best trade. First and foremost, they acquired a solid, starting outfielder and a legitimate upper-tier set up man. The cost? A fringe #5-#6 starter and a lottery ticket.

How did the Mariners do this to a smart organization like the Rays? Dipoto took on some money for Colome and Span, which played a big role. However, they jumped the entire market by making a deadline style deal in May. Dipoto took the leap sooner than any other contender and it made his team better.

Ultimately, the team fell short of ending their playoff drought, but the trade itself may have added as many as 4 wins to their total without sacrificing any long-term assets. Span helped carry the load left by Robinson Cano when he was suspended and was one of the 5 most consistent bats on the team.

Alex Colome spent the rest of 2019 setting up Edwin Diaz, posting 2.53 ERA, a 9.5 K/9, a 2.5 BB/9, and a 1.04 WHIP. On top of that, Dipoto was able to flip two years of Colome to the White Sox for starting catcher Omar Narvaez.

Narvaez happened to lead all catchers in OBP in 2018 and has 4-years of club control. This deal is the trade that keeps on giving. Trading Moore and Romero for 4-years of Narvaez would be a good enough deal, but the Mariners were able to get two major upgrades for 2018 as well.

Jerry Dipoto did an outstanding job in this trade and showed all the characteristics that make him so intriguing. It was aggressive, creative, showed long-term value, and was a smart baseball move. It is hard to do much better than that. But our next 2 trades just barely top it.

2. Tyler O’Neill for Marco Gonzales

Part of the reason I love this trade is how foolish it has made so many doubters look, myself included. And yes, I am breaking some rules because this grade is a bit more about results than process. But when the results are this good, a solid process must have been followed, even if it wasn’t apparent at the time.

I remember the reaction nearly perfectly. There was a lot of “what are they doing” or ” has Dipoto lost his mind”? I remember because that was basically my reaction. At the time, Tyler O’Neill was the consensus #2 prospect in the Mariners farm system and was on a lot of Top 100 list.

The Mariners were contending for a wild card at that time, so trading O’Neill for a starting pitcher made sense. What didn’t make much sense was trading him for another prospect coming off a Tommy John surgery.

But as we stand here in late April of 2019, the Mariners unequivocally won that trade. What Dipoto saw that we as a community missed, was the obvious effect of Marco’s injury on his performance. He spent that entire year basically refusing to throw his cutter and tried to live with a fastball/changeup combo.

In 2018, Marco re-introduced his cutter and began to throw his curveball more often. His command improved and Gonzales looked like a strong #3 starter for most of the season. Thus far in 2019, Gonzales is off to a strong start.

The Mariners got a future asset without sacrificing any service time. The traded upside for floor, which almost never works out. But Dipoto and company took the chance and it has paid off big time for the Mariners.

1. Taijuan Walker and Ketel Marte for Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger

We all saw this one coming. But just because it is obvious, doesn’t mean its not the right choice. In what was arguably Dipoto’s biggest risk before last winter, he traded a solid #4 starter with upside and a young, controllable athlete for Jean Segura and some dude coming off a big year in AAA named Mitch Haniger.

Now Arizona didn’t do terribly in this trade, but it doesn’t mean it wasn’t a great deal for Seattle. Let’s start with Mitch Haniger, who is entering his 2nd full season with Seattle, flashed for the Mariners right away in 2017, slashing .282/.352/.491 in 96 games.

Haniger came back healthy in 2018 and slashed .285/.366/.493 on the way to his first all-star appearance and finished 11th in the AL MVP vote. Haniger has become the face of the franchise and will be a bargain for another 4-years before he becomes a free agent.

The Mariners thought so highly of Haniger that they never seriously considered trading him this off-season, despite the teams desire to start a rebuild. Instead, they are building their entire rebuild around him.

Even the acquisition of Jean Segura was a success. In his two seasons with Seattle, Segura hit .302/.345/.421, made an all-star team, posted a combined 7.6 bWAR, and brought more value back to Seattle this winter when he was traded to Philly for J.P. Crawford and Carlos Santana.

Santana has since been flipped for Edwin Encarnacion and the 76th overall pick. Encarnacion will likely be flipped later this year, so the final tentacles of this deal are still unknown. But Dipoto acquired 2 players who would each make an All-Star team and have posted a combined 18.0 bWAR. Haniger still has 3+ seasons to add to this deal.

It was seen as a risky deal for Dipoto, but he pulled the trigger and the Mariners and their fans have reaped the rewards.

We still don’t know if Dipoto is a great general manager. But we seem to have enough of a sample size to know that he isn’t terrible and could be great. When you make as many deals as Dipoto, you are going to get criticized. You’ll win some and you’ll lose some deals.

But Dipoto isn’t going to suddenly stop making deals. That makes this topic one worth repeating. New deals will find their way onto our list, while old deals will fall off. But one thing is for certain: Jerry Dipoto has made his share of great deals as the GM of the Mariners.