Former Mariners DH Edwin Encarnacion’s Bumpy NY Experience

The Seattle Mariners traded Edwin Encarnacion to the New York Yankees for minor league pitcher Juan Then on June 15. I would say he hasn’t set New York on fire since he arrived.

Edwin Encarnacion has been hitting clean up most of the time in the Yankees lineup. Since June 15 the Yankees are 24-9 and are 9.5 games ahead of the Tampa Bay Rays in first place of the AL East Division. In that same period of time, the Mariners are13-20.

The Mariners are 24 games behind the Houston Astros in the AL West. Had the Mariners had kept Encarnacion I expect there would not be much difference in the standings.

Encarnacion, on Thursday night, hit his ninth home run while driving in 23 runs. He now has 30 home runs on the season while having 72 RBIs. Those stats are about equal in Seattle and New York.

The big difference is Edwin is only hitting .197 with the Yankees while batting .241 in Seattle. Also, he isn’t walking as often with the Yankees either. He has only walked 11 times in New York while having 41 walks in Seattle. I am sure the reason the Yankees have a tougher lineup surrounding him.

Another interesting comparison between the New York Yankees and the Seattle Mariners both teams have the same equal amount of players with 13 on the injured list. The Yankees are showing the depth they have in their system over Seattle.

Unless the Yankees fall apart over the next two months they should win their division going to the playoffs while the Mariners will end up dead last as expected in the AL West. Whether we agree with the trade of Encarnacion to New York or not, the Mariners are hoping the savings of his contract and the future of Juan Then along with other prospects will do well in their retooling of the team. We will see, won’t we?