Grading Seattle Mariners Trade Proposal from the Fans

As we wait for the World Series to begin, we took to social media to ask Seattle Mariners fans what trade they would like to see happen this off-season.

Reaching out to social media for Mariners’ trade ideas is a risk. You never really know what to expect in these types of things but let’s have some fun and see what we get. The object of this exercise to look at other people’s ideas and offer tweaks and ideas off of their original concept.

In a way, this is a bit of a Mariners fan think tank. Keep in mind that just because we say we don’t like a particular trade, doesn’t mean it is ridiculous or totally unreasonable. But we are here to offer our honest opinion of the ideas, hopes, and dreams that the masses can come up with.

We have gotten quite a few ideas already, so this article will likely need to cover a few parts, but let’s just dive right in with our first Mariners trade proposal:

So right off the top, Mariners Twitter is coming through with a banger. Erik Swanson, Justin Dunn, Juan Then, and Dom Thompson-Williams are additions to the Mariners organization in the past calendar year and in this proposal, they are all headed out of town to Milwaukee for Zach Davies and Alex Claudio.

Davies just wrapped up his third season in the Brewers rotation and thus far, he’s been okay. In 111 starts, he has posted a 3.91 ERA, a 4.22 FIP, a 6.36 K/9, and a 46% groundball rate. That has all equaled a 7.8 fWAR in his career.

Claudio may sound familiar to fans, having spent 3 full-seasons with the Texas Rangers. A soft-tossing, submarining lefty, Claudio was a bit of a disappointment for the Brewers in 2019, posting a 4.92 FIP in 83 games.

Durable and a groundball machine, Claudio is a solid option in the 6th and 7th innings, or in a key spot against a lefty, but he isn’t a “relief ace”.

Overall, I find this deal interesting. I’m not opposed to trading away a highly ranked prospect and some depth for MLB help, despite being in the midst of a rebuild. However, there are cheaper ways to acquire a #4 starter and middle-innings help.

Davies has three years of club control remaining and Claudio has 2 years left. Mlbtraderumors.com projects Davies to earn $5 million in arbitration and for Claudio to take home $2.2 million this winter.

As I said, I’m not opposed to trading prospects for controllable pieces. But Dunn’s relatively high floor as a high-leverage reliever makes him more valuable than Davies (at least for Seattle) and the depth portion is probably more than I’m willing to give for Claudio.

Overall, I’d give this trade a 50 (20-80 scale) on valuation but a 65 on creativity. So, not too shabby.