Seattle Mariners: FanSided Offseason Simulation Day 1 Recap

TRADE WITH TAMPA BAY RAYS

We like Domingo Santana, a lot. But the guy is one of the worst defensive outfielders in baseball and is coming off a concerning elbow injury. With Daniel Vogelbach still on the roster (for now), there just isn’t a clear path to getting Santana in the lineup consistently, especially if the elbow lingers on into 2020, so we decided it would be best for him to head elsewhere.

With that, our very first trade of the simulation looked very similar to a lot of Jerry Dipoto‘s ‘firsts’ in his tenure with the Mariners; we made a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Joining Santana on his way to the Sunshine State is Raymond Kerr, a 25-year-old left-handed converted starter-to-reliever who’s bumped up his velocity to the high 90s in his newfound role.

Coming back to us in the trade are relievers Anthony Banda and José De León. Unfortunately, this deal is no longer realistic as the latter was traded to the Cincinnati Reds in the real world last night; however, the guidelines of our simulation dictated a roster cut-off point earlier in the week, so wherever each team’s roster was at that point is what our general managers had to work with.

Still, we get two controllable Major League relievers who have a ton of upside despite some injury woes and recent struggles at the highest level. It may be a bit of a let down considering where Santana’s value seemingly was prior to the injury, but it’s still a decent haul for what we’re looking for at this time.