“All-Dipoto Acquisition Team” Mariners edition: Starting Pitching

General Manager Jerry Dipoto has made a ton of moves since taking over the Mariners. So many, in fact, that you could build a whole team out of them. So, that is exactly what we did.

If you guys have not been listening to the Sodo Mojo Podcast (available on iTunes and Google Podcast) you may have missed the announcement, but over the past week, we have been pouring over Jerry Dipoto’s moves with the Mariners in an attempt to build the best team we could.

The rules are pretty simple: anybody who Jerry Dipoto has traded for, signed as a free agent, drafted, or claimed on waivers is eligible for this list. However, there are some exceptions to this rule. The player acquired must have been a member of the organization during the season so, no, Carlos Santana does not count.

In addition, we made a special exception for closer extraordinaire Edwin Diaz. Why the special treatment? Many Mariners’ fans may have forgotten this, but Diaz came through the organization as a starting pitcher. It was Dipoto who moved him to the bullpen, thus creating the player we know today.

While technically not a transaction, it has set up so many big moves from Seattle, including the Diaz and Robinson Cano trade for Jarred Kelenic, Justin Dunn, and others. Not giving this credit to Dipoto for recognizing Diaz’s potential out of the pen would be like forgetting that he once traded Chris Taylor for Zach Lee, so Diaz is the lone exception to our transaction rule.

Also, since this is the All-Dipoto team, players he inherited from the previous regime are not eligible. This means no Cano, Nelson Cruz, Kyle Seager, or Felix Hernandez. However, if Dipoto inherited a player and then re-signed him, he is eligible for this list. Re-signings are technically transactions.

Finally, and it should go without saying, but this particular transaction team is only for players acquired by Dipoto, not those traded away. Believe me, that list is coming later and maybe more fun than this one. But with all that in mind, let’s unveil the starting rotation of the All-Dipoto Transaction Team!

Mike Leake

Acquired via trade, St. Louis Cardinals for Rayder Ascanio on August 30, 2017

Boy, did Jerry Dipoto really get one over on the Cardinals or what? Well, yes and no. Leake was an expensive piece for the Cardinals with plenty of young arms to take his place. But Dipoto got the Cardinals to cover a large sum of Leake’s contract and even got some international free agent money for good measure.

He also got 58 starts and 354.2 quality innings out of Mike Leake and 4.7 bWAR in just under 2 full-seasons. Leake was an absolute rock for the 2018 Mariners, making 31 starts and covering 185.2 innings of 4.13 FIP baseball.

Leake wasn’t especially dominant, but a solid, innings eating veteran who understands how to get batters out is always good to have. And when you consider what he gave up to give Leake, Jerry Dipoto deserves a tremendous amount of credit for this move.

Leake slides into the #2 spot on our rotation and gives a quality start machine to pair with Gonzales which, after you see our bullpen, is going to win us a lot of games in our imaginary scenario.

Mike Leake will always be an overlooked Dipoto move, but from a straight value standpoint, it will always be one of his best. For those reasons, Leake comes in as our #2 starting pitcher.

Wade LeBlanc

Acquired via trade from Toronto Blue Jays for cash on June 22, 2016, then signed as a free agent on March 25, 2018.

Good old Wade LeBlanc is one of the players Jerry Dipoto has acquired twice. First from the Toronto Blue Jays in a small-time trade in 2016. LeBlanc wasn’t too bad for the Mariners in 2016, posting a 4.50 ERA in 50 innings before he was traded to the Pirates in September of that same season.

But Dipoto was always interested in LeBlanc and after the Yankees released him late in the spring of 2018, Dipoto would snap up the veteran free agent just 3 days later. LeBlanc was a revelation in 2018, posting a 2.5 bWAR in 162 innings. His 3.72 ERA and 4.28 FIP were also solid and LeBlanc looked like a solid, #4 starter.

LeBlanc also served as a mentor to Marco Gonzales and the two developed a friendship that developed a cult following amongst Mariners’ fans. LeBlanc couldn’t continue the good vibes in 2019 and struggled following an injury early in the season, cutting his time in Seattle short.

LeBlanc slides into the #3 spot in the rotation for now but should be expected to be removed from any such team as Dipoto’s young hoard of pitching prospects inch their way closer to the big leagues. But for now, LeBlanc in the middle of our rotation is a nice placeholder as we wait for the likes of George Kirby, Isaiah Campbell, Justus Sheffield, and Brandon Williamson to become more established in the organization.

Hisashi Iwakuma

Acquired via free agency on December 17th, 2015 and on November 27, 2017

We pulled a fast one you. Yes, Iwakuma was on the Mariners before Jerry Dipoto took over late in the 2015 season. But Dipoto still re-signed Iwakuma twice, so he is most certainly eligible as a Dipoto transaction.

Iwakuma may be the most underrated starting pitcher in franchise history and should be a candidate to make the starting rotation of the All-Mariners team, not just the list we are currently compiling.

Unfortunately, Iwakuma’s best years came under the Jack Zduriencik regime but Iwakuma was still productive with Dipoto at the helm, making 39 starts and compiling a 2.7 bWAR as a member of Dipoto’s Mariners. Unfortunately, a shoulder injury cut short his final season in the big leagues and put a damper on an otherwise incredible career in Seattle.

But Iwakuma was one of the best pitchers in the AL for a 4-year stretch, including his final healthy season in which he threw 199 innings for the 2016 Mariners.

This is an interesting inclusion to our list. Dipoto didn’t discover Iwakuma, nor was he instrumental in getting Iwakuma to come to Seattle in the first place. But he did re-sign Iwakuma twice, and recognizing the value of a pre-established player is a skill good general managers need to possess.

Logan Gilbert

Acquired via 2018 Draft, 14th overall pick

Yeah, there were quite a few options to consider here. Obviously, guys like Justus Sheffield and Justin Dunn were discussed. However, thanks to his proximity to the big leagues and our belief that he is a big-league quality starter right now, we gave the edge to the upside of Logan Gilbert and put him on the list before he has pitched in an MLB game.

I don’t know if this pick qualifies as “controversial” but Gilbert is already a #3 or #4 starter right now with the potential to max out as a good #1 starter, if not an ace. There isn’t a pitcher acquired by Dipoto who has a higher upside and because we are trying to build an actual team, not just list the 26 best players acquired by Dipoto, we decided some upside in the rotation to counteract the relative safety in spots 1-4 is justified.

Gilbert can win AL Rookie of the Year and, depending on how he holds up as a rookie, could, in theory, be our best starting pitcher right now. He certainly has the best stuff.

We mentioned some of the other candidates for the rotation and many of them will likely be on this same list if we could fast-forward 3 years ahead. Dipoto has put in a ton of effort into building one of the more impressive stockpiles of young arms in the game and fans are hoping that pays off in the near future.

But that is our rotation. Let us know who we missed. Remember, we are building a whole team so this rotation was made to compliment the rest of the team we built. You’ll see what we mean if you stick around for the next part of our series, the bullpen.