Analyzing Every Seattle Mariners Jerry Dipoto Trade: 2015-16 Edition

Analyzing every Jerry Dipoto trade during 2015-2016 as Seattle Mariners GM

From the moment that Jerry Dipoto took over as general manager of the Seattle Mariners, trades have been plentiful. Dipoto hasn’t hesitated to make moves to both improve the Mariners roster and the team’s prospect cupboard, which was empty when he took over.

When you look solely at trades, Jerry Dipoto’s tenure can be really split into two tenures.

1) When Jerry Dipoto was trying to build a roster to compete for the postseason, he made a handful of fairly questionable trades. The organization parted ways with a handful of young talents, that have since emerged as legitimate MLB players. And for the most part, the veterans that Jerry Dipoto acquired via trade considerably underperformed.

2) However, since Dipoto has moved the team into a rebuild, he’s flipped the script some. Through trades, draft picks, and international signings, he’s been able to reconstruct a weak Seattle Mariners farm system and fill the system with talent.

Now, the Seattle Mariners have a top-ranked farm system and arguably one of the brightest young talents in the entire minor league system, Julio Rodriguez.

Starting with Jerry Dipoto’s first year in 2015, here is a dive into his trades throughout his tenure as the Mariners General Manager.

Seattle Mariners November 2015

To Seattle: Boog Powell, Nate Karns, C.J. Riefenhauser

To Tampa Bay: Logan Morrison, Brad Miller, Danny Farquhar

Riefenhauser never pitched for the Mariners and Karns threw one unspectacular season. Powell was great in Tacoma, but ended up getting dealt to Oakland. Morrison and Miller each had 30 home run seasons and Farquhar pitched another few years before a medical issue forced him into retirement.

Miller and Morrison didn’t fit into Jerry Dipoto’s plan for the future of the team, but the Seattle Mariners really didn’t get much in return for two everyday players.

To Seattle: Joaquin Benoit

To San Diego: Nelson Ward, Enyel De Los Santos

Benoit was poor in his 26 games with the Seattle Mariners before being flipped again to Toronto. Ward ended up back in the organization before moving to independent ball, and De Los Santos has thrown 16 games since 2018 with mixed results.

De Los Santos is still 25 so there is an opportunity for him to provide value, while Benoit’s stint in Seattle was forgettable during his solid career.

To Seattle: Anthony Bass, Leonys Martin

To Texas: Tom Wilhelmsen, James Jones, PTBNL (Patrick Kivlehan)

This is one of the wilder trades in Jerry Dipoto’s tenure. Bass opted to go play overseas, before returning to the team in 2019 and Martin was the team’s everyday centerfielder for the better part of two years.

Jones ended up converting to the mound, and the Mariners wound up getting both Wilhelmsen and Kivlehan back eventually. Considering the Seattle Mariners ended up getting most of what they gave up back, this has to be considered a total win for the club. At the moment, fans were a bit shocked to lose the fan-favorite: “The Bartender.”

To Seattle: Luis Sardinas

To Milwaukee: Ramon Flores

Flores never played for the Mariners, and Sardinas hit .181 in 32 games in Seattle. This deal is about as low-impact as a trade could be. Let’s move on to December.