Mariners: Who won the Robinson Cano/Jarred Kelenic Trade?

A few years ago, the Mariners and Mets swung a mega-trade. The Mariners were offloading Robinson Cano, who had one of the biggest contracts in baseball as well as the biggest in team history. They added in the best closer from that season in Edwin Diaz. In return, they received Jay Bruce, Anthony Swarzak, Gerson Bautista, Justin Dunn, and Jarred Kelenic.

It was a massive deal and caught nearly everyone off guard. The Mariners got rid of a ton of money and a lights-out closer who likely had turned in what would be the best season of his career. Bruce and Swarzak offset a bit of that, as the Mariners took them on in the deal.

Justin Dunn was the third-ranked prospect in the Mets system to start 2018, and up to the 89th prospect in baseball at the time of the trade. Kelenic was ranked even higher, debuting as the 62nd prospect in all of baseball after being selected 6th in that summer’s draft by the Mets.

With Robinson Cano receiving a combination of suspensions and being DFA’d, Dunn no longer with the Mariners, and Kelenic having struggled in his time in the majors and was sent back down to AAA, I wanted to take a look at the whole picture and try and answer a question that I have seen all over the internet in the last week or two.

Who won the trade between the Seattle Mariners and the New York Mets? There are some factors that need to be looked at to figure out who came out ahead in the deal. There’s a lot of money, service time, WAR, and moving parts. Before we get to each side’s case for who won the deal, let’s first look at where everyone is now.