Mariners' Taylor Ward experiment is getting in the way of Lazaro Montes' development

OK, fine. We'll admit it. We were excited about the Taylor Ward trade when it happened. Yet that already feels like forever ago. A month's worth of bad at-bats has that kind of time-altering effect, and that much more so once said bad at-bats start coming at the expense of uber-talented prospects like Lazaro Montes.

The numbers are the numbers. Ward has played 20 games as a Mariner, and he's 8-for-71 with a single extra-base hit, plus eight walks and 21 strikeouts. His wRC+ is 12, the lowest among all American League hitters since the August 3 trade deadline.

There is no "Yeah, but..." here. Pitchers are clearly onto the just-don't-swing mentality that the 32-year-old Ward has adopted this year. His 34.4 Swing% is the lowest among all hitters, yet his rate of pitches in the strike zone has crept up to 52.0 percent since he joined the Mariners. He scares nobody, probably because he's hitting the ball at just 86.5 mph on average since joining Seattle.

If the Ward trade isn't a total bust, it's only because it's helped the Baltimore Orioles. Alex Hoppe has been terrific out of their bullpen, which is perhaps the cruelest of all the rakes the Mariners have stepped on this year. They approached the deadline needing offense and bullpen help. They gave bullpen help to another team in exchange for a hitter who has made their offense worse. What the hell.

Lazaro Montes needs to be playing every day for the Mariners, or at least close to it

As for Montes, the plan according to Ryan Divish and Adam Jude of The Seattle Times was for the 21-year-old to get "regular at-bats" in right field and at designated hitter. That's not quite a promise of everyday playing time, but it's close.

It was a good plan in theory even before Montes instantly made good on the hype in his debut. Two hits and a homer? That'll play. And the homer was to slightly left-of-center on a slider at the knees. You could see right there why Montes' power drew so much praise as he was rising up through the minors. Of course, the 38 home runs at Double-A and Triple-A didn't hurt either.

Beyond the swing-and-miss concerns, the other big question is whether Montes can be of use against lefties. This question helps explain why Ward got the start against left-hander Patrick Sandoval on Wednesday. Whereas Montes had a .687 OPS in left-on-left matchups in the minors, Ward is a righty with a career .803 OPS against southpaws.

Yet given how wrong the Ward experiment has gone, having him face lefties instead of Montes frankly feels like a coin-flip thing. At least if Montes fails in left-on-left matchups, it's still valuable data. The only valuable data Ward can provide are results. To this end, see above.

At the very least, it's hard to see what Ward brings as a righty platoon bat that Victor Robles can't handle, and with him you get more speed and better defense. If Ward must be cut out of the picture so that Montes and Robles are the default platoon in right field, so be it.

Perhaps a veteran like Ward deserves a better ending to his season, but this is the one that he has effectively asked for.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow