It’s either nothing baseball games or nothing trade rumors this time of year, soooo:
White Sox and Seattle have had talks around exchange of hitters . See story @670TheScore .
— Bruce Levine (@MLBBruceLevine) March 8, 2014
A pair of tortured half-teams look empathetically at one another and consider exchanging their damaged wares.
Generally, the Mariners roster is composed of things I don’t like and things they have spent a tremendous amount of money on, so this is not the most exciting trade partnership. Even before factoring the part where any trade return has to be calibrated for ‘what would someone give up for Dayan Viciedo?’
Dayan’s a bucket of ill-utilized offensive tools and is likely to pull in a similar bag of raw materials in turn, or someone with a lower ceiling. Under those restrictions, I would once again–recalling the offseason plan–gravitate toward fireballer Stephen Pryor. Pryor could easily tank over the moniker of ‘Tank’ both for his build and firepower (96 mph average when healthy), and the Sox have shown great efficiency in turning that player-type into something valuable.
But, then again…
…there are those stupid conditions to think about.
Pushing aside what the Mariners that isn’t old, hideously expensive, or undesirable, they Sox are still not bilking even the embattled and desperate Jack Z of a top-100 prospect like Nick Franklin or D.J. Peterson for Viciedo. But they should get some sort of prospect, since they otherwise lack any real chance of upgrading their current outfield situation down the road.
Twirling my finger around the Mariners’ 40-man with my eyes closed while whistling, fallen star prospect Carlos Triunfel, outfielder Julio Morban and first baseman Ji-Man Choi stand out somewhat. With Triunfel filling the unneeded slot of ‘middle infielder who can’t drag his bat to match his defense,’ and Choi having some power issues, I’ll opt for the oft-injured 22 year-old Morban.
He strikes out too much, his success is BABIP-inflated and his current season-high for games played is 86. But that just increases the odds he’s likely attainable, which is neat since he hit .295/.362/.468 as a 21 year-old last season in Double-A.
For Viciedo, the idea in trading him is that hope is lost, these two years of lateral development are telling, and he’s not going to getting around actualizing anymore potential. Anyone who can offer hope of being above-average, is thus an appealing alternative. Morban struggles to crack any top Mariners prospect lists, but he’s got tools that have yet to be wasted.
Just kidding, trade for Montero!!! #YOLOLOLO
PROSPECTS. // Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports