Seattle Sports Insider

Available prom dates

All the best ones are taken, but........

Posted by

10/3/15

OK, we just may need a pretty CF prom date for '16. All the hottest chicks (like that Trout babe) are taken. But there may be some good ones still out there, ones without a date for the Big Dance in '16

I threw out an International League list of Ben Gamel in Scranton, Dalton Pompey in Buffalo, Darin Mastroianni in Syracuse, Jackie Bradley (who has a +dWAR CF MLB glove), Julio Borbon in Norfolk (he was a +1.4 CF glove in Texas in '10), Trayce Thompson in Charlotte (But he's had a great initiation for the White Sox and may be off-limits), Abe Almonte (Really!) in Columbus, Daniel Fields in Toledo.

Then tossed in John Jay, of the Cardinals and the Cards' AAA CF'er Rafael Ortega, who is down in Memphis in the PCL. Not a lot of guys to get inthe PCL, BTW.

Thompson isn't likely getting swapped out, and Matt points out the same for Bradley.

That leaves:

Gamel: Didn't we try to get Gamel in the Ackley deal? Or maybe we just thought we might get him. Anyway, he's a lefty bat who was principally a CF'er this season (he generally played in LF prior). He had a .979 Fld% and a 2.67 RF/9. He also had a vR OPS of .834 and a vL of .820. He had a AA OPS of .648 in '14, so his AAA '15 was a breakout season. But he does wear his hat stupidly in his B-R photo. He's a bit of a dice throw. You may be getting him on the way up, but you may be getting a guy who just had his one really good season. He's not at the top of my list. His lousy AA stas and the stupid hat-style hurts him, in my book.

Pompey: There is a lot to like here (as Matt has pointed out): He's only 22, already has OPS'ed 85 in 150-ish MLB PA's, had 3 assists in 24 Toronto OF starts this year, his dWAR was 0.7 in just 33 games, steals bases and is a .308-.380 guy in AA/AAA. This is a guy to try to get. He's a switch hitter without much split difference who has a bit of tater pop. Baseball-America had him as the #30 prospect pre '15. Nothing he did this year would scar that. What does Toronto need? The interesting nexus here is that the Blue Jays also have Pillar and Revere on the big league roster. Pillar has had a tremendous defensive year and Revere (now playing LF) has been serviceable for years in CF. You would have to trade something pretty for Pompey, but you might be able to make it happen. Certainly it is worth sniffing at....and in case you forgot, he did this to Felix last year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XD_JRZ-6lU

And he's got leather: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PIAOwl2m6c

Borbon: He hasn't seen the majors in 2 seasons, hasn't much of a bat, and doesn't light any fires. He as a decent CF back in '10 for Texas. We have a couple of guys who are already equal or better bets, likely. Cross him off.

Fields: Got his 1st 3 AB's for Detroit this season. Had a double, too. But he's a weak bat, hitting only .225-.318-.358 in 800+ AAA PA's. He always been primarily a CF, but is a spaghetti type of guy right now. If you got him for nothing you could chuck him against the wall and watch him look like James Jones. Nah....we have one of those.

Ortega: Hey, he was 2-4 with a BB for Colorado in '12. Career .500-.667-.500!!! In 550+ career MiLB games in CF he fields at a .983 clip. That is pretty leathery. He had a 3.37 RF/9 this year, but just a 2.67 in '14. In 1217 AA/AAA PA's he's had 121 BB's and 159 K's. He's one of those strike zone guys that DiPoto has been talking about. He could be had. He's not Pompey, but he's tons better than James Jones. A higher quality piece of spaghetti.

Jay: The guy will be 31 next year, but he's already been a quality MLB CF'er: From '10-'14 he hit .300+ 3 times (and .297 once). His career OBP is .355 and he's usually been a + dWAR guy. He's due $6.8M next year (and a FA in '17), but the big thing is that he lost his job to Bourjos/Grichuk this season. Even Piscotty started a game in CF. Jay had his worst season at the plate, .215-.309-.263 (in fact he was horrible) but that may have been due to sporadic playing time. He lost the job in mid-May and didn't play at all in July. We could get this guy and his career .751 vR. He's got range at the 2:30 and 4:15 points in this '14 highlight clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHJeaTVox90

There's you report. Gimme Pompey-Jay-Ortega, in that order. But to get Pompey you have to bid big! He's likely a popular topic at the Winter Meetings. Would you give up Deej for him? Minus High Desert, Deej certainly isn't lighting the world on fire with his bat!!

Ball's in Dipoto's court.

Comments

How much is Deej worth really today???

I guess I'm asking the $10 billion question, but how valuable are any of these pieces that Jack has assembled?

Is Deej more or less valuable than Chris Taylor? More or less valuable than Tony Zych? Than Nuno? Than Kivlehan? Gohara? Zunino? Montgomery?

If Deej gets you Pompey, does Olmos and JC Ramirez get you Jay? Does Nuno, Montgomery, Taylor, Deej get you Buxton plus???

Will we miss ANY of these guys?

The easy, vague but correct answers are that each GM values players differently and has different needs to improve his team.

The Mariners appear to have a lot of pieces, but are they worth much? What can Dipoto get? None of us know, but I contend that the Mariners have a lot of valuable pieces but no true superstars that get anyone that will be an impact next year without bundling a few players together. However, since the Mariners have so many pieces, I truly believe the right GM could go just half Padres 2015 and attempt to win next year and also win for many years to come... and since Dipoto has no ties to any of these players / prospects, it should make multiple moves easier.

I really do enjoy articles like this Moe... thank you. It gives us all more information to dream of 2016, and how we believe Dipoto should act to get the Mariners into the play-offs.

My pleasure

Assets, whether they be MLB or MiLB are generally fungible......for the right return. That is true whether you're Seattle or Toronto or St. Louis. Deej isn't playing 3B for us any time soon, and his bat (so far) gives concerns whether he plays 1B for us. If a guy like Pompey is a better fit/bet for us, then sometimes you swap out the (once) bright and shining light. Deej for Pompey might work well. Maybe....

If you're GM is doing his job, he's already sniffed out a Jay trade and figured out the cost vs. return comparison.

I like this discussion, too.

And I've been thinking about this: Miller and Smith as our COF's probably isn't what happens. Both of those guys are platooners, you would need to have an O'Mally type (who plays a bunch of positions) as one of the platoon partners. It could be done, certainly.

I really like Smith and Miller but...

The more I look at what the Mariners have, and have to offer others... the more that I doubt Dipoto keeps Miller or Smith. Both these guys are probably two of the better trade chips Dipoto has, and while I would probably be fine with either Miller or Smith platooning with O'Malley or Guti or the DH position - I have a tough time Dipoto will be content with either as starters... let alone keeping on either the super versatille O'Malley or the chronically injured Guti. I believe some GM sees Miller as the next potential Nomar or Utley... and I am sure almost any GM really wants a proven producer as Smith on their bench... and Dipoto needs a couple core pieces to build trades around to get the next Souza or Myers or Pederson.

I would love to see Dipoto keep dealing with the Cubs as Jack was... and if somehow he could get Willson Conteras, Albert Almora, Ian Happ, or Billy McKinney... but who knows what the Cubs actually want or need.

I really hope Jack gets a job of importance soon is some organization with a really good farm system, so we can send him some of this spaghetti he collected.