Add new comment

Read a book - "Predictably Irrational" - which described a number of ways humans behave "irrationally" in given contexts.  One of the skews to rational assessment of value is "ownership".  When we "own" something, (and that definition has more flexibility than one might assume), we tend to ascribe far more value to it than we would on the other side of the transaction.
http://www.spring.org.uk/2008/04/6-quirks-of-ownership-how-possessions.php
This is the "why" behind the emotional response to the trade compared to the rational analysis.
The truth is, Seattle has been good developing arms for years.  They have been the worst team in baseball in developing hitters for a decade.  They are changing the bad side of that reality (slowly) ... but in the meantime, the most logical trend going forward is going to be trading pitching for hitting.  Whether that is Putz for Carp or C.Lee (acquired for a bunch of low A high upside pitchers) for Smoak or Fister for Casper ... the trend cannot be anything else. 
You trade from surplus.  Seattle's talent surplus is all in the arm department.  That's not likely to change any time soon. 
But, Pineda and Fister both went from obscure (not on the top 10 list) prospects to we-want-this-guy-forever homegrown stars practically overnight.  There is no reason that Montero cannot do the same thing.  Maybe he doesn't work out as a catcher.  I don't know.  But, dealing from strength to plug weakness is exactly what good GMs do.
My argument all along has been that with so many positions to fill (and very shaky production projections even where we have some optimism), it is a bad idea to slam down flexibility with a huge contract.  Montero addresses the offensive weakness, while Z has proven to be extremely adept at shuffling pitchers in and out of the lineup until he finds success.
I've never been high on Smoak ... but I'd still like to see him get another year to prove me wrong.  I continue to believe a year from now the club will know a LOT more about which players are solid going forward and which are not.  And then ... (assuming enough are solid) ... you can look at adding help from outside at exactly the positions where you are weak.