The Mariners attempted to fix the offense at the trade deadline Tuesday by acquiring OF Cameron Maybin, 31, from Miami in exchange for minor league INF Bryson Brigman and international slot money. Brigman was ranked No. 19 among Mariners prospects by MLB Pipeline.
A 12-year veteran joining his ninth team, Maybin this season is hitting .251 with 12 doubles, a triple, three home runs, 20 RBIs and eight stolen bases. In July, he’s hit .309 and hit safely in 12 of his last 17 games started, and had three games with three hits. The Marlins signed Maybin as a free agent Feb. 22.
Maybin is likely to get the at-bats of slumping CF Guillermo Heredia, who is hitting .180 with a .230 on-base percentage since June 1. He’s one of only 10 regular MLB outfielders who does not have an error this season, but Maybin is a plus defender. Also, Mitch Haniger has proven capable in center.
Also, OF Denard Span since his May 28 acquisition by Seattle is hitting .294 with eight doubles, two triples four home runs, 18 RBIs and a .784 OPS.
To make roster room, the Mariners transferred righty reliever Dan Altavilla to the 60-day disabled list from the 10-day list, where he’s been since June 8 with a right elbow UCL sprain.
In another roster move, to make room for bullpen newcomer Zach Duke, Roenis Elias was placed on the 10-day disabled list with a left triceps strain. Duke will be available for the second of three games against the Astros at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday at Safeco.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="2240857 https://sportspressnw.wpengine.com/?p=2240857">6 Comments
Well traveled, and another Mariner with a suspension in his past. I was expecting Dipoto to do something big, not something subtle, making barely a ripple. Heredia is struggling, but is Maybin an upgrade? I guess he’s a natural centerfielder. I suppose this means Gordon will remain at second base after Cano comes back. Has Cano been practicing how to hold a runner on first base? Perhaps Healy is affected by this move as much as Heredia.
The Mariners best lineup is as follows as they will score more runs this way: Gordon is a better choice in center field. Cano is adequate at second. All other positions stay the same. If the plan is to move Cano around, Healy can play third and should once in a while for Seager whose numbers could be better. They need to score more runs as their offense has been anemic lately. When playing MaybeMaybin it means either Healy, Cruz, Gordon or Seager will be out of the lineup and run production would suffer. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Go Mariners!!
Each game will come down to matchups with pitchers. The Mariners finally have depth for some flexibility.
The Mariners seem locked into Gordon at second, and Maybin is a notable upgrade at the plate over Heredia. But today the Mariners today sent down Gamel instead of Heredia, They think Heredia is better fourth outfielder defensively at all three spots, and Span their most productive OF hitter right now,
Dipoto was hamstrung by the picked-over farm system, He had almost no prospects to trade for a starter who would upgrade the rotation.
They are now 11th out of 15 teams in runs scored. They are no longer in the top half of the American League in fielding or ERA. Run differential is still minus. The schedule is not soft. However the chips fall in manning the outfield positions and the infield swaps, the season will come down to four players needing to have a good August and a good September. Three of the four are among the best paid on the team – Cano, Hernandez, Seager. Mike Z is the fourth. These are the guys that need to pick it up.
No argument here. The Mariners have nearly burned up the capital gained in May-June with a weak July. One side-door assist is that the Angels and Rangers have given up contention, meaning the schedule gets slightly easier. But even they will beat a Mariners team scoring two a game.