Its official, after rumors late last night circling Jeff Clement, it is
announced that he, along with Ronny
Cedeno and three pitching prospects, Brett Lorin, Aaron
Pribanic, and Nathan
Adcock, have been sent to Pittsburgh for Wilson and Snell.
I have been a huge fan of all of Jack
Zduriencik's trades up to this point, and I think I may have gotten a little too comfortable this trade deadline thinking we were going to keep robbing teams of talent. Unfortunately, I no longer feel this way. It is not that I think that this is a terrible trade, and it is easy to see how the Mariners could come out on top here. However, this is a huge price to pay for an shortstop who will either be a free agent next year or be pretty expensive, and a pitcher who, while talented, has not been so fantastic this year (though better than his ERA suggests). Let's break it down.
What we are getting:Jack Wilson is one of the premier defensive shortstops in the game right now. According to
UZR, his glove has been worth over twenty runs over the average over the past two seasons. His bat isn't overwhelming: He makes a lot of contact, doesn't walk that much, and doesn't hit for much power. Still, the total package makes him a good player and an above average shortstop. The problem with Wilson is that at 31 with a contract soon to expire (though with a club option for next year), he's hardly the "shortstop of the future" fans were hoping for. Acquiring him a week ago would have made sense, but with the Mariners at 7.5 games back this year and playoff odds slim, He doesn't make as much sense right now. I guess Jack
Zduriencik must have a lot of confidence in 2010.
Ian Snell is more of an enigma. As a prospect, he was a guy with good stuff, good strikeout rates, and bad command. In his best year, his walk rates went down and Snell looked like a legitimate #2/3 pitcher. Since then, his walk rates have gone back to their career norms, and this year the strikeouts have gone down. Snell has a lot of talent, and he's pretty cheap for the next three years, but he has to get whatever problems he has fixed in order to be valuable again. My guess is that the M's scouts think that his doing something wrong that is fixable. Let's hope so, because if we can get 2007 Snell back, the Mariners can come out on top in this trade.
What we gave up:Jeff Clement was the #3 pick in a loaded 2005 draft, picked above the likes of Ryan Zimmerman, Ryan
Braun, Troy
Tulowitski, etc. It's not that he hasn't developed or can't hit in the big leagues: he has, and he probably can. Unfortunately, most of his value was tied up in the presumption he would be a great hitting catcher. His knees simply haven't held up, and he probably has no future as a Catcher, which leaves his options as first base or DH. His bat, while super for a catcher, is merely ordinary for a first baseman/DH, and his days in this organization were clearly numbered. And, while I wouldn't have targeted him if I was the Pirates, he has a much better chance at filling what offensive potential he has there than here.
Ronny Cedeno is a player I doubt many will shed tears over losing. While I liked him when he came to the Mariners, and his defense was pretty good, you simply can't be a good player when you hit like he did here.
Brett Lorin, Aaron Pribanic, and Nathan Adcock are all pitching prospects from our lower levels of the minors. These guys are the reason I am not too happy over this trade. Each of these guys have major league potential, and while it is true pitching prospects flame out more often then not, give away three of them and there's a good shot that at least one of them makes it. If it were just one, I wouldn't be torn up about it. Two of them, and I would probably call the deal a wash. Three is just too many. This is how farm systems go barren. If, in two or three years, people are still complaining about the lack of pitching in the upper levels of the minors, just look back to this trade. I know that not all trades can be like the
Yuni trade, and that usually one has to give up value to get it, but this is the point I would have backed away and told the Pirates "Keep your Jack Wilson". I can't help but be disappointed in this part of the trade.
Summary: I like Jack Wilson, and can't help but be enticed by Snell's potential, but the three pitcher we gave up makes this my least favorite trade in the
Zduriencik era. I don't think that it would have been a
Bavasi style
screwup, not even in his bottom ten trades. However, I still expected more bang for our buck.
The Seattle Mariners have just acquired Bill Hall, a Brewers third baseman who was designated for assignment last week. The Mariners will be sending Ruben Flores, a minor-league pitcher to the Milwaukee Brewers. With Beltre injured, Bill Hall adds needed depth at third base position. This is a nice buy-low move for the Mariners as the Brewers will be picking up the rest of Hall's 10 million dollar contract. 
