MLB Report: Mariners Acquire Corey Hart & Logan Morrison

[MistaNova]

Mariners have:
*Signed Corey Hart to a 1 year deal
*Traded for Logan Morrison (sent Carter Capps to the Marlins)

I suppose this means that Kendrys Morales will really not be back and Jesus Montero (or Justin Smoak) is in trouble next year.
On a related note these two transactions have broadened the market for Ike Davis. Mets will no doubt try to shop him around more aggressively now.

[Halu Sination]

Apparently this was a result of Dodgers turning down the Kemp trades (which had 0% chance of happening to begin with) and Shin Soo Choo being too expensive.

Neither LoMo and Hart can play OF worth a damn and there's speculation that neither is going to, which would make these acquisitions even more interesting. As you said, Smoak is in trouble.

Also worth noting that David Price came right out and said if traded to Mariners, he's not going to sign an extension.

[MistaNova]

Hmm, well if there's anything the Mariners need it's hitting so that (Price) might not be such a bad thing.

The Mariners are going to have to add at least one more competent hitter though. Hart and LoMo are good (or at least a little better than what their bodies of work show) but who knows what they'll get out of them.

[Remedy360]

Don't know a whole lot about either guy, but both moves seem like pretty solid low-risk type acquisitions.. As far as Price goes, I never gave a shit about him. Of course it would be awesome to have another great pitcher on the roster, but our organization is strong as far as pitching goes, and dishing out our farm towards a position that we're already strong at would've been stupid. I'm glad to see us in on discussions towards big-time players, but the idea that we somehow "had to trade" for him is retarded, we need offense.

[Halu Sination]

I think they just wanted another proven ace to Felix and Kuma because of their "win now" mentality that they have with Cano's contract. What if Walker doesn't develop into the star they think he will in the next couple years and Cano is wasting away?

Either way you're right though. They still need offense more than they need another Ace.

[Remedy360]

I think they just wanted another proven ace to Felix and Kuma because of their "win now" mentality that they have with Cano's contract. What if Walker doesn't develop into the star they think he will in the next couple years and Cano is wasting away?

Either way you're right though. They still need offense more than they need another Ace.

Walker's about as sure of a thing as you're going to find, but you're right, you never know with prospects. Still, I don't like the idea of dealing him away for a pitcher. If we could get a big-time bat that would be another story, but I feel like dealing a guy with that kind of upside for another pitcher could be more of a step sideways than forward. Zunino was another name that came up with Price, and the idea of trading a very highly regarded catcher for him almost sounded worse than Walker. Of course I love the idea of Felix/Kuma/Price in a rotation, just don't think it was worth giving those guys up.

[TraceOneInfinite]

I follow the Royals daily, but I don't really follow much MLB outside of the Royals, so forgive me if this post sounds ignorant, but...

Is it just me or have the Mariners been really big players in the offseason all the sudden?   I mean, seems like they had that leadoff hitter for years and no other good players.  They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  like they weren't even trying to win games and pick up good players... now all the sudden they are making boss moves.  They have been very active this offseason, right?

They picked up..

Cano?
Will Smith from the Royals
Corey Hart
Logan Morrison

What else?

[MistaNova]

I follow the Royals daily, but I don't really follow much MLB outside of the Royals, so forgive me if this post sounds ignorant, but...

Is it just me or have the Mariners been really big players in the offseason all the sudden?   I mean, seems like they had that leadoff hitter for years and no other good players.  They were really scraping the bottom of the barrel.  like they weren't even trying to win games and pick up good players... now all the sudden they are making boss moves.  They have been very active this offseason, right?

They picked up..

Cano?
Will Smith from the Royals
Corey Hart
Logan Morrison

What else?

The thing about the Mariners is that they signed a lucrative TV deal with DirecTV that was worth roughly $2 billion. While that's nowhere near Yankees or Dodgers territory, thanks to that money they were able to extend Felix Hernandez and be legitmate suitors (at least finanically) for prized free agents in the past like Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton.
That said however the only "boss move" the Mariners have done this winter is sign Cano to that bloated contract. They need some more offense and acquire someone even casual baseball fans actually have heard of. And they have the money and prospects to do it, only problem is that hitters tend to avoid Seattle like the plague for fear of becoming the next Adrian Beltre (HoF hitter whose career practically dies after signing with Seattle).

And in case you're wondering the Royals are currently in a pretty bad, if not horrible, TV deal that's limiting them. Last I checked the deal is until sometime in 2019, so in 2019 or 2020 the Royals might be the ones spending big money on overrated players.

[TraceOneInfinite]

The thing about the Mariners is that they signed a lucrative TV deal with DirecTV that was worth roughly $2 billion. While that's nowhere near Yankees or Dodgers territory, thanks to that money they were able to extend Felix Hernandez and be legitmate suitors (at least finanically) for prized free agents in the past like Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton.
That said however the only "boss move" the Mariners have done this winter is sign Cano to that bloated contract. They need some more offense and acquire someone even casual baseball fans actually have heard of. And they have the money and prospects to do it, only problem is that hitters tend to avoid Seattle like the plague for fear of becoming the next Adrian Beltre (HoF hitter whose career practically dies after signing with Seattle).

And in case you're wondering the Royals are currently in a pretty bad, if not horrible, TV deal that's limiting them. Last I checked the deal is until sometime in 2019, so in 2019 or 2020 the Royals might be the ones spending big money on overrated players.

Good info.. still seems kind of pathetic to me that the Royals and Mariners have owners that have to depend on TV contracts to have the ability to go out and sign a player that other cities have at least heard of, lol.   I mean... David Glass is a billionaire Chairman of Wall-Mart, so picturing him waiting around for a TV Deal to come through so he can spend some money in 2019 seems kind of ridiculous but I don't doubt that that it's true.  In fact, he's such a tightass I could seem him just pocketing the extra money.

Ewing Kaufman was the Royals old owner when the won the World Series, he was a rich Jew like the Hunt family is that owns the Chiefs.  The Jewish owners seem to make the best owners because they have the money and they have the connections/ties to other influential Jews in the industry and that's how deals get done.

..aside from business...

You mentioned Prince Fielder, wasn't he already traded by Detroit to someone else?  So are you talking about next year that you think the Mariners will make a move for him?

And Cano may have been Seatles only big name signing but it seems they've been very active in the trade market, as if they have a new GM or something that's serious about winning was my first thought.. but turns out maybe they are just more active cause of the TV money

[Halu Sination]

The thing about the Mariners is that they signed a lucrative TV deal with DirecTV that was worth roughly $2 billion. While that's nowhere near Yankees or Dodgers territory, thanks to that money they were able to extend Felix Hernandez and be legitmate suitors (at least finanically) for prized free agents in the past like Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton.
That said however the only "boss move" the Mariners have done this winter is sign Cano to that bloated contract. They need some more offense and acquire someone even casual baseball fans actually have heard of. And they have the money and prospects to do it, only problem is that hitters tend to avoid Seattle like the plague for fear of becoming the next Adrian Beltre (HoF hitter whose career practically dies after signing with Seattle).

And in case you're wondering the Royals are currently in a pretty bad, if not horrible, TV deal that's limiting them. Last I checked the deal is until sometime in 2019, so in 2019 or 2020 the Royals might be the ones spending big money on overrated players.

Good info.. still seems kind of pathetic to me that the Royals and Mariners have owners that have to depend on TV contracts to have the ability to go out and sign a player that other cities have at least heard of, lol.   I mean... David Glass is a billionaire Chairman of Wall-Mart, so picturing him waiting around for a TV Deal to come through so he can spend some money in 2019 seems kind of ridiculous but I don't doubt that that it's true.  In fact, he's such a tightass I could seem him just pocketing the extra money.

Ewing Kaufman was the Royals old owner when the won the World Series, he was a rich Jew like the Hunt family is that owns the Chiefs.  The Jewish owners seem to make the best owners because they have the money and they have the connections/ties to other influential Jews in the industry and that's how deals get done.

..aside from business...

You mentioned Prince Fielder, wasn't he already traded by Detroit to someone else?  So are you talking about next year that you think the Mariners will make a move for him?

And Cano may have been Seatles only big name signing but it seems they've been very active in the trade market, as if they have a new GM or something that's serious about winning was my first thought.. but turns out maybe they are just more active cause of the TV money

It typically doesn't really matter how rich MLB owners are, they typically penny pinch more than you think because there is no salary cap in MLB and they don't want to end up getting carried away and paying too much in luxury tax. Hell look at the Dodgers. Guggenheim Partners come out and go "Lol we'll take on any fat ass contract we can get, we're the richest team in baseball" and then one year later they go "holy shit we got taxed a lot of money, time to slow down." Before sending Kinsler to Detroit, Texas tried to ship him to Dodgers and Dodgers said no and ended up signing Alex Guerrero from Cuba instead. Now they're willing to overpay for an unproven foreign player whose stats in the Dominican League weren't even that good instead of overpaying for a proven (overrated but proven) all-star 2B just to save money. If Guerrero doesn't pan out well then Dodgers shot themselves in the foot big time.

He mentioned Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton because Mariners made a big run in signing both of them. They were unable to make anything happen because most sluggers don't want to play for Seattle because it's not a hitter friendly park.

[TraceOneInfinite]

It typically doesn't really matter how rich MLB owners are, they typically penny pinch more than you think because there is no salary cap in MLB and they don't want to end up getting carried away and paying too much in luxury tax. Hell look at the Dodgers. Guggenheim Partners come out and go "Lol we'll take on any fat ass contract we can get, we're the richest team in baseball" and then one year later they go "holy shit we got taxed a lot of money, time to slow down." Before sending Kinsler to Detroit, Texas tried to ship him to Dodgers and Dodgers said no and ended up signing Alex Guerrero from Cuba instead. Now they're willing to overpay for an unproven foreign player whose stats in the Dominican League weren't even that good instead of overpaying for a proven (overrated but proven) all-star 2B just to save money. If Guerrero doesn't pan out well then Dodgers shot themselves in the foot big time.

He mentioned Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton because Mariners made a big run in signing both of them. They were unable to make anything happen because most sluggers don't want to play for Seattle because it's not a hitter friendly park.

interesting about the luxury tax...

And it sounds like the Mariners have a lot of the same problems as the Royals.   I think the Royals record for homeruns in a year is something like 36 by Steve Balboni back in the 80's? LOL...

I mean, The stadium here is very big so it's great if you are a speed guy or you hit for average.  But if your a slugger like Prince Fielder you wouldn't want to play in KC because your homerun numbers would certainly drop

[Halu Sination]

It typically doesn't really matter how rich MLB owners are, they typically penny pinch more than you think because there is no salary cap in MLB and they don't want to end up getting carried away and paying too much in luxury tax. Hell look at the Dodgers. Guggenheim Partners come out and go "Lol we'll take on any fat ass contract we can get, we're the richest team in baseball" and then one year later they go "holy shit we got taxed a lot of money, time to slow down." Before sending Kinsler to Detroit, Texas tried to ship him to Dodgers and Dodgers said no and ended up signing Alex Guerrero from Cuba instead. Now they're willing to overpay for an unproven foreign player whose stats in the Dominican League weren't even that good instead of overpaying for a proven (overrated but proven) all-star 2B just to save money. If Guerrero doesn't pan out well then Dodgers shot themselves in the foot big time.

He mentioned Prince Fielder and Josh Hamilton because Mariners made a big run in signing both of them. They were unable to make anything happen because most sluggers don't want to play for Seattle because it's not a hitter friendly park.

interesting about the luxury tax...

And it sounds like the Mariners have a lot of the same problems as the Royals.   I think the Royals record for homeruns in a year is something like 36 by Steve Balboni back in the 80's? LOL...

I mean, The stadium here is very big so it's great if you are a speed guy or you hit for average.  But if your a slugger like Prince Fielder you wouldn't want to play in KC because your homerun numbers would certainly drop

Yeah I was really hoping you guys would land Carlos Beltran because I was curious as to how he would've performed in the Royals' ballpark. Speaking of which, I feel like Royals and Yanks have been going after all the same players lol, now both teams are going after Omar Infante.

[MistaNova]

And Cano may have been Seatles only big name signing but it seems they've been very active in the trade market, as if they have a new GM or something that's serious about winning was my first thought.. but turns out maybe they are just more active cause of the TV money

Seattle being so active is probably because they view their window of opportunity to be sometime between now and 2019. What I mean by that is that even though they just signed Cano to a 10 year deal, he's going to age and start declining. Therefore the Mariners want to compete and win it all while he's still in his prime (or about to leave his prime but still has enough gas left).
And it's not like the Mariners don't have a shot. If you look at their division:
*The Angels have dire pitching needs and are so cash strapped that they're more of a punchline than a real contender
*The Rangers have been getting weaker and weaker offensively the last few years as a lot of the key guys in their line-up have elected free agency and gone elsewhere
*The Astros are currently in the biggest rebuild project the MLB has ever seen and won't be relevant for at least 3 or 4 more years

The last team, the Oakland Athletics, are kind of hard to figure out but at this point it's better not to question the mind of Billy Beane.

So basically if the Mariners can get themselves some more offense then they can definitely become contenders.

On that note, future Mariner Nelson Cruz anyone?

[TraceOneInfinite]

And Cano may have been Seatles only big name signing but it seems they've been very active in the trade market, as if they have a new GM or something that's serious about winning was my first thought.. but turns out maybe they are just more active cause of the TV money

Seattle being so active is probably because they view their window of opportunity to be sometime between now and 2019. What I mean by that is that even though they just signed Cano to a 10 year deal, he's going to age and start declining. Therefore the Mariners want to compete and win it all while he's still in his prime (or about to leave his prime but still has enough gas left).
And it's not like the Mariners don't have a shot. If you look at their division:
*The Angels have dire pitching needs and are so cash strapped that they're more of a punchline than a real contender
*The Rangers have been getting weaker and weaker offensively the last few years as a lot of the key guys in their line-up have elected free agency and gone elsewhere
*The Astros are currently in the biggest rebuild project the MLB has ever seen and won't be relevant for at least 3 or 4 more years

The last team, the Oakland Athletics, are kind of hard to figure out but at this point it's better not to question the mind of Billy Beane.

So basically if the Mariners can get themselves some more offense then they can definitely become contenders.

On that note, future Mariner Nelson Cruz anyone?

There is a little talk about Nelson Cruz in Kansas City and Seatle, but they say he's never hit well on the road...

Anyway, it would be nice to see the Mariners really go for it and make a push for once.  Like you said though, I would not question the mind of Billy Beane.  And Nolan Ryan is extremely competitive when it comes to the Rangers so I think he will do whatever it takes to make them a strong team.   No offense, I would like to see the Mariners make a push but I don't see them challenging the A's and Rangers.

[TraceOneInfinite]

Yeah I was really hoping you guys would land Carlos Beltran because I was curious as to how he would've performed in the Royals' ballpark. Speaking of which, I feel like Royals and Yanks have been going after all the same players lol, now both teams are going after Omar Infante.

I swear I hate the Yankees.  They stole Beltran from us and now they will steal our chances at Infante.  No doubt when Hosmer comes up for free agency in a few years they will take him too.  Thank God Salvador Perez is already locked up long term... Royals idiot announcer Rex Hudler just merely mentioned during a broadcast last season how much the Yankees would love to get Perez in pinstripes and he was almost run out of town by the local media for it.