Mariners keep dealing, acquire Drew Smyly
Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto continued his busy offseason with two big trades Wednesday afternoon.
No one in baseball has been busier than Jerry Dipoto of the Seattle Mariners this offseason. The GM of the M’s has already completed 11 trades since the end of the 2016 season, including two more Wednesday afternoon. Dipoto addressed one of his team’s biggest needs by acquiring left-handed starter Drew Smyly from the Tampa Bay Rays.
Dipoto first pulled off a trade with the Atlanta Braves for outfielder Mallex Smith. To acquire Smith, the Mariners gave up two minor leaguers, left-handed pitchers Luiz Gohara and Thomas Burrows. Gohara was one of the organizations top-five prospects. The 20-year-old pitcher went 7-2 last year in 13 starts at the Single-A level with a 1.81 ERA and 10.5 strikeouts per nine. Burrows was a fourth-round pick in the 2016 draft and profiles as a reliever. He made 20 appearances last year and struck out 37 in only 24.2 innings.
The Braves apparently gave up on Smith, one of their top prospects in recent years. He made his debut last season and played in 72 games, slashing .238/.316/.365 with 16 stolen bases. Speed and defense are Smith’s calling cards. He stole 229 bases in the minors while batting .296/.382/.389. Smith compares favorably to Cincinnati Reds center fielder Billy Hamilton, but his bat may limit him to more of a bench/supersub role rather than a full-time starter.
After acquiring Smith, Dipoto then proceeded to flip him to the Rays for Smyly along with two prospects, Ryan Yarbrough, a left-hander, and Carlos Vargas, a shortstop. Smyly went 7-12 for the Rays in 2016 and was plagued by the longball. He logged 175.1 innings with a 4.88 ERA, the worst mark of his career. For his career, Smyly is 31-27 with a 3.74 ERA. In 2014 and 2015 he appeared in 40 games with 37 starts and pitched to a 3.20 ERA across 219.2 innings.
For the Mariners, Smyly could be a candidate for a strong rebound in 2017. He is a heavy fly-ball pitcher and should benefit from the strong outfield defense Dipoto has worked to build over the past two years. Spacious Safeco Field will also help Smyly return to form. He joins Yovani Gallardo, another recent acquisition, in rounding out the Seattle rotation.
The Rays come away with Mallex Smith, a plus-plus defender who will slide into one of the corner spots opposite all-world defender Kevin Kiermaier. In only 451 innings in the field last year, Smith managed to register 0.7 dWAR. Meanwhile, the Braves bring in two more strong pitching prospects.
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With a little over a month until pitchers and catchers report for the Mariners, Dipoto may finally be done dealing. He has made 35 trades in just 16 months on the job to date, and has significantly remade the roster in his own vision of speed and defense. Now, all that’s left is to make the playoffs for the first time since 2001.