MLB Trade Rumors: One trade each team should make
By Jason Evans
Why the Mariners should do it: The Mariners need some depth in their starting rotation. Yovanni Gallardo has been a disaster and moved to the bullpen. Felix Hernandez has been hurt and just recently came back. Hisashi Iwakuma is still injured as is Drew Smyly. James Paxton has been injured as well. They need to cover themselves.
Enter Dickey, the former Cy Young winner who has been much better in June. Yes it will be and adjustment for the Mariners catchers to catch the kunckleball, but it’ll also be an adjustment for the hitters out west. Playing in a bigger home ballpark could also help Dickey’s numbers. The Mariners have some room in their budget, but Dickey’s contract should’t prevent them from making other moves if need be.
Why the Braves should do it: The Braves are focusing on young, controllable arms. It’s who they’ve made a priority in drafting and those arms are starting to bear fruit. Guys like Dickey, Bartolo Colon and Jaime Garcia were brought in as veteran placeholders to give those young arms some more time to develop and hope that they can cash those arms in for more prospects.
In this trade, they get a speedy outfielder in Single-A that they can let develop and help to complement those arms with offensive production moving forward. Even if Ramirez turns into nothing more than a fourth outfielder, it’s still very good value for a pitcher who’s over 40 with an expiring contract.