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n a recent article I took the Mariners
to task for having a weak winter as far as acquisitions to improve the team.
(Please see my blog of 29 December, 2012 “Why
Bringing in the Fences and a New Score Board
Won’t Fix the Mariner’s Offense…One Fan’s Protest”) While I still feel that
way generally, I was remiss in not acknowledging that the Mariners’ prime off
season acquisition so far, designated hitter/first baseman Kendrys Morales, is a player who will help the team. The Mariners
acquired Morales from the Angels last month in a straight up deal for southpaw
pitcher Jason Vargas.
Though Vargas was coming off his best
season ever as a starter with 14 victories and a career low in E.R.A, one look
at Morales hitting stats shows why this was a deal Mariner GM Jack Zduriencik had to make. Last season
for the Angels Morales hit .273 with 22 home runs, 73 RBIs and a .320 on base
percentage in 522 plate appearances. Among Mariner players with 250 at bats or
more last year, with those stats Morales would have been number 1 in home runs
and number 2 in batting average, RBIs and on base percentage. As good as those
stats are, I think Jackie Z is expecting that Morales is on the verge of
returning to his 2009 form when he it .306 with 34 home runs, 108 RBIs and a
.355 on base percentage; figures that if
repeated would make the switch hitting Morales one of the top power hitting
first basemen in baseball. (Morales missed most of the 2010 season and all of
2011 with a severely broken leg.) If Morales just repeats last season’s
production he will improve the Mariner offense; if he comes close to his 2009 levels
it will make the Vargas trade an unqualified success regardless of what Jason
does with LA.
An
added bonus to the trade is that it gives the Mariners viable first base
options which open the door to either trading Justin Smoak or giving him more time to develop in the minors.
Going into the 2013 season hoping once again that Smoak will start to fulfill
his potential is now a mistake that the Mariners will not be making.
I,
for one, am glad of that!
If
I am critical of the Mariners for not being pro active enough to help the team
this off season, then I should be man enough to acknowledge them when they do
something right. This trade is a good one for the Mariners. Kendrys Morales
will help this team.
Copyright © 2013
By Mark Arnold
All Rights Reserved
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