The Seattle Mariners made a pair of trades on Friday, trading outfielder Seth Smith to the Baltimore Orioles for starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo, and trading right-handed pitcher Nathan Karns to the Kansas City Royals for outfielder Jarrod Dyson.
Smith had been on the trading block ever since the Mariners starting making their big splash this offseason, acquiring outfielder Mitch Haniger in one of their several trades. Smith hit .248 with 28 home runs and 105 runs batted in through two seasons with Mariners. Smith comes off a season where he hit .249 with 16 home runs and 63 runs batted in through 137 games in 2016.
Yovani Gallardo has a career 108-83 record through 10 major league seasons with a career 3.79 earned run average. Gallardo’s career best is 17 wins and he has never had a full season in which he posted an earned run average below 3.42. Gallardo had an average Bill James game score of 45.45 in 2016 and only started 23 games. Gallardo is a strong gamble, adding to a rotation that already includes former Cy Young award winner Felix Hernandez, All-Star Hisashi Iwakuma, along with James Paxton. The trade for Gallardo only adds roughly one million dollars to the 2017 team payroll, who stands to make $11 million in 2017 and has a $13 million club option for 2018 with a $2 million buyout attached.
Jarrod Dyson is an explosive player in the outfield, having four seasons with at least 30 stolen bases. Dyson hit .278 with a .340 on-base percentage and 30 steals, playing 107 games in 2016. Dyson posted a .993 fielding percentage in the outfield last season and has a career .979 fielding percentage through seven major league seasons.
Dyson adds another center fielder to the Mariners roster. The other is center fielder Leonys Martin, who hit .247 with 15 long balls and 24 stolen bases in 2016. Both Martin and Dyson will likely hit at the bottom of the lineup after the Mariners added Jean Segura in a trade with the Arizona Diamond Backs.
The Mariners gave the Royals right-handed pitcher Nathan Karns, who in 15 starts for the Mariners in 2016 posted a 4.56 earned run average with a .256 batting average against. Karns also struggled to control his pitches, throwing just 62 percent for strikes.
This is one of the first moves for the Mariners since trading for pitcher Chris Heston during the MLB Winter Meetings. General Manager Jerry Dipoto has definitely shown that he and the Mariners are ready to compete in the American League, crossing many items off the Mariners shopping list for the offseason by upgrading the offense, rebuilding the bullpen and adding starting pitching depth.
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