Seth Smith to Oakland, Moyer (Possibly) to Rockies

by ~ January 16th, 2012 at 3:47 pm

Bullet points?  Bullet points.

  • A lot of people thought outfielder Seth Smith was on the M’s radar as a possible trade target, but he’s just been snatched up by the Oakland A’s in exchange for Guillermo Moscoso and Josh Outman.  (For the record, I think the A’s won this deal by a lot.) I’m not exactly crushed by this news, but I am slightly deflated. Smith can flat-out hit, and his defensive ability is no worse than average; I would have preferred him over Trayvon Robinson as the Mariners’ fourth outfielder.
  • To make matters worse – and by worse I mean pretty much the same – Jamie Moyer has apparently been offered a minor-league contract by the Rockies. If Moyer accepts, it won’t really make a difference to the M’s.  It would be fun to watch Jamie Moyer pitch in Safeco as the M’s fifth starter, but considering the recent acquisition of Hector Noesi and how close Danny Hultzen is to the majors, signing Moyer doesn’t make any sense for the Mariners. I would be very surprised if the Mariners went after another back-end starter at this point.
  • Buster Olney reported a couple of days ago that Edwin Jackson’s asking price has “come down significantly.”  Jackson initially wanted something like 15-16 million dollars a year over five seasons, which of course he was never going to get.  Now it looks like he might be willing to settle for something like 9-10 million per year over four seasons.  At this point in his career Jackson is a pretty good bet for a 3.5-4 WAR season, and, as the Mariners just dealt away their #2 starter, the 28-year-old right-hander could be a great fit for the M’s, who still have substantial money to spend.  (Check out this solid article over at Pinstripe Alley about Jackson.)  I would be happy with a rotation consisting of Felix/Jackson/Vargas/Iwakuma/eventually Danny Hultzen.
  • In case you got caught up in all the Pineda-Montero excitement and forgot about the Iwakuma deal, it’s pretty great.

I really doubt Zduriencik is done with his offseason moves yet.  Look for some (slightly smaller) fireworks in the coming weeks.

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  • http://twitter.com/scottyweebs Scott Weber

    Am I missing something? Did Moyer accept the offer? I haven’t seen that anymore. The headline and analysis suggests he did.

    • http://twitter.com/TaylorRobot Taylor

      Edited for your satisfaction.  Though I really doubt Moyer’s fielding a lot of offers.

  • Anonymous

    If you like Seth Smith dont worry the A’s will have him back on the market soon. Looks like one of there pick them up then retrade them at trade deadline. They will do the same with Colone if he has good season.

  • Anonymous

    The only thing I would like to see Moyer back at Safeco for is as pitching coach in a few years after he retires. Loved him while he was here but dont need blast from the pasts filling up roster spots. Love to con him into coaching young pitcher if he would fall for it.

    • Anonymous

      I agree, I’m prett sure GM JZ learned his lesson from Griff.. Yes it was amazing to have him back during his 1st year but boy did it really bite him in the a$$ the 2nd year. 

    • http://twitter.com/TaylorRobot Taylor

      Great idea, dashatt.  I think Moyer would make an excellent pitching coach, since for a substantial portion of his career he had to outsmart opposing hitters (since he couldn’t simply blow them away).  The man has phenomenal pitching smarts and I’d love to see him on the M’s coaching staff.

  • http://twitter.com/Dorbs345MX Sean Dorobiala

    Wow, this guy is an idiot.  I live in Colorado, Seth Smith is the worst fielder I have ever seen, I would rather have David Ortiz fielding rather than Smith.  I am so pumped the Mariners can start hitting balls at him, he will miss 75% of them! And he was only ever good as a pinch hitter.  As a starter, terrible!! 

  • Anonymous

    My loyalty to Jamie Moyer makes me sad that he could…maybe…possibly…play for Colorado next season.  Moyer needs a pitcher friendly park to succeed.  He will be crushed if he goes to Colorado.  I accept the fact he desires to pitch when he is 50, but if he must, I would truly love for him to play for a team where he could get 33 meaningless wins in the next 2 years.  Not sure that happens for the Rockies.  He needs an offensive juggernaut and a friendly home park.  But nonetheless, best of luck to him.

  • Anonymous

    Sorry Taylor but I’m not a Smith Fan either.  I’m pretty sure Moyer will only get a minor league contract and an invite, he’s surely worth that.  I too think he would be a good pitching coach and hope he returns to the M’s in some capacity.  He’s a savvy businessman too, negotiates his own contracts, he could fit in the FO.

  • Anonymous

    Moyer has a foundation that he started in seattle he needs to come here. He also needs a pitchers ballpark, I will be heart broken if he goes anywhere else but Seattle. Although if there is anywhere else I would want him to be other than seattle it would be Colorado. Beautiful place, great fans, I know because I used to live there. 

    • Anonymous

      P.S. Taylor Halperin this is Macken

  • Anonymous

    The A’s won this deal as in they didn’t give up much?  What would be the 2 equivalent players the M’s would have needed to give up to make this deal?  Seth Smith can hit righty’s, he sounded like a good fit for a Wells platoon/4th outfielder.

    • http://twitter.com/TaylorRobot Taylor

      Yes, that is what I meant.  Moscoso had a 5.02 xFIP (way below average) and a miniscule groundball rate (getting groundballs is ideal), and Outman was similar, except he walked more hitters and got more groundballs.  His velocity seems to have gone down a tick over his time in the majors as well.  Both guys didn’t deserve their low ERAs, and, considering their stable numbers in the majors the last few years, I doubt either pitcher is likely to improve much at this point.

      I can’t speculate as to what the Mariners would have needed to give up for Smith, but if the Rockies truly valued him as lowly as they seem to, I doubt it would have been much.