Colorado Rockies: A trade proposal with the Seattle Mariners

Within twelve hours of publishing this article yesterday morning, the Seattle Mariners continued their firesale by trading two of the three players we mentioned that could help out the Colorado Rockies. But today, we have a different proposal.

The Seattle Mariners are tearing their team down to the studs and the Colorado Rockies should get in on the action by pulling off a trade with their former closer and front office executive, Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto. So, we have a trade proposal, and hopefully, this time, two-thirds of the pieces won’t be traded by the end of the day.

This would be our proposal.

Why would the Rockies do this trade?

The Rockies would fill a few of their needs with this trade. Haniger would fill one of the corner outfield spots, most likely right field as it is his best position, for the Rockies. Charlie Blackmon and David Dahl would fill the other two spots so their outfield would be set.

Haniger would also help their offense out tremendously as he hit 26 home runs and 93 RBI last season with and OPS+ of 139. Had he not been out for injuries for over 60 games in 2017, he would have roughly had the same production.

He is also under team control for the next four seasons and isn’t arbitration eligible until next offseason.

For Santana, he is a reliable first baseman who is actually pretty decent at first base defensively. Since 2011, his first full season in the majors, he had played in at least 143 games per season and he has played in 152 or more games per season all but one of the seasons.

Santana does not hit for a high average (his career average is .247) but he walks a lot so his on-base percentage has always been very high as it has been over .350 in every single season in his career and .363 is his career average. In the past three seasons, he has averaged 27 home runs, 84 RBI, and an OPS+ of 114. In the past three seasons defensively, at first base, he has had 11 Defensive Runs Saved, according to Baseball Reference.

The Phillies had Santana at third base for 19 games last season to give Rhys Hoskins some time at first, which is his natural position and hence, why the Phillies traded him to the Mariners on Monday but Santana was still good defensively there (2 DRS) so if Nolan Arenado needs a day off or if he DH’s in an American League park, the Rockies could even utilize him there. He has also played the corner outfield spots in recent years but he has not been a great defender in either place.

Contractually, he is owed a little under $42 million for the next two seasons, which includes a buyout for $500k for the 2021 season. If the buyout is not exercised, the Rockies would have a team option for him for $17.5 million, which would be a paycut for Santana in his age 36 season.

Why would the Mariners do this trade?

Arguably, the biggest name in this deal going to Seattle is Jon Gray. His issues in 2018 have been well chronicled and if you are a Rockies fan and don’t know what I’m talking about, welcome out from underneath your rock.

He is a candidate for a bounce back season, though, and in Seattle, he would have less pressure on a team not in contention and he would be pitching in a pitching friendly ballpark. If he does bounce back, he would provide the Mariners with a top-end pitcher for three seasons before becoming a free agent as Gray is first-time arbitration eligible this offseason and is projected to make $3.2 million.

Even if he doesn’t bounce back, he, quite honestly, would be leaps and bounds better than the next starter for the Mariners.

For McMahon or Hampson, they would likely be the Mariners everyday second baseman. Currently, Dee Gordon is slated to return their after being utilized in the outfield recently but he will almost definitely be traded by the time the offseason is over. Both McMahon or Hampson would the Mariners with a top prospect who would play second primarily but also could play some other infield positions, as well as six years of team control.

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Peter Lambert is the Rockies #3 prospect (#99 in baseball according to MLB.com). Lambert made it up to Triple-A last year for the Rockies but struggled in 11 starts but with the Mariners, he very well could make their rotation out of Spring Training and if not, he will probably be there by the end of the season so the Mariners would get 6 or 7 years of control contractually on him.

The final player in the deal might surprise you but it’s Ian Desmond. You may ask why he would be included and frankly, he’s a contractual swap. Carlos Santana is supposed to make about $42 million in the next two seasons (excluding the team option) and Desmond is supposed to make about $40 million in the next three seasons.

So, the Rockies would be taking on more money (by $2 million) but it would be for one less season and for a better first baseman offensively and defensively. With Desmond, the Mariners could either flip him (why not? They like trading everybody) or they could utilize him in the outfield, first base, or even shortstop if need be. He would provide the Mariners with more versatility than Santana.

Let us know what you think of this proposal either in the comment section, on our Facebook page, or on Twitter.