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.

Marco Gonzales would provide the Rockies with a middle to back-end of the rotation guy after Kyle Freeland and German Marquez. Tyler Anderson, Antonio Senzatela, and Chad Bettis would figure to be in mix for the rotation as well, assuming they wouldn’t make other trades for one.

Last season was Gonzales’ first full season in the majors and he pitched pretty well. He went 13-9 with an ERA of 4.00 in 29 starts but his FIP was better than his ERA as it was 3.43. He averaged just under 8 strikeouts at 7.8 per nine innings but he also averaged only 1.7 walks per nine innings.

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His groundball percentage was 45 percent as well last season, according to Fangraphs, which is a pretty good rate. For comparison, his strikeout rate and groundball rate is extremely close to Kyle Freeland’s last year, as his strikeout rate was 7.7 per nine innings and his groundball rate was 46 percent, according to Fangraphs.

Speaking of similarities between Gonzales and Freeland, Gonzales is also a lefty like Freeland and both of them are from the Denver area. Freeland, as you probably know, is from the Denver area and has been a lifelong Rockies fan. Gonzales was born and raised in Fort Collins and graduated from Rocky Mountain High School in Fort Collins, which is about 60 miles north of Coors Field.

The Mariners signed him to a bit more than most pitchers with one year of service time would have but he is only owed $1.9 million over the next two years before having his three years of arbitration.

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.