Call to the Pen 2013 Winter Meetings Roundtable
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Who Made the Worst Move of the Meetings?
Engbloom: Got to say that I’m not a fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates signing Edinson Volquez. I don’t think I need to elaborate a whole lot on this, but here goes…When Volquez is on, he’s devastating, but those times are becoming more increasingly rare. His walk rate is simply atrocious (never been below 4.0 for BB/9). For a team that’s looking to get further into the playoffs, this made little sense to me.
Festa: How many first baseman do the Seattle Mariners need? Within the span of an hour, they picked up Corey Hart and Logan Morrison. They already have Justin Smoak. They could use Hart or Morrison in the outfield, but neither have played there in a while, and who knows how much range Hart would have coming off surgeries on both of his knees.
Holt: The Mariners in picking up both Corey Hart and Logan Morrison. Given how similar of players they are to each other, as first base/designated hitter types with a bit of outfield skill, one probably would have gotten the job done. And that’s not even taking into consideration the questionable health of each of them. Not to mention the absurd overpayment that it took for the M’s to reign in Hart. Hard to be a fan of the Diamondbacks picking up Mark Trumbo as well. Very questionable.
Lumalu: The Seattle Mariners trading for Logan Morrison was a head scratcher for me. They already signed first baseman/outfielder Corey Hart, so they go out and acquire a similar player? They could possibly trade Justin Smoak down the line, but if they don’t that means either Morrison or Hart will be playing the outfield. Morrison owns a career -15.6 UZR/150 and -36 DRS in the outfield. Hart’s been below average in his career in the outfield with a -3 UZR/150, and the guy just had surgeries on both of his knees…
McFarlane: Hart and Morrison definitely remind me of last year’s mariners and their collection of 1B/DH/kinda OFs, but for me this has to be Kevin Towers trading Adam Eaton‘s glove and defense for Mark Trumbo’s dingers and RBIs would be defensible, but including a highly-thought-of prospect in exchange for a couple PTBNLs out of weak farm systems is selling ultra-low on two premium assets in Eaton and Tyler Skaggs.
Next: The Shockers.