Seattle Mariners: deadline deal will keep Gordon at second base

The Seattle Mariners made a flurry of trades at the deadline, including the acquisition of Cameron Maybin, which means Dee Gordon stays at second base.

One of the many moves made by the Mariners at the trade deadline was the acquisition of Cameron Maybin from the Miami Marlins. In the deal, Seattle sent minor league infielder Bryson Brigman and international slot money to the Marlins for the 31-year-old outfielder. Maybin will take over as the regular center fielder, moving Guillermo Heredia to a bench role.

Through roughly two-thirds of the season, the Mariners’ center fielders, primarily Dee Gordon and Guillermo Heredia, rank 20^th in baseball according to Fangraphs WAR. Gordon started the year in center, but moved to second base shortly after Robinson Cano was hit with an 80-game suspension for PED use in mid-May. The center field spot was then handed to Heredia.

Heredia is a confusing player. He’s the second-fastest runner on the team, behind only Dee Gordon. His Statcast sprint speed is nearly the equal of Starling Marte of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Tommy Pham of the Tampa Bay Rays. Marte regularly steals 20 or more bases in a season and once stole 47 bases in a season. Pham stole 25 bases last year. Heredia, who is essentially just as fast, has just one steal each year for the last three years.

Heredia hit well in April and May, with a .298/.417/.426 batting line in his first 119 plate appearances. He hasn’t hit a lick since then, however, putting up an ugly .180/.231/.271 mark. Even the best defensive center fielder in baseball couldn’t get away with that kind of hitting and Heredia is far from the best. He hasn’t been able to translate his sprint speed to good defense. Based on the Fangraphs defensive metric, he ranks 18^th out of 21 center fielders with 500 or more innings.

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The Mariners are hoping Maybin will be an upgrade on offense and defense. It should be noted that both Maybin and Heredia are projected to be worth 0.3 WAR over the rest of the season by the Fangraphs Depth Charts, so it may be a move that ends up being insignificant as far as center field production is concerned.

Another aspect of the move is that it will allow Dee Gordon to remain at second base, where he has historically been good defensively. When Cano returns in mid-August, he will find himself at first base, a position he’s never played in the major leagues. In early July, he told the media he was “open to doing whatever the team needs to get to the playoffs.”

The continued domino effect of the Maybin acquisition is that Ryon Healy will lose playing time at first base. Healy is second on the team in home runs and fourth on the team in RBI, but his .273 OBP has contributed to him being just short of league average on offense (99 wRC+). Defensively, he’s awful, ranking 18^th out of 22 first baseman with 500 or more innings at first base.

At a glance, this trade looks like a way for the Mariners to upgrade at two positions, center field and first base, while keeping the team’s best defensive second baseman, Dee Gordon, at his natural position. That being said, according to the projections, it doesn’t look like a significant move. Maybin and Heredia have the same rest-of-season projected WAR. Cano projects to be worth roughly a half-win more than Healy. It’s a marginal improvement.

Of course, the Mariners now lead the Oakland A’s by just one game in the battle for the second wild card spot, so even marginal improvements are big for the M’s. Adding Maybin makes them marginally better, as do the deadline-deal additions of relievers Sam Tuivailala, Zach Duke and Adam Warren. Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto is hoping all of those little improvements get the Mariners to the playoffs for the first time since 2001.