Jerry DiPoto, Seattle Mariners
DiPoto has always been an attention-getter for his willingness to make a deal, and that was certainly the case again last winter. Most visibly, DiPoto shipped two of his highest-profile names, Robinson Cano and closer Edwin Diaz, to the Mets for five players, the best known of whom was veteran Jay Bruce.
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There is a certain value to getting rid of a high-priced, declining value such as Cano along with a soon-to-be-expensive closer. At the same time, it would be nice to get something of value in return. Bruce and reliever Anthony Swarzak, hurt the Mariners to the tune of -0.7 WAA before both were traded away at the deadline. Two other arrivals in the trade – Gerson Bautista and Justin Dunn – debuted and generated -0.4.
That highly publicized trade was, in the short term, a poison pill administered to both sides.
Bautista, Dunn, Swarzak and Bruce were only four of a healthy 23 players DiPoto incorporated into the Mariners mixture via deals with other teams. So he gets credit for churn. But that’s about it. Those 23 cost the Mariners a net of six games; only one, catcher Tom Murphy, turned out to be worth more than six-tenths of a game in the standings. Murphy was acquired from San Francisco around opening day following a career as a backup in Colorado.
Nothing if not energetic, DiPoto signed another 17 players on the open market, notably Edwin Encarnacion and Japanese star Yusei Kikuchi. As the M’s plans collapsed – in part at least because of Kikuchi’s disappointing 6-11, 5.46 season, Encarnacion was shipped to the Yankees for yet another prospect.
Short-term acquisitions: -6.0
Short-term trade losses: +7.0
Short-term free agent signings: -1.1
Short-term free agent losses: -1.8
Short-term rookie production: -1.8
Short-term total: -3.7