Mariners send veteran slugger to the DBacks in multi-player trade
The Seattle Mariners traded third baseman Eugenio Suarez to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a multi-player trade on Wednesday, per Mark Feinsand of MLB Network.
Seattle will acquire catcher Seby Zavala and right-handed pitcher Carlos Vargas.
Suarez has played with the Mariners for the last two seasons after being acquired from the Reds in March 2022 in a deal that included outfielder Jesse Winker.
During his time with the Mariners, Suarez has slashed .234/.327/.423 smashing 53 home runs and driving 183 runs.
The Diamondbacks were in search for a new power-hitting third baseman, they were linked to Red Sox’ free agent Justin Turner early in free agency. Arizona is looking for an upgrade over third baseman Evan Longoria, who was on a one-year deal last season.
“It’s all about filling in the gaps where we might be a little more flawed. We have a pretty good offensive team, that sometimes struggles with contact, and were going to have to try to solve that,” Mariners president of baseball operations, Jerry Dipoto told reports at the GM Meetings earlier this month.
Seattle had three of the bottom four hitters in the AL when it came to total strikeouts. Suarez was tops in the all of the American League with 214.
According to Ken Rosenthal, the plan for Seattle is to start newly acquired third baseman Luis Urías, who they traded for with Boston earlier this week before the non-tender deadline.
Vargas is hard throwing right hander who only played in five games at the start of last season. In a very small sample he had a 4.50 but struck out 7 batters in four innings of work. He was ranked as the No.24 prospect in the Diamondbacks system by Baseball America.
“Vargas sits 98 mph with his fastball, routinely reaching triple-digits,” wrote Baseball America.” Because his four-seamer does not get good ride consistently, the Guardians introduced a sinker, eliciting better results. His slider is a legitimate weapon. He can throw it for strikes early in the count or bury it as a putaway pitch. It averages 90-91 mph and Vargas can occasionally dial it up into the 93-94 mph range. Vargas walked too many batters but it is possible that was due to his long layoff from competition. He is comfortable working down in the zone but needs to learn to better command up in the zone.”
Zavala, can fill in as the backup with Tom Murphy currently a free agent. The 30-year-old owns a career .210/.275/.347 in 514 plate appearances. He appeared in a combined 73 games, batting .171 with seven HR, 18 RBI and a .571 OPS.
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