Jack Zduriencik's image sure has taken a beating over the past eight months.
After watching his team sleepwalk through yet another depressing 71-91 campaign in 2013 and hearing the whispers about the organization needing a change at the top, his reputation took a big hit after an expose by Seattle Times writer Geoff Baker. More recently, in the days leading up to the trade deadline, Fox Sports writers Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi wrote this unflattering depiction of a nearly-paralyzed Zduriencik, unable to pull the trigger on deals and infuriating fellow GMs in the process.
With the sting of the latest story still fresh, Zduriencik nevertheless managed to earn high marks for his shrewd trading on Thursday. In the first of two trades, Zduriencik sent outfield prospect Abraham Almonte and minor league reliever Stephen Kolscheen to the San Diego Padres for 34-year old outfielder Chris Denorfia. And then, just minutes before the 4PM EST deadline, he packaged minor league second baseman Nick Franklin into a three-team deal with Tampa Bay and Detroit which netted the Mariners 27-year old center fielder Austin Jackson.
What Denorfia and Jackson Bring to the Mariners
Denorfia had a solid 2013, posting an advanced stats value of 3.9 fWAR. This year, he's fallen back substantially, but given the negative WAR values of James Jones, Stefen Romero and Endy Chavez, he has the potential to get plenty of at bats over the next two months. After that, he'll be a costless agent.
Jackson is the real prize of the day for the Mariners. He's got good speed (he led the league in triples in both 2011 and 2012) and although he strikes out too often, his OPS peaked at .856 in 2012. All in all, he represents a big upgrade in the outfield and could be patrolling center field at Safeco for years to come.
Zduriencik Reflects on the Two Trades
Despite pressure to make a splashy deal in order to boost his recently-struggling team (now three games out of the second wild card slot), the M's GM refused to trade away the organization's prime prospects. Instead, he moved a center fielder that had fallen substantially in the prospect depth chart, a reliever with similar characteristics as a number of the live arms in the Mariners' bullpen, and a second baseman stuck behind the $240 million man, Robinson Cano. In return, he received a center fielder with a career .755 OPS, good speed and still under club control for at least two more seasons, as well as a potential right fielder who appears to be an upgrade over everyone not named Michael Saunders who has played the position this year.
"We were able to hold on to a lot of our big pieces," said Zduriencik, assessing the results of his work on deadline day. "I don't know if I made everybody real happy about that, but that's their business. Our goal was to try to improve the club in the best way we can. We did that, gave up some nice pieces, but were able to hold on to what we think are still our primary prospects."
He continued: "We were looking for right-handed bats. Now we've got a leadoff pure center fielder (Jackson) and that's going to help a lot. And Denorfia has really good numbers against left-handed pitching. He's a tough kid that's been through the playoffs and knows it. Same thing with Austin Jackson, he's been there, done that. So bringing the veteran experience to the ball club at this time of the year was a really important factor."
The Mariners Are Better Now, But Is It Good Enough?
Beginning with last week's trade for Kendrys Morales, Seattle has added three potentially impactful bats without giving up anything of significance with respect to their immediate future. That being said, one of the league's worst offenses has a long way to go to catch up to the rest of the wild card contenders. The three game deficit for the wild card slot — although technically well within reach — could look like a Grand Canyon-sized chasm in another 30 days or so if the offense cannot turn itself around.
Time will tell how the trades for Morales, Jackson and Denorfia pan out. However, Zduriencik completed a week of wheeling and dealing that has to be considered a success, given the careful balance he achieved between short-term gains and long-term organizational goals, with value added for relatively minimal cost. "This is our property, these are our players, this is our organization and that's our focus," said Zduriencik. "If we can help each other, I'm all in. But we're not sitting here donating players to make somebody else better. Forget about it."