Trade: Jays acquire Taijuan Walker

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Interesting they do a lot of business with the Mariners. I wonder if taking on Vogelbach and his admittedly small salary, plus sending some money to SEA, was part of this

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[Brinbe]

Cool. Like the pick up

[polo007]

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[Schad]

Walker has scarcely pitched in the two preceding seasons owing to injury, but looked okay in his limited action. Makes sense as a low-cost pickup to offer cover given our injuries.

[Cyrus]

Hopefully we didn't give up anything of note.

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Hopefully we didn't give up anything of note.

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I guess it's also going to depend on who is on the top 30 when the decision is made, and whose list is used.

On MLBpipeline's current list, Pearson, Kay, Alford, Hatch and Merryweather have all been promoted

[polo007]

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[Cyrus]

Hopefully we didn't give up anything of note.

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I guess it's also going to depend on who is on the top 30 when the decision is made, and whose list is used.

On MLBpipeline's current list, Pearson, Kay, Alford, Hatch and Merryweather have all been promoted

Didn't think a rental who might pitch like 5 games, would be worth a top 30 prospect.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Depends on who it is. If it's a guy who's close to being exposed to the rule 5 draft and not close to the majors, it's not necessarily a bad idea.

Sent from my SM-G970W using RealGM mobile app

[polo007]

The Toronto Blue Jays might be sending OF Will Robertson to the Seattle Mariners as part of the PTBNL in the Taijuan Walker trade.

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[Schad]

I liked Robertson, who had real power and showed a pretty advanced approach in Vancouver last year. But 40-grade low-minors prospects are pretty much your currency for rentals, which is why we accumulated so many Hatches and Espinals and guys who never sniffed the majors during our time as sellers.

[bluerap23]

SRF and Drury optioned to make room.

[polo007]

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[Kris_Banks]

Great for the Jays I think Walker can be a permanent member of our starting rotation if he stays healthy. Does anyone know why Font was not optioned instead of Reid-Foley?

[Schad]

Great for the Jays I think Walker can be a permanent member of our starting rotation if he stays healthy. Does anyone know why Font was not optioned instead of Reid-Foley?

Font has no options...we would have to DFA him, and he'd likely be picked up by another team, as Font's big issue has been a combination of batted ball luck and his long-standing habit of giving up dingers.

[Wo1verine]

Nice to see Vladdy doing better - We need him for any shot comes playoffs.

[polo007]

Seattle Mariners Trade Taijuan Walker for Mystery Player – TRUE TO THE TRIDENT

Before the Mariners split a double header to the San Diego Padres, they traded away their best trade chip (pending a surprise), Taijuan Walker, to the Toronto Blue Jays. The tricky part is that we do not know who they will get in return. But we do have some hints that have been dropped throughout the day and can lay a pretty solid guess on who the Mariners traded for.

First and foremost, we feel strongly that the mystery player isn’t on the 60-man roster. Only players on teams 60-man player pool can be traded in-season and if Seattle was collecting a player on the 60-man, the two sides would just announce it. We also learned later in the day from Jim Bowden of The Athletic that Seattle was getting a Top 30 prospect in the Blue Jays organization. There are a dozen of the Jays top prospects who aren’t on the 60-man, so our pool just shrunk.

We also learned from Joe Doyle of Lookout Landing and Prospects Live that the prospect is going to be a position player. So we shrink our list by removing all the pitchers. Finally, Jason Churchill of Prospect Insider revealed that he learned that the player was not a catcher or infielder. So, what we have left are outfielders. Assuming all the bread crumbs are true, this leaves us with 3 potential options; Griffin Conine, Dasan Brown, and Will Robertson.

Brown might be the most interesting of the group. He has legitimate 80-grade speed and as you might expect, plays a pretty mean centerfield as a result. The 19-year-old also has solid bat to ball skills and pretty good raw power, so any comparison to Dee Gordon or Mallex Smith would be mature. But he’s likely 3 or more years away and Seattle doesn’t typically go after such players.

Conine comes from a baseball family. His father, Jeff Conine, played 17 big league seasons. Conine was a second-round pick out of Duke in 2018 thanks to his plus raw power and strong arm. He’ll manage in the outfield, but his below-average speed limits his defensive ceiling. Conine will need to hit to be a big leaguer and there are serious questions about that after Conine struck out in 35% of his PAs in A-ball in 2019.

That brings us to Will Robertson. A 2019 fourth round pick, Robertson has a lot of the attributes Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto tends to value. He was a strong Cape Cod performer in 2018, shows easy raw power, a strong sense of the strike zone, and drew walks in his first minor league season. Robertson isn’t a burner, but he is faster than Conine, with a better chance to hit for average as well. He may have legitimate 25 home run power thanks to his above-average bat speed and may reel off a handful of 30 double seasons. His strike zone management gives him a shot to hit .270/.340/.450 with average”ish” defense in left field.

Ultimately, Robertson is our best guess. His profile as a hitter matches what the Mariners like from their bats. Obviously, there isn’t a lot to be excited about yet, as he mostly profiles as a bat first, fourth outfielder. But Robertson is a prime candidate to make a tweak in his swing and pop and could be MLB ready by some point in 2022. And for 4 starts from Taijuan Walker, that would be a pretty nice haul for Jerry Dipoto and the Seattle Mariners.