Kendrys Morales probably wishes he accepted the $14.1 million qualifying offer from the Seattle Mariners. Opening Day is two and a half weeks away and he, like Stephen Drew, still don't know which uniforms they will be wearing during the 2014 season. Ubaldo Jimenez and Nelson Cruz found homes in Baltimore and Ervin Santana will make the qualifying offer equivalent with the Braves, but the situation is looking dire for the remaining pair.
Kendrys Morales free agency: Searching for the best destination
Which teams make sense for the switch-hitting designated hitter?
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Morales, in particular, is having trouble because he has very limited defensive abilities. He’s an above average hitter, but he’s played 500 or more innings in the field just one time in his career and brings nothing extra on the bases. He’s a designated hitter who could spend some time at first base, and when the words “designated hitter” are attached to your name, it almost immediately wipes away half of your potential suitors. Maybe a National League team could find a way to use Morales, but it would be difficult. There’s no perfect fit, but some teams make more sense than others.
Seattle Mariners
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The Mariners don't exactly have room for Morales right now, but they appear open to moving one of their first basemen/outfielders, so they could play Corey Hart and Logan Morrison in the corners and find a decent number of plate appearances for Morales at DH. He's a better fit for the park than Cruz would have been, and the Mariners are the team that extended him the qualifying offer, so it could make sense for the two to reunite.
If the Mariners choose to sign Morales, they would be giving up the possibility of adding a compensation pick because no other team would be able to sign him, but if Morales holds out until the draft, the Mariners loose that pick anyway. If he’s willing to come back for the right price and the Mariners think that no one else is going to grab him, we could see him out west again next year. If nothing else, Mariners general manager Jack Zduriencik told Jon Heyman of CBS Sports that there is a dialogue between the two sides and that ownership isn’t holding a grudge about Morales rejecting their qualifying offer.
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This arrangement makes enough sense that it's surprising we haven't heard more rumors connecting the Rangers to Morales. Obviously, Prince Fielder is slotted in as the team's everyday first basemen, but Morales is something of an upgrade over Mitch Moreland, who also happens to have a hefty platoon split.
The Rangers could flip Moreland to a team that needs help at first while signing Morales to help them win in 2014. The draft pick is a consideration, but the Rangers are clearly focused on winning this year and don’t have a lot of ways to upgrade their team without making a significant trade. Morales would give them the option of adding a win or two, and given the small margins by which they lost the last two AL West titles, it might end up being worth it.
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Sure, the Orioles signed Nelson Cruz to handle most of the DH at bats, but if any team could absorb the cost of signing another qualifying offer guy, it's the Orioles. At this point, they'd be giving up a third round pick, which is much less valuable than the picks most other teams would lose. Additionally, they could work out a platoon situation among David Lough, Nelson Cruz, Kendrys Morales, and Nick Markakis that might be able to hide the faults of each player.
It’s hard to imagine one team signing two designated hitters in one offseason, but the Orioles had serious holes in left field and DH that they filled with less than stellar players. Adding depth could be very helpful, especially considering how little it would cost them relative to the rest of the league.
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The Twins aren't anyone's idea of a contender, but their first round pick is protected and they have virtually nothing coming from the DH slot in 2014. Adding Morales could be a smart move considering that Joe Mauer will no longer need to DH on his "days off" and that Miguel Sano's Tommy John surgery will delay how quickly he gets to the majors.
Sano is currently a third basemen and a player like Morales would never truly block a prospect of his caliber, but having a few extra available at bats over the next couple of seasons makes it easier to justify spending a couple million dollars on a player who isn’t likely to make a huge impact. Additionally, if Morales does well for himself the Twins could turn him into a useful player at the deadline or another draft pick after the 2014 season. It’s not a tremendous fit, but it could work for both sides.
Kendrys Morales probably isn't that much better than Gaby Sanchez, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend a few million dollars and a draft pick for such a small upgrade, but having two slightly below average players trying to fill the same position might be a decent strategy if you're betting on one to beat expectations. The Bucs are more likely to look to add a player like Mike Carp, but if the price fell on Morales enough, they'd probably explore the possibility. They aren't likely to part with the pick, but there's a price point at which they it makes sense.
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The Brewers, like the Twins, aren’t going to contend in 2014 but they have such a mess at first base that it might be worth exploring a multi-year deal with Morales simply to stabilize the position. It doesn’t make sense for them to burn the #12 pick in the draft and a few million dollars for one year of Morales, but if they could get him for three years at a team friendly average annual value, it could work.
The problem is that a deal with the Brewers would put Morales in the field each and every day, something he hasn’t done since his leg injury in 2010. He would be an upgrade over their current arrangement, but you have to wonder how much time he would miss as a result of the wear and tear that comes from playing a position every day. Clearly, Morales doesn’t have a lot of good options. His best bet is probably to find a way into the Rangers’ or Mariners’ plans, or wait until after the draft to sign with a team looking to add a bench bat from the stretch run.
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