Mariners acquire Dee Gordon and international pool money from the Marlins for multiple prospects

Jerry Dipoto just can’t help himself, can he? While everybody was focused on where the Marlins would send (or be forced to send, as it were) Giancarlo Stanton, the Mariners helped Miami pull off another major trade.

It’s the biggest swap of the offseason so far, and a harbinger of things to come as the Winter Meetings grow closer. The Mariners are sending their 2015 2nd-round pick Nick Neidert back to Miami in return, per Jim Bowden, their 7th-ranked prospect Chris Torres, per Jon Heyman, and RHP Robert Dugger.

According to Mark Feinsand, in addition to Gordon, the Mariners are also receiving $1M in international bonus pool money, which now puts them in the lead over the Rangers by $2,000 in the Shohei Ohtani bonus race of 2017.

This is the first major step (of a presumed many) by the Marlins to shed salary, as Gordon has $38 million and three years guaranteed left on his current deal — $10.5M in 2018, $13M in 2019, $13.5M in 2020 and a $1M buyout if the team doesn’t pick up his $14M option in 2021.

The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal first reported the deal, and both he and Jim Bowden are reporting that Gordon will play centerfield in Seattle.

The shift to center makes sense — and is about the only thing that would — as the Mariners have Robinson Cano and Jean Segura as their middle infielders and neither of them are going to Miami. We assume. I don’t know I can’t read Jerry Dipoto’s mind.

The Mariners are assuming all of Gordon’s contract, so this is the first big step in the Marlins goal to shed most of their current salary commitments as they fire sale their way to a rebuild. Or another decade of ineptitude. Could really go either way.

This season saw Gordon putting up a slashline of .308/.341/.375, with an OPS+ of 94. He only hit 2 dingers and drove in 33 runs, but his raw power isn’t what you’re getting when you add Dee Gordon to your roster, so that’s less of a bug than a feature.

Gordon also stole 60 bases in 2017, the second highest tally of his career after his 64-steal campaign back in 2014, and was only caught 16 times. That’s more than double the most steals by a single player on the Mariners, and only 30 less than what the entire team managed collectively. So if nothing else, that’s a help. Plus, that speed can only help him in the move to center.

Neidert, a 21-year old RHP, was the Mariners top pitching prospect. Which is probably because he’s a pitching prospect in the Mariners’ system, but he gets the credit nonetheless.

He spent time in high-A and AA in 2017, going 11-6 with a 3.45 ERA in 127.2 innings pitched. He put up 1.6 BB/9 and 8.6 SO/9 between both levels. Before the season, the folks over at Lookout Landing said of Neidert,

Neidert has, in my opinion, the highest ceiling of all the starting pitching prospects in the system (by a razor thin margin). Fastball runs anywhere from 90-94 with some sinking action and it’s complemented well by an advanced changeup. Command of all of his pitches is a strength and Neidert excels at creating weak contact. Ceiling comes down to the development of his curveball and slider. If he can take steps forward with either, he could emerge as a potential mid-rotation starter. If they go static on him, he’s still looking at a back of the rotation label.

Torres, on the other hand, is Seattle’s number seven prospect, a middle infielder out of the Dominican Republic who is on the cusp of turning 20. In low-A and rookie ball this year, Torres hit .238 with six home runs in 52 games.

Dugger, a 22-year old RHP, joined the organization in 2016 and finished this season with the A-ball Modesto Nuts. He went 6-6 in 2017 with a 2.75 ERA in 117.2 innings pitched. He appeared in 31 games total, up from 12 in 2016 where he had a 4.62 ERA.

With these three prospects heading out of town, the Mariners are quickly running out of quality (and also, less quality) prospects to actually trade away. That doesn’t matter to Jerry Dipoto, though, because just like life finds a way in Jurassic Park, Jerry Dipoto will always find a way to make a trade when he feels like it.

Welcome to the Dee Gordon era in Seattle.